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Benign fasciculation syndrome (BFS) is a neurological disorder characterized by fasciculation (twitching) of various voluntary muscles in the body. The twitching can occur in any voluntary muscle group but is most common in the eyelids, arms, legs, and feet. Even the tongue may be affected. The twitching may be occasional or may go on nearly continuously. Any intentional movement of the involved muscle causes the fasciculations to cease immediately, but they may return once the muscle is at rest again.
In addition to twitching, patients with BFS often experience pain, paraesthesia, generalized fatigue, exercise intolerance, globus sensation and/or muscle cramping.
Another common feature of the disorder, when seen by physicians, is an increase in the patient’s level of anxiety, especially health-related anxiety. It’s not uncommon for the patient to fixate on ALS, MS, ME, Parkinson’s, vCJD, Wilson’s Disease, or some other serious neurological disorder, refusing to believe the BFS diagnosis.[citation needed]
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. [1] Another factor that seems to be common in many cases is a history of regular strenuous exercise.[citation needed] Attention deficit disorder (or drugs used to treat it) and/or a related disorder may be a contributing factor,[citation needed] and people with essential tremor appear to have a greater than normal likelihood of developing BFS.[citation needed] In addition, there are likely other genetic and environmental factors that make the patient more susceptible to BFS.[citation needed]
There are some intriguing similarities between BFS and chronic organophosphate poisoning,[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
BFS can also be attributed to long term use of anticholinergics such as diphenhydramine.
Magnesium Deficiency can cause both fasciculations and anxiety.[2]
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