Diseases » Myoclonus » Introduction

Myoclonus

Myoclonus: Introduction

Everyone has muscle twitches, such as hiccups or sleep starts, but clinical myoclonus is more severe.

Symptoms of Myoclonus

• Muscle twitches - involuntary, with or without a pattern
• Muscle twitches when trying to move
• more symptoms...»

Read more about symptoms of Myoclonus

Home Diagnostic Testing

Home medical testing related to Myoclonus:

• Nerve Neuropathy: Related Home Testing:
  • Home Diabetes Test Kits
  • Home Blood Glucose Testing Kits
• Brain & Neurological Disorders: Related Home Testing:
  • ADHD -- Home Tests
  • Drug Screening Kits
• more tests...»

Myoclonus: Complications

Review possible medical complications related to Myoclonus:

• Difficulty eating (see Eating symptoms)
• Difficulty talking
• Difficulty walking
• more complications...»

Disease Topics Related To Myoclonus

Research the causes of these diseases that are similar to, or related to, Myoclonus:

• Multiple sclerosis
• Parkinson's disease
• Alzheimer's disease
• Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
• Epilepsy
• more related diseases...»

Medical Textbooks Online about Myoclonus

Book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Wrongly Diagnosed with Myoclonus?

• Misdiagnosis of Myoclonus
• Failure to diagnose Myoclonus
• Hidden causes of Myoclonus (possibly wrongly diagnosed)
• Undiagnosed: Myoclonus

Myoclonus: Self Assessment Tools

• Stroke -- Self Assessment Tools
• more tools...»

Myoclonus: Marketplace Products, Discounts & Offers

Products, offers and promotion categories available for Myoclonus:

• Stroke
• Brain
• more product offers...»

Myoclonus: Undiagnosed Conditions

Commonly undiagnosed diseases in related medical categories:

• Brain & Neurological Disorders: Undiagnosed:
  • Adult ADHD -- Undiagnosed - ADHD can be undiagnosed in adults.
  • ADHD -- Undiagnosed
  • Alzheimer Disease -- Undiagnosed
  • Migraine -- Undiagnosed
  • Concentration Disorders -- Undiagnosed
  • Stroke -- Undiagnosed
  • Bipolar Disorder -- Undiagnosed
  • Schizophrenia -- Undiagnosed
  • Epilepsy -- Undiagnosed
• more undiagnosed conditions...»

Misdiagnosis and Myoclonus

Epilepsy misdiagnosed as schizophrenia: The book "Preventing Misdiagnosis of Women" reports on a case of a woman diagnosed with schizophrenia, but later diagnosed with a form of epilepsy called "temporal lobe epilepsy". A...read more »

Undiagnosed stroke leads to misdiagnosed aphasia: BBC News UK reported on a man who had been institutionalized and treated for mental illness because he suffered from sudden inability to speak....read more »

Dementia may be a drug interaction: A common scenario in aged care is for a patient to show mental decline to dementia. Whereas this can, of course, occur due to various medical conditions, such as a stroke...read more »

RLS sleep disorder causing night-time leg sensations often misdiagnosed: A common but relatively unknown sleep-related disorder called Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) is often misdiagnosed. The typical symptoms are night...read more »

Mild traumatic brain injury often remains undiagnosed: Although the symptoms of severe brain injury are hard to miss, it is less clear for milder injuries, or even those causing a mild concussion diagnosis. The condition goes by the name of ...read more »

MTBI misdiagnosed as balance problem: When a person has symptoms such as vertigo or dizziness, a diagnosis of brain injury may go overlooked. This is particularly true of mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI), for...read more »

Brain pressure condition often misdiagnosed as dementia: A condition that results from an excessive pressure of CSF within the brain is often misdiagnosed. It may be misdiagnosed as Parkinson's disease or dementia (such...read more »

Post-concussive brain injury often misdiagnosed: A study found that soldiers who had suffered a concussive injury in battle often were misdiagnosed on their return. A variety of symptoms can occur in post-concussion...read more »

Children with migraine often misdiagnosed: A migraine often fails to be correctly diagnosed in pediatric patients. These patients are not the typical migraine sufferers, but migraines can also occur in children. See...read more »

Vitamin B12 deficiency under-diagnosed: The condition of Vitamin B12 deficiency is a possible misdiagnosis of various conditions, such as multiple sclerosis (see symptoms of multiple sclerosis). See symptoms...read more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Myoclonus

Myoclonus: Research Doctors & Specialists

Research related physicians and medical specialists:

• Nerve Specialists:
  • Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine
  • Neurology (Brain/CNS Specialists)
  • Pediatric Neurology (Child Brain Specialist)
  • Spinal Cord Injury Medicine
• Neurology (Brain/CNS Specialists):
  • Pediatric Neurosurgery (Child Neurosurgeon)
  • Clinical Neurophysiology
  • Neurodevelopment Disabilities
  • Neurosurgery (Brain Surgery)
  • Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine (Nerve/Muscle/Bone Specialists)
  • Neuroradiology
  • Vascular Neurology
  • Neuropathology
  • Otology / Neurotology (Ear/Hearing Specialists)
• Stroke & Vascular Specialists:
  • Vascular Neurology (Brain Blood Vessels)
  • Vascular & Interventional Radiology
  • Vascular Surgery (Blood Vessel Surgeon)
  • Neuropathology (Brain Diagnostics)
• more specialists...»

Other doctor, physician and specialist research services:

• Rate Your Doctor Online
• Research Your Doctor Online
• Review Patient Surveys About Your Doctor
• Research local specialists including ratings, affiliations, and sanctions.

Myoclonus: Rare Types

Rare types of diseases and disorders in related medical categories:

• Brain & Neurological Disorders: Rare Types:
  • Adult ADHD -- Rare Types
  • ADHD -- Rare Types
  • Alzheimer Disease -- Rare Types
  • Migraine -- Rare Types
  • Concentration Disorders -- Rare Types
  • Stroke -- Rare Types
  • Bipolar Disorder -- Rare Types
  • Schizophrenia -- Rare Types
  • Epilepsy -- Rare Types
• more rare diseases...»

Causes of Myoclonus

• Infection
• Head injury
• Spinal cord injury
• Stroke
• Brain tumors
• more causes...»

See full list of 96 causes of Myoclonus

More information about causes of Myoclonus:

• Drug interactions causing Myoclonus (1 listings)
• Underlying causes of Myoclonus
• Myoclonus as a complication caused by other conditions
• Myoclonus as a symptom

Treatments for Myoclonus

• Clonazepam - a tranquilizer
• Barbiturates
• Phenytoin - an antiepileptic
• Primidone - an antiepileptic
• Sodium valproate
• more treatments...»

Read more about treatments for Myoclonus

Videos for Myoclonus

See full list of 21 related videos

Patient Surveys for Myoclonus

• Patient Profile Survey
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• Survey about the symptoms of your Myoclonus
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Prognosis for Myoclonus

Prognosis for Myoclonus: Although myoclonus is not a life-threatening condition, it may result in serious, debilitating impairments. (Source: excerpt from NINDS Myoclonus Information Page: NINDS)

More about prognosis of Myoclonus

Reseach about Myoclonus

Visit our research pages for current research about Myoclonus treatments.

Clinical Trials for Myoclonus

The US based website ClinicalTrials.gov lists information on both federally and privately supported clinical trials using human volunteers.

Some of the clinical trials listed on ClinicalTrials.gov for Myoclonus include:

• Effectiveness of Rituximab in Pediatric OMS Patients. - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - rituximab
• Genotype/Phenotype Correlation of Movement Disorders and Other Neurological Diseases - This study has been completed (Current: 23 Nov 2006)
• Treatment of Cortical Myoclonus With Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation - This study has been completed (Current: 23 Nov 2006)
• Use of Rituximab in Opsoclonus-Myoclonus in Children With Neuroblastoma - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - anti-CD20 (Rituximab)
• Brivaracetam as Add-on Treatment of Unverricht-Lundborg Disease in Adolescents and Adults. - This study is not yet open for patient recruitment (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Brivaracetam (ucb 34714)
• more trials...»

See full list of 11 Clinical Trials for Myoclonus

Statistics for Myoclonus

• Medical statistics for Myoclonus
• Prevalence and incidence statistics for Myoclonus
• Death and Mortality statistics for Myoclonus
• Society statistics for Myoclonus

Myoclonus: Broader Related Topics

• Brain conditions
• more types...»

Types of Myoclonus

Types of Myoclonus

• Positive myoclonus - sudden muscle contractions
• Negative myoclonus - sudden muscle relaxations
• Posthypoxic myoclonus - from hypoxia
• Action myoclonus
• Cortical reflex myoclonus - probably a type of epilepsy
• more types...»

See full list of 14 Types of Myoclonus

Stories from Users Related to Myoclonus

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User Interactive Forums

Read about other experiences, ask a question about Myoclonus, or answer someone else's question, on our message boards:

• I can not get a diagnosis. Please help.
• Tell us your medical story.
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• What is the best treatment for this?
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Article Excerpts about Myoclonus

NINDS Myoclonus Information Page: NINDS (Excerpt)

Myoclonus is a term that refers to brief, involuntary twitching of a muscle or a group of muscles. It describes a symptom and, generally, is not a diagnosis of a disease. (Source: excerpt from NINDS Myoclonus Information Page: NINDS)

Myoclonus Fact Sheet: NINDS (Excerpt)

Myoclonus describes a symptom and generally is not a diagnosis of a disease. It refers to sudden, involuntary jerking of a muscle or group of muscles. Myoclonic twitches or jerks usually are caused by sudden muscle contractions, called positive myoclonus, or by muscle relaxation, called negative myoclonus. Myoclonic jerks may occur alone or in sequence, in a pattern or without pattern. They may occur infrequently or many times each minute. Myoclonus sometimes occurs in response to an external event or when a person attempts to make a movement. The twitching cannot be controlled by the person experiencing it. (Source: excerpt from Myoclonus Fact Sheet: NINDS)

Definitions of Myoclonus:

Involuntary shock-like contractions, irregular in rhythm and amplitude, followed by relaxation, of a muscle or a group of muscles. This condition may be a feature of some CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEMS DISEASES (e.g., EPILEPSY, MYOCLONIC). Nocturnal myoclonus may represent a normal physiologic event or occur as the principal feature of the NOCTURNAL MYOCLONUS SYNDROME. (From Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, pp102-3). - (Source - Diseases Database)

A clonic spasm of a muscle or muscle group - (Source - WordNet 2.1)

Myoclonus is listed as a "rare disease" by the Office of Rare Diseases (ORD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This means that Myoclonus, or a subtype of Myoclonus, affects less than 200,000 people in the US population.
Source - National Institutes of Health (NIH)

 » Next page: What is Myoclonus?

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