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Neurological Diseases and Disorders: What is benign fasciculation syndrome?

  • Describe the neurological condition and the theories behind the causes of benign fasciculation syndrome.  Wikipedia claims that there is really not a consensus on the true cause of this condition.  There also does not seem to be a consensus on treatment i.e. what works for some people does not work for others.

  • Answer:

    Benign Fasciculation Syndrome is essentially what it sounds like - sporadic fasiculations (muscle twitches) that can appear anywhere on the body. These are not usually seen on an EMG. It is a type of peripheral nerve hypersensitivity, whereby motor nerves are essentially responding to electrical noise. Other disorders in this family include Neuromyotonia and Morvan's Syndrome. It may, in fact, be a mild form of these disorders. Little research has been done on the disorder because it is considered to be benign. Relative to other disorders that's true but perhaps not so in practice. Individuals may pursue many diagnostic treatments before determining that they have this disorder, which wastes time/money and could expose the patient to harm (biopsies and radiation for example). Perhaps more importantly, they can interfere with sleep quality. It is anecdotally associated with stress and anxiety. It is a relatively rare disorder with an incidence only a few cases for every million people. Personally, I think there's something to this theory but not in terms of emotional stress like many would assume. My theory is that many of these are due to undiagnosed sleep apnea, which is also a chronic stress disorder (fight or flight response on every apnea, hundreds of times a night, every night, for years). It is suspected to be autoimmune in origin, with 40% of patients testing positive for anti-VGKC (test can be ordered from Mayo clinic). A second auto-antibody is suspected to exist but hasn't been identified yet. The disease may come and go in individuals. For some it may stay for a few years and then go away, never to return. Some may see it return a decade or two later. Others will never see remission. For more information, check out http://aboutbfs.com

Uri Moszkowicz at Quora Visit the source

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Benign fasciculation syndrome (muscle twitch) is a neurological disorder that affects parts of the brain, spinal cord, and nerves. Neurological disorders in general can be mild or quite severe, depending on their cause. In some cases, neurological disorders are not associated with another condition. In benign fasciculation syndrome, the muscles rapidly contract and relax, causing the muscle to twitch. It is considered a less severe but highly annoying neurological disorder.Benign fasciculation syndrome (BFS) is the occasional or nearly continuous twitching of voluntary muscles. There are many reasons for muscle twitches ranging in severity, including http://www.belmarrahealth.com/multiple-sclerosis-vs-als-differences-in-symptoms-causes-and-treatment/. In BFS, the cause is often not serious and not associated with a disease, disability, or injury, hence the term benign. Even though the cause may not be serious, it doesn’t change the fact that it can be quite annoying to live with.The exact cause of BFS is still unknown, but there are theories that may help explain some of the root causes. Causes of BFS may include overexertion of the muscle, chronic organophosphate poisoning (additional research is required to further investigate this cause), taking certain drugs like anticholinergics (e.g., diphenhydramine), opiates (e.g., morphine), a http://www.belmarrahealth.com/symptoms-and-causes-of-magnesium-deficiency/, neuropathies, anxiety, regular strenuous exercise, ADHD and drugs to treat the condition, and essential tremors that are not associated with a disease.Source: http://www.belmarrahealth.com/benign-fasciculation-syndrome-muscle-twitch-symptoms-causes-and-natural-treatment/

Anita Cote

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