Muscle twitch/spasm?

    • Anonymous
      March 5, 2010 at 10:21 am

      I have had a lot of muscle twitches, but they are intermittent and have actually been getting better. Now last night while sleeping, I developed one in my arm that is continuous and not going away. Maybe it is a spasm. Is this cause for concern? Any ideas for how to make it go away? Is this a result of possibly overdoing it? It is driving me nuts. (even more nuts than I already am! LOL)

    • March 5, 2010 at 10:43 am

      jessica,
      me again, muscle spasm was on the list to, caused by vit def, will look up particular one after window guys, kev has them too

    • Anonymous
      March 5, 2010 at 11:36 am

      [FONT=”Microsoft Sans Serif”]are you taking prednisone? when i was taking it, i had increasingly intense muscle spasms and charlie horses…[/FONT]

    • Anonymous
      March 5, 2010 at 11:45 am

      No, I am not taking anything except Xanax, ibuprofen and multivitamin. I know I should be taking gabapentin, but I am holding off. Maybe it is the Xanax, now that I think about it. I had stopped for a while and then started up again this week, one a day (.25). It is such a low dose, but that could be it. I think muscle twitches can be a side effect. Another problem is that I do not rest. I am going to try to do that this weekend, and see if that helps. Thanks!

    • Anonymous
      March 6, 2010 at 12:10 am

      My muscles still contract often in tight and painful knots, which I have to deliberately un-contract. At onset it was terrible, like sudden ‘childbirth contractions’ happening in various muscles every few seconds, on and on, for months. Then it lessened after 1 1/2 years. I still have them often enough to cause me chronic pain and exhaustion.
      I used to wake up with my hands contracted in knots, the fingers closed so tightly and curling towards my inner forearms, that I had to push them apart to open my hands and fingers again. Same thing with my feet. Lots of pain.

      Thank God, most of this problem is gone now, and I can bear the pain better.
      It was the worst in my back. I found that massaging the cramps helped them to relax; the hard part was dealing with it at onset, and being wakened from sleep by cramps, or unable to sleep because of cramps, some nights all I did was massage and unlock cramps in my muscles, and it was very exhausting to be without sleep and in pain all of this time for months on end.
      But if I hadn’t done that, I’m pretty sure my muscles would now be in worse condition than they are. Keeping my body warm, using a foam mattress, acetaminophen all helped me to deal with it. It was a grim fight to try to get my muscles under control. I prayed constantly, resolved to live through it.

      The spasms are different. Painful too, like sudden electric shocks, usually smaller (not the slower, radiating pain of the muscle contractions). All normal for GBS. As I understand it, the little electrical shocks are the re-connections happening as the brain checks out the muscle fibers. Some of them are much bigger, in larger bursts. I trust the brain is doing what it is programmed to do to heal itself and the body. But it takes a lot of time for all of this rewiring and rerouting to happen. Some of our muscle fibers are dead, others damaged severely; the brain’s got to deal with all of it; the body’s got to deal with all of it.
      Take good care of yourself; eat well, lots of protein to help with the rebuilding process, lots of rest. Build up your spirits to help you in the healing process; you’re bound to get better.

    • Anonymous
      March 6, 2010 at 2:14 pm

      I spent last night with my hands curled into fists and my feet curled up as close to a fist as my toes could get. It hurt and was difficult to reverse. I got up and walked (in my walker of course – I still can’t walk on my own) and peeled my fingers open. Hand lotion and gloves helped the hands – warm fuzzy socks and massage from a loving husband helped the feet. I take Neurotin with no apologies – and Baclofin for the cramping. I can’t imagine a world without them. I guess this is the world of GBS that we have to learn to deal with – keep moving and it seems to help! And smile – it does help.

    • Anonymous
      March 12, 2010 at 7:52 pm

      Hi, JH…I had “mild” GBS in August 2007. I’ve now changed my own diagnosis to “moderate”. Yes, I had twitches that lasted a week or two, then went away. Nerves regenerate in strange ways. I also have “traveling pins and needles”. I get them when I overdo. I also get them when I get a cold or eat something I’m allergic to. I’m starting to freak less, but just this week I wondered if I was having a recurrence…after almost 3 years. I relaxed after 2 days (wasn’t suffering muscle weakness). GBS…a life altering experience! Oh…I still get twitches. I just got one next to my eye which has lasted 3 days now. Twitch, vibrate, tingle, spasm…tired too soon. That is my “recovered” experience! 😀

    • Anonymous
      March 12, 2010 at 9:00 pm

      JH, I was hospitalized with GBS in 2007, and then again in2008 (possibly CIDP). It’s a slowwww process, built the body does seem to recover. I get painful spasms in my calves at night, and I think it’s because they never seem to relax. Recoverery a from GBS just takes a long time. It did cause me to closely read the book of Job. The good news is that you can recover. Hang in there

    • Anonymous
      March 12, 2010 at 9:26 pm

      Thanks Michael for your words of encouragement.

      Luv2sail, I know exactly what you mean…twitch, tingle, vibrate….it makes me laugh even though it is not funny. 🙂 Funny how we can understand, but noone else probably would.

    • Anonymous
      March 12, 2010 at 11:03 pm

      twitching?? Story of my life. Latetly it has been my lest elbow..very annoying and sometimes painful. I usually take it as a sign I need a treatment. I can be amusing and really freak your friends out. Sometimes I do not even notice until some one mentions it.

      twitching and tingling

      Sonia

    • Anonymous
      March 13, 2010 at 5:14 am

      As others have noted, spasms and cramps are common among those who have had GBS. I get bad ones every 2 – 3 weeks, always at night and mostly in my calves. I have not been able to figure out what may cause them — there seems to be no pattern. I haven’t tried any drugs since in my case I am lucky that they are not frequent.

    • Anonymous
      March 13, 2010 at 9:32 am

      I saw a new neurologist yesterday, this was his explanation of spasms and twitches.
      The brain gives the signal for movements our body makes but the body is receiving broken signals because of damage to the nerves.
      My spasms and twitches happen mostly in the evenings and are worse if I have over done things during the day. Flexeril (not sure of spelling) helped my spasms.
      He explained the loss of balance in a similar way. In our mind we know from pre GBS how to make movement of the legs and where to place our feet with each movement but due to numbness we have lost the sense of touch therefor we have balance issues.

      Shirley

    • Anonymous
      March 13, 2010 at 2:47 pm

      Thanks for the replies.

      Shirley, I like that your neurologist gave you an explanation. I have yet to find a doctor to give me a rhyme or reason for what is going on. My twitches are constant, mostly my legs and arms, but sometimes all over. Mostly, it is like little electrical impulses under the skin, but sometimes I can see them and they will be strong spasms. They seem to be less at night, so my guess is that the more you move, the more you twitch! I had a brief respite for about a week, and then they started up again. I have learned to live with them, and try to enjoy it when I don’t get them!

    • October 29, 2017 at 7:44 pm

      Hi.. guys so i had treatment 3 days ago now.. it was for 4days it seeems it didnt help..Problems walking weakness..And these muscle twitching calfs legs and oh yea now arms..I feel like im radioactive when i sleep hard to get to sleep i put pillow between legs..But so many times awake violently like my bed is moving its crawling its me..My nerves firing off..I know this takes time.. it is causing arguments with my family, my dad, expects a miracle..I ice stretch but to walk i can hardly do that..Im worried i have to go back in two weeks for the ivg for once a week..I feel i should have had 5 days not 4.. signed frusturated..

    • October 29, 2017 at 7:45 pm

      oh i do take gabapentin 3xs a days.. like i cant move if i dont

    • November 13, 2017 at 11:33 am

      For me my doctor advised that I take magnesium which helped with the spasms, buzzing, twitching and so on. Not totally but 50-75% better. Now I take ionic magnesium. I tried many muscle relaxer meds but since the GBS left me with many severe residual issues incl bowel and bladder All of the relaxer meds made it impossible to empty my bladder. Very frustrating. 800 plus milligrams was helpful just be aware that at first a large dose might cause diarrhea at first. But it can work for some. Take care