Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: Simulated on 17/09/2008 11:39:32

Title: What causes muscle twitching?
Post by: Simulated on 17/09/2008 11:39:32

There's this one part on the right side of my gluteous maximus that has been twitching for days now. It sure does feel really werid. Why does this happen?

Haha wow todayy the tip of my finger started twiching during class, felt weird.

Title: What causes muscle twitching?
Post by: chris on 19/09/2008 22:30:18

This is quite common, but also very distracting and can cause severe anxiety for some people. Thankfully it usually resolves in a matter of hours or days. A common site to be affected is  the eyelid. This is known as blepharospasm.

The cause is individual motor units, which are linked squads of muscle fibres, or even individual muscle cells contracting autonomously. This can be caused by the motor nerve supplying the motor unit becoming too excitable and discharging when it shouldn't, and it can also be because the muscle itself is too excitable and contracts aberrantly.

The problem is known to be exacerbated by sleep deprivation, alcohol and coffee (caffeine). Avoiding these usually resolves the problem. Occasionally the symptom can be a consequence of a more severe disorder, but these are rare, tend to affect older people and do not resolve spontaneously but instead tend to be progressive and debilitating rather than transient.

Chris

Title: What causes muscle twitching?
Post by: Karen W. on 20/09/2008 20:31:11

I can attest to the sleep deprivation part as I get twitchy muscles a lot when my sleep is so bad.. it seems to happen a lot more in those circumstances!

Title: What causes muscle twitching?
Post by: peg_leg on 02/12/2008 01:37:27

Or perhaps magnesium deficiency, a nerve root compression or antidepressant med. The last one is most perplexing, what is in an antidepressant med that would exacerbate muscle twitching?

peg