Why do muscles twitch and is there anyway to stop it?

Usually if my eye or some other muscle twitches, the spasms stop after some time ranging between a few minutes and half an hour.

However, today I have a muscle in my upper right arm that just won't stop!  It's driving me crazy!  It's going on nine hours now that it's been twitching.  I've tried ignoring it, rubbing it, moving my arm around... it's relentless!  I hate it especially, when I -see- it out of the corner of my eye.  Ew!  *shudders*

How do you handle it?!

Singelli : Usually if it's a muscle on my arm or leg, something like that, I'll try to massage it to see if it relaxes the muscle from twitching. Otherwise if it's like the area of the face, you have to pretty much let it stop on it's own.

Massaging it isn't helping though. I've tried.
*pouts*
It's not like it's painful or anything though.  It's just  bit annoying.  I wish someone had a miraculous cure for it.  Maybe I should just pray about it.  LOL

I hate when that happen to me. This is what I do to get rid of it, I would let the muscle move around or play around, and if that doesn't work I put some ice on it. These stuff always work for me, but I don't know about you.

Huh...ice? I've never tried that before!  Now I want to.  Hehe.
But my prayer worked and my muscle stopped twitching after about ten hours.  ROFL  Go figure, huh?

Anyone else have twitching muscles right now? Will you try it and let me know if it works? Pwetty pwease?

It is an interesting thing, actually. As I am sure you know, your muscles contract to move your limbs. But these twitches are when only a very few muscle fibers (not enough to move a limb) are contracting. In is involuntary, so you cannot will it to stop.

As to what causes it, there are a few possibilities. Anxiety, stress, or inadequate sleep are common causes. Other causes can be things like responses to medication, poor diet, or too much caffeine. if it were caffeine, it is just your body using up excess energy. The other things (sleep, stress, anxiety), are mental things that you pretty much just have to wait out.

Mobouis's suggestion of ice is actually a good one. The colder your muscles are, the slower the signals travel, which means you don't reach the action threshold (won't go into the long explanation over how that works ), resulting in less contractions. It is the same concept as to why you can't clench your hand into a fist as fast while it is freezing cold. 

This happens to me too lol, sometimes my muscles twitch and it's like, "why the hell you twitching muscles?"

rcarter2 :

"if it were caffeine, it is just your body using up excess energy."

And that explains it. I have much caffeine.

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I find generally, the best way to stop the twitching is to touch the affected area, and push down on it comfortably (don't poke your eye out lol) until the twitching has stopped.

It may restart later, but eventually it will lead to a cessation of twitching.

rcarter2 : This is so interesting to me...thanks for the information!  What do you do in real life that caused you to know this information?  I suppose I did sleep badly all week, but I usually do and usually don't have a muscle that twitches all day because of it.  LOL

legacyme3 : Yeah I tried putting pressure on it and it didn't work.

Singelli :

It might depend on the area affected.

For me, it tends to be up near my shoulder. Since I don't have a ton of muscle there, it's easy to suppress.

Noooooooo!!!!!!
The muscle stopped twitching last night!!!  Then when I got up this morning, guess what?!?!

THE SAME MUSCLE IS AT IT AGAIN!!!!

*cries*  It's horrible!!!  I've never had this happen before!  (And by 'this', I mean the SAME muscle spasming two days in a row after stopping the first day)

On the other hand, I can try the ice....

*sighs* I hate being cold....LOL

It is interesting to me too. As for what I do in real life, I am in my final semester of school to be a high school/middle school teacher. Biology is one of my two teaching fields, and human anatomy falls under that. Try the ice. If that doesn't work, you can try some mild exercise putting more focus on your arms (if it is still your upper right arm that is twitching). A few light workouts focusing on your arm for 15-20 minutes can help it subside. Make sure it is light. Doing anything heavy can make it last a bit longer. If you have been drinking a lot of caffeine (or sugar) lately, try cutting down for a few days and drink water. If those don't work, it will probably have to subside over time. 

rcarter2 : Oh yeah!  I forgot to go try the ice!  LOL

A high school or middle school teacher?  Woohoo... I can't give you enough kudos! Teaching is such a wonderful career to be a part of, but I'll stop straying from the topic now.  LOL  (Just one more comment, maybe you could help me come up with math lessons that involve science.  I've always wanted to integrate subject areas, but I struggle to.)

Anyways, I'll certainly try the ice.  As for light exercise, I have a 2 pound hand weight.  Does pumping that small weight count?  I have indeed been having a lot of sugar and caffeine recently, but I'm not sure if it's been more than usual.  My intake probably has been higher, just not by much.  My husband told me yesterday I need to drink more water, so I guess I should toss this mountain dew next to me.  LOL

Is there any reason it'd be the same muscle?  Do you know why one muscle decides to twitch as opposed to another?  I just think it's so odd that the SAME muscle is spasming after it stopped yesterday!!!!

(Sorry, I'm a nerd and I LOVE to learn things!)

EDIT:  Okay, my body is just WEIRD. I've had the ice on for about five minutes, and the twitching got a million times worse!!!  It started like... THROBBING.  The twitches became incessant and much larger. GAAAHHH!!!!!

Oh, and maybe respond by pm so we aren't sandwich posting?  *blushes*

Singelli : It is good that you want to integrate science into math lessons. It is certainly harder to do with all the stress on Literacy First .

But as for your questions, the 2 pound weights would be good. Not heavy, but enough to be an aerobic exercise for the muscles, which means less muscle fiber tearing.

As for why it seems to focus on specific areas, I don't know. I have an idea. Based on the fact that those involuntary muscle twitches are very common for the eyelids, calf and thighs, shoulder and and upper arms, I would assume it may have something to do with how consistently those muscles are used. Those common twitch areas just happen to be in muscle groups that are working a lot as you do routine things. Don't take that as fact though, as that is all just a guess on my part.

Side question, what grade do you teach?

I try stretching that muscle, or ice it.  I know icing it seems weird, but I realize that when I get a muscle that twitches, it's because it's warm so I cool it off.  Also, for example, if it's on your calf, then wear shorts, not jeans.  That probably sounds really weird, but that's what helps me!  Hopefully your muscle twitching problem gets better!

Well, putting the ice on it at first made it MUCH, MUCH worse.  However, the longer the ice was on it, the better it became.  I took the ice off once all of it was melted, and the twitching returned, though not as strongly.  However, it's gone on all night.  I forgot about trying weights because I've been so busy!