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[Sappho]

There is a spot just above my knee on my left leg where the muscle has been twitching for nearly 24 hours. It even seems to have been doing it while I was asleep, since every time I woke up, I could feel it immediately. At first I didn't pay it any mind - my muscles tend to twitch now and then when they are tired. But at this point it's starting to get painful and sore. I've been drinking plenty of water, and actually I've gotten very little exercise the past couple of days because the weather has been too hot. I've tried massaging it, which stops it twitching while I'm touching it, but that's it. As soon as I stop, it starts again.

Anyone have any idea how I can stop this? Would taking an anti-inflammatory pill help? I have some fairly strong ones (400 mg ibuprofen). Should I try to exercise it a bit? The weather should be a bit cooler today (28 C)... It's really driving me crazy at this point.

[WillowLuman]

PTW, I have the same problem with a muscle on my side.

[Xantalos]

Hmmmmmmmm

Don't take this as gospel at all, but maybe eat a banana or two? It might be a potassium deficiency thing.
Maybe.
Again, I ain't no medic or nothing.

[Tiruin]

Hum 
There're a lot of reasons on why this may happen--diet is one valid factor. But we're only limited as to how far you can describe yourself...though obviously we can suggest. x)
But maybe a check-up is best considering the length of time on how much it occurs, because they can best assess what's going on depending on the situation--and as far as I know, will give a thorough questioning on its cause by asking you many stuffs about your life related to physical health, and such.

[Sappho]

Well, I can't get to a doctor until at least Thursday, and I'm hoping it'll stop by then... Going to the doctor is tough, since most of them don't speak much English and my level of Czech definitely doesn't include medical vocabulary. As a result, they tend not to ask many questions of me and just either decide based on a cursory glance what is wrong with me or send me off for many hours of scans and tests I don't need before telling me "you're fine", and sometimes give me injections of stuff without telling me what it is (often while yelling at me to relax). I don't usually go to the doctor unless I really have to. If it hasn't stopped by Thursday, then I suppose I should go try to have it checked out.

I eat bananas all the time (just had one for breakfast actually) so I don't think it's potassium. I eat a pretty varied diet in general... I regularly eat eggs, fruit, yogurt, big salads with lots of vegetables, dark Czech bread, the occasional meat-filled sandwich or sausage or hamburger...

I have to take an overnight bus to Vienna tonight to go pick up my visa tomorrow morning, then a long bus ride back, so I really hope it stops before I have to do all that. Overnight bus rides are nightmarish enough without twitching muscles!

[ancistrus]

Going to the doctor is tough, since most of them don't speak much English and my level of Czech definitely doesn't include medical vocabulary. As a result, they tend not to ask many questions of me and just either decide based on a cursory glance what is wrong with me or send me off for many hours of scans and tests I don't need before telling me "you're fine", and sometimes give me injections of stuff without telling me what it is (often while yelling at me to relax).

Hey, I have some free time this week, if it is really a big deal I can work as a translator.
Otherwise I would suggest magnesium.

[gimlet]

Could be mattress too soft/hard, and sometimes it takes a while to appear.   I started sleeping on a different bed, few months later occasional leg twitches at night, few months after that started getting actual leg pain in the morning.  Moved to different bed, no more twitches or pain...

[Sappho]

I've been sleeping on the same bed for 4 years - I think I'm okay there.

I did some research today and what I found points to it being a normal side-effect of increased exercise. Even though I haven't been super active the last few days, I have been getting quite a bit more exercise overall lately (I'm still slightly sore from my first day of Slackline practice last Wednesday combined with too many hours of Kinect games), so that sounds fairly likely. I'll keep eating bananas and maybe get some magnesium in case it helps. I think I'm not going to bother with a doctor - though thanks for the offer, Ancistrus.

[Reudh]

Twitching muscles can a result of any number of different things: stress, caffeine, exhaustion just to name a few. It will generally resolve pretty quickly once you've figured out the cause. For me, my eye was spasming constantly a few weeks back- the left lower eyelid would twitch incessantly- i lowered my caffeine intake, tried to not tire myself out too much, and as for stress I couldn't do much about that until after exams, but the symptom of blepharospasm stopped after exams.

With regard to it being on your leg, an anti-inflammatory probably wouldn't stop it twitching, but it'd make it less sore. Take some ibuprofen if you feel you need it, but it should resolve soonish.

[cerapa]

I've been drinking plenty of water, and actually I've gotten very little exercise the past couple of days because the weather has been too hot.

Maybe you haven't been eating enough salt? Water isn't the only thing you lose by sweating.

[Bohandas]

You might be able to stop it by intentionally sitting in such a way as to cause your leg to fall asleep; but relying on that too much would probably eventually cause other problems

[Sappho]

Well, to my horror, it has still not stopped. It does stop sometimes, for as long as a few hours, but it always comes back.

I have now tried magnesium tablets. It did stop for a while after I took one, but then it came back a few hours later, so that might just be coincidence. I'm definitely not short on potassium or magnesium, though. And although I do my best to avoid salty stuff, there's no risk of me not getting enough salt. I have enough salty foods that I'm more likely on the "too much salt" side of things (as most modern western folks are).

I would say stress, but strangely, I'm not that stressed. I got my visa and have already completed all the relevant paperwork and bureaucratic nonsense. I have four days off a week including weekends, until the school year starts. My boss is a fucking douchebag and I want to rip his balls off, but that's been that way for a long time, and I only have to work three days a week anyway (and half the time he's not even there). If anything, I'm under far LESS stress right now than I have been in ages.

I would also say exhaustion, but all I've done for most of today is sleep. Yesterday was definitely exhausting, but this has been going on for like four or five days now, and I take naps and rest all the time.

I'm even cutting back on caffeine, just in case that's the culprit. I don't normally have more than two or three cups of coffee/tea per day, but yesterday I had none and today I had only one (and that only because I had a splitting headache from caffeine withdrawal - even two cups a day is enough for me to be hooked).

So I'm really stumped, here. I've hardly gotten any exercise since this started. Originally I assumed it was the result of all the extra exercise I was getting, but shouldn't my muscles have chilled out by now? It's really quite irritating.

[Vattic]

In my experience some light exercise can reduce the negative effects of heavier exercise. Mostly turning aches into a warm glowing feeling to be fair, but everything else I can think of has been suggested.

[i2amroy]

Not necessarily a good solution, but do you have any friends that could act as translators for you? I know that, at least here in the US, if you give the okay and have language issues you can have someone come into the office to act as a translator.

[Sappho]

To be honest, if I really needed to go to the doctor, I could probably manage it. I could write down Czech words for what's happening and manage. Often there's at least one doctor who speaks English. I've just had one really bad experience that always makes me hesitate before going to a doctor.

Anyway, I'm starting to lean towards the theory that it's just stress. Right now my stress levels are lower than they've been in a while, but I've also had an extremely hard past 12 months with no breaks whatsoever. Now that I'm finally able to take something of a break and relax a bit, it would make sense that my body will be kind of messed up until it settles into a new equilibrium. So I'm just not going to worry about it - it seems to be happening less, anyway, even if it hasn't stopped. So far it doesn't seem to be something I should really worry about - and I have a feeling if I go to a doctor, they'll probably tell me "it's probably stress, just relax and it'll get better" and I'll have wasted half a day in waiting rooms.

In any case, I've reduced my caffeine intake to one cup or less of weak coffee/tea per day, and there's been no change, so I don't think caffeine is the culprit. So I'm going to go back to drinking 2-3 cups a day because I'm tired of these headaches.