Invasion of the thumb snatcher

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trayne91

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Oct 30, 2013
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154
Diagnosis
10/2013
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State
Wisconsin
What the heck is going on with me lately? For the last 5 days, my thumb has had a mind of its own. I have experienced some arm cramping here and there, too. But the tendon, muscle, ligament, or whatever it is in my hand/wrist/arm is pulling hard on the inside and making my thumb move inward toward my hand. Repeatedly. For 5 Days Now. It feels weird. I don't like this involuntary movement. Would like to add that I do get twitches/spams periodically in different places in my body. My leg and toes did it last night. My eyelid went haywire for 2 weeks once. I get muscle "flutters", but this is different. It's a slow tight pulling, making my thumb move slowly inward. I don't like it. What the heck is causing this? Has anyone else had something like this happen?
 
Are you getting enough potassium and magnesium in your diet? Deficiencies in those can cause muscle spasms and strain. I would suggest going to an occupational therapist, but if this is happening in other areas of your body, I'm guessing your thumb issue is a symptom of something greater. I'd see a chiropractor to free up your nerves - blocked nerves can cause all sorts of weird issues like that. And take some bone and muscle supplements with potassium and magnesium in them.
 
I take a daily multi-vitamin on top of a magnesium supplement. I do not take a separate potassium. I made an appt to see my doctor tomorrow. Due for a follow up anyway. Still curious about this, though. Thanks for your recommendation. I will check out potassium or something specifically for muscles.
 
What the heck is going on with me lately? For the last 5 days, my thumb has had a mind of its own. I have experienced some arm cramping here and there, too. But the tendon, muscle, ligament, or whatever it is in my hand/wrist/arm is pulling hard on the inside and making my thumb move inward toward my hand. Repeatedly. For 5 Days Now. It feels weird. I don't like this involuntary movement. Would like to add that I do get twitches/spams periodically in different places in my body. My leg and toes did it last night. My eyelid went haywire for 2 weeks once. I get muscle "flutters", but this is different. It's a slow tight pulling, making my thumb move slowly inward. I don't like it. What the heck is causing this? Has anyone else had something like this happen?

Sometimes my eyelids do the same exact thing, I was later told it was common for that to happen when the weather changes. I thought it was the medication I was taking, but the doc told me it was caused by the weather changes. So I'd not worry about that one!
 
My eyelid went haywire like that, too, once - for two weeks! It drove me nuts. At any rate, I seen my GP today. She told me most people have the pain associated with fibro and not so much the muscle twitches and spasms like I am getting, or my thumb incident. We've really been struggling to find an underlying cause or something we may be missing the boat on besides fibro. My Sed Rate had been high for 2-3 years and that was something we wanted to work on as a sign something else is going on, too, but this last test was finally normal. A good thing, but not something to go on now. Getting off track a bit there... anyway, she's with me on digging and digging. I spent a lot of time in her office today while she went over all my tests and things again. She ended up telling me she wants to refer me to a neurologist, and she did. She thinks further testing is needed in the muscle area and see if they can figure anything out in the neurology department. I already know I am breaking down enzymes okay and I don't have a degenerative muscle disease as my rheumy thought something was wrong with my muscles as well and did those blood tests, which all came back normal. Most of pain is in the muscles as well and less in the joints. Plus, my biggest spams are in the front thigh muscle and because it's in such a big muscle in my leg, too, she thought I need to further investigate this. So, looks like I'll be heading to the neurologist next. He was booked until August, so I go August 19th.
 
Oh my, I went to the neurologist recently too! I must say your GP sounds wonderful, mine just wants me to leave the room as soon as possible. It's great you have a good doctor by your side, I hope you can find out what is wrong... but may I ask...? Have they already ruled out diseases like: Lyme disease, lupus and MS?

It's a good idea to see a neurologist, because your issues seem to be of a neurological nature. I recommend you to research a bit before your big day, so you know what questions to make and so on. You'd not believe how lazy some docs are, I've found myself guiding them down the right path so many times! It's exhausting to research online, but it's worth it in the end, believe me!

Oh... forgot to mention! If you are taking several meds... you should check the side effects online. When I was 14 I was taking a medication that made my hands shake uncontrollably all of a sudden. So yeah, some meds can cause very weird symptoms! I'd not doubt some meds can even cause those spasms... Worth checking out!
 
I don't know about Lyme. Have been checked for Lupus a few times. That's always negative. Don't know about MS. How do they check for MS?

For sure on research. I do it all the time. I actually had my GP check me beyond the standard TSH thyroid test yesterday because I told her I read that can be normal, but the next test down can be negative, so schedule me a T4 Free test to rule that out. She's really good about listening to what I've read or heard.

I'm only taking Cyclobenzaprine right now. She told me to up my dose on that and see if it stops my thumb from wandering. I'm prescribed 10mg. I currently cut them in half and take 5mg because that gives me relief and I'm all for the lowest dose possible. She said I could take it up to 3 times a day, but start with a whole one at night and see it helps, so I took the whole thing last night. So far, my thumb is still pulling inward, but I didn't expect that change to happen overnight. We'll see how it helps, if any. I'll go back and check my side affects for the med. Thanks!
 
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