Fibromyalgia syndrome is an illness with many faces. In fact, it is often accompanied by so many different symptoms that many health care providers have troubles diagnosing fibromyalgia in the first place.
If you are suffering from fibromyalgia, you may be encountering some painful and annoying muscle twitching and weakness. These are two very common symptoms but they can exacerbate other fibromyalgia complications. So if you are suffering from muscle weakness and twitching, be sure to look into effective treatments.
What is Muscle Twitching and Weakness?
Most of us are familiar with muscle twitching. Whether it appears as an annoying twitch in your eyelid or as a nighttime leg twitch, this type of muscle aggravation can be very frustrating.
Muscle twitches are actually caused by tiny contractions inside of your muscles. Typically involuntary, your muscles twitch when a nerve in your body tells them to contract and release rapidly. Sometimes referred to as muscle fasciculation, muscle twitches typically affect single muscles in different locations around your body.
Muscle weakness happens when your muscles simply do not have enough strength to perform a certain task or motion. Muscle weakness isn’t the same as common fatigue, though.
With true muscle weakness, you can exert all of your energy without achieving any movement in your muscle. Muscle weakness can be localized to a specific area or it can encompass all of the muscles in your body.
What Causes Muscle Twitching and Weakness?
Muscle twitches happen when the nerves inside of your body begin to fire involuntarily. In order for you to move your muscles, a series of electronic impulses are fired along nerve pathways in your body. This stimulates muscle contraction and relaxation. Muscle twitches occur when a particular nerve fires an impulse unexpectedly. As a result, your muscle twitches compulsively.
Some possible causes of muscle twitches include:
- muscle fatigue
- muscle strain or injury
- emotional stress or anxiety
- certain medications
- caffeine
- nervous system disorder
Muscle weakness happens when the nerves that stimulate your muscles to move aren’t working properly. As a result, your muscles don’t contract and relax as they should, and your muscles don’t move.
Causes of muscle weakness include:
- stroke
- multiple sclerosis
- nervous system disorder
- trauma to the nerves