Is muscle burning a common BFS symptom?

[DrLemur]

I have had muscle pain and burning in the areas where I twitch. Is this quite common of BFS? Also being someone who is always going to be worried about MS however irrationally.. is there any way to completely rule out MS by testing?

[Yuliasir]

Simple understanding of the fact that twitch is a muscle activity helps understand that pain should be a normal result. Usually you twitch in a muscles which othrwise are not operated, at least not at that way. So you have natural soreness in them due to twitching.

MS is ruled out on the basis of a) lack of clinical symptomes of acute demyelinisation, often manifested as neuritis, b) absence of leisons in the white matter in certain regions of brain and spine (MRi), c) in the presence of leisons (which many people have due to age-realted demyelinisation) - lack of temporal and spatial spreading in the course of 4-6 month. Some immunoglobilnes might be present in the spinal cerebral liquid but not always. VEP in case of suspicious optical neurinits and neuroconduction study for overall conduction arealso useful.


but localised pain clearly associated with twitches usually does not point to MS at all, rather to BFS.

as for magnesium deficiency you asked in the previous post, one can say it is a vague matter. Many of fellows complain for having been found very low in B12. B12 seems not to be directly related to Mg (it is rather another B vitamine, B6, used for better digestion of Mg in the artificial supplements), but still same group, common reactions etc. So probably we may be also low on Mg. Or - I think - it might be that normal level of Mg are physiologically low for us becasue we can not balance it right due to changes in body chemistry. I had perfect middle range Mg all the time I did the test, and it does not prevent me from awful series of cramps pretty much relieved with Mg supplement intake. So I think that maybe my own personal normal Mg level has to be somewhat higher than normal in order to keep normal level for muscle operation without cramps.

[DrLemur]

Yes that would seem to make sense. Maybe some people just require more. I really do not think that the dramatic improvement in symptoms is merely due to placebo effect so I have no choice to believe it is the magnesium supplements that are helping me. I could possibly stop taking them to see if symptoms worsen again to further convince myself.

Also re: MS. I did recently have an MRI of the brain which came up normal. Would I also need one of the spine to help rule out MS or would this be enough considering I also lack neuritis?

[Yuliasir]

I am not a doctor but common sense says that if you do not have major motor impairment (weakness in leg or hand) it rather means your spinal tissue must be OK and have no leisons. Usually full spinal MRI is assigned when people have quite a troubles on clinical exam or on EMG. MRI seems not to be an exam which might cause residual harm (like Xray for example), but it is fairly not the pleasant one so I think unnecessary MRI still should be avoided.

in our cases, as far as I understand, MRI could reveal changes compared non-BFSer brain, but only if it is so called fMRI, when activity in certain regions is registered during certain tasks or conditions in their dynamics. But fMRI is exclusively research tool used only for evaluation of central brain processes in neuroscience but not for medical diagnostics, so in our case clean static MRI should be accepted as clear pass to other branches of medicine to seek treatment and not as a basis for further searching in the field of neurology.

[staceyj]

Hi,

MS is also my biggest concern. My neuro said that since MS usually always presents with lesions in the brain and my lack of true MS symptoms, a brain MRI (and EMG) would be more than sufficient to rule it out at this time.

Best wishes.

[DrLemur]

Thanks you guys for these replies. It does help set my mind at ease a bit more. I am due for an EMG next week but really do not want to have to go through with it if I don't absolutely have to. I'm really just trying to rule out any illness or disease myself based on a clean MRI and my current symptoms. I obviously don't want to find out it's something I could have treated or slowed down had I done that test.

[BFSBurger]

I have had muscle pain and burning in the areas where I twitch. Is this quite common of BFS? Also being someone who is always going to be worried about MS however irrationally.. is there any way to completely rule out MS by testing?

1) Yes. I felt this was part of the inflammation going on in the system, for me. Mine got very intense in my thighs and legs. Often associated with fatigue. I was convinced at this stage that I had a virus of some sort, or my body was fighting something off, which medicine could not yet identify.

2) The cure for this burning, for me, was to exert the muscle. I would do those leg curls (for the thighs) in the gym every few days. Minimal weight. No "killing it". And this seemed to literally squeeze that tension/inflammation out. I began reading about lactic acid buildup, but I am not sure if that was what was going on. It falls in line with the Adrenal Fatigue theory of BFS. For awhile I could not go a full week without at least flexing the muscle (every muscle in my body) or that aching/burning would return. But this always helped things. Mild ... mild ...careful muscle weights.

3) Yes you can completely rule out MS with a brain MR that (as per your request) is tuned for MS. There's a certain type, which the MRI guy will identify on the order before the MRI if you request it.

BFSB

[lrt6131]

New to forum. Sudden onset twitching started Sept 5th. Today I have been feeling more "electric" twitching, almost painful. Feels like quick jolts all over, just like my twitching has been. Feel like I am going nuts!! Anyone else with these sensations? I have an EMG scheduled tomorrow.