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Brandi (Griffin, Ga) on 03/25/2013

Benign Fasciculation Syndrome: I'm not sure exactly how long this irritating twitch has been going on other than I know it has gone on ever since I gave birth to my 7 month old. I have other medical problems that keep me at a doctor once a month. I have a total of 6 bulging and herniated discs from the base of my skull all the way to the very last 2 discs at the very bottom of my back. Two weeks ago I had the first set of steroid injections in the bottom of my back on the left side. A week from now I will be getting a steroid type injection in the same place. These at the bottom of my back make sitting extremely painful, not to mention riding in the car. Or try carrying a 18 lb baby up and down stairs, like that are in my apartment with numbness coming and going from your hands and feet because of nerve damage. Sorry I started rambling...... I can't remember if I was twitching this way while I was pregnant or not because I worked 40 hours a, 7 days a week, sometimes more, if I wasn't at work I was trying to sneak in a nap before I had to go back to work my 2nd shift for the day. I was a waitress, and thought I was superman and just kept pushing myself to work and save money because I'm a single mom. I went back to work 4 weeks after I had him. And then 2 weeks after going back to work I was scheduled for my first of 2 surgeries. First my right wrist was operated on (I hadn't been able to feel my fingers in my hands since May 2012 and I did not have him until August 2012).

So after 6 months basically of pain shooting from my neck down my arms and out through my fingers, which kept me from being able to sleep anymore than an hour or two at the time as well, I get the first of my 2 surgeries the first week of October, I went back to work waiting tables 2 days later, doctor didn't want me to but I didn't have a choice, single mom = bills to pay. Two weeks after my right wrist was done I got the 12 stitches out of that wrist, and the next morning I was back on the operating table for my left wrist, and 2 days after the surgery I was back at work. It wasn't until December, seems like right before Christmas I was doing something and just all of a sudden noticed the feeling was finally starting to come back in my fingers. Before the surgery I was told that there was no guarantee the feeling would ever come back and that it usually took 6 months if you were gonna see signs of improvement. It had been 2 months and I could tell the feeling was starting to come back in the tips of my fingers, I just kept hoping that over more time I would regain all the feeling back in my fingers, and now 6 months later I can feel my fingers. Still muscle weakness in my left arm and wrist. Seems to keep getting worse. I'm actually wondering if I don't have some muscle atrophy going on.

However, I know I got wayyyyy off topic about Benign Fasciculation Syndrome. But the first time I recall the twitching was one a friend brought it up and asked me why I started jerking and twitching every night right before I went to sleep. That was around the end of November. And now every night when I lay down that's how I can tell I am about to drift off to sleep, my legs and arms start twitching and jerking. It was probably in January when I first looked up my symptoms because at the very least I knew it wasn't normal. And I came across this syndrome. I finally remembered to bring it up today when I saw the doctor about my next injections. She said I would have to get my PCP to order blood work and luckily I have an appointment already scheduled for in the morning for my regular monthly visit. So I will request full labs as well as nerve conduction studies and muscle biopsies if I can get them to do it. So maybe there will be an update to this post in the future as to the results of the tests.

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Replied By Ejules (Woodbridge, Va, Us) on 03/28/2013

Disclaimer: I don't know anything about the syndrome you describe. However, whenever a symptom involving nerves appears I immediately increase my intake of vitamin B complex. Every night for over 15 years I've taken 3 tabs of B-100 (that's 100 of whatever the usual standard unit is) in addition to the other multivitamins, oils, etc. to manage stress. This works best for eye twitches and I get 'em if I miss a day or two or if my stress level goes up during the day. Other indicators that I need more B are flare ups of cold sores on my lip and/or reappearance of a small patch of impetigo on my cheek from when I was 7. The clincher, tho, was my brother who had Bell's Palsey in his 20s. The dr wanted to permanently severe a nerve in his cheek to stop the twitching. That really didn't sound like a good first solution so instead, my mom fed my bro megadoses of vit B complex over several days. The Palsey disappeared and never came back.
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