Involuntary muscle twitches

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy Forums

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy forums - a peer support community for folks dealing (directly or indirectly) with seizure disorders. You can visit the forum page to see the list of forum nodes (categories/rooms) for topics.

Please have a look around and if you like what you see, please consider registering an account and joining the discussions. When you register an account and log in, you may enjoy additional benefits including no ads, access to members only (ie. private) forum nodes and more. Registering an account is free - you have nothing to lose!

skyfire322

Stalwart
Messages
335
Reaction score
2
Points
68
Hey all! I have been noticing lately that a few muscles (left bicep and sometimes my calf muscles) will twitch involuntarily. They aren't full on jerks though; it almost looks like they're "pulsating".

I have no idea if this is a different issue, but could it *possibly* be a form of a myclonic seizure?
 
Hey skyfire,

I've had issues with twitches and jerks in my leg, the part of my body most affected by the brain tumor that is the cause of my seizures. I've never been sure if they were some sort of seizure themselves of just muscle spasms. They can be very annoying, but they weren't bad enough to make me want to experiment with different meds or dosages.(the only suggestion my doctors had :/ )

Early on I found out accidentally that calcium with vitamin D supplements helped. But it only helped for a while. Protein seems to help a bit sometimes. What I've discovered helps the most and most consistently is staying hydrated. If I don't drink enough water, the twitching/jerking is worse. I'm not talking about only those times when I might be out in the heat and sweat, just everyday dehydration is enough. Just an extra glass of water before bedtime helps. It doesn't make it go away all together, but it definitely helps.

Sorry this doesn't answer your question about whether or not this is seizure related. Good luck! :)
 
I had this happen a few years ago. One of my arms or legs would constantly shake for hours, not sure if you're describing the same thing. When it first started happening it was very bad and at times looked like I was having a grand mal seizure. I went to the ER by ambulance but they couldn't find anything anything wrong. It started decreasing after a few months, only shake every so often and not that long. Then it finally stopped. I was under a lot of stress when it first started happening and I don't know if that had something to do with it or not?

Every so often I'll get a 'jerk' in an arm or leg. I'll go days or weeks without it happening.
 
I was under a lot of stress when it first started happening and I don't know if that had something to do with it or not?
.

That could be it. My brother said the same thing happened to him when he was under a lot of stress, too.

It's just super annoying because I just got accepted into the local sports drum line, and these twitches/jerks aren't really "drummer friendly". I occasionally joke and say I'm just doing an improv solo (that will get some chuckles) but it really doesn't help my cause that much.

I have an appointment with my new family doctor in two weeks, so I will ask him to see what his thoughts are.

Thanks!!!
 
I actually came to the forum to see if anyone posted about this very thing. I just started having spasm-like twitches in my right upper arm that are driving me crazy. They are not constant and I've not had them before, so I'm trying to figure out what is causing them.
 
I have posted on this subject.Strange you bring it up last 3 days my ankle calf flick flick driving me nuts
 
The one that drives me crazy the most is my chin twitching uncontrollably. The other one will be muscles in arm sometimes.

Gilles
 
I used to get a twitch of sorts under one eye. Hasn't happened for a long while. And what do they call those whole body jerks when one is just half a second from drifting off to sleep?
 
And what do they call those whole body jerks when one is just half a second from drifting off to sleep?
I believe they are called hypnic jerks.

Some jerks (like hypnic jerks) tend to be non-epileptic, but it's not aways easy to tell. I think some muscle and eye twitching can be due to fatigue, but if you have a seizure disorder, they are likely to be epileptic in origin or perhaps related by a common trigger (such as electrolyte imbalance).
 
It when they deep in the muscles I don't know if related To my epilepsy I would say fatigue when on eye but I get fatigue make epilesy not so good hit and miss.
Once twitching starts you can't stop thinking about it then sets up catch22,I think they just annoying they don't hurt,
 
I have spams on the right side of my face on my cheek bone, sometimes it's a weak one where I can only feel it but it can be seen by anyone looking at me when it's stronger. But it only started after I had my surgery. I had asked my dr at the time and was told that it would stop about 2-3 weeks after the stitches were removed but never did, and like seagull said, it's annoying!
 
That's interesting about the hypnic jerk possibly being epileptic in nature. I think I've had them all my life, except I don't recall having any for the past several years. The eye thing, was a little tiny thing like in the skin just between the top of my cheekbone and outside corner of my eye. Used to get it when I was younger, have no idea if it could be seen or not. Since I don't have these things any more, how would I ever know what they were or if/when I grew out of this darn epilepsy? It took 2 years unmedicated to find out last time and I'm not really willing to try it again.
 
Since I don't have these things any more, how would I ever know what they were or if/when I grew out of this darn epilepsy? It took 2 years unmedicated to find out last time and I'm not really willing to try it again.
Hi Elsie - just to clarify are you saying you totally grew out of the epilepsy you had and you did it without medication ? Do you know what had caused your epilepsy? What did you do to get through having it any longer ? I am new to this forum and really looking for support :) thanks in advance for any advice.
 
You'll always have epilepsy, there is no cure for it. By taking medicine or having surgery you may stop having seizures. There are times that you might stop having seizures but there is a chance that you'll start having them again.
 
one of the medicines gave me really bad myoclonic jerks, i cant remember which one
 
Back
Top Bottom