INVOLUNTARY MUSCLE TWITCHING

Involuntary muscle twitching is a common symptom people experience. In medical terminology, this muscle twitching is known as muscle fasciculation or myoclonus.

Your muscles are made up of little fibres, each one of them controlled by nerves. When these nerves are irritated, or damaged, you may feel involuntary muscle twitching or what we call as myoclonus or muscle fasciculation.

Myoclonus itself is not a disease, but may be a sign of some other condition you may be suffering from. Or this involuntary muscle twitching might even be because of something as normal as overexertion.

causes of involuntary muscle twitching

causes of involuntary muscle twitching

OVEREXERTION

When you exercise for a long period, your muscles get tired just like your body and mind does. This overexertion causes muscle fatigue, which basically is a term for the situations when your muscles can no longer work well because of the exhaustion.

This muscle fatigue itself may cause involuntary muscle twitching. Another reason would be when you exercise, you sweat a lot. This makes electrolytes in your body to decrease. These electrolytes are important to keep your muscle functioning in check. Hence, when you workout for longer periods, or perform any exercise for long durations, you may feel involuntary muscle twitching. This twitching may particularly be felt in legs, that too in calf muscle area.

 

STRESS AND ANXIETY:

If you are someone who is always stressed and is suffering from anxiety, this might the cause of your involuntary muscle twitching.

Anxiety and stress put a lot of pressure on your body, including nerves and muscles. This causes your muscles to misbehave, somehow. Hormone rush and extra blood flow caused by anxiety further tenses your muscles, causing them to twitch.

Furthermore, adrenaline provides the muscles with a lot of energy, which might sometimes be manifested as involuntary muscle twitching.

 

SLEEP DISORDERS

For our nerves to send signals to the muscle fibres to work well we have neurotransmitters in our brain that deliver the information to the nerves so as to have a proper muscle contraction.

If you are someone who doesn’t sleep well, you might experience involuntary muscle twitching as the neurotransmitters are affected by less sleep. Eyelid muscle twitching is commonly experienced because of inadequate sleep.

 

MINERAL AND VITAMIN DEFICIENIES

Muscles need calcium for proper functioning and contractions. If you have low levels of calcium in your body, condition known as Hypocalcemia, you may experience involuntary muscle twitching.

But this calcium doesn’t work alone, another mineral known as magnesium, is needed to carry this calcium to your muscles and nerves for them to work properly. When magnesium level in your body drops, condition known as hypomagnesemia, calcium can no longer be carried to your nerves and muscles. This may cause your muscles to twitch.

Another important thing for your calcium to be absorbed is vitamin D. In case of vitamin D deficiency, calcium in your body cannot be absorbed, leading to involuntary muscle twitching.

 

MEDICATION OVERUSE

 

Caffeine and amphetamine, if taken in higher amounts, may cause involuntary muscle twitching. These are called stimulants, and cause overactivity of muscles.

 

AUTOIMMUNE DISORDERS

Autoimmune disorders are conditions where your body attacks itself by mistaking it as a harmful thing. Your immune system may attack your nerve cells, or your muscles thereby causing you muscles to involuntarily twitch.

Lupus is one such autoimmune disorder where your immune system may attack nerve cells, or other things needed to keep your muscle functioning in check.

Another autoimmune disorder that causes involuntary muscle twitching is multiple sclerosis. In multiple sclerosis, your nerve fibre may be damaged. This causes your nerves to misfire, causing muscle fibres to contract vigorously in turn.

Isaacs syndrome is another autoimmune condition where your nerves become over-excited and misfire (that too continuously). This causes your muscles to contract, making you experience involuntary muscle twitching.

Symptoms that might take your mind to autoimmune diseases are:

• Continuous muscle twitching.
• Rash on skin.
• Numbness (particularly on one side).
• Blurred vision.
• Speech issues.
• Rapid heartbeats.
• Excessive sweating.

 

AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS

It is a condition that damages your nerve cells, thereby causing muscles to dysfunction.

Involuntary muscle twitching might be one of the first manifestations of this disease. Some other manifestations are:

• Speech issues.
• Numbness in limbs.
• Inability to maintain balance.
• Behavioral changes.
• Disturbed ability to concentrate, or focus.
• Difficulty walking.

It is mostly hereditary, that is, you inherit this disease from your family. Moreover, smoking or exposure to toxins and chemicals might trigger this condition in case you have a genetic predisposition.

In later stages, ALS paralyzes all the muscles causing breathing, speaking, and eating problems.

 

NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurological disorder that causes brain atrophy (your brain shrinks), and your brain cells die. People with Alzheimer’s tend to forget things, which eventually progresses to dementia.

Symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease are:

• Muscle twitching.
• Memory issues.
• Inability to think or make decisions.
• Mood swings.
• Problem in sleeping.

Parkinson’s disease is another neurological disorder that causes your muscles to twitch involuntarily. In this condition, it is difficult to control your movements. If you have Parkinson’s disease, you may feel tremors, you will find it difficult to walk, inability to maintain balance, and have memory problems.

Symptoms of Parkinson’s disease include:

• Involuntary muscle twitching.
• Bradykinesia- movements are slowed down.
• Stiff muscles.
• Inability to maintain balance or walk.
• Handwriting changes – becomes smaller, which might make reading it difficult.
• Disturbance in sleep.
• Inability to think or focus on a thing.

 

MUSCLE DYSTROPHY

It is a group of diseases causing muscle weakness and abnormal muscle functioning. Some of the diseases that come under muscle dystrophy are Duchenne type, Becker, Myotonic, Facioscapulohumeral, or Congenital.

All these diseases might cause your muscles to twitch involuntarily. Symptoms include:

• Difficulty walking.
• Muscle pain.
• Involuntary muscle twitching.
• Problem in swallowing.
• Heart problems.
• Problems in vision.

EPILEPSY

If you have a diagnosed condition of epilepsy, you are at a risk of experiencing muscle twitches. In case you don’t have a diagnosis, focus on the below mentioned symptoms, and when seen visit a doctor:

• Jerks that are uncontrollable.
• Confusion that lasts temporarily.
• Staring spell.
• Loss of awareness.
• Anxiety or fear.

 

Diagnosis

Your doctor will ask you questions about this muscle twitching that you have been experiencing. They may ask about the exact day it started, when does it occur more frequently, how does it feel, and how do you deal with it. If the doctor sees no danger signs in your history, this muscle twitching probably is because of something non-serious.

But, if they see something serious, they may order some tests to evaluate your condition. Some important tests for you doctor to diagnose your condition are blood tests, urine tests, an EEG (electroencephalogram), EMG (electromyography), or imaging tests.

 

Treatment

Because this involuntary muscle twitching is usually because of non-serious causes, home remedies might help you get rid of this uncomfortable, and probably painful, condition. Some of the home remedies that might help you are as follows:

• Eating balanced diet.
• Exercising reasonably.
• Keep yourself hydrated.
• Keep your electrolytes in check.
• Getting enough sleep.
• Managing stress (yoga, meditation, or activities that make you feel good).

If you feel any unusual symptom with this muscle twitching, you will have to undergo a proper medical check-up. Based on your diagnosis you doctor will prescribe you with the medicines, thereby relieving you off this muscle twitching.

 

When to see a doctor

If your muscle twitches go away very soon, and stay just for a brief time, it is mostly because of something very benign. In case you see your symptoms worsening, progressing, or you experience some new symptoms, visit a doctor.

Symptoms that you must not ignore and must see a doctor are as follows:

• Difficulty walking.
• Problems in vision.
• Problem in swallowing.
• Heart problems.
• Memory issues.
• Inability to think or make decisions.
• Mood swings.
• Problem in sleeping.
• Numbness (particularly on one side).
• Blurred vision.
• Speech issues.

 

Take away

We all experience involuntary muscle twitching without any serious cause. Most of them are caused by non-serious causes (such as dehydration, lack of sleep, mineral or vitamin deficiency, or overexertion), that can be managed at home and prevent by making lifestyle changes, getting proper sleep, and eating healthy.

Rarely, these muscle twitches are caused by serious conditions (most of which are explained in the article). For such cases, whenever you see your symptoms getting worse, when this muscle twitch affects your daily life, or you experience new symptoms (like memory issues, inability to think or make decisions, mood swings, problem in sleeping, numbness, blurred vision, speech issues, fever, seizure), see a doctor.

Based on your symptoms, and history, your doctor will diagnose your condition, and treat you accordingly. Some diseases like ALS or MS are not curable, but the symptoms can be managed by the right treatment so that you live a life of good quality.