As I was typing just now I felt a muscle in my arm sort of rhythmically contracting. I looked at it and a spot on the back of my arm just below the elbow, about two inches across, was pulsing. I mean very visibly pulsing, like in a cartoon when you see someone’s heart pounding. It did it for about half a minute, then it stopped. Now that spot aches. What on earth is this? Has it happened to anyone else here?
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
That was the alien.
Posted by Erik Slaine (Member # 5583) on :
There's a town I know where the hipsters go called Bedrock.
Posted by Maccabeus (Member # 3051) on :
I've had that happen to muscles in several different parts of my body--most creepily, one on my ribs directly over where your heart supposedly is (it's really more under your sternum--it's just easier to feel between the ribs). I had one that twitched just above my upper lip, making it look like I was sneering, too.
They're annoying, but essentially harmless.
Posted by Julie (Member # 5580) on :
I hate it when that happens right next to my eye. It's the oddest feeling EVER. (OK, I've been watching too much That 70's Show. Must go to sleep)
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
Kat, that was my first thought.
It’s very strange to have part of your arm just . . . doing something on its own.
[ August 27, 2003, 09:18 PM: Message edited by: dkw ]
Posted by saxon75 (Member # 4589) on :
I get a twitch like that sometimes. It goes away on its own relatively quickly so I usually just ignore it. What really irritates me is that from time to time my upper eyelid (almost always the left one) will twitch incessantly. It'll twitch rapidly for a few seconds and then stop for a minute or so, then repeat. Sometimes this goes on for hours! In fact, it's been happening to me several times a day for like a week now!
ARGH!
Posted by WheatPuppet (Member # 5142) on :
lol
I get the same kinds of twitches. Often an eye twitch comes from a late night of gaming or spending too much time in front of a CRT of some sort. Sometimes I get leg twitches, which bother me while they're happening, but nothing longterm comes from them. I have a theory that it's based on a lack of either potassium or sodium in my diet, so I usually grab a banana after one such twiching episodes.
Posted by kwsni (Member # 1831) on :
The muscle in my thigh just above my knee always twitches. I get eye twitches too, and sometimes one of the ones in my back right below my shoulder blade. It's certainly a strange sensation.
I heard somewhere that muscle twitches were a potassium deficiency, so I ate a bunch of bananas for a while. I dind't notices that the twitches were getting any less frequent, and I don't like bananas that much any way, so I quit.
Ni!
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
Okay, now there's a bruise developing right over the spot that was pulsing. I don't like this at all.
Stupid alien.
Posted by Equality 7-2521 (Member # 5586) on :
quote: I have a theory that it's based on a lack of either potassium or sodium in my diet,
I have a theory that when your eye(s) twitches, you need to get a bit more sleep.
I get twitches in my face or thigh, and as soon as I become conscious of it, it goes away. Does this happen to anyone else?
Equality 7-2521
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
I get eye twitches, and much more frequently as I've aged (though I'm not old!). They don't go away when I notice them, they annoyingly stick around for a while. I'll start to be afraid that I'm developing a real twitch--There was this fellow TA in grad school who developed a severe tic during our second year. You can bet the rest of us noticed and talked about it. I'm afraid of karma.--and that's about when it will go away.
I think it's likely you're right about the sleep thing, though.
Posted by Equality 7-2521 (Member # 5586) on :
Though this whole twitching business seems a bit odd, it's comforting to know that I'm not the only freak out there! *phew*
I just hope I don't end up like your fellow TA in grad school.
Equality 7-2521
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
It's happened to me, but I dont know what it is, sorry!
Posted by jehovoid (Member # 2014) on :
I hate it when my trigger finger twitches and I'm standing too close to the victim. I'm usually wearing new suit when that happens. What a mess.
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
Muscle twitches? Yeah, I get those. The funniest one is that, once in a while, the little toe on one of my feet will start twitching from side to side, out away from the rest of the toes and then back. I usually just sit there and watch it until it goes away. It looks really odd. I also get them around my eyes; I'll get them really frequently for awhile, and then it won't happen for months. I have no idea what causes them.
Posted by Ralphie (Member # 1565) on :
So, what IS the deal with the eye twitches? Get them, too. Both eyes, but mostly left eye.
::shakes angry fist at sky:: Why do bad things happen to good people?
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
I think that everybody gets the occasional muscle twitch, probably most frequently around one of their eyes, but what dkw is talking about sounds different (unless there are a lot of you walking around with spontaneously generated black eyes).
Dkw--is it possible that you actually hit that area on something before the twitching started, and the twitching and the bruise are both a result of that? I know that I sometimes hit my arm or leg on a table and don't really notice it until a bruise starts to form (unfortunate testimony to how often I bump into things, I guess). I know that occasionally when I've whacked my forearm just so, it's caused a muscle twitch that has made one of my fingers jerk around for a minute or so.
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
I don't get them frequently, but I know exactly what you're talking about. I get them either in the tricep or the thigh and it's always one specific muscle (i.e. one head of the tricep, not the entire thing). I haven't really been able to figure out what causes it. Sometimes it seems to help if I tense the muscle hard for 10 or 15 seconds several times. Maybe it's wearing the muscle out so that it's too tire to twitch.
I've never been bruised by the experience, though. Maybe you're not twitching right. You should practice.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote: Maybe you're not twitching right. You should practice.
Ok. *practices* Er, how do I stop???
Posted by screechowl (Member # 2651) on :
I have been most relieved to read how common muscle twitches seem to be. After all, it is not a topic often brought up in polite society. I have been concerned that the affliction was limited to me. It would not be first time family genetic inheritance has let me down.
My relief at the discovery that many people seem to have experienced this annoying phenomenon is immense.
Now when my left eye begins to jump about in a highly visible manner, I can ignore the stunned looks that others give me because I know they probably have muscles twitches too but cannot own up to it.
Vastly relieved.
Yours truly
Screechowl
PS Do any of you have ears that twitch? Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
quote: PS Do any of you have ears that twitch?
Voluntarily, yes. I've never had them twitch unless I wanted them to twitch.
Wiggling my ears - yet another of the many attributes that made me a babe magnet in my youth.
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
The bruise got slowly darker all day yesterday, but it looked a little lighter this morning.
Zan, I think you're right, I'm going to have to practice twitching safely. Right now it seems that my arm has decided it can beat itself up! Posted by James Tiberius Kirk (Member # 2832) on :
Once whatever muscle that controlled my middle finger started twitching. That was a weird experience.
Posted by screechowl (Member # 2651) on :
Once whatever muscle that controlled my middle finger started twitching. That was a weird experience.
I can image! It must have been frightening thinking of the consequences of it twitching at somebody you hardly knew, like a tackle on the football team.
Just try explaining that it was all a muscle twitch. Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
Almost as funny as a middle finger twitch, but less noticable to others - a butt muscle twitch!
I get muscle twitches sometimes. Often my right eye will twitch. I've occasionally gotten a twitch in my upper arm (which is quite entertaining to watch). Earlier this week I had the dreaded butt twitch!
[ August 29, 2003, 04:29 PM: Message edited by: ludosti ]
Posted by Ralphie (Member # 1565) on :
Maybe the rest of my body is twitching slightly, and only my eyelid is remaining where it was.
I think I've just stumbled upon brilliance here, people.
Posted by Jenny Gardener (Member # 903) on :
Do this intentionally, and you'll be practicing Prana-Bindu exercises.
Posted by Possum (Member # 2549) on :
[quote}Maybe the rest of my body is twitching slightly, and only my eyelid is remaining where it was.[/quote]
Apply this to an earthquake and you might really be on to something.
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