Muscle Twitches

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tinyfrogs

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Something odd for me has been happening on and off all day. I keep having small twitches mostly in my left arm. How do I know if these are seizures? I've been very stressed because my cat has been sick since Wednesday after getting home from the vet for something else. Could seizures cause jerking movements when more stressed even though mine dont usually do that?
 
I had had simple and complex partial seizures, I was seizure free for four months. I started having small twitches in my left shoulder. Every once in a while my shoulder would suddenly pop up. Then a bit later I had a breakthrough seizure where my left shoulder was twitching/jerking and then spread to left side of chest and torso. I ended up going to the ER because it wouldn't stop. They said it was a motor seizure. Seizures can change.
 
A few years ago I started having twitches.

The very first time it happened it was almost like I was having a tonic clonic, I don't think it was though. My whole body was shaking uncontrollably. I knew everything that was going on around me. People were asking me questions and I was answering them. I was scared to death when this happened. I ended up in the ER by ambulance because I wouldn't stop shaking. After being in the ER for a few hours the shaking stopped and was sent home. They said it wasn't a seizure. I was VERY stressed out over something that was going on at the time so I don't know if that had something to do with what caused it or not.

For the next 6 months, or al little longer, I was still shaking. Not all the time. It might be a leg or arm. It might last a few minutes or a few hours. As time went by, I don't remember how long but I know it was a few months, the shaking became less frequent and not as bad. Then it just stopped.

I don't think I had a seizure before, during or after the shaking incidents. I know if I was stressed over something then I would start shaking for sure during this time. But it would still just happen out of the blue.

They didn't think it was epilepsy related.
 
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I tend to think that because it is always your left arm that it is somehow seizure connected. Maybe a form of pre-warning of a stronger seizure?
 
Thanks everyone. I'm still not sure what it is but one of my former Drs emailed me back and reminded me that back when I was first put on the seizure med I'd had some form of dystonia every time the dosage was changed. My dose hasnt been changed in months and this twitchong wasnt the same or as bad as whatever happened before but I had totally forgot about that.
 
Thanks everyone. I'm still not sure what it is but one of my former Drs emailed me back and reminded me that back when I was first put on the seizure med I'd had some form of dystonia every time the dosage was changed. My dose hasnt been changed in months and this twitchong wasnt the same or as bad as whatever happened before but I had totally forgot about that.

I haven't known dystonia to be twitching but I'm no expert. I am currently having "nocturnal dystonic posturing", as my first neurologist called what was happening before my first true seizure. My lower legs get tighter and tighter and my feet point up and out at awkward angles but there is no twitching per say, but at the very end there is clonic-like jumping of my feet for a couple of seconds.
Like you I am at a loss to understand why this would have returned after over 3 years of being on medication to (partly) control seizures. The posturing affects only my lower legs. What has been happening is what occurs when my seizures first start, and often what will first awaken me at night, but these last 6 nights it keeps cycling over and over in my legs. Twice it has led to a full tonic seizure. I phoned my seizure specialist this morning, but no return call yet.
 
tinyfrogs

I have the twiching that you are talking about in my left hand, I have stock a fork in the roof of my mouth because of it, what I have found is if I rest my hand against something the twiching stops. Then it can move to my right hand or to the right side of my face. However it would appear nobody notices my face or so they say however I find the whole thing very annoying. The one thing I can say though is I refused the botox option.
 
I didn't mean dystonia and twitching were the same. I called it twitching because I didn't know what else to call it. The dystonia was definitely different and way more scary for me because I was aware of it the first time it happened but I had no idea what was happening to me. I actually got a few minutes of video of right after that incident and my arm and hand were shaking and twitching for a couple minutes. I think that day was what my old Dr was referring to when mentioning the dystonia. Sorry I wasn't more clear. Thanks everyone :)
 
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