Went to see the doctor today for something I considered a minor annoyance: Ever since I was in Jamaica I’ve noticed a very slight but maddeningly consistent twitch in the bottom of my left quadricep. I remember being on the beach and remarking to our friends the Ambroses that this twitch was driving me crazy. We are solidly into the third week of twichery and things haven’t gotten better.
Of course, after the ice bucket challenges and watching ALS videos, my mind has conjured up the Worst Possible Scenario about what this could mean. Which is stupid. But predictable. This Popular Science article explaining the two types of twitches, for example, has only added fuel to the fire, to wit:
However, involuntary muscle twitches are not all fasciculations, and any non-fasciculation muscle twitch is almost certainly a bad sign. Fibrillation, for example, can be confused with fasciculation, but fibrillation indicates that the surrounding muscle fibers have completely lost their nerve supply. Fibrillations are very bad news, and indicate a serious nerve disorder, like Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
My twitches appear to my not-at-all-medically-trained eye to be the Could Be Something More variety. Thankfully, my doctor tends not to jump to wild conclusions like his patient does, and will treat this as something simple until proven otherwise.
I’ve had some unusual occurrences with my left leg recently, such as night cramps in my calf muscle. These have taken place about once every 6 months for the past few years. Curiously, it’s always the left leg, never the right.
Then there are the very visible veins that are popping out along my left leg. Like a mini mountain range, in places. My modeling days might be over but I don’t know if big veins are a concern.
I’ve been thinking for a while that my left leg appears to be bigger than my right. No one’s body is perfectly symmetrical, but a tape measure confirms that my left calf muscle is 1.5cm wider in circumference than my right. To my knowledge, though, no one’s ever died of asymmetry.
The doc took blood samples today, testing electrolyte levels. I should know in a few days whether that’s to blame for my leg’s twitchy behavior. I anxiously await the results.