Benign fasciculation syndrome

Benign fasciculation syndrome
Animated image of BFS in the upper eyelid of a 19-year-old male. Symptoms subsided several days later.
Classification and external resources
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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. Usually intentional movement of the involved muscle causes the fasciculations to cease immediately, but they may return once the muscle is at rest again.

The main symptom of benign fasciculation syndrome is focal or widespread involuntary muscle activity (twitching), which can occur at random or specific times (or places). Presenting symptoms of benign fasciculation syndrome may include:

Other symptoms include:

BFS symptoms are typically present when the muscle is at rest and are not accompanied by severe muscle weakness. In some BFS cases, fasciculations can jump from one part of the body to another. For example, it could start in a leg muscle, then in a few seconds jump to the forehead, then the abdomen, etc. Because fasciculations can occur on the head, this strongly suggests the brain as the generator due to its exclusive non-dependence on the spinal cord. (Together, the brain and spinal cord comprise the central nervous system.)

Anxiety is often caused as a result of BFS, and a lot of sufferers have hypochondria as BFS mimics symptoms of much more serious diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

The precise cause of BFS is unknown, and it is not known if it is a disease of the motor nerves, the muscles, or the neuromuscular junction. Though twitching is sometimes a symptom of serious diseases such as spinal injury, muscular dystrophy, Lyme disease, Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD), neurofibromatosis or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), causes like over-exertion are more common. Mitsikostas et al. found that fasciculations "were slightly correlated to the body weight and height and to the anxiety level" in normal subjects.

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