So it's 4:22 in the morning and I can't sleep. I had about 2 1/2 hours of sleep the night before this one because I had two extremely high-stress tests yesterday. Every time I lay down and try to sleep I start feeling these twitches that I've had for the past seven months now and it drives me crazy, and not to mention causes a lot of anxiety.
I noticed that my twitches worsen when I am: 1) sleepy, and 2) when my muscles are fatigued. Right now, I am both. I just recently started going back to the gym and noticed that after my workout my muscles "twitch" and they shake a lot more than they used to.
My muscle twitching started in my left thumb this past January, and I could always trigger it by flexing the muscle that moves the thumb. At first, I was determined that I had Parkinson's Disease so I went to see my university's physician. I showed him the twitching in my thumb and he immediately pointed out that the medication that I was on at the time, a generic version of Celexa, which is an anti-anxiety/ anti-depressant, could have been the cause of the twitching. The physician referred me to a psychiatrist and we decided that it would be best if I withdrew from the medication. The funny thing was that the consistent twitching in my thumb and my upper lip (which had just started to begin but was unnoticable) completely disapeared within three to four days of being off of the medication.
However, it has been four months since I have been off all medications now and I am still getting muscle twitches, but these are different. Instead of having them in a definite area, I am now having them all over my body--in my neck, arms, legs, stomach, buttocks, and I even occassionally feel them in my anus (weird, I know). They are not violent twitches, and many of them you cannot even see, but I feel them and if you place your hand on them you can definitely feel the twitching.
I have not counted, but I am willing to guess that I get these twitches close to 500 times per day and they become more frequent and noticable when I am sleepy and when my muscles are fatigued.
I personally suffer from anxiety, and everything I read on the internet about these neurodegenerative diseases just makes me more frightened. I mean, these muscle twitches aren't unbearable at the moment, but what scares me the most is if they keep progressing and getting worse. Additionally, the past few months have been extremely stressful for me dealing with the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. I am not from New Orleans, I just go to college down here, but it has been extremely stressful having to deal with being sure that I graduated on time, and getting all caught up after a non-existant fall '05 semester.
I am not sure if it is just me, but it seems like the twitching gets worse when I am stressed out also. I really hope that this is nothing "serious." I guess I made this post to see if what I am experiencing sounds like BFS (I realize I cannot get an official diagnosis or anything here) or something else and to see if anybody could recommend what course of action to take.
I noticed that my twitches worsen when I am: 1) sleepy, and 2) when my muscles are fatigued. Right now, I am both. I just recently started going back to the gym and noticed that after my workout my muscles "twitch" and they shake a lot more than they used to.
My muscle twitching started in my left thumb this past January, and I could always trigger it by flexing the muscle that moves the thumb. At first, I was determined that I had Parkinson's Disease so I went to see my university's physician. I showed him the twitching in my thumb and he immediately pointed out that the medication that I was on at the time, a generic version of Celexa, which is an anti-anxiety/ anti-depressant, could have been the cause of the twitching. The physician referred me to a psychiatrist and we decided that it would be best if I withdrew from the medication. The funny thing was that the consistent twitching in my thumb and my upper lip (which had just started to begin but was unnoticable) completely disapeared within three to four days of being off of the medication.
However, it has been four months since I have been off all medications now and I am still getting muscle twitches, but these are different. Instead of having them in a definite area, I am now having them all over my body--in my neck, arms, legs, stomach, buttocks, and I even occassionally feel them in my anus (weird, I know). They are not violent twitches, and many of them you cannot even see, but I feel them and if you place your hand on them you can definitely feel the twitching.
I have not counted, but I am willing to guess that I get these twitches close to 500 times per day and they become more frequent and noticable when I am sleepy and when my muscles are fatigued.
I personally suffer from anxiety, and everything I read on the internet about these neurodegenerative diseases just makes me more frightened. I mean, these muscle twitches aren't unbearable at the moment, but what scares me the most is if they keep progressing and getting worse. Additionally, the past few months have been extremely stressful for me dealing with the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. I am not from New Orleans, I just go to college down here, but it has been extremely stressful having to deal with being sure that I graduated on time, and getting all caught up after a non-existant fall '05 semester.
I am not sure if it is just me, but it seems like the twitching gets worse when I am stressed out also. I really hope that this is nothing "serious." I guess I made this post to see if what I am experiencing sounds like BFS (I realize I cannot get an official diagnosis or anything here) or something else and to see if anybody could recommend what course of action to take.
I shake all the time also. I was just brushing my dogs hair and then went to drink some oj and my arm was just shaking form holding that little glass. I also thought I had PD. I also was on zoloft and ativan and that is when my twitches began but I believe I already had the start of it before these meds because I was having pins and needles all over my body and jerks at night, oh and numbness. I don't worry about the cause anymore, we will never know or there are to many reasons why, but I do try to find what can eliminate these symptoms. ONE IS LESS ANXIETY...I cannot stress this enough. I was soooo bad with twitches, shaking...I would wake up at night and my eyes would be moving, my whole body a couple of times was shaking so bad inside that I call them my internal earthquakes. These are gone now that the anxiety is gone.