Benign Fasciculation Syndrome - Causes

Causes

Though twitching is sometimes a symptom of serious diseases such as spinal injury, muscular dystrophy, Lyme Disease, multiple sclerosis or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), it is much more often due to more benign causes (BFS, over-exertion, etc.), and virtually everyone will experience some episodes of benign fasciculation during their lifetime.

The precise cause of BFS is unknown, and, in fact, it's not known if it's a disease of the motor nerves, the muscles, or the neuromuscular junction. Mitsikostas et al. found that fasciculations "were slightly correlated to the body weight and height and to the anxiety level" in normal subjects. Another factor that seems to be common in many cases is a history of regular strenuous exercise. Attention deficit disorder (or drugs used to treat it) and/or a related disorder may be a contributing factor, and people with essential tremor appear to have a greater than normal likelihood of developing BFS. In addition, there are likely other genetic and environmental factors that make the patient more susceptible to BFS.

There are some intriguing similarities between BFS and chronic organophosphate poisoning, but these similarities have not been explored. It may be that chronically elevated levels of stress hormones in the body cause symptoms similar to those caused by organophosphates.

BFS can also be attributed to long term use of anticholinergics such as diphenhydramine and opiates such as morphine, but the latter case is usually when withdrawal symptoms are present.

Magnesium Deficiency can cause both fasciculations and anxiety.

An unpublished paper located at http://patrickbohan.elementfx.com/bfs_article.pdf attempts to link potential causes / triggers with BFS symptoms, remedy success, and body areas affected by symptoms. Survey data used in the paper is also available and BFS sufferers can join the survey because the study is ongoing. The unofficial survey used for the paper was done on aboutbfs.com and showed statistical significance in finding various types of BFS, with similar symptoms, causes and potential treatments.