Twitches
 

What causes them, are they part of SFN? Will they get worse? EMG said I did not LFN. I'm having a hard time finding info specifically on twitching, maybe I'm using the wrong word. The twitching is happening where I have symptoms, in my hands and legs. My knee or thumb will sometimes just kind of jerk a little. Not painful, just annoying.

Attending to magnesium may help this. Most people are low
in magnesium.

It may also be your medication. Your drug Trileptal can cause low sodium in the body.

Have you soaked in epsom salts?

SFN and twitches
 

I also deal with Idiopathic SFN and have had the twitches for a year now. It's normal for me anyway. All my blood tests have been normal so I just deal with the twitches. The pain is what is hard to live with.

LillyLee

No, I haven't soaked, but reminded myself this past weekend I needed to. We have a box of salts I need to use. I keep telling myself to put salt on food, I don't use a lot and don't eat a lot of processed food. I will soak tonight. I'll be sure to ask the doc to check the Magnesium level when I get test again.

Thanks Lilly - do you itch too? I've been itching a lot lately, thought it was the pollen, but the itching is getting worse and the flowers on the trees are going away. My allergies are not bad at all this year. So I guess it's sensory issues?

SFN and Twitching
 

Thankfully I don't suffer from allergies. However, the only time I itch is from dry skin. My skin has always been dry, even when I was a kid so when the itching starts I just rub on the hand lotion and that usually does it. My itching isn't caused by the SFN.

LillyLee

Tests in the normal range for magnesium do not necessary reflect what is going on in the tissues.

Very low or very high results in testing are more medically
useful. Very low can cause death or a heart attack. But many studies of patients in the "normal range" have benefited from
magnesium supplements when symptoms are present.
Magnesium will also act as an antagonist to the NMDA pain receptors.

I was looking at the symptoms and fatigue is one of them. Maybe that's why I'm so tired and extra depressed. It's funny that they list both obesity and weight loss as a symptom.

Is the epson salt soak an easy fast way to get the magnesium in? Is there a good supplement that is recommended?

The soaking in epsom salts will deliver some thru the skin.

If you notice an improvement, then you can move on to oral.
Do you eat nuts (almonds), oatmeal, beans, yogurt? These have magnesium in them.

You can use this website to evaluate your food:
http://nutritiondata.self.com/
pay attention to the serving size given in the upper left.
Here is Edamame beans for example:
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/...roducts/9873/2
this is an inexpensive, and tasty way to get magnesium and potassium.

I finally figured out it was hormone imbalance and that was good, balanced now. Magnesium is very important also.

I only eat beans out of that list, yogurt very occasionally, oatmeal only in cookies. I never ever eat nuts. I might have to take the supplements because a lot of the food on that list (on that link you provided) I don't eat. I eat seaweed, and most of the spices, but never enough to matter except maybe the cilantro. Part of the issue is that I just don't eat that much at all. I'll take a look at that site in more detail when I have more time.

Sally - what kind of hormone balance? I think my ovarian cysts have come back because my periods are all whacked up. No pain, so I'm not rushing out the door to get *another* surgery (I've had two so far, 12/10 and 11/11). BC pills don't work with me because I get migraines, so I have to deal with them until, I don't know. It's either that or low progesterone. I'm only 39.

those twitches are called muscle fasciculations. I get them in the muscles in my legs, mostly the calf and often without feeling them.

And twitching--
 

--is unlikely to come from pure small-fiber neuropathy, as twitches happen in muscles and small-fiber neuropathy by definition involves the unmyelinated sensory nerves that control the sensations of pain and temperature.

On the other hand, it is not unusual for those who have small-fiber syndromes to have some large fiber involvement of nerves that control muscle, though it may not be global enough to show up on nerve conduction studies, and that may result in twitching or fasiculations.

I would think, though, that such twitching is more likely due to electrolyte imbalance, which may not even be related to the rest of your condition. Such imbalance is very, very common--Mrs. D has talked about how many of us are probably deficient in magnesium--and supplementing with that, and possibly potassium, is definitely worth a trial.

So say they are from the larger fibers, even though they didn't show up now, I assume it'll show up later as I keep getting worse? The EMG was negative for large fiber, but the doc testing me was bothered that he didn't get the results he expected. *Still* waiting for the referral to UCSF for the biopsy.

Going to hope it's just the magnesium. As Mrs D pointed out, the Trilptal I'm taking does mention the salt thing. Did the soak last night and will keep doing it. How long would it take to notice a difference?

You should notice in a day or two. Longer soaks are better than short ones.

When I was having my lupus reaction to lisinopril, I was having huge muscle contractions in the night...enough to make the bed shake and my covers move. These were not twitches and they didn't hurt either. At first I thought it was our cats playing on the bed, but I never saw or heard them. They were large muscles moving, like in the back and thighs.

I did have a spot in my lower left calf that usually twitched in the mornings, or during fasts for doctor tests. My doctor told me that was a low blood sugar twitch (she observed it one time). But it has gone away as well, since I stopped the evil lisinopril 2 months ago.

Hypoglycemia can cause twitching of muscles.

It was the magnesium. The Epson salt bath totally worked! Thank you :D