Treatment of Myoclonus is focused on helping to reduce the symptoms. Because of the
complexities of Myoclonus it may prove necessary to use more than one drug to provide
an effective treatment, and a neurologist may combine several drugs together to bring
the myoclonus under control.
Myoclonus in Multiple Sclerosis -A brief, involuntary twitching of a muscle or a
group of muscles. It describes a medical sign and, generally, is not a diagnosis
of a disease.
Myoclonic twitches are usually caused by sudden muscle contractions; they also can
result from brief lapses of contraction.
Contractions are called positive myoclonus; relaxations are called negative myoclonus.
The most common time for people to encounter them is while falling asleep. Howevert
myoclonic twitches are also a sign of a number of neurological disorders
There are two separate movements in Myoclonus:
Positive - resulting in contraction of a muscle, or muscles.
Negative - where there is a brief loss of muscle tone and the contraction of other
muscles.
Myoclonus can occur infrequently or often and may range from a minor inconvenience
to major disabling symptoms making walking and other activities quite difficult.
One of the more common myoclonal occurrences in MS is Nocturnal Myoclonus which is
not to be confused with restless legs syndrome.
