Anxiety and BFS Symptoms: Fact or Fiction?

melyssa221

Well-known member
Anxiety DOES NOT cause BFS. anxiety amplifies BFS symptoms so does stress and anger. Working hard or being very active also amplifies symptoms. thats why symptoms wax and wane. but, for the record i do not believe anxiety causes BFS.
 
I think anxiety can play many possible roles. First it can worsen the symptoms and maybe directly cause the condition in some cases. No one really knows. However, I also think that there is a lot of evidence that the immune system can overreact and produce autoantibodies that can interfere with nerve function. Anxiety may play a role in activating this process.
 
For me its post viral and not anxiety as i'm so laid back i'm almost horizontal. If i'm having a read bad day/time then the condition is very taxing, but i'm never worried or anxious.
 
Hi,I agree.... I think!. ;) I have always argued against the anxiety issue as a cause. I know that anxiety is definately increased by the panic that sets in when we start to twitch have cramps symptoms etc. But as the years have gone by I sometimes wonder if long term stress in life could cause it to happen, from my experience I had experienced alot of years of a stressful situation with a sick child, unhappy marriage. At the time my twitching begun I was pretty much through it though. (any one else feel they had a similar situation)A bit off topic but one thing that I think is really important is not to think that every symptoms is related to something sinister. Its not unusual in a typical normal body to have periods of numbness (my brother reckons his arms go to sleep when he holds the steering wheel to tight :eek: ) . Everyone gets cramps, especially at night etc, eye twitching and other twitching for that matter is 100% normal, according to my neuro caused by tiredness, nerves etc. Body jumping when we first start to fall asleep is common.The trouble is when we are riddled with anxiety and, we believe we have something sinister, we notice every little thing. Remember obvious weakness is the main thing that neurologists look for. I had a little hissy fit in a neuro's office many many years back and accused him of being bloody useless, said that he would only be interested in me when I walked in dragging my leg lol :oops: Just my thoughts over years of this stuff and seeing untold neuro's lol.CheerioSharon
 
Eliminate the stress, the anxiety, and most importantly the concern over this condition and it fades away. Mine kicked in after a TON of stress and anxiety. However I fully understand this condition now so I don't even think about it anymore. The result? No more twitching or at least no more abnormal twitching since EVERYONE twitches every now and then.Stress and anxiety indeed kicks off and fuels this condition. That evidence is overwhelming. I lived it and have talked to so many from this site and others like it. The pattern is almost always the same and most eventually overcome this thing the same way I did. Many have underlying anxiety and don't even realize it. They think they are calm, etc however there is something keeping their nervous system overstimulated which is what physically causes muscles to twitch.BTW, stress, anger, working too hard, working out, being sick, etc all stimulate the nervous system. Once the nervous system is taxed enough it starts producing symptoms. When one starts becoming concerned or gives importance to those symptoms that is when an anxiety condition develops. Why? Anxiety is worry. When one worries about how they feel that continues to tax the nervous system keeping the symptoms going. It's a never ending cycle if one never takes steps to stop it. You may say that you are not anxious however if you are giving any importance to the twitching it will remain with you. Chances are if you are on a message board about a symptom you are giving it importance.If you become fully convinced that nothing sinister is causing your twitching and understand that it is just your nervous system producing symptoms because it is overstimulated your condition will eventually fade. That is of course if you take measures to reduce any other obvious stressors in your life. This does not happen overnight I should add. It took me almost 2 years before I was really able to stop obsessing over this thing. Once that happened my twitching started fading.
 
Totally agree with Kevin, as far as how i picked up and I believe fuels all BFS sufferers symptoms-Anxiety, stress, worry. Chronic anxiety (especially health) is however a nasty bugger to beat-that is my challenge. Not sure if I will, but reducing it certainly is. Having said all that, after reading many posts, I do think other things can set it off-all nervous system related- illness, auto-immune to suggest a few. There a too many posts suggesting other causes, to ignore that possibility.cheersRodger
 
in my case bfs is the result of an overload of years of anxiety. i am on the way to cure, the fascics decreased dramatically since i realised it is nothing sinister and since i can take them as an alarm telling me i have to calm down again. magnesium helped me a lot. i am however not blueeyed. bfs does not disappear from one day to another or after just a few days or weeks of inner peace. the overloaded nervous system needs months or even years of distress to find its original condition back.
 
I have to admit that mine started after months of extreme stress and worry about my health. I covinced myself I had cancer and ended up going through all kinds of tests. I still wasn't satisfied. I still put myself through more and had my self disagnosed with all different cancers then I thought I was having a heart attack. My 1 year old son then got very sick and ended up in the hospital with a serious childhood disease (he is ok now). My thyroid went overactive then boom... overnight I ended up with twitching all over and it hasn't left since 13 months later. I honestly don't know if any of this had anything to do with the onset of twtiching. I probably may never know.
 
Hi Yeah its all strange. I never worried about my health until the moment I started with the twitching and a sore hip. It kicked in something terrible and like you Barbie 800 I was totally convinced I was dying. I went to the emergency department with chest pains etc etc was a complete nut job. Looking back I realise that part of it was anxiety related. But what I dont understand now is I am so totally over worrying about it and relaxed and happy but I still twitch alot, I mean a real lot its never ceased. I have learned to live with it but still find it bloody annoying when it thumps away sometimes. But yeah I am beginning to think maybe the chronic worry over years sets it off, and also something viral seems to play a part.We just have to realise its not fatal!. :D) takes a while to long for some. CheersSharon
 

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