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Muscle Twitching and Nerve Stabbing Pains

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  • Muscle Twitching and Nerve Stabbing Pains

    Hi All....I am starting a new thread here to ask if anyone out there might have had similar sensations I am experiencing. The sensations I am experiencing are muscle twitching like the twitching you get in your eye sometimes but this occurs throughout my whole body. Over the past years, I have had spells that did not last long but now they really seem to have intensified. Also, I experience what I call hornet/bee stings and they can occur anywhere in my body. I have been consumed with fear of MS, ALS or Parkinsons. But also, it could be benign fasculations or maybe it could be side effects of a medication I am taking. The drug I am suspicious of is lexapro that I was put on probably 7 years ago when out of the clear blue I started having panic attacks when I had scheduled back surgery. The lexapro was a Godsend and took that fear away but now I am trying to wean myself off this drug to see if it is the culprit. I also take 1/2 pill of Vicodin a day and lyrica. I hope I am not breaking any posting rules here with this concern. Hope you can share if you have had any similar sensations.

    Patty
    1963 Fusion T4-L2 for congenital scoliosis. It was a bone graft and not instrumentation
    1989 to Present....Have had chronic pain. MRI's show severe neural foraminal stenosis L2-S1, rotational scoliosis lumbar spine over 40 degrees, compression of nerve roots L5-S1, Broad Based Herniations L4-L5, L5-S
    Surgery scheduled with Dr. Bridwell on December 11, 2012
    December 11, 2012 Had surgery with Dr. Bridwell. He fused L4-L5 with rods and screws.

  • #2
    Patty,

    I don't know about the stings, but the twitches can definitely come from weaning off Lexapro and/or Vicodin. I don't know much about Lyrica. Anxiety can also cause twitches.

    Best,
    Evelyn
    age 48
    80* thoracolumbar; 40* thoracic
    Reduced to ~16* thoracolumbar; ~0* thoracic
    Surgery 3/14/12 with Dr. Lenke in St. Louis, T4 to S1 with pelvic fixation
    Broken rods 12/1/19; scheduled for revision fusion L1-L3-4 with Dr. Lenke 2/4/2020
    Not "confused" anymore, but don't know how to change my username.

    Comment


    • #3
      hi yacpatty
      have you called surgeon's office to consult with them...?
      or do you have a pain doctor you can make an appt with
      to talk to about it...?
      i worked as a drug counselor in social work for years...
      but do not know as much about weaning off antidepressants...
      perhaps it would be best to talk to a professional in medicine
      who can discuss the facts with you...??

      hope you feel better soon...
      jess...and Sparky

      Comment


      • #4
        Patty,
        I haven't had surgery. I have what I call stabbing pains (more dull than a stab but more painful somehow) that occur randomly in different parts of my body. They can happen anywhere but are most common in my right middle toes the most and my legs in random places. These pains are very intense, like a 9 or 10 out of 10. They aren't constant but feel like repeat stabs. The episodes usually last for several minutes, stabbing that will hold for about two seconds with about a second break in between, so is not correlated to my heart beat. They will sometimes just quit or quit for a few minutes and then come back. On bad days, I will have them off and on all day. I haven't had them lately, but my pain meds were doubled (for another reason). I have no idea what causes them and neither do my doctors. It is very debilitating when it happens. It seems strange to hear someone else talk about this and this is the first time I've disclosed this on the forum. I kind of thought I was the only one with this. I don't think it's related to my back. Does this seem to be what you are talking about, especially the "stabbing pains"? Do yours pulsate not in rhythm to your heart as well? I worry because my dad died of some kind of dystrophy and my sister has symptoms with her legs as well (mostly tingling for her, I think). I don't know if it's my current meds but I'm glad I haven't had them for awhile.

        I do have pretty severe muscle twitching at times. I'm on two different muscle relaxants and that helps a lot. The muscle twitching is not painful, just annoying. I don't know if my muscle twitching is related to my back or not. I do get twitching in other places on occasion, but thought that was normal. The twitching in my back is definitely NOT normal. Before my current dosage of muscle relaxants it felt like I was laying on a bed of slithering snakes if I laid on a hard surface. It was really creepy to feel my muscles moving that much.

        I'll be curious to hear from you.
        Be happy!
        We don't know what tomorrow brings,
        but we are alive today!

        Comment


        • #5
          Muscle Twitching

          Thanks for your input. Yes the stabbing pains come out of the clear blue and hit like lightening bolts. I also get them in the bottom of my foot and big toe. It feels like the biggest hornet in the nest, ha, has stung me and I flinch in pain. When I do, my husband says, well was that another Lexapro pain and I pray to God it is nothing more serious. I have had twitching off and on for years but nothing like right now. It seems to be bad in the morning when I get out of bed and wonder if that is so because I am so focused on it. I sometimes have a finger twitch or all over body twitching. I also have feelings of currents of electricity in different parts of my body. For instance, as I read this I feel them in different parts of my hand, my upper lip, and now the side of my foot and leg. Gosh, they are scary because I fear the worst.....some kind of degenerative neurological condition. ANYWAY, I have googled LEXAPRO which is an antidepressant I am on, and there are hundreds of posts of twitching experienced by users. Are you on any SSRI? If so, I am praying these symptoms are from the Lexapro I am on and nothing more serious. Thanks for replying and let me know if you have any more info on these bizarre and scary feelings.

          Patty
          1963 Fusion T4-L2 for congenital scoliosis. It was a bone graft and not instrumentation
          1989 to Present....Have had chronic pain. MRI's show severe neural foraminal stenosis L2-S1, rotational scoliosis lumbar spine over 40 degrees, compression of nerve roots L5-S1, Broad Based Herniations L4-L5, L5-S
          Surgery scheduled with Dr. Bridwell on December 11, 2012
          December 11, 2012 Had surgery with Dr. Bridwell. He fused L4-L5 with rods and screws.

          Comment


          • #6
            hi Patty
            sent you a PM

            jess

            Comment


            • #7
              I have been on a couple of tricyclic antidepressants (amitriptyline and nortriptyline) for pain and had bad heart reactions to those. I was on Paxil for about six months to a year for PTSD and had no trouble quitting cold turkey, except I cried a lot and was very emotional. I was put on Prozac for what my doctor thought was anxiety attacks but turned out to be an electrical problem in my heart. I had HORRIBLE cardiac side effects from this med (unstable high and low blood pressures along with severe tachycardia and irregular heart rate) and was told to quit. When I quit, I had electrical shocks in my head that made me feel like I was being electrocuted. I also had a feeling of someone pouring hot acid over my head and chest then lighting me on fire, sometimes enveloping my whole body. This was horrible! The brain zaps, as I call them, would come with ANY external stimuli such as noise (especially), touch, sight, smell, etc. Sometimes my own heartbeat would set them off and the electrical storm would pulsate with my heartbeat. I thought I was going to die. It was that horrible. It took a FULL year for this to stop. It gradually got better over that year and I only took the stupid drug for a month. This has been about ten years ago, now.

              The cardiologist told me NO antidepressants of any class, EVER. They all have the potential to trigger heart problems, especially if you already have one. So, I got on the right beta blocker for my heart and I'm doing well.

              My saga with antidepressants wasn't a simple yes or no, sorry. The brain zaps can definitely be caused by antidepressant withdrawal, but it was my understanding, even talking with a psychiatrist, that these usually occur in the head. Around the body stuff sounds like what I described earlier and is completely unrelated to antidepressants. It hurts so bad it takes your breath away and you can't help but flinch with every jab. This probably makes me sound crazy, but I've had a hard time with pain AND getting the right diagnosis for tachycardia. It seems that they automatically think panic attack and anxiety because I suffer from PTSD. I'm better now. I hope you find out what the zaps are in your body. I certainly will let you know if I ever find out what causes them. I will ask my physiatrist on Monday when I go in for Botox injections if I remember.

              It's funny that some SSRI's are actually approved for use in people with pain from scoliosis. I never had any pain relief from an antidepressant.
              Be happy!
              We don't know what tomorrow brings,
              but we are alive today!

              Comment


              • #8
                Hi Patty,
                I read your post and I had some similar symptoms about a month after surgery. But mine was confined to my legs. I would get the electrical shocks, and the pain was very bad. I was told it was nerve damage, but that it would heal. And they said it takes about 18mo.for nerves to heal. I didn't know that nerves would heal. That's how uneducated I was about it. It went on for another two months and then finally it went away. I was put on neurontin for nerve pain, and it does help. But you said that you are on Lyrica, which is the same as neurontin. Although I was put on Lyrica for fibromyalgia once, and I couldn't take the side effects. I had rapid heart beat and lots of twitching. So I was then put on neurontin. I don't have the side effects from neurontin . It can make me a little sleepy at times. But it really helped with nerve pain. I would definatly get to a Dr. Get to the bottom of this. I am on Celexa, and no problems. Was on Lexapro and didn't have any problems. I needed a higher dose and it didn't go any higher, so they put me on 40 mg.of Celexa. This has to be terribly frustrating for you. Please keep us informed about your situation.
                God Bless , Linda
                Linda Brozik~~60 yrs. old at time of Lenke's first surgery. 62 now!
                Surgery 2006 L3/4 L4/5 double fusion/ instumentation/ With 2 cages
                This started adult onset scoliosis
                July 1st, 2010/ surgery ~~fused T10 to pelvis (long rods/ screws)
                Oct.20th 2010, extended rods to T4 / did osteotomy at L3
                Oct. 29th 2012 Dr. Lenke St. Louis Mo. T4 to sacrum osteotomy anterior cage L3/4 titanium rods
                May 30th 2013 revision
                May 8th cervicle surgery 2016
                May 31st Dr. Gupta revision 2017

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