Geezer

There are 380 posts filed in Geezer (this is page 14 of 38).

Twitches and fatigue

My initial optimism about the magnesium supplements helping with the muscle twitches I’ve had has worn off. The twitching has continued, spread out all over my body now. In fact, one night last week I felt the muscles between my shoulder blades twitch when I was sleeping – waking me up. It’s the biggest damn pain in the ass.

To top it off, we had only walked about the fairgrounds for about an hour before I started feeling very fatigued. I felt like my arm and leg muscles were slow as molasses. It dawned on me that night that I am finally able to effectively define fatigue versus simple tiredness. Fatigue is like tiredness but without the mental urge to sleep. Fatigue is not having any energy while still maintaining the will to do something. The mind is willing but the body unable. It seems that the fatigue that would once make a visit to me for a few weeks every year or so has begun to occur far more frequently and persistently. And it really sucks. I’m tired when I have no right to be and it’s starting to affect my quality of life.

I hope to revist my doctors soon to discuss next steps. This journey is obviously not over yet.

Thomas Crowder

I began this post back on 25 September, the day Thomas Crowder resigned from the Raleigh City Council. I had to stop writing because it felt like an obituary and it was too soon for that. Thomas passed away this afternoon.

Thomas Crowder

Thomas Crowder

I’ve been in a funk for the past few days after hearing that the health of my friend Thomas Crowder has taken a dramatic turn for the worse.

I first met Thomas in person during the 2007 election when he appeared at the League of Women Voters candidate forum. He reminded me a bit of John Wayne, larger than life.

The last time I saw him was about a year ago. We were outside the Raleigh Times one morning when he suddenly stopped speaking and stared at me.
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Fantastic nerves

I got the word back from my neurologist this morning regarding the nerve tests done Tuesday. The doc says my nerves look “fantastic,” so good that we didn’t even have to do the actual EMG test. He suggested I keep up the mineral supplements and he would see me again in a few months.

So, I’m still not completely sure what’s up with the twitches but it doesn’t appear to be nerve damage. Whew!

Part of the puzzle to be revealed?

Tomorrow is when I talk to the neurologist about the results of Tuesday’s test. The doc has initially diagnosed benign fasciculation syndrome. I’m curious to learn whether he maintains his diagnosis tomorrow.

Twitching continues, mainly in my glutes now. My left bicep has been feeling fatigued for two days, too, though I have not done anything strenuous with it.

On another note, I was checking the Gulf War Illness page on Facebook today when a visitor posted about her veteran husband’s cramp fasciculation syndrome:
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Gimmie gimmie shock treatment

Yesterday was my appointment to get an EMG and a nerve conduction study done to find out more about my twitchy legs. The technician’s name was Diane and she had me take off my shoes and socks and lie on the table. Diane asked if I was having twitches now and if they were visible. Unfortunately, none were active that I could point her to (though I noticed them again later on the way home).

She then attached a few electrodes to my ankle area and used what is essentially a cattle prod device to run electric shocks into my muscle while a computer charted the responses.

“This is a little more active than I expected,” I told her, not expecting shocks. “I was thinking this would be more passive.”

“Well, we’ve got to check your muscles’ responses to the electricity,” she responded without looking up.
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A room with a 115,000 volt view

Update 14 Oct: Duke Energy Progress tells me this line is 115,000 volts, not 140,000. Post updated to show the true voltage.

401 Oberlin residents never have to charge their cellphones

401 Oberlin residents never have to charge their cellphones

As I’ve occasionally driven by the new 401 Oberlin apartments at the corner of Oberlin Road and Clark Avenue, I’ve begun to notice just how frighteningly close the building is to a high-voltage transmission line paralleling it on Clark Avenue. High voltage lines pulsing with electricity in the neighborhood of 115,000 volts are less than two dozen feet away from the top floor of this building. Scary thought. It’s something that is conspicuously absent from their fancy building renderings, I’ve noticed.

Twenty years ago I rented an apartment with my brother and friend on Thea Lane in southwest Raleigh that was located about 50 feet under the 115Kv transmission lines that run alongside the Beltline. I never thought much about it until the day I was adjusting my tape deck (remember those?), getting ready to record a CD. When I bumped up the gain slightly on my tape recorder, I was surprised to hear an unexpectedly loud hum coming through the tape heads! Yikes! I wasn’t going to wait around for science’s definitive answer on the possible dangers of electrical field exposure, I was ready to get out of there!

Now look at 401 Oberlin, which is twice as close to power lines as I used to be. Electrical field strengths become twice as strong at half the distance, so 401 Oberlin residents are almost certainly swamped in a very strong electrical field.

Bottom line? No way in hell I would ever live there!

I’ve got an inquiry in with Duke Energy Progress to determine how much juice is actually flowing through that transmission line. I’ll update this post if/when I hear back from them.

Twitches continue

My muscle twitches have continued constantly since I first noted my left knee twitching. Now I get twitches in my upper left quadricep, right quadricep, right foot, both hamstrings, buttocks, left calf muscle, and elsewhere. It seems that at any one point in time there is something twitching. It’s as if someone is tickling me, 24 hours a day. It frequently wakes me up hours before my usual waking time. I’m really starting to wish this would go away but so far it has only gotten worse.

I am set to visit a neurologist tomorrow who can hopefully give me some answers. As I pondered my upcoming visit, I realized I had been assuming the doctor could provide some sort of medicine that might still my twitching enough that it wouldn’t disturb my sleep. Tonight I considered the very unpleasant possibility that the doctor can’t do anything to calm my muscles. Never mind whether this is a symptom of a more serious condition – nevermind the underlying cause – what if I was simply stuck with being invisibly goosed for the forseeable future? This alone would suck.

In the darkest corners of my mind is the fear that the mysterious health issues that have occasionally plagued me for decades have now fully latched onto me, having chewed through my body’s defenses. Pessimistic, I know, and premature since I haven’t seen the neurologist yet, but I admit that whatever is affecting me now has my full attention.

Fifteen years

Wedding bliss, 1999

Wedding bliss, 1999


Kelly and I celebrated our fifteenth wedding anniversary yesterday. For a little romantic night out, we spent our evening with a few hundred other Ligon Middle School parents at the Open House. Hey, at least we were together and, to be honest, it was fun! We’re going out tomorrow night for a romantic dinner.

Above is a scan of a wedding photo we’ve had on our shelf almost since our wedding day. The color may have faded but the love is stronger than ever!

Labs come back clean

I got my lab results on Monday. They all look perfect – everything is right down the middle of the acceptable ranges. I’m as healthy as a horse … except for the weird. unexplained twitching I experienced.

Fortunately, the twitching has almost totally stopped since the family bike ride we all took on Sunday morning. And my muscles are not feeling as tense during the night, giving me a better night of sleep every night.

As nice as the clean labs are, though, it doesn’t really explain what happened. As it appears to not be an issue and my doc is satisfied I suppose I’ll just chalk it up to a mystery for now.

Visibly twitchy

My leg looking puffy where my dress sock just was

My leg looking puffy where my dress sock just was


For a day after writing my post about my twitchy leg I didn’t notice it twitching at all. Eventually the twitching came back and I began to try to track it down.

This morning while I was reading in the easy chair I watched it twitch. I don’t know if I had actually seen it twitch until today, so now I know it’s probably not the more serious, invisible twitch that had me concerned this week. Hopefully the lab work will come back tomorrow and my doc and I can work through what might be causing it.

On another note, Kelly, Hallie, and I went for a bike ride this morning and which I haven’t seen or felt my leg twitch. I wonder if something had gotten tangled up in there and worked itself out today?