Non-stop muscle twitching and "running ants" feeling

Hi, I don't have nerve twitches but have the feeling of "marching ants" all over my body.  I have also been diagnosed low in Vitamen D a few times.  All this correlates to my diagnosis of MS about 14 years ago.  

This feeling is driving me nuts and keeping me awake at night.  I am looking for solutions.  Good luck with yours.  My doctors have given me the deer in the headlights look over this for a long time and just offer one wierd treatment after another that sound worse.  Neorlogist says I can sent you in for steriod injections.  Also I do not care for the MS therapies so I have been saying no to those for a few years now.  

Feeling of depression and strange thought patterns, mostly associated with guilt in my case are signs of low Vitamen D from what I hear.  Be careful of taking too much at once though as this can cause kidney stones which were no fun for me!

Good luck and I would like to hear if anyone else with an MS diagnosis also has the "marching ants" and what you do for it.  Any worse and I might consider those steriods!  

Hi, Has anyone suggested that you may have restless leg syndrom?  That would explain the crawly feeling under the skin.  It also can be felt in other parts of the body other than your legs.  I have been plagued with this since I was young and was sooo relieved to find that it was a condition and was able to get some medication for relief.  I take 1 mg of pramipexole (which is generic for Mirapex) an hour and a half before bedtime.  This is the same medication that they use for parkinsons but does not have any corrolation

Hi Futari, I know it's been a while since you posted, but I sometimes get a sensation of "warm running water" running down my legs.. It's so real I have to check i havent spilled a drink down my legs, it feels so real..! Sometime before that I used to get a feeling of tingling, like a small electric shock in my arm, but my doctor said it was most likely a nerve in my neck making this happen.. I took up swimming to exercise more and it slowly went away, so perhaps some passive exercise might help in your situation too..

It's no fun having peculiar feelings running over your body, as i know at the time I had thought I might be going crazy..  I hope you're feeling better soon Futari - Mike

Hi Futari and all who participated in the discussion.  Well i have this muscle twitching for more than a year and started when i was on bed about to sleep. I used to feel the  ants stuff on my legs. Or something moves under my skin. Now i am writing this and i feel the same. I consulted lots of doctors and no one knew the causes. I started searching alot and i ended up with some ideas. I had low vitamin D and though it s the cause. But i got injected and the muscle twitching is still persist. Then i went to the doctor and made MRI and found nothing. I did the nurve test and found everything was normal. Many doctors said u should live with it and there is no causes for it. I did not believe them that there is no cases. Even Mg, Ca, Na, K were all within the range. I came with an idea which is i said to myself: why dont i write what food i take before the muscle twitching? I started and i kept writing every moment i feel the muscle twitching. Now before i wrote this to u guys, i knew that my muscle will twitch. I found out that most the tomes i get this after i eat ( chicken, salamon fish, cheese, drink tea with milk) . When i started to remember the old days when this happened to me, i found that i used to eat a t of (cheese and chicken sandwich and drink tea with milk ) and when i headed home, started feeling the muscle twitching). Adding to this, i had both kidneys stones and i was not aware of them for more than 3 years. After making operations removing them, the ceritinin level was still high and dr advised me to go vegetirian for a month. At that time i remembered that the muscle twitching stopped but i  did not pay attention coz i was worried about my kidneys. Thus, i am lazy to stop the cheese + milk+ all protein + eggs to find out the they r the reasons of muscle twitching. I have one more possible element which is caffeine. Tomorrow i have another appointment with new dr and will see what would he say and i will let you know guys the result.

But believe me that these doctors dont feel what really annoy us from the muscle twitching. Just avoid eating these foods which are source of C and rich with protein which the kidneys get affected. And if the kidney gets affected, it wont function properly for Mg, Vit D, C, K, and  Na. Keep in touch guys and let us work together to solve our problem rather than hearing from dr (it is normal and you just have to live with it)

Thaanks 

I too have had muscle twitching for about 3 years, used to freak me out but now I just try to ignore it.  Never realised how common it was

Hii

Coming back again after visiting the dr, he said: all you have is stress from surrounded environment. The problem  guess what: he gave me tablets which could be taken and they are multivitamin and multimineral. What is could not be taken is the second type which is cipralex 10 mg.

If you are interested to know more about it, just google it.

I decided to through all these things in the garbage and adapt myself instead of these stupid pills and fast decisions to prescribe them. I did not hear from him an alternative solutions such as relaxation spa, exercises,  go and have fun or anything else. BTW the dr is considered as  master and from very famous hospitals.

This is my experience and i just wanted to shared it with you.

thanks   

Hi, Futari.  I first read your post a couple of weeks ago, but was unable at that time to offer any suggestions.  I myself have been recently plagued with uncontrollable muscle twitching, mostly in my legs and feet, but this could occur anywhere, in my arms, back, and even my head.

I tried eliminating all of the natural supplements that I was taking for other problems, to no avail.  Then I chanced upon something that I believe is really causing the problem - eating white, baked potatoes.  This has been a favorite food of mine for decades.  I had usually included it with every dinner meal, until I thought I would try going without.  I would usually substitute rice or some other vegetable for the baked potato.  Within about 2 or 3 days, my muscle twitching virtually disappeared.  It would stay this way as long as I avoided eating white potatoes.  But on two occasions I tried a variant.  Once I tried fixing instant mashed potatoes, and within just a couple of hours my muscles were twitching madly again.  I laid off all potatoes and was pretty much symptom-free for about 10 days, but then this morning thought I would try out hashed brown potatoes for breakfast.  My muscles were twitching furiously no more than 30 minutes after I eaten these, and they are continuing to twitch right this minute a good 6 hours after breakfast.

I am convinced that at least in my case, white potatoes are the culprit here.  I just finished reading some articles that seem to bear this out.  Do an Internet search for "potatoes and muscle twitching" and you can read what I have.  It seems that potatoes are a member of the nightshade family and in particular contain a certain alkaloid that inhibits cholinestrase activity, one of the symptoms of which is muscle twitching.

I can't of course be sure that this would help in your own case, but I if you do consume white potatoes a lot, I would try eliminating them from your diet.  I'm told that sweet potatoes are a good substitute for white potatoes, as they do not contain this particular alkaloid related to muscle twitching.

Hope this helps and good luck finding a solution!

Hi fitari, I habe been having these simmilar condition for about 5 months I feel twitches mos time in my legs sometime in my head or arms to I went to the doctor the ran me some blood test and ecg and the result was nothing, then I went to the neurolist she had done a ct scan and some blood test and it came good but i still has those twitches I wonder if someone can tell me what more I can do for them to go away now i'm taken some vitammins and magensium vitamins but they still are twitching but more less then before...i wonder what i can do for them to go away...can someone help me.

Hi Futari, 

Last year I underwent a major surgery; transthoracic spinal surgery that left me with a lot of nerve damage below the waste so I am very familiar with what neuropathy is like. I also have RLS and I would gander a guess from everything you have described and say RLS is definitely your problem. After spending almost a year in a wheelchair,7 months in hospital because of my nerve damage and from having severe RLS for almost 20 years, I can say there is no comparison between the two when it comes to the sensations and responses your body gives in both situations. You have perfectly described My RLS however I take a low dose of Primapaxil (mirapex) and it resolves my RLS. I also take Gabapentin for my neuropathy however although they are both nerve medications, neither works for the other condition. Without the Primapaxil for example, taking Gabapentin doesn't touch my RLS and vice versa. I hope this helps.

maybe it's tetany?