Unusual Symptoms

Muscle Buzzing Sensation


This is the "I was diagnosed as clinically depressed not psychotic" section.  I was later diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. It starts out simple enough.


In 1968 and again in 1969 I experienced "crunching" chest pains.  I was in a moderately stressful job.  During this period I became increasingly fatigued.  In December of 1969 I had an EKG.  It showed nothing unusual.  I left the job at the end of December 1969.  With in days the "muscle buzzing sensation" began.  I was in a good deal of pain.  I hurt everywhere.


I had large black and blue patches on my inner thighs.  These slowly went away over a period of two months.  The level of pain decreased to a level of general discomfort.  This is where it is today.


I ended up in a psychiatrists office in about 1976.  I began antidepressants - Parnate.  In 1981 I began "Interpersonal Psychotherapy."   This therapy was completed years ago.  The fatigue and muscle buzzing sensation continue.


An Electromyograph test in July 1999 did not show anything unusual.


Background muscle buzzing sensation.  The buzzing is of the whole muscle,


There are eight major body sections affected:

  1. Upper chest/neck/face/around eyes.
  2. Top of thighs.
  3. Sides from armpit to waist.
  4. Abdomen.
  5. Inner thigh ending lower abdomen just above the hip bone.  I feel this inside my abdomen.
  6. Inner thighs, across pelvis, ending over kidneys (below rib cage to the sides), sometimes as far as the backbone in my lower back.
  7. Backs of my legs, buttocks, behind scrotum, back, back of neck.
  8. Upper back, neck.

The "muscle buzzing sensation" moves in intensity from one area to the next in clearly defined rotation.  (The above list reflects the order of the rotation cycle.) The most noticeable cycle is 24 hours (8 groups of 3 hours).  Within the three hour groups there are divisions of 22 1/2 minutes.  If I am very still and my location is very quiet, I can detect a cycle within the 22 1/2 minute period.  Also there is an eight day cycle and a 64 day cycle (8 days times 8 areas).


The 8 cycle periods that I have observed are:


A curious phenomenon is that the change from standard time to daylight time does not change the beginning time of the cycles.  i.e. A 24 hour cycle starts at 6:35 a.m.  Standard Time, it starts at 5:35 a.m. Daylight Savings Time.  (or the other way around).  The timing has never varied a minute during the years I paid close attention to it.  I was not aware of the cycles when I lived on the East Coast.  I don't know what happened in this 3 hour differential when I moved to the West Coast.  I suspect that the cycle timing was not affected.


This poses the question: what in the body keeps time this accurately. I don't know of anything.


A psychiatrist I consulted told me that while he had never run across this "Muscle Motor [Buzzing] Sensation" (the phrase is his) on this scale, he told me he had seen it as a symptom of anxiety.


A search for this on www.patientslikeme.com found that people with MS have this sensation. I also meet a woman with Fibromyalgia who has this sensation.


This sensation has not been responsive to antidepressants or anxiolytics.  I've taken BuSpar and Librium.  It has not been responsive to the Magnesium Sulfate injections.


Remember, I was diagnosed as Clinically Depressed and then Fibromyalgia, not Psychotic.  Your opinion may vary. but I am reporting my experience as I know it.