I have muscle twitches and jumps in different parts of my body nearly constantly, and they drive me crazy. Common locations are my eyebrows (really annoying) and shoulders.
First, what causes them? I could assume some form of malnutrition, possibly some sort of metal like potassium or iron, although I am a high school student who slept through biology, so a real answer would be helpful.
Second, how do I prevent them and/or stop them once they begin? Preventing them should be easy based on the answer to the first question, but stopping existing ones is harder. Massaging them doesn’t work, neither does punching them (although I haven’t tried giving myself a black eye yet).
These could really be anything. The differential diagnosis might include things like calcium deficiency, Tourette’s syndrome, multiple sclerosis, myoclonic epilepsy, blepharospam, oromandibular dystonia or (most likely) simple transient tics:
“Repetitive twitching movements of the face, neck or hand are part of our normal motor gestures. Patietns or their relatives seek advice about them when they become too frequent or irritating.”
Best to see a doctor and get the bloodwork done if this has been a persistent problem.
It isn’t Tourette’s, MS, or epilepsy. I’ve never heard of the other two. The only thing that makes me think that it is some sort of deficiency is how random it is. It isn’t like a facial tic where it is repetitive and usually not very mobile. I can have one in my eyebrow one minute, and a few minutes later it is in my calf. They don’t really seem to be causing damage, and I can tolerate them, they are just a little annoying. Thanks for the help.
I’d be willing to bet if you had your blood tested for calcium, magnesium, electrolytes and creatinine (phospho)kinase, all of them would be normal. But it’s probably still worth doing.
