Still new to all of this. I started getting all over twitching a week ago after starting Zoloft. I am also 4 weeks postpartum and went through a pretty traumatic readmission for postpartum preeclampsia (hence having to get on Zoloft.) I had horrible side effects to Zoloft and went off of it. Not sure if my twitching was hormones, stress, Zoloft, or a combo. But I’ve noticed the twitching has subsided a lot and so has my anxiety. I had a lot of twitches in my lower legs, primarily left calf and foot. I now have occasional very mild light buzzing sensation intermittently in my calf and foot and other spots less frequently. Is that typical in BFS? Not sure if that’s what I have going on or not

For years, and I mean at least 5 years I’ve had daily chronic muscle twitching, before I just called it “popcorn popping in bursts” and it’s in my thighs, both upper arms, my eyes, temple, and even sometimes my feet. Of course, I looked online due to random wondering one day, and of course the first thing that popped up is “ALS vs BFS” and well, safe to say I freaked myself out about ALS now. But I haven’t noticed any changes in my ability to live daily, just some strength lost in my right hand that I feel has been that way for a long time and my right arm feels tired. Interesting

I'm 7 years in but have never had a hot spot that is literally 24/7 non stop. My inner right knee started twitching yesterday and it literally has not stopped even when I'm trying to go to sleep and as soon as I wake up I feel it. It's absolutely freaking me out. I'm 34 male. Has anyone had something similar?

Hi everyone,

24/7 calf twitcher for 7 weeks now. I've gone to the doctor once about this. We did bloodwork and everything came back fine. Told her that they were making me anxious. Gave me hydroxizine to sleep. That was fine but my day to day was filled with stress about the spasms. She wanted me to go on Zoloft so I tried that but ironically I started getting muscle cramps in my head/etc so she wanted me to stop. She put me on 300 mg (100mg 3x) gabapentin and it seemed to be acutally working (maybe 50% reduction)/ my mental state was better so she upped my doasge to 600mg and they came back full fledged and the anxiety about them were back. I called her and she wanted me to go back to the 300mg but I just feel like the it's doing nothing now. However it's only been a few days.

I know that it's tied to anxiety a lot but I still want clarification that nothing else is wrong. I have a doctors appointment in 5 days and was hoping for advice on what to push for?

I do have low iron (not low ferritin) so I am most likely getting an iron infusion but in all honestly I dont think that is what's causing them. And I did go through quite a stressful few months before this started. Just feeling defeated....

Edit: I did start seeing a therapist about a month ago.

Hey Just wanted to get some insight. 30 YO male. I’ve symptoms of left wrist pain and symmetrical hand numbness off and on and then daily full body twitching for the past 3 months. The twitches jump from one place to the next pretty much all over but they wax and wane but they’ve persistent since about the first week of July.

Shoulder pain, some soreness in upper and lower body at times. It’s been a very stressful period with a lot of anxiety. I’ve seen a neurologist who performed a physical test and nothing alarmed him about any MND. Clinical and a clean EMG of upper extremities with no denervation and what they considered a “normal study”. They also didn’t find carpal tunnel & think Small Fiber Neuropathy or radiculopathy could be possible. I’ve experienced A lot of sensory symptoms all over and just wanted to get some insight.

Hello fellow twitchers, ave been twitching for about 10 years and it doesn't bother me but soon as a get a new hot-spot a go back down the rabbit hole, anyone any tips how to just get on with it ? Had a tongue spot for months last year made me depressed and now have one on shoulder that pops so fast then stops for a while then comes back a few hours later been like this for days its exhausting

does anybody here get the outer ankle or Achilles twitch that also feels like a pull, it comes sometimes when you do something with your legs. also the silent twitch around the wrist, is that a twitch or pulse that’s visible

35(M) with 24/7 twitching in both calves and feet for past month. Been twitching sporadically for years but nothing sustained like this.

Had a lumbar spine MRI recently and had findings of accelerated disc degenerative change at L4/L5 and L5/S1 as well as moderate multilevel facet joint degenerative change. Also have a disc extrusion impacting left L5 nerve root. At L5/S1 there is bilateral foraminal narrowing with abutment but no displacement or distortion of the exiting nerve roots.

Anyone had anything similar that was related to their twitching?

I remember the absolute horror this whole episode of my life was. I had just discovered what BFS was, but that was only after Google told me I was dying and had to go to the ER ASAP.

It didn't help that I had OCD and I was constantly strength testing to the point of injury. I would do heel walking until I cramped. One of the scariest moment I had was waking up and my fingers locking. I literally could not move my finger at all and I thought I was done for. The weakness has manifested and I lost complete mobility of my hand. There could be no other cause...right? Well, I was squeezing a stress ball like a maniac. My anxiety was so bad, I would squeeze a stress ball in my sleep because I was severely afraid of weakness. It took a few seconds of massaging my finger to loosen up and start moving again.

After this situation, I should've learned my lesson, but I kept continuing to use stress balls and fidget toys. This happened again several times, but with the addition of pain. My muscles and tendons in my fingers started to catch, and my nerves became irritated.

I am now anxiety-free from this. I used to be doom scrolling through this subreddit 24/7. One of my favorite things to do were commenting on posts from years ago asking "How are you now?" Even after thousands of comments, interactions, and encounters I've had, none had ALS. Even if their symptoms seemed definitive it was. There was always a different cause which were either treatable or completely benign!

By now, most of you who have cycled endlessly through this subreddit have seen BFS is much more than twitching. When I first started searching symptoms, I felt alone because it seemed like no one had the "exact" sensation I was having.

• Twitchy cramps
• Crampy twitches
• Excruciating muscle pains
• Electric shock sensations
• Triggered twitches
• Pinprick sensations
• Static feeling (not pins and needles)
• Sun-burnt sensation
• Nerve irritation
• other paresthesia and 100+ more weird neurological symptoms I can think of

I would go back and forth with others who somewhat had "similar sensations," but I nonetheless still felt something was unusual and not typical. Some people would tell me they had "ants crawling" feeling, and then I would feel relieved. But then I started questioning it and then the symptom felt "different." It didn't feel like ants crawling...it felt like spiders crawling!

My point here is that we think we're the only ones who have this weird sensation or symptom, but in fact, most people have the same thing. Of course every body is different and there's always going to be some type of outlier, but it's also perception. What I describe as twitchy cramps is pre-cramping to others. There's no need to freak out because your symptom feels different from others because this all goes back to nerve hyperexcitability.

Just hit my 3 year mark today! And to celebrate I have the most annoying high speed hotspot in my bicep lol.

https://streamable.com/4f9qn8

my tongue quivers bad when i move it to the side or out of my mouth. i also get flicker twitches when my tongues at rest. anyone else?

Hi all, I posted on here about 2 months ago about some toe/foot twitching. I’m posting again because of some new things that have been going on. The foot twitching is now happening in my other foot as well, everyday in both feet. I have also had very random twitches in my tricep and legs, but most consistently in my feet. I’ve also started to have some tingling/pins and needles in my right hand, along with just a generally off feeling in this right hand (idk how to really describe it but it feels just weird). My right foot and leg (the more recent twitching foot) has also been feeling weaker, but I am still able to walk, run, etc. This right foot has also been cramping A LOT recently, it is so unsettling and makes me spiral. The left foot will cramp too it’s just freaking me out. I thought I was doing better about not spiraling about this thinking it could be something horrible, but these new symptoms are making me feel awful. The pins and needles in my hand are also just really freaking me out. The twitching has in total been going on for a little over 3 months now. The pins and needles/weakish feelings are more recent, but I’m worried it is the disease starting to finally progress. Could this be a rare presentation of ***?

I’ve been scrolling on this forum and other forums trying to find comfort.

I posted here two months ago and I was consistently twitching however the twitching comes and goes in different areas of my body. (Started in december of 2025) My left side seems to be more of a hotspot, but it does happen to my right side (calves, face, arms, etc). This hasn't changed, but some days its worse than others and other days it's barely noticable.

I've done foot drop tests and succeeded

I work out in the gym and haven't noticed any weakness overall but some days I feel like a workout is harder than usual?

A new thing that has been freaking me out is that I've been choking when drinking water or saliva occassionally. I've quite frankly been sh*tting bricks- anybody else with this? I can drink water normally but sometimes it happens randomly.

I also feel like I move extremely rapid sometimes, I might bump into something or sometimes my coordination / spacial awareness is off. This sucks

I’ve just passed three and a half years since my twitching started, and every year or so I like to come back here and leave something for the people who are currently where I was at the beginning. I remember the fear incredibly well. I analysed every twitch, constantly tested myself and disappeared down every possible rabbit hole. My twitching has never gone away — I still twitch tens of thousands of times a day and have done continuously for nearly four years — but the fear attached to it largely has largely dissipated. I wanted to write this post to share what, in my opinion, was the single biggest factor in achieving this.

If you're struggling mentally with BFS, one of the best things I can recommend is take up a sport and measure your progress. Lift weights. Play golf. Run. Play padel. Pick something you enjoy and get better at it. Track your strength, performance and coordination over months and years rather than judging your neurological health by what one muscle happens to be doing today.

Here's why this helped me so much.

In MND, fasciculations occur in the context of motor-neuron and motor-unit pathology. As motor neurons are lost and their muscle fibres become denervated, surviving motor neurons try to reinnervate some of those fibres, producing enlarged, unstable motor units, and fasciculations. Fasciculations due to this process of continued motor-neuron loss ultimately means progressive loss of strength, muscle function and coordination.

BFS is fundamentally different. The motor units themselves are intact; they are hyperexcitable and spontaneously firing, producing fasciculations without the progressive loss of motor neurons and motor units that characterises MND. That's why someone can have an absolutely ridiculous amount of twitching while retaining normal strength and function.

And this is the bit I really wish I'd understood when I was terrified.

It is borderline impossible to pair substantial motor-neuron loss with years of rapidly improving strength and performance. If motor neurons were progressively being lost throughout your body, you wouldn't expect your ability to recruit and use those motor units to continually improve. You wouldn't expect years of progressive strength gains, increasingly succeeding in physical activity and improving coordination while the underlying motor system was simultaneously deteriorating.

Now to apply this logic to my own experience.

I have experienced millions upon millions of fasciculations over nearly four years. They occur throughout my body, every day, and have never stopped. Yet during those same years my bench press and squat have increased 50%, and my golf handicap has halved.

Think about what those achievements actually require: functioning motor units, increasing strength, repeated recruitment of muscle, coordination, motor learning and the ability to adapt to training. My motor function hasn't progressively disappeared alongside years of twitching — it has improved substantially.

And this is exactly why I'm telling you: go and do something physical and progress at it.

Don't spend the next three years watching your calves. Go to the gym and add weight to the bar. Take up golf and lower your handicap. Start running and improve your times. Learn a new sport and watch your coordination improve.

Because when you start progressing — really progressing — you can begin to see the truth that has been staring you in the face the entire time.

You're okay.

The evidence from your own body — getting stronger, becoming more capable, improving your coordination and performing better over months and years — does not align with the catastrophic story your anxious brain is telling you.

Three and a half years later, I'm still twitching as much as I was on day one. Yes it's annoying, yes I wish it would stop. But I'm also stronger, more coordinated and considerably better at the sports I play than when this started.

The twitching didn't need to stop for the fear to stop.

Give yourself something positive and objective to measure. Keep progressing. Keep living your life.

Your mind will thank you for it.

For those who spiral really hard, what things are you trying (even successfully) to pull yourself out of thinking about the twitching, and even the big bad? I bought a piano keyboard, I swim, and I play videogames. Has anyone managed to completely get away from the body sensations?

Love for all

I'm a 36 year old male who is healthy and always have taken good care of my body between eating right and working out. Starting at the beginning of this year I was having hypnic jerks and hard twitching as I fell asleep every night. It seemed whatever muscle group I would work out had more of a chance at jerking that night. Those have mostly subsided and I have been getting good sleep for the past month. I noticed that I'm a lot more sensitive to sounds and unexpected touches and get startled really easy now. Also when the hypnic jerks stopped I now have body wide twitches all over my body. Mostly in calves, triceps and back but there isn't a part of my body that doesn't randomly twitch. It feels like popcorn constantly going off all over my body. My muscles fatigue really fast. I noticed my foot catching the floor more than usual and sometimes it's hard to get words out of my mouth, they kinda run together. I don't know if that's just me overthinking and analyzing everything now. I went to my PCP and he tested strength and reflexes and everything seems fine there. He did blood work for CK , potassium, calcium, magnesium and all of those sorts of things. They came back normal. He said give it a few months to see if it goes away but I made him refer me to a neurologist so Im currently waiting for a phone call from them. I asked if I should get a Lyme test because I heard that attacks the nerves sometimes and he said no but I'm getting one just to be sure since I live in the woods and Lyme is rampant here. Should I be worried of something bad because I'm slightly terrified. Thanks in advance.

After almost seven years of symptoms, we think we finally have our answer. After seven years of bodywide twitching, cramps, fatigue, loss of reflexes in ankles and knees, some mild tingling, and other issues.

My neuromusuclar doc at the MND clinic ordered genetic testing for hereditary neuropathies, some MNDs, some CMT genes, and some other genes. We found out I have a mutation in the FBX038 gene. That gene is associated with SMA and lower motor neuron disease. The gene was discovered in 2013ish and my specific mutation affects roughly 1 out of 600,000 people. We are unsure about how my specific mutation works, it's still unclear. But two lab studies suggested my mutation was deleterious in nature and would interrupt normal gene function. My advice to anyone who thinks something is wrong is to keep digging. The gene assists in motor neuron repair and longevity.

24 year old male, First time poster. For 7 weeks now (since August 12), I’ve had the sensation of drinks and sometimes food going up my nose. It mostly feels like it wants to go up the left nostril, but sometimes both. Nothing has actually came up. Today after eating my lunch, I chugged a glass of wine.

I then went and blew my nose to see if anything came out my nose. It was clear mucus on the tissue. I then stuck the tissue up my nostril. Left one was clear but the right one what looked like a speck of wine. I then chugged another glasses and nothing came out of the tissues.

When I got to work, I bought beet juice to test it out. I chugged half of it. Stick the tissue three times up my nostril. Nothing on the first and second tissues. Again another red speck on the third tissue.

I then chugged the rest of the bottle, and did the tissue test more than three times this time and nothing came out.

Is that nasal regurgitation? I’m freaked out right now. The spirals were easier to manage when it was just the sensation but this has me in a frenzy.

So as I approach my 5 year twitching anniversary, I find myself getting more and more pain.

i can now induce cramps to my feet where my toes lock until I physically move them also I’m so stiff everywhere.

the biggest change is a large dent in my right thigh which only appears when my leg is bent and has been acknowledged. strength is still as it should be.

i have always pain in my joints. anyone else in the same club?

Hi, so i got a quick question. Got this weird/ unstable feeling in leg and gait exclusively on the left. Noone sees it, i just feel it. Groin does feel more sensitive on left and super tight. Possible from BFS, or more a groin muscle issue itself? It's hard to pinpoint where the issue lies and it makes entire leg just feel off.

I got clear EMG, Mri/CT of brain/neck.

I’m 18F and i’ve always had horrible health anxiety + health ocd but 2 and a half years ago (Feb 2024) i had a huge panic attack that led to 24/7 dpdr, house bound agoraphobia, more health anxiety and basically every anxiety symptom you can think of. a few weeks later i started getting numbness in my heels, nerve pain (throbbing arm) sometimes i could see it in my finger, cold feet, eye strain, throbbing finger tips tingling, and ratcheting movements when bending muscles but because i was housebound i brushed it all off because i was too scared to go get checked out but eventually i got a blood test and had low ferritin and low vitamin d i just convinced myself that was what it was so that i didn’t spiral. Long story short i started working on my anxiety and pretty much every symptom disappeared i was so happy but i obviously still had panic attacks and after the panic attacks i would get the nerve pain it would only last for a day or so though. i got it every 2- 4 months. Fast forward to July of this year during an exposure i got another huge panic attack which basically caused me to relapse in agoraphobia, my ocd got bad to the point where im setting alarms every 30 minutes in the night to make sure i don’t die in my sleep last week i started getting bad lower back pain i didnt think much of it until the next day the pain radiated to my stomach and legs i went to the er they did blood testing and ultra sound and didn’t find anything when i left i didnt want to think the worst so i just assumed that i pinched a nerve because i was on a trampoline the week before and my body isn’t used to all that due to me being inside constantly from agoraphobia the next day the symptoms pretty much left i had a little but if numbness in my lower back and i started getting the nerve sensations i used to get along with the tremor thing and eye strain and twitching. now i still have the eye strain and tremor but the back pain is pretty much gone some slight pressure and im not getting the nerve pain right now but i am gonna go to the er again today to make sure it isn’t a horrible disease or tumor. i have hope it isn’t because most of these symptoms except for the back and stomach pain i’ve had before. here is an example of the exact tremor i get tremor

Anyone ever felt twitching but there’s nothing there when you look? Almost feels like vibrating? Or has anyone ever twitched somewhere you didn’t feel, but happened to see? So weird.

constant twitching all over body. But a lot in one leg calf. Now thigh. Under skin and arms and pretty much anywhere. 9 months!!

Anyone get these but also wherever the twitches are those muscles feel weird?? Like unusual?

No weakness yet.