What might be the cause of random Finger Twitching?

Hi @gigiraj , I have some experience with finger twitching! I'm older now, but when I was a young thing in my 20s, I was into cycling long distances, and I typed all day at my job. My thumb would twitch, especially in the evening when I was trying to relax and fall asleep. I never asked a doctor about it ever! I eventually developed carpal tunnel in my wrist though. These days, Id say I overtype on my smartphone and stress my joints, but my fingers don't twitch like they used to.

I had a doctor tell me that things aren't treated unless they are an impairment. I never considered my finger twitching in the evening an impairment. I used to avoid doctors, stay away from them believe me! Unless you have an impairment.

one thing you could try is getting one of those DNA tests offered, they are around $100 or so, and the DNA test will tell you if you have the DNA for parkinson's disease. Cheaper than an MRI. That's what I did, one company told me I don't have DNA for parkinsons, alzheimer's or the BRCA gene, I was relieved to hear those things.

Don't worry, don't fret. my finger twitched from overuse, including overuse of a keyboard.

Wow, thank you for this response! I also cycle long distance and type a lot. I was just concerned because I did a lot more strenuous work with my hands last year and this didn't happen, and I also have some weird nerve feelings/internal vibrations in my muscles. But this is reassuring, thank you.

Wow! like I said, in my younger days, my finger would just twitch sometimes. if those weird muscle vibrations are in your hands especially, then it maybe the bicycling. After it progressed to carpal tunnel I obviously consulted a physician, here's a list of the interventions the doc suggested and what helped

on the bike:
keep your weight in your seat, don't lean on your hands, keep weight off of your hands
keep your wrist straight, don't bend your wrist on your handle bars and put alot of weight on your hands
be mindful of the jarring that happens to your hands and the handlebars when hitting bumps, dont' squeeze your hands on the handlebars constantly
have a bike shop check your posture on the bike, perhaps the bike stem and seat could be adjusted better

at work,
adjust your work area (I'm short, an ergonomics professional came and lowered my work surface)
try to keep your arm, hand, wrist straight while typing
take breaks from typing

on a long bike trip, my bike friends and I called them "spikes" in our hands, now I'd describe that as neuropathy. We were biking too much 🙂
my favorite bike trips are one I did from Sacramento, through Napa Valley and across the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco. Another one of my favorite bike rides is in Wisconsin with the Leukemia Society (The Scenic Shore 150 it's called), from Milwaukee up through Green Bay to Sturgeon Bay.

Would you tell me where you received your DNA test?

Sure! A few years ago now, I had a 23andMe DNA test done. They do ancestry information, but say that they focus more on health.

Here's an example of the health output that I received from 23andMe regarding Parkinson's disease, they say the variant is not detected in my genomic makeup. There's a long list of things 23andMe reports on, here's just my results on Parkinson's disease from 23andMe:

----------------------------------------
Erin, you do not have the two genetic variants we tested.
Your risk for Parkinson's disease also depends on other factors, including environment and genetic variants not covered by this test.

0 variants detected
in the LRRK2 and GBA genes

-----------------------------------------

Now, Mayo has introduced a DNA test (Mayo didn't have one when I took this one), I have not done Mayo's DNA test for health but I may.

Hi, @gigiraj - glad you connected with @Erinmfs about your questions on the finger twitching you have experienced and your concern about possible early-onset Parkinson's disease with this symptom along with the delayed bowel emptying and random muscle pulses. I also thought that @hopeful33250 @jenniferhunter @lsdempsey @susan62 @leftylucy might have some insights for you on this as you seek some answers.

You mentioned your neurologist didn't acknowledge the finger twitching, gigiraj. Do you plan to pursue this further with him to try and get his input on that particular symptom?

Hi there, thanks so much. I've already posted about this a couple of times in Brain & Neuro before and a couple of people you've listed have commented so whomever has done so doesn't have to do so again because I'm probably coming across as a serious hypochondriac lol.

I am going to follow up with the neurologist via email, since he was only a campus health specialist. I'm scheduled for an MRI in early August so I'll put an update on that.

Hello @gigiraj

You are certainly not coming across as a hypochondriac at all. Unusual symptoms such as this are concerning. I would very definitely follow up with a neurologist on this and try to get an answer (it may take some perseverance on your part). Please remember that if your doctor cannot offer you any suggestions on the cause for this, that a second opinion can be very helpful. By the way, have you had any nerve conduction testing? (I'm thinking of an EMG.)

I look forward to hearing from you again after your MRI in August.

@gigiraj Twitching and spontaneous contraction can occur because of irritation anywhere along a nerve path from the spinal cord to the fingers and in all the places where nerves travel between muscles, tendon and bones. If this is happening in your dominant hand, pay attention to what increases or decreases symptoms. It may be something like the use of your fingers in texting combined with a forward bent neck position. That's a guess on my part as I don't know your habits, but texting is causing issues in younger people and all of that puts extra uneven pressure on the spine and discs. Over time, poor posture can cause spine problems and degeneration. Some of that is going to happen just from aging, so correcting posture when you are young is a great step toward future health. If I sound like a person who worries about spine health, well that's true. I am a spine surgery patient and learned through my own experience. I had an injury years earlier that with aging caused degeneration of a disc in my neck. I also have thoracic outlet syndrome which causes nerve entrapment in my shoulder and neck and is posture related and partly because of my physical build. A forward position of the neck and shoulders causes more pressure on the nerves. I can have twitching muscles if it gets bad. I also have carpal tunnel, and with all of this and multiple points of nerve compression, it can be complex to figure it out. Sometimes, it is just tight muscles and fascia that pull things out of alignment and put pressure on nerves. I did have a problem with my thumb and index finger that was caused by a spinal injection because of the pressure of the injected fluid. I already had central spinal canal stenosis at the time, and the injection was near the nerve root that innervates my thumb and forefinger. Your neurologist should try to pinpoint if there is a specific location of nerve entrapment or dysfunction. You might want to make a diagram to keep track of the issues and if it changes over time, and what type of symptom you have such as twitching, pain, tingling, numbness, etc. I actually had twitching in several places in my body caused by spinal cord compression because those were the source of the nerves that went to the twitching muscles. I have had spine surgery to decompress the spinal cord which resolved the problem.

It may be a physical issue rather than a disease. Physical therapy can help. There are are PTs who specialize in hand therapy. It helps me a lot, and my therapist also does a lot of myofascial release. We have a lot of information about that and how it helps lots of physical issues in the discussion that you can find here.
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/myofascial-release-therapy-mfr-for-treating-compression-and-pain/

Thanks for the reassurance. I haven't and have never heard of nerve conduction testing so I'll definitely follow up on that!