Profound, but temporary, muscle weakness

[tacitus]

I have been a twitcher for about 8 years, and have been though the usual cycle of unexplained symptoms, suspecting ALS, denial and depression, before finally accepting that while the fasciculations are occasionally annoying, there's nothing seriously wrong.

But there is one symptom that has me stumped, and that is one of profound muscle weakness after putting only a moderate amount of strain on the affected muscles.

For example, I was recently using a chain saw to chop down a few small branches in my yard. I had to grip pretty tightly and pushed quite hard against the wood to get through it. After about 10-15 minutes I stopped, and found that the little finger of my right hand had lost all strength. I could not even push my finger in my ear or resist the slightest effort to push it, and even had difficulty touching the end of my nose accurately. There was no resistance left at all. It remained that way for an hour or so before slowly regaining its normal strength.

This has been going on ever since I started twitching, in my fingers and ankles (cannot walk on my heels when it happens), and at first it was the one symptom that really had me freaked out, but since I know I don't have ALS and the problem hasn't really gotten any worse as far as I can tell, it's now just another of those things I have learned to live with.

I am in my 40s, reasonably active, playing volleyball and golf a few times a week and, if anything, I am fitter now than I was when all this started. But I never got a satisfactory answer from the neurologists about this symptom (though I never showed them the weakness happening) and while I'm not concerned about anything life or lifestyle threatening, I would like to know what the heck it is.

So, has anyone had the same problem, or does anyone know what it could be?

Thanks

Mike

[AndyTwitchalot]

What's up Mike--

Friggin weird: check out this post: http://nextination.com/aboutbfs/forums/ ... sc&start=0
I have had the exact same experience, this time that I mention in this post above, and another more recent post explaining a second occurrence.

Both times, I have played baseball and my small finger has profound weakness for the rest of the day. It's kind of good to hear someone else has such a bizarre symptom. Who knows, maybe this isn't bfs related at all; could be something that other people get too when they grip something for a while (a chainsaw in your case, a baseball bat in mine).

You're 8 years into this, I'm 8 months. I've been waiting to get to the one year mark so I can tell myself I definitely don't have als; I'm glad to hear someone who is totally in the clear has this single symptom that has worried me more than any other.

I've mentioned it to a couple of docs, they all seem perplexed. I was thinking of hitting up the batting cages before my next neuro appointment, but if they can't explain it when I am describing it to them, I doubt seeing it will do much else. I guess as long as it keeps getting better, we have nothing to worry about, right?

You say this has been going on for 8 years? Does it always affect your right pinky finger? Is it always brought on by gripping something?

[bmwilli26]

I know this is an extremely old post, but any ideas what causes this? I have the same thing going on. If I uses the muscle too much it will temporarily stop working.

[Yuliasir]

Hi
I am not a doctor but common sense tells me that this could be caused either by nerve entrapment aggravated by physical activity or by bad circulation (ishemia) caused by muscle contraction for prolonged time.
But better ask the doctor of course.