Hi EnglishCountryDancer,
Your friends twitching could be from tremors or possibly spasms which is part of spasticity. I have provided two links, one on tremors and one on spasticity.
Maybe your friend will be able to relate to one or the other.
http://www.nationalmssociety.org/Sou...Spasticity.asp
http://www.nationalmssociety.org/Sourcebook-Tremor.asp
I don't have any info on copper.