Mystery electric jolts and twitches
 

Hi guys, I'm a 36y/o otherwise healthy male living in the tropics of Puerto Rico.

Current symptoms: muscle fasciculations up and down my body, although none above my neck that I can tell. Mild, sometimes disappear for a few hours but mostly ongoing.

In my abdomen and lower abdomen area, it (or something else) feels like someone tapping me with a finger. Several times a day -- and this is the worst by far -- one of these taps will turn into an electric zap / jolt that startles me and has me jump up with a wince, increasing heart rate, etc. This makes it difficult to relax throughout the day.

I can feel the twitches / bumps more when laying down, so I'm a bit scared of going to bed at night because they either become more noticeable or just get worse.

I have a 2-month history of dealing with this. It started off pretty bad with huge electric jolts every few minutes that decreased in frequency over time and went away almost completely after a few weeks (I've also made huge diet changes that now exclude dairy / gluten / processed foods / etc).

For about 2 weeks the fasciculations also went away, but now they're back along with a miniature version of the jolts. Rather than posting my entire wall-of-text history of dealing with this, I just wanted to know if ANYONE out there experienced something similar?

Suffice it to say I have been to several ERs (bloodwork and abdomen CT is fine, take some Valium and see a neuro), neurologists (your neuro exam is normal), GIs (no parasites in stool, but you have scar tissue from 35 years ago in your lower abdomen, let's do all kinds of crazy colonoscopies and tests which I passed on), etc and everyone has their own opinion but nobody has diagnosed it. My stomach / digestion / everything is completely fine. The valium really helped once or twice when I needed it, but makes me super sleepy and I want to fix the underlying problem instead.

I can't be the only one to experience these symptoms...?

Hi slay2K,

I didn't have the fasciculation's, but I DID have the miniature electric shocks, that seemed to come from my head or neck.

They happened every minute or more, in a series, for years and years. And now they're GONE.

Now I have many other neurological problems but it wasn't until I read your post that I realized that my miniature electric shocks are gone.

I think they left because the area in my neck where they started is now 'unresponsive" in both nerve and muscle (dead).

Just 'relax' and enjoy the ride. You have something going on and medical science isn't at the point where it can clearly define what it is, slay2K.

I know you are afraid, as is normal. Fear is our worst enemy, but it can help us be persistent in our efforts to get answers.

Hugs, Elaine

Welcome to NeuroTalk...

Have you been tested for the Zika virus?

It is thought to be very damaging to the nervous system and brain.

Zika: The Epidemic at America's Door - Rolling Stone

Thanks for bringing that up, mrsD, but although I suspect this could be viral (neurotoxic) in nature, I don't think it is Zika / Dengue / Chikungunya (prevalent in Puerto Rico) for the following reasons.

1. Zika is asymptomatic in 80% of infected people
2. Zika only lasts a week in the blood so getting a test now would be fruitless as my symptoms started months ago
3. Zika's primary symptoms in the 20% of cases are things like fever, nausea, skin rash, joint pain or swelling, none of which I have had.
4. There's no evidence of Zika causing fasciculations / muscle twitches / electric shocks in a person, which are my main complaints.

I wish it was as easy as identifying a virus and just waiting it out. Ciguatera is actually closer in nature to what I have -- a fish neurotoxin that affects the gut. But I haven't eaten any fish here so there'd be no way for me to get it, and I don't have the classic cold/hot reversal symptoms. However the idea of a neurotoxic virus makes sense to me since my symptoms did improve over time (with the exception of the current "flare-up" state).

Hi Elaine,

Thank you for sharing your experience and I'm sorry about things going unresponsive on your end. Your shocks seemed different in the sense that mine don't feel like they come from the neck or head -- they're just twitches like the fasciculations in my legs and elsewhere. Except a small percentage of the time and primarily in my abdominal areas they have some "electric power" to them that startles me and makes me wince.

You're right about being persistent. I am pretty determined to get to the bottom of this, one way or another.

Hi Slay,

I don't know if this is good or bad news for you, but none of the symptoms you mention are unfamiliar to me. I have near-constant fasciculations in my legs, and the rest of my body is not immune to them, especially my back muscles.

Beyond that, I have widespread, "inappropriate" sensations that I describe as water dripping on me, feathers being dragged over my skin, socks being bunched up between my toes, stinging, zapping, burning, rushes, tightening in my temples, and the list goes on... And yes, my heart rate increases as well.

I strongly recommend you get some of this stuff to see if helps with the twitches. It definitely dialed mine back a good notch, but wasn't a complete cure. Still, it was a noticeable help and worth it. This is the generic version of a supplement called Slow-Mag.

Amazon.com: Special Pack of 5 -MAG 64 535MG RISI 6TB Rising PHARMACEUTICALS: Health & Personal Care

I know you probably feel crazy with all the symptoms you're having, but trust me, you're completely normal here.

:grouphug:

Hi janieg, thanks for that!

Out of curiosity what's your serum magnesium level showing? I've been at a steady 2.20 on a normal range of 1.5 - 2.5.

I have some "Natural Calm" magnesium citrate powder that is gluten-free / vegan / non-GMO. Haven't been taking it religiously because I'm not showing all that low in serum, and because I didn't wanna be high in magnesium since that can actually cause twitching.

It doesn't look like the one you posted is gluten free which may be a problem for me, so I wonder how different they are in function.

Please let me know how long it took before you noticed a relief in symptoms, and thank you again!

I've not had my serum magnesium tested. I checked all tests run, and that was never one of them. No doc has ever batted an eye at my supplementation, but at my annual physical next month, I was going to ask for a full battery of electrolyte testing run. It looks like most are covered in the annual bloodwork done, but magnesium isn't.

I noticed an improvement pretty quickly. The twitching in my legs was unbelievable when this first hit, especially after exercise, so the improvement was noticeable. Like I said before, I still have that symptom, but it's greatly reduced.

I'm in the middle of a multi-week flare like I haven't had in a long time, and I just broke down and ordered a TENS device. I'll be reporting back on how/if it works.

Please do. Hope you feel better.

For those who think magnesium "isn't working" when orally taken, you might consider topical forms.

Areas under stress may have poor blood flow (constricted vessels) so the magnesium may not get into the tissues well.

Kirkman magnesium cream applied to the specific areas of the muscle twitching, may work better. Don't apply this all over the body in one application. Instead focus on an area only and rotate to another area the next day. Stress and inflammation do affect blood flow...and topically magnesium may get in better than oral.

A good test of this is a lukewarm tub of water, with epsom salts added. This usually relaxes stress and helps the body return to a more normal state.

This is how Zika is tested for. The virus leaves antibodies behind after the infection. It is those that are tested for:
Diagnostic Testing


| Zika virus | CDC

You don't need to have symptoms of Zika to have it. The damage it does is internal and may not show clinically.
It is something to consider in your case... with a sudden onset.

Zika has been reported to damage the peripheral nerves, and in severe cases, causes Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS)which is a severe peripheral neuropathy. It also has been suggested to cause CNS damage and spinal damage.
Zika and Guillain-Barre Syndrome | Zika virus | CDC

There'''s More Evidence Zika Goes Straight to the Brain - NBC News

Each day there are new reports of the damage this virus causes, so one needs to keep up with it all.

Thanks MrsD for this information!
 

2 potential cases of locally acquired cases have just been reported in my county. I will have to start using protection when I go outside since Mosquitoes that spread Zika virus bite mostly during the daytime. It's not like I can just avoid going out at night.:yikes:

My serum magnesium came back 2.1 with reference range of 1.6-2.3.

I take two Mag 64 supplements daily.

Calcium 224 mg 22% RDA
Magnesium 128 mg 32% RDA
Chloride 374mg 11% RDA

This has been a fascinating series of posts. I have had the fasiculations mostly in my legs for 14 years. It started about the time I started developing the strange symptoms in my feet finally diagnosed as axonal loss polyneuropathy just last week after an EMG. My neurologist essentially blew off my years of fasiculations as "inherited, certainly not ALS." I knew they were not ALS, having had them for 14 years. Come on. I find the fasiculations "go nuts" after certain sorts of exercise and other times, like right now, just sit there and flutter at a low level. I am rarely without them, but I have never had them with "electric shocks" as mentioned in the initial post. I will leave that to my largely dead feet and ankles with the random electric shocks and zaps.

Yeah, I've more-or-less accepted that nobody else in the world has my symptoms, but I'm continuing to eliminate possibilities every week and keeping detailed logs of my experience with the hopes of helping someone else one day.

The jolts only happen about once a month now. The latest things bothering me have been a) "baby kicks" in my lower abdominal area, typically lower right quadrant and b) upper back pain that gets worse w/ driving and better w/ massage and c) feeling weak (not clinical weakness) / fatigue.

I was told by a reputable doctor that these "baby kicks" must be abdominal wall muscle and not intestinal spasms, because I can easily see them. They make it hard to go to sleep sometimes.

Speaking of which, I've finally taken a mag supplement and not gotten diarrhea, so there's hope in that approach and I will continue to experiment w/ various types (e.g. Magnesium Malate, Chelated, etc) to see how my body reacts.

Now wouldn't that be a nice and easy solution?

Hi Slay,
I just wanted you to know you are not alone with these symptoms. I also have normal magnesium levels and I've tried every form of high quality supplement and get no improvement. I have twitches, jolts, electric shocks. I won't go on with my list of everything else, because it's too long and my diagnosis is at a dead end right now. They know for sure that I have polyneuropathy due to finding nerve damage by biopsy and doing tilt table test. I also have the fascilations in my abdomen that are so strong that it does look like a baby is kicking.

I also get plenty of fasciculations, including baby kicks. I also have various other symptoms. Had the baby kicks last night in fact. You're not alone.

Thank you for sharing that, healthgirl.

Can you tell me how long you've been struggling w/ this and if there's any correlation to an infection (or taking antibiotics) at the start of it? What do your jolts / shocks feel like and where / how-often do you get them?

That's nuts. I'd love to hear about all your symptoms to see if we can find some more things in common (see the questions I asked Healthgirl above as well). What have you tried? What improves and worsens things, etc?

If you search under my name, you'll find all that information. Here is the 'my story' bit, which might be useful: http://www.neurotalk.org/peripheral-...sfn-story.html.

For me, a paleo (most of the time paleo ketogenic) diet and stress reduction are essential. Without the diet, I would not have been able to stop the progression or at least even slow it down. The moment I go off my diet I feel it. For example, for me gluten is poison and the symptoms just explode if I touch it. I basically have a diet akin to the autoimmune protocol described by the Paleo Mom, but something I really keep down or even out the fruit to achieve ketosis. I also use all sorts of supplements, some of which are vitamin D3, benfotiamine, natural vitamin c (not ascorbic acid), B12, NAC, digestive enzymes, folate and others.

Hope that helps!

Very interesting, thank you for sharing.

Electric shock
 

Hello,

I am new to this site. I wanted to share my symptoms to see if anyone has experienced the same feelings.

I am 45 years old. Two years ago I was told I had Mild Degenerative Disc Disease, which apparently is quiet common and was told not to worry, but to just exercise and eat healthy etc. A year ago I was diagnosed with Carpal tunnel in both wrists. My hands would become numb when typing, holding or holding my cell phone, even holding a pen for more that a minute. Now I am getting pain in my knuckles and get the occasional shooting ache from my hand to wrist.

Over the past 6 months I have had tension in my neck and jaw pressure (no pain), headaches, ankle tension and pain when walking, and most recently, numbness in my left toes and strange shock like sensations in my front shin area when I flexed my foot upwards.

I asked my doctor for xrays or ultrasound or something that would help me figure out what this is. I assume it is nerve related, but I am pre-diabetic and was told to lose a little weight and change my eating patterns.

I will request to see a neurologist and/or rheumatologist, but in the meantime, I would like to know if anyone else has experienced these shock sensations in the shin area. It doesn't hurt. It's mild and doesn't last long. If anyone can relate please post a message. Thanks.

Such sensations--
 

--are very common among those with dysfunctional nerves, whether from compression of the spinal nerve roots or from more peripheral causes. And, one can have more than one issue contributing to it; there is a phenomenon known as "double crush" in which nerves already compromised by some systemic cause, such as glucose dysregulation, then gets compressed and produces symptoms seemingly more than the sum of the parts.

Odd sensations caused by spinal problems can be exactly the same as those caused by more peripheral causes. They can run the gamut from pulses, jolts, burning pain, numbness, tingles, or several of these combined--as individual as the person.

It does seem, though, that you are at a very early stage into investigation into this. You were told you have mild disc degenerative disease--which IS very common--but has it progressed to nerve compression? Have you had any imaging for that lately? Other tests to determine blood sugars, other metabolic issues?

There are so many neuropathy causes that a while ago one of our board stalwarts here tried to put together a comprehensive list of tests that one might need to try to determine a cause--they can still be found here:

Liza Jane's Neuro Lab Sheets

You might want to look this over and see what you've had (and always keep copies of test results). The format is also a good one to track results over time, to see if there are discernable patterns.