Back in late February I was using a shiatsu machine. I had kicked off some twitching symptoms in my foot. Now I twitch all over. It doesn't hurt but it's so annoying. I wonder if someone with SFPN has generalised twitching as a symptom.

I know I have PN everywhere, but I also don't understand how the twitching happened all over body instead of just the foot where the shiatsu machine was applied. Meaning why does the twitching in the foot spread so fast to where now I get twitching everywhere. (not at the same time). I may have a twitch in the thigh then a twitch in the arm,then hand etc.

But it's global.And it's worse at night. I am on calcium/magnesium/potassium.

What else can I do? Is this still SF PN?

Thank you,

HI Aussie! I don't have SF PN......but gosh your symptoms sound awful! I can't imagine all the twitching......I have buzzing all over now and that's bad enough! I hope you find out something that will calm it down....or better yet.....make it go away! Best Wishes!

Hi Aussie99,

I haven't as yet been diagnosed with a particular type of PN, although it is looking more and more like it may be SFPN (idiopathic).

Yes I have the twitching (fasciculations) all over just as you say..."here a calf, there a butt.....old MacDonald...." constantly flitting around. I'm sure they are there all day but I notice them when I am sitting quietly or lying down and particularly when I first wake in the mornings they are VERY pronounced then!!! They are not painful but nevertheless a totally new experience which started about five weeks ago. The onset of the fasciculations was several weeks after the onset of the constant burning/buzzing of PN so I'm sure they HAVE to be connected to the PN.

Perhaps it is a total coincidence that you developed the fasciculations after using the shiatsu machine! I think (and please correct me if I am wrong) that the fasciculations are part of the sensory-motor nerve involvement of PN. I have read (and again I may be wrong) that fasciculations may be the only symptom of motor involvement and there may be no further progression of motor damage/symptoms - which is good news if that is true.

Your post made me laugh,and I appreciate it very much. It's exactly as you say. LOL!

Also thank you to those who sent me a PM, I appreciate it.

Im not sure what SF PN is but I have PN related to diabetes and I too twitch...A LOT somedays....not at all some days. Although it panicked me at first......I have learned to live with it as it is not painful for me, just annoying (and probably a source of humor to others when its going on ini my face!)

--just refers to "small fiber": those nerves that are sensory and/or autonomic and only lightly sheathed, or not at all sheated, in myelin (mostly the latter).

A "samll-fiber" neuropathy--very common for people suffering from vascultiis, autoimmune conditions, or diabetes/impaired glucose tolerance--is simply one in which those are predominantly involved. Since these nerves subsume the sensations of pain and temperature, small-fiber neuropathies typically result in nerve pain, numbness, and temperature disruption sensations.

I suffered only SF neuropathy, autoimmune and monophasic. For 2 and a half years I only had positive sensory symptoms and some autonomic disturbance. I have had amazing recovery from the neuropathy and dramatic improvement in my autonomic system too. Thankfully.

But I have developed fibromyalgia, tender points, and now the twitching. I don't know why I assure everyone I am the poster girl over here for clean living,exercise,and supplements.

I am taking BP meds Beta blockers and Atecand daily. I don't know much about hypoglycemia, but I am not diabetic. Unless one can be hypo and not diabetic??

But I beleive this shiatsu machine has set off my twitching. I just don't understand how massaging the foot...fair enough feet start to twitch,but what about the rest of me? My muscles will twitch at rest too. It's not whole body twitching at the same time,but a twitch here and there, in different spots all the time. But the twitching is in every muscle group. I don't know what this means????? Is this still SF? Is this Fibro?

Boy this is a hard one!

What autoimmune problems do you suffer from....I only ask because I realized an amazing link in terms of my twitching....and autoimmune issues

I was twitching everywhere it made me crazy and I had tremors. And neuropathy as well. And i took propanolol for the tremors it in addition to thryoid meds. I was taking the thyroid meds for my hashi's as i was starting to go hypo thryoid but apparently my gland was not being destroyed uniformly because part was still functioning and the other part was gone.

The more thyroid meds I took the worse i was. But the blood tests showed owtherwise...normal. And my symptoms just kept getting worse. But I did nto connect it to the thryoid or meds.

But it was my thyroid that made me twitch...it truly was causing a lot of problems...my twitching, my muscle weakness and my tremors.

Not to say that yours is similar at all but now that thryoid is gone...tremors and twitching down and almost gone all together.

Doc said I had thyrotoxicosis from my HAshi's and darned if it did not cause a lot of problems. Apparently not a lot of docs recognize it. What I have read about it is that you can test normal but as your thryoid is destroyed and thyroxine is sent into your blood stream unevenly (which is why blood tests can show norrmal) that its like little mini attacks on your muscle and the excess thyroxine changes the muscles from slow twitch to fast twitch and you twitch all over. Doc called it a myopathy. And thyroid problems are known to attacke nerves, especially arm and hand nerves. And tyrotoxicosis also attacks the muscles of the shoulders and legs/pelvis and hands the most. I was also dx with fibro but given the reversal over the last 8 weeks from the surgery I realize it might have been autoimmune all along. My doc gave me this to read.


A clinician may, however, wrongly believe that a patient who is "thyrotoxic" has fibromyalgia. The word "thyrotoxic" refers to tissue overstimulation by excess thyroid hormone. Hyperthyroid patients usually have thyrotoxic muscles. (So do hypothyroid patients who are overstimulated by taking too much thyroid hormone medication.) Weakness is the main symptom of thyrotoxic muscles, and some patients also have muscle pain. It is the patient with both muscle weakness and pain that the clinician may mistakenly diagnose as having fibromyalgia. Pain is the hallmark of fibromyalgia, and most patients also have chronic fatigue. A misdiagnosis is likely if the thyrotoxic patient describes her muscle weakness as fatigue rather than weakness. The clinician may mistakenly consider this evidence of fibromyalgia. The muscle weakness of the thyrotoxic patient, however, is easily distinguished from the general fatigue and low motor drive of the fibromyalgia patient. The fibromyalgia patient’s muscles are usually not weak in relation to her level of physical conditioning. Clinicians, including rheumatologists, must be careful to make this distinction or risk making a misdiagnosis of fibromyalgia.


CHRONIC THYROTOXIC MYOPATHY The symptom onset is very insidious, so much so that patients very often do not notice the wasting or weakness. An average of six months elapses before the diagnosis is made, as the symptoms are subtle and the progress is very gradual. As mentioned earlier, only around 30% of patients complain of neuromuscular symptoms whereas around 80% show muscle weakness on testing. Patients complain of low exercise tolerance, easy fatigability, difficulty in doing certain tasks, muscle stiffness, muscle twitching and sometimes muscle wasting. Shoulder, hand and then pelvic muscles are affected and tasks like climbing stairs, getting up from a low chair or lifting arms above the shoulders become strenuous. Due to the weakness, movements become clumsy and effortful. The degree of wasting varies among individuals.

Anyway please dont take this as me saying in anyway that your problems could be this but I know what that twitching was like and no one could help me with it. It was only after i insisted that they take out my thryoid that it decreased and is going away.

So it might be autoimmune connected. Just wanted to pass along my learning. I also posted a longer thread in the TOS and autoimmune forums of my experience.

Anyway I hope you find some relief.

I don't think I have thyroid problems,it is tested regularly. It seems that too many things can cause neuropathy and also twitching. Too many things to remember and also to many to forget.

Thank you