I wanted to let folks know to make sure that their calcium levels are checked. There is a condition called - hyperparathyroidism - has nothing to do with the thyroid gland. It is most often caused by a benign tumor growing on one of the 4, rice-size glands that are located on the backside of the thyroid gland. When these tumors grow - no matter what size they are and even having only one tumor - they can mess up the calcium levels in your body. The symptoms overlap lots of other conditions including fibro, menopause, chronic fatigue, flu, all kinds of stuff. The reason I am mentioning this here is because before I had the gland/tumor removed, I had muscle twitches most of the time over most of my body and even the myoclonic jerks that would jerk me awake. There were other things too - brain fog (the longer time went on the worse that got - to the point I actually forgot to push the accelerator to keep the car up to speed) muscle cramps, jerks, twitches, headaches, acid reflux, irritability, sleep problems, heart palpatations, deep bone pain (that's from the body leeching calcium from the bones, because that system is messed up and it's telling the body to remove it from the bones, I was having trouble with work, was very confused at the grocery store - ended up that my sons went for me, the list went on. I still have fibro, but quite a few of the symptoms have decreased. This condition is so terribly under-diagnosed, affects mostly women, usually caught after 40 and left untreated - shaves years off lives. Look up how calcium is used in the body and you'll find out it all over the place. It can and will affect the heart, ultimately doing damage. There is a website: Parathyroid.com, they go into great detail about this, truly worth looking at. They talk about how adult calcium levels should run in the 9s (on a range from 8. to 10.6 or so, depending on the lab) and that if you shoot up in the 10 range and stay there - that's an indication of a problem. The highest I ever saw my level was 11.3. The level will fluctuate and most doctors do not regard levels in the lower 10s to be a problem, so you have to push to checked over and over. Criminal. You can look back through your labs and see if the calcium is elevated. There are tests specifically for checking further, but initially if your serum calcium level that is included in the usual bloodwork they do on most adults is in the 10s, say 10.2 and over, it needs further investigation. There can be damage done to several systems of the body and this warrants getting it checked out. I use magnesium to keep the really bad muscle cramps under control. Interestingly, fibro is a condition of the CNS and calcium is a huge component in the neurology of the human body - yes, including muscles and the neurology that makes them work.

@A MyFibroTeam Member I had two mris done with contrast and they didn’t see anything either but I’m not sure that you can always see everything in an mri. I know you were hoping that the relaxant would erase all the twitches away - I tried everything too - not eating bananas, eating bananas, not drinking milk, then drinking milk again, taking magnesium supplements ... all in the hope that there was something wrong with my electrolytes. Nothing helped. I tried a muscle relaxant as well - no change, except that I felt out of it. My dr just wrote me a script for amitriptyline - I’ve been taking it a few days now. It seems to take some of the edge off and it’s helping with some of the odd sensations I have been experiencing. The twitching and spasms seem to have calmed down - I don’t k ow if that’s placebo or due to passage of time or because of the amitriptyline. You have your next mri in 3 weeks time. It’s a long wait. Have you noticed any changes in the physical appearance of your arm? Does it still have good strength? I’ve never heard of anything sinister starting in an elbow. Could it be your ulnar nerve? Do you have a forward head posture?

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I have spasticity in my muscles and especially in my back. Even the neurologists exclaimed how they could feel them without even pushing on my back. They literally shake my entire bed which makes it hard to sleep at night even though I take a muscle relaxer 3 times a day.

I also have twitching, sometimes they last for days. Some medications can cause them, also. Stretching can help, as can working the muscles. They are annoying for sure

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