Concerned about twitching

[Vowsatsea]

Hi all. I've been reading many posts on here over the course of the last three days. It's good and it's bad because I'm sometimes scaring myself even further, but then I read those fabulous sticky threads and it calms me down.

I'm a 25 year old female so I know that my age is on my side. I am a health anxiety sufferer, though I was doing really good with it until I started twitching. I googled it and here I am. For the last four days I've been having continuous twitching in the same exact spot. It's my left hand, palm side, pinky side, down where the palm meets the wrist. My pinky isn't twitching at all, just that one spot.

From what I could tell, I don't have muscle weakness. I don't fully understand what atrophy is, but I don't think I have that either. I'm only concerned because usually if I have twitching anywhere (eyelid, lip, etc) it goes away in a day or less. The day it started I was sitting in my cat with my elbow leaning on the window and that particular spot began twitching along with my pinky finger. I took my arm down and it subsided. My husband says I maybe pinched a nerve when I did that but I didn't think a pinched nerve caused twitching. I thought about BFS but I don't have muscle cramps or soreness. I also notice that I get the twitching during the day but it's much more frequent at night.

Should I go to the Neuro or will he dismiss it because it's isolated twitching, confined to one spot and because I'm young?

I appreciat any and all advice

 

[rcharlton]

https://www.alsforums.com/forum/do-...ickies-first-read-stickies-read-stickies.html

https://www.alsforums.com/forum/do-i-have-als-als/5947-twitching-false-alarm.html

 

[Ms. Pie]

Start out with your GP and stop reading these posts and threads. Calm down! You'll talk yourself in to twitching more and scare yourself to death!

 

[kmendsley]

There are soooo many causes to twitching besides ALS. I hate to think of all the 'general' or 'more likely' causes that you passed up on
dr g o o g l e to get to the scariest one of ALS. You don't have weakness, or atrophy, which I won't explain to you for the sole purpose that you will think you have it or will check for it everyday if I do... which is no help to anxiety.

Go to your general doc. and get a check up. If they don't see anything needed for further tests then you are fine! People have benign twitches all the time. Most are stress related...have you been excessively stressed lately? Fatigue and too much caffeine are also common causes. Your dr. might just do a general blood test to make sure your vitamins are all in check and your blood counts are good. Please stop worrying, and stay off the internet looking for your symptoms...it will only bring undue worrying. good luck to you.

 

[Vowsatsea]

Thank you for the response. I know I should stop reading the threads. I agree that it does more harm than good. I will get myself to relax, start thinking about something else and then my hand twitches and my mind goes right back to ALS. A lot of what I read about twitches on here are people asking about twitches all over so I figured I'd ask since mine are localized to one specific spot.

 

[trfogey]

I'm only concerned because usually if I have twitching anywhere (eyelid, lip, etc) it goes away in a day or less. The day it started I was sitting in my cat with my elbow leaning on the window and that particular spot began twitching along with my pinky finger. I took my arm down and it subsided. My husband says I maybe pinched a nerve when I did that but I didn't think a pinched nerve caused twitching. I thought about BFS but I don't have muscle cramps or soreness. I also notice that I get the twitching during the day but it's much more frequent at night.

Three comments:

1) Your husband is a better diagnostician than you are. You should listen to him.

2) Medical sites on the Internet are to some people with admitted health anxiety what a beer or a glass of wine is to an alcoholic -- a quick hit of something that controls you, instead of you controlling it. You should avoid looking up medical information on the Internet. You are too easily distracted by the morbid.

3) Reconsider looking at BFS. You don't have to have either muscle cramps or soreness to have BFS, although many BFSers do. The a b o u t B F S dot c o m website has some wonderful information and some wonderful people that are far more relevant to your current situation than any ALS forum could ever be.

Good luck to you.

 

[Vowsatsea]

Three comments:

1) Your husband is a better diagnostician than you are. You should listen to him.

2) Medical sites on the Internet are to some people with admitted health anxiety what a beer or a glass of wine is to an alcoholic -- a quick hit of something that controls you, instead of you controlling it. You should avoid looking up medical information on the Internet. You are too easily distracted by the morbid.

3) Reconsider looking at BFS. You don't have to have either muscle cramps or soreness to have BFS, although many BFSers do. The a b o u t B F S dot c o m website has some wonderful information and some wonderful people that are far more relevant to your current situation than any ALS forum could ever be.

Good luck to you.

Thank you. This was blunt, but was also what I needed to hear. I am still having a little anxiety over the situation, but nothing like what it was.

 

[notme]

There is a nerve located in the elbow area that can certainly cause pain and/or twitching. Especially if your arm was bent. The ulnar nerve.

 

[Vowsatsea]

There is a nerve located in the elbow area that can certainly cause pain and/or twitching. Especially if your arm was bent. The ulnar nerve.

I found information about that online, but I've been reading that if it's pinched it would cause pain, and I have zero pain.

I did find some information that it is called a palmaris brevis spasm. If I'm reading it right, they say it's a contraction moreso than a twitch. I'm just more concerned over this than other twitches I've had because it's a large twitch (the whole side of my hand dents, and then comes back out) and it's constant.

Thank you all for the insight I've received so far. I'm trying to get some information off the BLS forum but I've yet to get approved to post :-(

 

[notme]

I found information about that online, but I've been reading that if it's pinched it would cause pain, and I have zero pain.

I did find some information that it is called a palmaris brevis spasm. If I'm reading it right, they say it's a contraction moreso than a twitch. I'm just more concerned over this than other twitches I've had because it's a large twitch (the whole side of my hand dents, and then comes back out) and it's constant.

Thank you all for the insight I've received so far. I'm trying to get some information off the BLS forum but I've yet to get approved to post :-(

Don't believe everything you read. A trapped nerve somewhere can be causing the things you're seeing.

See your GP and see if they can get you a referral to check for any type of entrapment if it doesn't go away. This can be important-because a nerve trapped long enough can cause eventual atrophy if severe.

Twitches don't mean a lot, seriously. Once a trapped nerve is ruled out and an exam is done--you can ignore the twitches.

In ALS--by the time twitches start, there is normally going to be weakness in an area.