Twitiching

[AcroSplat]

Ok Ive had muscle twitching for about 7 weeks now. My Gp says it's Anxiety, but i keep thinking Motor Nurone Disease/ALS.

Ive managed not to google for a few weeks and have started to feel better mentally, (but still the twitches and other symptoms persist.) However i just googled ALS Patient stories to find out their first sypmtoms. I was confident that it would confirm my feelings, that i have anxiety, but it did the opposite.

One woman described the muscle twitching as Popcorn Sensations in her leg.
I actaully get this feeling. This woman was also passed off by drs as having Anxiety.

I have 2 types of twitches:

- 1 single twitch, which is like a pop, or bubble feeling in my muscle which lasts for 1 second only. I get these all over.

- Vibration of a muscle which vibrate for a 2 - 4 seconds

Who else gets these ? Are they both the same thing ?

My other symptoms include a weak feeling left arm. The muscles in my upper arm hurt a bit...... a bit more like a dull ache when i use my left arm. I would rate the pain a 3 out of 10.

Im also getting this minor jerking feeling. Sometimes it occurs in my legs in which the leg moves ever so slightly. Other times it feels as if my upper body wants to jerk. Feels like its comming from my waist and obdomen area. The Dr said the twitches and jerking were all related.

Overall, how long is this ment to last. Having all these symptoms is 100% abnormal for me which is why im having so much trouble believing it.

[joyce1980]

If your Dr says Anxiety then say to him: '' Ok, then treat me for it''!!

It's not nice to have someone tell you yeah it's anxiety go home.

He is a Dr, so try and treat the anxiety and if it does not improve then your Dr will know what to do next.

Just make sure you get treated for anxiety.

Also the twitches you are talking about are sooo normal for anxiety.

I thought I had ms at one stage but really what are the chances of actually having a moto neuron disease??? really slim!!

Ignore the twitching but scream at your Dr to treat you for anxiety.

[milly jones]

hi hun

i get several different types of twitches etc due to anx

i get a eye tic which happens when im really under pressure

i get leg jerking especially at night

i get a sort of warm wave over my thighs after ive been anxious

i get a shiver down my spine after an anx situation

i put them all down to muscular activity either before or after a potential pa, when the muscles are tensing or relaxing

hope that helps hun

milly xxx

[precious78]

I get muscle twitching all the time. And I have thought exactly the same as you. I googled too much and almost sent myself mad with worry.

I get tingling in my legs all the time. Sometimes when I have been bending over my legs shake (I think this is because I have tight hamstrings now but at the time I thought I had MS).

I get constant twitching in my calves, especially at night when I am tryignt o relax.

Also I noticed you posted about arthritis type symptoms. I have got this now too. I keep getting aches and pains in my joints so I am convinced this is something bad. Especially my wrists which ache.

My shoulders are really bad as well. I keep getting grating sounds when I move my shoulders, also snapping sounds like the tendons are tight. I think it must all be tension but it is so easy to convince yourself it's something else.

[itoldyouiwasill]

Ok Ive had muscle twitching for about 7 weeks now. My Gp says it's Anxiety, but i keep thinking Motor Nurone Disease/ALS.

Ive managed not to google for a few weeks and have started to feel better mentally, (but still the twitches and other symptoms persist.) However i just googled ALS Patient stories to find out their first sypmtoms. I was confident that it would confirm my feelings, that i have anxiety, but it did the opposite.

One woman described the muscle twitching as Popcorn Sensations in her leg.
I actaully get this feeling. This woman was also passed off by drs as having Anxiety.

I have 2 types of twitches:

- 1 single twitch, which is like a pop, or bubble feeling in my muscle which lasts for 1 second only. I get these all over.

- Vibration of a muscle which vibrate for a 2 - 4 seconds

Who else gets these ? Are they both the same thing ?

My other symptoms include a weak feeling left arm. The muscles in my upper arm hurt a bit...... a bit more like a dull ache when i use my left arm. I would rate the pain a 3 out of 10.

Im also getting this minor jerking feeling. Sometimes it occurs in my legs in which the leg moves ever so slightly. Other times it feels as if my upper body wants to jerk. Feels like its comming from my waist and obdomen area. The Dr said the twitches and jerking were all related.

Overall, how long is this ment to last. Having all these symptoms is 100% abnormal for me which is why im having so much trouble believing it.

All over twitching is not indicative of a ALS/MND presentation in the least. The twitching in MND is pretty much the last act of a dead muscle and it comes after objective muscle weakness and objective atrophy. To equate twitching alone with ALS/MND is out of date and totally incorrect.

How long is it meant to last? My twitching, aching, buzzing, vibrating, cramping etc etc has been going on for pretty much a year to the day! It will last as long as it takes for your bodies nervous system to reset itself and too recover from the damage that accumulated anxiety has done to it....the longer you interpret these sensations as the symptoms of a terminal disease the longer you will go on stressing your CNS and therefore the longer you will stay in the loop.

I do not Google my sensations any longer as from an early stage it became quite obvious to me that no good or reassurance will come from it. You say you wanted to find evidence that your sensations where anxiety and not ALS, well instead of going to an ALS board just look at all the anxiety boards that are chock-a-block with people who twitch and who have twitched for years and who suffer from anxiety....why would you be any different?

I do not think it is fair that you bring back ALS testimonies to this sort of forum. People choose not to Google as you can stumble across totally unverified and untributed information that you can take as fact and that will send you into a downward spiral....you have obviously done this and I supsect you then get the urge to have to share this information is order to purge and 'share out' the anxiety that this has caused you, this is not fair as people who visit here may not, by definition, be mentally strong enough themselves at this moment in their lives to handle this.

ALS and MS are incredibly common concerns of health anxiety sufferers and this is because that they effect the same part of the body. You need to accept that ALS and MS symptoms are caused by organic disease whilst anxiety sensations are caused in the first instance by our minds and that this then gets reflected physically....ever so real but benign and ultimatly controlable.

[veebee]

We are going through exactly the same process at the moment – except that you fear ALS and I fear MS. We think we feel almost ok mentally (despite the fact that most of the time we are always thinking about our worst fear – I’m thinking of keeping a record of how often it pops into my head) but still get weird physical symptoms. Then we have situations where it gets too much for us and we give in and end up googling. This is when the fun really begins. We find patient stories of people who seem to have exactly the same symptoms we have. I totally understand why you have done this and I'm sure lots of other people here have done this too! We panic and either make our symptoms worse (which should be the main clue that this is all caused by anxiety), or we get brand new symptoms which alarm us even more. It’s an endless cycle.

I’m not exactly sure how we put this thing to bed other than to accept what we are told and to stop looking for something that’s actually not there – but as all health anxiety sufferers know, this is the hardest thing to do.

I’m not actually sure why I keep searching for answers on a website when I have actually been told by GPs, neurologists etc that I don’t have a progressive illness. Its actually quite bizarre to trust the writings of people we have never met and know nothing of over our doctors – people who have actually seen us several times, listened to our symptoms and, based on years and years of experience and extensive training, have made a diagnosis. It’s completely illogical!

Pschyologically I believe I am in a very destructive place at the moment and I want proper help with getting well again (and not just to be sent away having been told I’m just anxious) – has your doctor offered any practical solution to you dealing with your anxiety? Meds or counselling or both?

My symptoms have been ongoing since mid-late March. I’ve never had any of these things prior to this. Some days I am ok and some are not so ok. I’ve had the twitching and the vibration thing. Anxiety – I’m certain of it.

We all have to try to beat this. We only have one life and I know for a fact that this is ruining mine…I’m sure you would agree with that sentiment?

[itoldyouiwasill]

Yes veebee, the problem is that we feel that we are blown off by our GP's when we get the 'just' anxiety explanation. The problem is that we do not get any explanation as to how anxiety effects us physically and also why it produces the sensations it does!.....there is no such thing as 'just' anxiety, anxiety is a chronic and debilitating condition that can last years if not dealt with correctly.

What I discovered is that you have to be very proactive with this condition. In the UK you either get chucked a med script and a 14 day sick paper and/or if you are lucky some Cognitive Behaviour Therapy that you have to wait 18 months for...how useful!!

Instead of researching and looking into the disease you do not have, get the smarts about what you do have anxiety!...once you understand all about anxiety and how you fall victim to it you can then start to investigate why you have developed health anxiety and then get an understanding as to the bigger picture.

All these weird and wonderful sensations are like a single piece of a jigsaw puzzle, when you only have the one piece your focus is totally on it and you will make wild guesses as to what it actually is. Once you get proactive you will get more and more pieces and this in turn will enable you to see the bigger picture....it will then dawn on you that the truth and what that first piece actually was is a million miles removed from all the fears you originally harboured.

You will find that as soon as you accept and lose the fear over a sensation a new one will pop along to replace it. This symptom shifting is the ultimate betrayer of anxiety as it is your anxiety trying to survive, anxiety can only thrive on anxiety so as soon as you start to remove it it needs to up it's game and this new sensation is the best way it knows to do this....you will then have another week, month or whatever stuck back in the loop until you accept that sensations and then BAM, another pops up and we start all over again.

There are no easy answers, what I would say is that ultimatly, in order to escape the loop you do have to take a leap of faith and trust that you do not have an organic illness, easier said than done but this is a prerequisite for recovery and some people will do this a lot earlier in the process than others.

This is about your deepest darkest fears, worries, angst and thoughts....you may think this this all started out of the blue but as you build up the picture I'm sure that things will fall into place and you will realise what really needs to be focussed on.

I am totally 100% convinced that anxiety is all about us not understanding the mind/body connection and refusing to believe the power that our minds have on our bodies when rage, emotion, sorrow etc etc are somatised into physical sensations....I strongly recommend some delving into this school of thought as the rewards are huge.

[AcroSplat]

If your Dr says Anxiety then say to him: '' Ok, then treat me for it''!!

It's not nice to have someone tell you yeah it's anxiety go home.

He is a Dr, so try and treat the anxiety and if it does not improve then your Dr will know what to do next.

Just make sure you get treated for anxiety.

Also the twitches you are talking about are sooo normal for anxiety.

I thought I had ms at one stage but really what are the chances of actually having a moto neuron disease??? really slim!!

Ignore the twitching but scream at your Dr to treat you for anxiety.

Well he did give me a script for "Mianserin Hydrochloride Tablet"
But i looked up the side effects and it said twitching, so i thought how would i know if the medication was working if i kept getting twitching.

Im not too keen in taking medication anyway

[AcroSplat]

I do not think it is fair that you bring back ALS testimonies to this sort of forum. People choose not to Google as you can stumble across totally unverified and untributed information that you can take as fact and that will send you into a downward spiral....you have obviously done this and I supsect you then get the urge to have to share this information is order to purge and 'share out' the anxiety that this has caused you, this is not fair as people who visit here may not, by definition, be mentally strong enough themselves at this moment in their lives to handle this.

I understand what you are saying here, and agree with you in regards to pasting negative information however i did not have an urge to share out my anxiety and push it on to others if thats what your suggesting.

[CliveL]

I get twitching if I get over stimulated by the TV or there is too much going on