Hi everyone.

I wonder if someone who knows more about this than I do could help me with a question.

I'm trying to figure out what the heck is going on with my body. This can't be just aging. I wonder if anyone who has Fibromyalgia gets muscles in only certain parts of the body that are contracting all the time even when relaxing and not after having done heavy lifting or such things?

I am experiencing the most awful pain day and night. Waking me during sleep. I wake up feeling like I've been run over with a truck, but this all started with no actual pain like I have now, it was just one bicep muscle tightly contracted and then the other one did that and now I have this weird generalized pain although the muscles don't feel as contracted as they used to be.

thanks,
Lara

Hi Lara
I have this happen to me in my upper back alot -around my shoulder blades!
I have to take flexeril for it.Once i take that for a few days then it
eases up.As to what causes it?Well i dont know!
I have often used that term "feeling like a truck ran me over"
Thats how i feel when i get out of bed every morning.
When i started telling the doctors..thats when they started to examine me for fibro!I also have arthritis.
I would suggest you make an appt with a rhuematologist{sp?}
I am so sorry your having to deal with such pain everyday and sure
I do hope you can get some answers soon.
In the meantime you could try taking hot baths to relax the muscles .
Let me know when you find out something..ok?
Take care.
~Kell

It sounds like it could be fibro. But I wouldn't jump to that conclusion too fast. How long has the problem been going on? Myofascial pain syndrome can cause muscle fatigue and soreness as well, as can other things. I have both of those, and yeah, I do have periods where my muscles will contract involuntarily in localized areas of my body. I also have the "ran over by a truck" generalized soreness and pain.

Kell is right. It would probably be best for you to see a rheumatologist to get the problem checked out. I hope you find something, and start feeling better real soon!

Best Wishes...
Idealist

are you taking any magnesium? Or eating mag rich foods?

The first thing to consider with muscle tightness is magnesium.

Calcium causes muscles to contract. Magnesium helps relax them.
So anything that causes increased ratio of Cal/Mag can cause problems.

Increased calcium intake without taking mag is one cause. But there are
medical conditions that will increase serum calcium also.

If this is "new" to you, this symptom, I'd get some blood tests run at the
doctor.
this site lists causes of elevated calcium:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/e...cle/003477.htm

If you have been "overusing" those muscles, simple soaks in a hot tub, or
brief heat treatments may help the muscle relax. Heat also helps eliminate
excess lactic acid if that is a problem for you.

Another cause of muscle pain, is low carnitine levels. The muscles overuse
glucose for energy and make too much lactic acid, which hurts. Use of the amino acid carnitine allows the muscle mitochondria to more effeciently use
fatty acids as fuel, and therefore less lactic acid builds up.

Most people get hard muscles in the legs first, since those are the largest muscle groups and work the hardest. To have a bicep problem first, could imply you have some nerve issues in the neck. So keep an eye on that.

I get muscle contractions and spasms (and twitching and achiness and muscle fatigue) for no apparent reason. They just come and go on their own no matter what I do.

I have one specific muscle near my tailbone that has been in a constant spasm for months now - and it will not subside or go despite treatment.

My doctors blame my muscle weirdness on my undifferentiated connective tissue disease.

Thankyou all very much for your replies. It's very much appreciated.

I don't know what is happening. I actually thought of lactic acid buildup because I had gone through a period of time there when my daughter was having health problems, and everything else, and I was having panic attacks again. Hadn't had them like that for years and years. Anyway, I'm not having panic attacks anymore, but these tight biceps started after they stopped. I usually do take a calcium/magnesium combo., mrsd, but I stopped that after reading some information I had already found about calcium buildup. I really do need to take it though as it helps me with a whole lot of things including my RLS.

I've some major liver issues and was putting all this down as a secondary effect from that. Don't know for sure, but that was my suspicion.

I have had problems with my spine for years and years. Apart from various other things, I do have disc problems in my lumbar spine and c-spine. I also have trapped ulnar nerve causing numbness of little finger and ring finger on left hand. The pain in the elbow (nerve pain) was really really bad in the beginning. I think I injured it moving very heavy boxes of books when I moved a couple of times but that was a few years ago now. However, the past 5 months or so, since maybe end of June, my left arm has been pretty darn good compared with how it was. Occasionally I turn into a claw hand, but that's only when I grip something the wrong way. Before, it was getting like that a lot more. The numbness isn't as noticeable either... still there, but not numb like heavy as it used to be all the time. weird.

I am a bit of a twitchy person anyway, but have had more problems with that this year. They are fasciculations, not tics. They come and go and aren't in the same place.

It's just weird that my muscles started contracting like that on their own. At first I felt as if I'd caught something, a virus perhaps. They feel really tight like a tennis ball. I couldn't figure out why it would just be my arms/biceps and not generalized. I had a really bad fall and head injury a couple of years ago and have never fully recovered from that. I've not followed up on that recently but perhaps I should again. I still am having dizzy spells... well they're not really dizzy spells, they're something different, but it's making it difficult to get around when I'm feeling that way. My feet don't feel as sensitive as they used to. I wondered if that was part of the reason I fell in the beginning, but of course, now I'm scared of falling again, and that's a whole other subject.

I'll check out some more of the info. you all left for me. It is very much appreciated.

Gee. 5.42am and I said all that! Sounds like I'm really falling apart lol

Thanks Kell, Idealist, mrsd, Wittesea.. hope you've all had a good day there.

Lara,

Have you ever looked into Thoracic Outlet Syndrome as a reason for your arm symptoms?

Your post about the various arm-related symptoms seems a bit similar to the symptoms I have seen reported on the TOS forum here.

I have a history of left-arm and shoulder problems. I have never been tested for TOS or diagnosed with TOS, but reading that forum and trying some of the suggestions for symptom relief has helped me a lot to relieve and/or reduce several of my left-arm and shoulder symptoms.

So, even if you do not have TOS, some of the tips and suggestions for TOS relief might help you to find symptom reduction or relief for your arm, elbow and hands.

Take care,
Liz

Thanks again Liz,
I've read there on and off and have looked at some great slides showing muscles and nerves etc. that someone posts from time to time. I should try to read some more of the info. posts there when I get time.

I think it was Jo posted me a great site which had stretching exercizes on it... that was beginning of last year I think, on the old BT site in Repetitive Strain Injuries. I'd resorted to wearing a brace a lot because it was the only way of keeping my arm straight to stop the awful pain in my elbow at the time. Then I realized that I wasn't using my arm enough and my little finger and ring finger were wilting a bit. I found the stretching exercizes very helpful but have since lost the site. I must try to find that again. You've helped get me remotivated. thanks.

you read my mind = the site is probably in our stickys on the TOS forum

was it Sharon Butlers stretches??
www.selfcare4rsi.com

there's a lot more info for many conditions in the TOS stickys =fybro, RSD , triggerpoints , CMP aternative heath , chiropractic

Yes, that's it. Thankyou once again!

I'll check out those others in TOS forum.

I just googled cache for an old post where you answered me before. Believe it or not, it's one of the only ones of mine still out there. It's got lots of good info. on it, Jo. You also mentioned hypermobility in it. Now that is something I certainly do have, also both my children.

It was also you who gave me advice about the rigid brace I was wearing. Now that was very helpful as well.