My First Post: Twitching & Studying

[daisychainwarrior]

Hello All.This is my first post on this forum so I just might as well present myself. I'm a 26 year old male Swede who is studying to become an architect some day, and I twitch. How's that for a presentation ) I don't know if I want any help. I just want to write down everything. I've been twitching since mid december so I'm almost 2 months into this. Started with two panic attacks (or so the doctors diagnosed it, been to 3 of them and all came to the same conclusion - panic attacks) and major worries that it would be a brain tumor, because of the sudden dizziness and so on I got was not normal to me. Doctor said not to worry and sent me to a CT just to ease my mind. It came back normal.Two weeks after the visit to the doctor and major anxiety over brain tumors, the twitching started. I've always had them, but it was more like - HEY! that muscle twitches. And I always associated them with not having exercized for a while (which I haven't) OR having exercized hard after a period of physical inactivity. Now they were very noticable. And constant. All over. All the time. And I also got the bubbly ones in my calves, which I don't think I've noticed before or just didn't pay much attention to. I mean prior to this - how often does one look at ones calves? When you have your pants down on the toilet? So they've probably been there as well.I went through the standard googling to find out more, and you know how the story goes. After that - percieved weakness in the calves, strange feeling in the arm, strange feeling in tounge, jaw muscles and so on. I believe this has to do with my anxiety, maybe not the symptoms by themselves but me noticing it and being worried about it.I had some trouble with my girlfriend. Me being overly anxious and obsessive about searching the internet finally became too much, so she threw me out (that sounds worse than it actually was, she's a good person, long story short). This was too much for my mind to handle so I ended up at a psychiatric emergency ward. I just didn't know what to do. They wanted to keep me for observation and start giving med anti-depressants. Both which I refused. I mentioned to the doctor there that I had muscle twitches. And she said: "Yeah, and people in your mental state often start worrying, thinking fasciculations is something worse, like ALS, but you don't have ALS. You have depression and anxiety. Twitching is common together with anxiety, and so are alot of other symptoms". Turns out she was a neurologist who did part time at the psychiatric clinic. She gave me a sleeping pill and it was bliss. Note to self: Avoid sleeping pills, they feel to good.I've been lingering on this forum here for a while reading alot of posts, at first i thought "I REALLY REALLY need to get an EMG". But then I saw people who HAD an EMG often came back with their worries, doing a second EMG, a third and so on... and I don't want that kind of life. I need to change something in my life. Come to think of it. It has been several years since i felt really, really happy about something. About life. I mean that really content self-satisfyed feeling of peace inside.What really was an eye-opener for me, was my father. When I described my symptoms he said "Oh those, I've had those all my life, I don't notice them..but I can think about them now if you want? There! I felt one...and there! I just never think about it". I didn't believe him. So he put his calves on the table, lo and behold he had the exact same thing on his calves. "But daaaad...I have them all over". So did he. That night we had a fasiculation contest. He won But I knew I could do better (or worse, depends on how you look at it)So with all these facts presented to me, all these posts on the forums, do I still worry? Yes I do. I even have a strange feeling of weakness in my tongue now as I write. But from what I've learned. ALS doesn't start with feeling weak, it starts with losing muscle control as a result of nerves being cut off. You don't progressively become weak, you totally lose control of a muscle all of a sudden.I have a constant battle between my intellect and my imagination and worries. I'm one of those people in the risk group of developing anxiety. Emotional, artistic, creative. It's a part of who I am. I'm just going through a crisis, and I believe it to be good to have someone professional to talk to. Hypocondria can be treated with good results. I don't think the main issue here is to battle BFS and its symptoms. It's about battling the underlying anxiety and fear of a horrible death. I haven't even been diagnosed with BFS, come to think about it: what's the point of identifying oneself as suffering from a syndrome? Does it help? I know the urge to know "what's wrong with me". But what if that becomes your curse? Believing that something is terribly wrong and being diagnosed with a benign condition. It's hard to accept..you've been tricked! It doesn't take away the feeling that something is terribly wrong. Not from what I've seen from the posters on here.Just a random discussion. You don't have to listen to me at all Also. A good book to read. I really recommend it for those who have not read it: "Veronika decides to die" by Paulo Coelho. Read it!

 

[boysGrandmaof3boys]

Hi and welcome! Your story sounds a lot like mine. My twitching "started" after major anxiety and I truly, truly believe that anxiety has a LOT to do with all of this. So does my primary care doctor. So does my neurologist. When my stress levels are higher, I notice the twitches a lot more...and when I have a lot of anxiety, I notice them more too. That being said, I also notice them more when I'm sick. But...I think I notice everything more when I am sick and am very focused on my body. --- This is not to say that anxiety has something to do with everyone's twitching...but I think that it has a lot to do with it for me. Like you, I still worry, but in the back of my mind I know that I shouldn't. I'm an anxious person by nature and I need to learn to control it. Also, like you, I think I've always twitched but I never paid much attention to it before. Now I do.Thanks for your insights...I personally feel as though you are correct in almost everything you said. Take care!

 

[MosesCobra]

Hi .. Your story sounds so much like mine. I haven't been diagnosed with anything. I have seen 2 different neurologists, had an EMG (all good) and I still have trouble accepting, dealing coping with my twitches. I'm a mother of 3, in excellent health until 8 months ago that is when all these twitches began. I have always been a very anxious, very worried, paranoid kind of person, but even more so last summer when my dad was diagnosed with Lewy Body disease. The more I read about this disease the sadder I became and that is when the twitching started. I have it 24/7 in my feet and calves and then random twitches here and there. I don't mind the random ones, but all the time in my feet is too much. It's like popping, vibrating sometimes funny squiggly kind of feeling. Do you believe this could be caused by anxiety and stress? My neurologist doesn't think so. He said this would have happened whether I was stressed or not? I guess I could live with it, perhaps even tune them out if I believed all this was benign. I just can't help but think that our bodies don't just do funny things for nothing. Anyhow it was good to read your dad has had then all his life and it is no big deal to him. I hope I can one day feel the same way.

 

[onesMJonesy]

Oh how I can relate to all 3 posts. For me at least my twitching began after being extremely anxious for a period of time. I've mentioned my circumstances before so I hope I don't sound too much like a broken record. My mum was diagnosed with ALS last year. Leading up to her diagnosis I was just so worried about her and overcome with grief. Watching mum suffer is incredibly hard. I cry many a tear (like now). This then set off my twitching. I only ever get it in my right leg below the knee and foot. I've been told it's benign and due to anxiety. This is what I truly believe has caused my problem. I must admit that it seems most of the people on this forum seem to have all over twitching whereas I just get it in my leg . Only for a brief period did I get it in other random spots. Believe me the posts that I read on this forum I 'm sure none of us have anything nasty going on just an irritating condition. The biggest challenge is to remove the anxiety. I hope that if we can all somehow reduce our anxiety then the twitching may settle down or go away altogether. I'd just love to know if there is anyone out there that managed to remove there anxiety and then subsequently were able to be twitch free?

 

[InkedMama]

Hi Mariaj, I am soo sorry for your loss. I must say I have overcame this before. I had twitches a year ago almost to date when this round of random twitching began. Just to show ya I believe what anxiety can do...when my last round of twitches happened I had Walking pneumonia and I had mentioned to my doctor @ the same time "hey what causes random twitches" , his reply was something to the effect of "blah blah" b/c obviously it NEVER sent me into a tail spin. Well to sum this up..I dont remember when I quit twitching but I did and I didnt have them all summer until recently about 5 months into my pregnancy and a STRESSFUL time w/ a health test I had to have and a passing of a DEAR DEAR close friend. So YES, this can be overcame. Just Pray and be strong and BELIEVE!