Hope this is helpful. It seems to me that i used to get muscle spasms after first starting either mtx or pred, not sure which one and not even sure if it was then, generally in my, i think, right arm and so anoying, my left eye lid.
LEV levlarry39396.6574652778OOOOOO what a good question. I don't know....all I can offer, is what happens to me.
The 3 most common places for me to twitch are : Face, Knee, and lower back. My face- eye lid, corners of mouth, cheek, and a few other spots - twitch when I am tired, aggitated(sp) or my jaw is acting up (ra related!!) My Knee twitches when it's swollen, near as I can tell that's from the swelling pressing on nerves. Also RA related! My lower back however, is a completely DIFFERENT kind of twitch/spasm. Actually, I think that would be the actual definition of a spasm, as it causes me to stop completely what I'm doing until it subsides. Where as the other ones, I can do what I need to without them interfering. There is a slight suspicion that I have Fibro, but it just never adds up in the end, so I would account all of mine to the RA.
*however* The idea that your body is lacking some type of electrolytes(sp) would make sense especially with my face twitches. Since they're when I'm tired or aggitated, etc etc, I'm sure there's a good chance I'm also low on something I need. Cat: Welcome! I love your name, very clever. So your doctor thinks spasms can be RA related...interesting. I'm surprised your doctor hasn't taken you off the MTX. I was told 9 months is the outside length of time to determine if it's going to work. Glad your doctor is trying something else, though.
Lev, that's a good site. Thanks. My muscle spasms started long before the MTX so no relationship there. Sometimes it feels like a fluttering, especially right the elbow joint where I don't think there is a muscle, just skin. But it feels like a spasm sometimes too. And it can be at the oddest places, like over the collar bone on my left side. There definitely is a link to exercise or exertion in some way. So, back to the fluttering. Is that what inflammation feels like? What does inflammation feel like to others?
Katie, that's interesting about swelling maybe causing twitching, spasms, etc. I wonder if that's true. It makes sense to me. I'm fortunate that these spasms, twitches, flutterings don't cause any pain, it just feels weird and aches a little sometimes, and doesn't stop me in my tracks. You sound like you've got a more aggressive thing going on there.
Thank you for your responses. Jesse,
Here is the link to the doctors lounge. Maybe it would be better to go there and search under your condition and then look for muscle spasm, and yes what a great site this is, others would do well to put it in their favorites, my opinion. Good luck.
LEV
http://www.doctorslounge.com/ levlarry39396.6725462963Hey Lev, I just took a closer look at the site and it has some great information there! I put it on my Favorites list. Thanks so much. Whoops it looks like we were posting at the same time. Yes, I plan to do a lot of research on that site. Thanks again.
Oh, another thing about the exercise. I'm not talking about anything major here or major exertion. Any minor movement other than what I would normally do is punishable by spasm/flutter etc. Also, I pop all kinds of vitamins and eat lots of bannanas so that narrows it down too, I think. Me still thinks it has something to do with the disease process. Jesse8839396.6753125Stange, you know,
Before I got this crazy disease, when i got a stomach ache, i had a stomachache. When I used to get a headache, no big deal, i had a headache, but now, every pain i get is a major worry to my mind, it's amazing the changes that this disease has made to my body, soul and mind. Let me just say that before getting this disease, i thought that my stomach was at the lower part of my abdomen. I don't know why i thru that in, oh well.
LEV levlarry39396.6884722222No Lev, I get what you're saying. Before you're sick with something that seems to be all over your body, you don't really notice your body parts. Not like you do when you're sick a lot. But when you have to learn so much about how your body functions and such, you start realizing what aches and pains and illnesses "could be" and it makes the worry a bit greater. And you also learn a whole lot more about the anatomy!!! I know I have.So true. And it's a fine line between being proactive, knowledgable and in control of our disease and becoming a hypochondriac. But how do we know if we can safely ignore new/different symptoms (if they are symptoms; maybe they're nothing of concern) or if that new itch, twitch, ache, rash, etc. is the result of the disease(es) or of one of the lovey, toxic drugs we're forced to ingest? Certainly we can be excused for being a bit of a worry wart, but for our own good and sanity it's in our best interest to keep the worries under control. Easier said than done. Hi, it seems to me we have a lot of time to worry. We are 'waiting' for the drugs to work for us and are told it can be (6 months for me) or 3 months? Who knows. mean while we are in pain, stiffness, swollen , etc. Should we get a diff drug? (I was ready to give up on Remicade at 3 months! THIS isn't working, I tell my doctor) One more month he'd say, keep taking the prednisone to stay comfortable! Ya right!!,
So folks if you feel uncertain, you are worrying about doing the right think I believe you have every reason to feeeeel that way. This forum lets us sort all of this out on an daily, hourly basis.
be patient I was told over and over! I tried but it was very difficult! I seem to have made it a little bit. I feel better everyday, (except on the dumb days after mtx!! ...another story),
Don't be hard on yourselves, especially here! We are listening. Lynda
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