View Full Version : Muscle twitches :(
I was wondering if people who have been through the seemingly common anxiety around muscle twitches could share some insight with me.
I am 25 years old, fit and well. In the last few days I have been very stressed and anxious and yesterday I noticed a periodic twitch in my bicep. It was a single twitches every 30-40 seconds, quite visible at first then gradually getting weaker and disappearing. I became quite anxious about it but it eventually went so I was happy.
Today I have been feeling stressed about the previous issues again and also have developed little twitches all over, particularly on my left leg. The same type, single little twitches that come every 30-40 seconds.
I can't tell if these are normal or not because I don't normally fixate on sch things. Can they be related to stress, does anyone else ever get this?
Yes, I got my first body twitches 4 months ago, never had them before except for the eye-lid. I freaked out the first time, I had them in both thighs for about 30 seconds. They just stopped suddenly. Then the twitches moved around the body, I would say on a daily basis and got less and less each week. Just have a very slight one occasionally now. I think they are muscle spasms which could be set off by the nerves. I was overworked, overtired, overstressed and very depressed. My Body wanted a Lifestyle Change and a good rest. Try not to stress too much, they do go away and nothing Bad will happen to you. We are all living proof on this Site.:)
I twitch a lot it's anxiety related. I think everyone even people without anxiety experience muscle twitching.
Thanks for the replies guys
I twitch a lot it's anxiety related. I think everyone even people without anxiety experience muscle twitching.
Do you go through periods where it gets worse?
Serenity1990
30-05-14, 23:17
Welcome to the club! Twitching is the first and classic sign that your anxiety has transformed into something physical. Before you go down the googling route, random twitches all over your body are only ever associated with anxiety or the many benign neurological syndromes that are strongly related to anxiety.
Alas the common next stage for many is to start googling and misinterpret this as a sign of something more sinister (it isn't, by the way), and then their anxiety heightens and thus their physical symptoms of said anxiety get worse, and the cycle continues.
I say "they", I should perhaps have said "we".
Welcome to the club! Twitching is the first and classic sign that your anxiety has transformed into something physical. Before you go down the googling route, random twitches all over your body are only ever associated with anxiety or the many benign neurological syndromes that are strongly related to anxiety.
Alas the common next stage for many is to start googling and misinterpret this as a sign of something more sinister (it isn't, by the way), and then their anxiety heightens and thus their physical symptoms of said anxiety get worse, and the cycle continues.
I say "they", I should perhaps have said "we".
I know this well, in fact I am a recently qualified doctor myself, I feel like in many ways we are especially bad for this.
I know from personal experience how much worse googling makes things, so I jus wanted direct reassurance from you guys that you have experienced the exact same thing and that it's usually/never one of those nasty things we imagine.
The stupid thing is I know eg. ALS that the fasciculations are usually a late sign and occur rapidly like a "bag of worms". I don't have that, but you can't tell me anything when I'm like this :(
Serenity1990
30-05-14, 23:33
You're a medical doctor? Then you should know this stuff! Fasciculations in your bicep and thigh together are a great sign, your anxiety is ****ing up as it's imitating the disease you fear all wrong! The thing is with anxiety is it can get the symptoms spot on but it lives in a primitive part of the brain and can't fathom the presentation. Silly beasty.
You're a medical doctor? Then you should know this stuff! Fasciculations in your bicep and thigh together are a great sign, your anxiety is ****ing up as it's imitating the disease you fear all wrong! The thing is with anxiety is it can get the symptoms spot on but it lives in a primitive part of the brain and can't fathom the presentation. Silly beasty.
As far as I know the fasiculations of ALS are also rapid, more constant and occur once significant wasting has already set in.. But I may be wrong.
The thing is I have never studied it in detail and don't want to go googling it all now. Plus my judgement is impaired when I get like this :(
Serenity1990
30-05-14, 23:46
ALS occurs in one limb initially, almost always a hand or a foot. First signs are clumsiness, then clinical weakness, then fasciculations specifically caused by neurones dying. By the time the fascics kick in you'll have obvious clinical weakness. Once those neurones are dead they're not resurrecting, that control of that part of the muscle is gone. You'd very much know.
Aside from that, it would be very atypical to occur in a bicep and thigh simultaneously. It would be very atypical to occur below the age of 45.
If you want to look up something, look up BFS. Though in my opinion this is a fancy way of saying "neurological somatic manifestations of anxiety" anyway. :)
ALS occurs in one limb initially, almost always a hand or a foot. First signs are clumsiness, then clinical weakness, then fasciculations specifically caused by neurones dying. By the time the fascics kick in you'll have obvious clinical weakness. Once those neurones are dead they're not resurrecting, that control of that part of the muscle is gone. You'd very much know.
Aside from that, it would be very atypical to occur in a bicep and thigh simultaneously. It would be very atypical to occur below the age of 45.
If you want to look up something, look up BFS. Though in my opinion this is a fancy way of saying "neurological somatic manifestations of anxiety" anyway. :)
Yeah that's pretty much what I thought.
It just goes to show, it doesn't matter how objective or rational you supposedly should be, anxiety bypasses all our reasoning!
Serenity1990
30-05-14, 23:57
Tell me about it. I've never feared ALS but I'm sure I've got something that they're missing. My big fear has been MS but I've had symptoms in literally every part of my body over the course of six months, which would be pretty much impossible. I've gone from being a postgrad researcher with a big future to doubting I have any future within the space of half a year! Don't go down this route ;)
Tell me about it. I've never feared ALS but I'm sure I've got something that they're missing. My big fear has been MS but I've had symptoms in literally every part of my body over the course of six months, which would be pretty much impossible. I've gone from being a postgrad researcher with a big future to doubting I have any future within the space of half a year! Don't go down this route ;)
I'm lucky in that I don't tend to think people are missing anything, when I get reassurance from people with the same experience/professionals then it puts me at ease.
I can imagine if your mind won't let you do that it must be awful! Hang in there buddy, and thanks.
Today they are all over my left calf, really distracting and stressful :( you can't help but think something must be wrong when you can see muscles spot witching here and there randomly.
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I've also noticed they are in the right calf/leg but less so.
My calf's twitch all the time. There is never a time that they don't. If I watch, it is trippy. It is also normal. I have had it for 10yrs.
Look up calf facilitations on youtube
My calf's twitch all the time. There is never a time that they don't. If I watch, it is trippy. It is also normal. I have had it for 10yrs.
Look up calf facilitations on youtube
My problem when I'm like I can only imagine it must be something nasty, now I have bloody MS running through my head.. Sigh.
Well it is not an MS symptom. It is an anxiety symptom, and I have had it for 10yrs. It doesn't stress me. I get stressed more by bumps and lumps.
I've just never had it so non stop before, it's driving me absolutely mad....
Serenity1990
31-05-14, 16:55
I've just never had it so non stop before, it's driving me absolutely mad....
I'm afraid to say that generally, once your anxiety had reached the twitching level it'll be like that for an awfully long time, with varying severity. As someone put it to me once, basically your nervous system is constantly over-exerting itself and now it's just exhausted.
I had the twitching long before I knew I had an anxiety issue!
I do feel exhausted but I've been more anxious in the past. I'm hoping that when my anxiety levels go so will this.. Because I'm normally a very happy care free person I just go through these phases once every few years.
Serenity1990
31-05-14, 18:00
Same here! I've stopped being fixated on MS but something is definitely going on. Frankly I feel whether someone is diagnosed with anxiety, BFS, CFS or whatever else is just luck of the draw.
Same here! I've stopped being fixated on MS but something is definitely going on. Frankly I feel whether someone is diagnosed with anxiety, BFS, CFS or whatever else is just luck of the draw.
I suppose you can take comfort from the fact that in such a duration of time if it was anything progressive or serious it would have shown itself by now.
Anybody else had any experience of this?
Yes when I am stressed or tired it have too much caffeine
Hi,
I had the severe ones for a few days; and I mean SEVERE! I had to hold my legs down. They tapered off over a few weeks and in the end I got so annoyed with getting them, I started to have conversations with them and say things like; "Go Away, I don't want you" or "Stop It, I haven't got time for you, I am busy". And I would think in my Mind; 'Its OK, this is going to go away, its happened before and it didn't hurt me'. It seemed to help me a lot. I must admit, I was very scared the first time and thought it was the start of an Epileptic Fit. I just get a slight twinge every so often and a soreness, but being a person that likes to work things out practically, my natural instinct exhaustion; Body & Mind. I rested and rested and rested. Got plenty of fresh air and changed my Diet. I off loaded a lot of my work/duties and people have said that I look so much better. Not totally free of the Anxiety totally, but getting there.
I think you need to put yourself first for a while. You need plenty of Rest!
The problem with these kinds of somatic symptoms is that even though I tell people all the time not to worry about them and that they are related to mood, we never seem to be able to believe it when it's ourselves.
That said, what I am experiencing is exactly what you have all described. The twinges happen now occasionally elsewhere and mainly in my calf or thigh on the left. Yesterday it was my left arm.
I feel ever so slightly crampy in the left leg and my legs feel a bit jelly like but no weakness.
Even if it is just a symptom of anxiety, I am disappointed that for the first time in my life I have become anxious to the extent that it has manifested physically this way. I have been more acutely anxious in the past but I suppose the last 2-3 months I have been the most continually stressed that I ever have been.
Now I am mainly left with the health anxiety side of it.
I have muscle weekness in my arms one of which is dented like part of the muscle is gone ..i twitch too all the time . My toes mainly tonight and ribs....its my daughters 4th birthday tomorrow its 1am and im convinced i have something sinister...im too affraid to go to the drs ..l had an xray on my aching arm but i didnt have the twitching then now i do.....im affraid of all of this im sure i have something bad because of my arm
Ugh I really can't stand it, whenever I'm not distracting and my leg is resting it's non stop little twitches all around the calf.
---------- Post added at 12:20 ---------- Previous post was at 12:15 ----------
Sometimes they are very mildly painful, like a very very subtle mild cramp feeling :(
Yes after a while of twitching it will start to hurt. The muscle is tired. It will stop. I get this all the time.
It's really quite unpleasant :(
I found the twitches much worse when I was sitting still or lying in bed. They really do get on your nerves, excuse the Pun :) But, I found going for a regular gentle walk helps and another you can try is to flex and un-flex your muscles in your body in a slow and relaxing way; probably lying down, so your Brain is then controlling the Muscles and hopefully it will learn not to twitch randomly so often or not at all. Its worth a try? I got them mainly in my Legs and they actually made my thighs sore. My Toes used to twitch as well, if I tried to relax. I found they tapered off and now I just get them occasionally. Its a really weird feeling when your Body is doing something that you haven't told it to do, but as my Massage Therapist said; "The Body and the Mind has a miraculous way of repairing itself". Lets hope that is True!! :ohmy:
Exactly, when you're actually doing stuff they don't happen, but the more you relax the more they come on, although it might be in my head it also feels like they're less when I am less anxious.
Glad to hear they can go away.
ALiarsPromise
02-06-14, 01:04
Very normal! I get them in my cheeks, eyes, a lips quiet often when I am under stress.
I really hope they do reduce, I just woke up and they seemed to have gotten a lot better but within about 10 minutes they were every few seconds, little twitches here and there and everywhere.
It's quite upsetting that in the space of one weekend I have gone from not having this to having it, all thanks to one fairly minor stressful event that just triggered the episode of anxiety.
---------- Post added at 07:42 ---------- Previous post was at 06:45 ----------
I mean it never fully stops even when I don't feel particularly anxious..
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Do they cause any of you to feel like your legs/whole body is a bit like jelly? Only slightly and I can find no actual weakness but that "jelly" like feeling seems to be there constantly.
I spoke to a colleague and fellow doctor today who told me that he had had the exact same experience a few years ago. During a time of anxiety he developed little muscle twitches all over that caused cramps pain and made him feel a bit wobbly even though he could find no signs of actual weakness etc.
He saw a GP and then a neurologist who both told him it was just anxiety/stress related. He said that he got into exercise and as his anxiety reduced, after about a month the twitches began to fade and eventually disappeared.
I hope I can say the same a month from now. When I am distracted or doing something I feel a lot of relief but lying in bed trying to relax they can become quite uncomfortable. Today in both legs.
Going to revive this thread. I have muscle twitches that come and go --- Just lately (the last 4 weeks) they have been constant -- The one in my eyelid won't go away and I can feel the muscles of my legs rippling and my feet twitching like crazy.... I'm now experiencing skipped heart beats --the heart is a muscle so I guess my heart is twitching away too.... I feel anxious about this... I'm particularly worried today as I don't really feel well -- Nice to come here and read other people's posts -- it's kinda reassuring but at the same time nobody really knows if the twitching is a symptom of something else - In my case I won't know unless I get it checked out.....
---------- Post added at 13:18 ---------- Previous post was at 13:14 ----------
Just to add - I am very very tired and fatigued --- I haven't been sleeping well. I've noticed that I wake up briefly throughout the night..... Can't tell you how many times I do this but I just know that I do.
rotaryphone
28-07-14, 06:30
Hi there! Take a deep breath...those twitches are benign! I've logged soooo many hours researching MS, ALS, and brain tumors. I had widespread fasiculations that had me paralyzed with fear after googling. I had especially pronounced eyelid twitches immediately following a yawn, flinch, squint, or sneeze. Absolutely convinced I had a brain tumor or ALS. I had brain, cervical, and lumbar mris. They only discovered a slight Chiari II malformation, but the neurosurgeon assured me that my symptoms were unrelated. So my regular neurologist ran a Vitamin D test on a hunch. Guess what? I was pretty low. And you know what? After a couple of weeks of oral supplementation...my fasciculations have all but vanished. So relieved to have the answer. A simple answer, at that! Please request a Vit D test...
All the best to you!
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