Twitching

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Scaredhypo10

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Learn about ALS
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CA
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San Dimas
Hello Everyone,
First off thank you for the forum and support.
I am 36/M and my grandmother who had ALS. I have been on Z-Drugs and Benzos for a while and have been off for 30 days. About a two weeks ago I began to experience a chaotic spasm in my left thumb. It has progressively gotten worse and comes and goes. It has the ability to wake and keep me up. I can feel the tension build up in my lower thumb joint prior to an episode of twitching. The twitching lasts an hour to multiple hours. Subsides and comes back.
I read in one of the posts that the community urges us to read prior to posting that twitching is rarely a first symptom. When I turn to Dr. Google twitching is one of the primary first symptoms. I am confused and terrified. Having my grandmother pass from this disease and my father from Scleroderma, I definitely have health anxiety.
I haven’t noticed any weakness in my hand or arms just the twitching and weakness upon waking up but that’s been present for about six months then it passes as the day goes on. I have full function. So I understand that ALS is unlikely, but do twitches come on prior to atrophy or weakness?
I do understand that this may very well be a symptom of withdrawal from Benzos or ZDrugs but I can’t continue to google.
Thank you for your support and understanding.
 
Hi scared, I'm sorry you are going through this.
We wrote that important post because that is our offical position, and we know you might read any number of different things by googling elsewhere. However, that is why we wrote it, so we don't have to keep justifying what we know from a huge pool of experience. No twitching without weakness is not a sign of ALS, twitching really means nothing.
Please go talk to your doctor about your fears and get some help and answers. I wish you nothing but the best.
Lastly, you grandmother won't have been able to pass ALS on to you unless your parent that is between you and your grandmother has the gene. So you can let that one go at the least. I wish you the best working with doctors, we can't do anything as we can't examine you physically.
 
Affected...Thank you for taking the time to reply. To clarify could my parent be a carrier of the gene, never develop ALS but still pass it on?

The service you and others of the community is amazing. The world sometimes sucks but there is so much hope for the future with people like this community and others like it. Thank you again!
 
Yes, benzo withdrawal can certainly lead to twitching. Some attention to all the usual multipliers like diet, sleep and stress can reduce the effects. The answer to the question about your parent being a gene carrier is, no.

I encourage you to seek counseling for your anxiety. There are always health issues, and everyone dies of something, so concern about your family tree will only be disabling. There are better things to focus on.

Best,
Laurie
 
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Scared, if your parent is not displaying any sign of ALS, and no one else in the family has ALS, you can be pretty sure your grandmother was a sporadic case. Most cases of ALS are. At any rate, the chances of you developing familial ALS at your age, while the parent who would have passed on the gene is a generation older and unaffected is pretty much zip.
ALS when it is genetic does not have carriers like some diseases do.
Please discuss all of this in detail with your doctor who can go through all your family history in full detail so you can be sure of what is happening and what the next steps in any diagnostic processes should be taken.
 
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