Muscles twitching - need advices

[Dentifirce]

Hi,

BTW, sorry if my English isn't perfect.

first, you need to know I suffer from hypochondria for about 10 years and I'm a nervous person (surprise).

My last problem is muscle twitching. Like everyone, I have muscle twitching here and there all my life but I never really gave attention to it. Now, 3-4 week ago, my thumbs started to twitch after using the muscle and it seems I had too much time to focus on it this time :D

I can even make it twitch on demand by moving my thumb a certain way. Since then, I'm hypervigilant about twitches and I realized almost all parts of my body twitch. Sometimes the lips, then foot, then arm, then finger, etc. Twitching never last more than 3-4 seconds. Most of the time, 1-2 seconds.

I did the mistake of looking on Internet and read about ALS. I now realized it's not that. I don't have any other symptoms but yet, this hypochondria is difficult to forget.

When I think about my twitch probem or I'm anxious, it gets worst.
When I make physical activity that use certain muscles, they twitch more but they can twitch when I'm relax too.

And, of course, when I don't think about it and I'm not nervous...well they don't twitch or I don't notice them...

I try to solve my hypochondria so I don't want to rush to the doctor AGAIN (like I always do) to make a lot of tests that will be negative as always...

anyone has problem like that ?

thanks

[hope_girl]

I am experiencing similar muscle twitches. Mine have been going on for 6 or 7 weeks and it's driving me crazy.





A week or so ago I got distracted by a different health worry. BOOM! Twitches were cured. But I was obsessed with a different health concern. When that concern went away, the twitches returned.


It is anxiety. It can do strange things to your body. Work on the anxiety and the symptoms will diminish.



You said it yourself; give it power by thinking about it, you feel it more.



I have chosen NOT to go to the Dr. because it is assurance seeking. IF it is ALS which is something like 0.002% chance (but I know the probability means little to us hypochondriacs), Well there is nothing they can do anyway! It's not like catching it early will help it.


So honestly it's the perfect worry if you want to practice working on the HEALTH ANXIETY. Because that's your problem, just like me! So I'm trying to make friends with this one since catching it early doesn't matter. How do you make friends with it? Use what you have learned in therapy (and if you haven't gone to a therapist, now is the time!).



So I am practicing what I have learned. Here are a few good practices I do:
When the bad HA thoughts arise I AM NOT HELPLESS. When I have a negative thought about my health I essentially have 2 choices:

1. Give into the fear and despair.
2. Respond with action.

I have a variety of actions i can choose to respond with. Sometimes I have to go through all of them. Sometimes just one or two of these helps me out of the anxiety. Here they are in no particular order:

1. When my mind says "what if....." I reply "Thanks for sharing!" and then I move on. I have to look at my fears with some lightheartedness. 98% of them are unfounded.

2. Respond with math. Play the odds! The likelihood of having ALS in my 40's for example is so incredibly low, it's like winning the lottery. This phrase is key: "It's POSSIBLE but not PROBABLE". (I've literally repeated this to myself hundreds of times).

3. When my mind says "check that thing again" or "what if" (AGAIN!) I reply, "I will watch this and check it tomorrow. I've already checked once." The initial anxiety is lingering. Let it go. Check it tomorrow. Sometimes I have to repeat this dozens of times to myself. Just like constantly seeking reassurance, checking on a symptom will only lead you back into the vicious cycle of needing to keep checking.

4. Thank the anxiety for doing it's job and tell it "Thanks, I'll take it from here". Use the anxiety the way it was designed for. I'm not supposed to think about it. Because I've already thought about it!

5. Laugh about it. List out what you've been fearful of having and then laugh at how many diseases you've been cured of - and with no treatment! Laughing at the fear shrinks it down and exposes it for what it really is; a mere shadow, large and blown up. There's no real substance to it.

6. (this one is the hardest for me, but helpful). Go to the end of the fear. What's the worst thing that will happen? You die. You are in pain. Whatever it is - there is an end to it. Anxiety is like a half truth - it's like having Pre-TSD (not PTSD). Anxiety only gives you an awareness of the terror. You don't go all the way in as to experience the terror. You're not actually living the life of having a terrible disease - because if you are - you find help in support, treatments, doctors who can give you hope or ease your pain. Anxiety doesn't show you this side of disease. It is only the anticipation of The Great Dreaded Thing. It's smoke and mirrors. It's not real. It's incredibly powerful in it's deceit of feeling real but it's the large shadow cast by the small object. Going to the end of it reminds us we aren't actually living that life and that if we were we would have some way to get through it. Anxiety is only about terror. It's not practical.

Maybe that last one was too hard to swallow. It can feel that way. But it can also be very helpful.

After I chose my responses, I then meditate on the following thoughts:

1. Remind myself I'm not supposed to know what's going to happen. The future is unknown! We aren't supposed to know! We aren't supposed to know if our bloodwork will turn out fine.

2. Take the risk of not knowing what's going to happen. It's HEALTHY and NORMAL not to know what is going to happen with my health. With HA I feel the opposite but I have to remind myself that not knowing is the norm.

3. TRY NOT TO BE GOD. Whatever it is you believe (I believe in God), you are not in charge of the future. And trying to be is futile. Thinking bad thoughts does NOT change your future. Making sure you know the sypmtoms for colon cancer per Dr. Google does NOT change your future.

4. I'm not failing if I don't know. I'm actually right where I'm supposed to be. That's right. Not knowing if that weird flutter in your heart is a heart problem or not is where you are supposed to be. You are not failing. You are human and normal.


ACCEPTANCE. This is what my acceptance looks like:

- Acceptance that I am not supposed to know. I tell myself to find peace in the not knowing, to rest in the freedom from needing to know if I'm sick or not. To find freedom from feeling like something is wrong if I don't know what's causing some physical symptom.

- Value this "not knowing". This is the normal, healthy way of living. We don't know what is down the road for us. We don't know what lies ahead. There is value in placing your life in the hands of another (if you believe in God, this is what you do). It's submission to the future.

- Accept the risk of not knowing and accept that I may be uncomfortable until the current symptom goes away. This is normal.

The final step I take is APPLICATION.

- all of this knowledge allows me to be free from being hyper-vigilant.
- this means being okay with not knowing - the mystery is not for me to know.
- this frees me up to get energy to take a step when I am actually in danger. I'm not supposed to exist in a a highly protective mode. I'm supposed to be in a relaxed mode so I can be more resilient for the future. I want to have more energy and brain space for life. I have kids and a job and friends and family. I want my energy to be spent growing my relationships, parenting well, and being productive. I can't do that in a hyper vigilant health anxiety state. It's just not possible. But finding freedom to let go of the need to know - if I have cancer (for example) - gives me the chance to be in a relaxed mode!





HOPE THAT HELPS! It helps me to write to others like this because it reminds myself of what I already know.:)

[Dentifirce]

Wow thanks ! I didn't think someone would take the time to answer something as complete as that :yesyes:

I see myself in so many things you said. I got distracted too with another thing and I forgot about it while it was happening...

My anxiety gives weird symptoms like that but they changed over the time like hives, extrasystoles, vertigo and so many other things I forgot over the time. Right now it's twitching but I suppose they will change for something else in the future...

As you said, we must stop going to the Dr. for everything. I read a book last week about HA and there was something that I liked a lot. Would your family members or friends go see a doctor for your current symptoms ? I can say for sure that no one around me would go see a doctor because some muscles twitch from time to time...So I decided not to go and, in some way, I'm proud of that.

BTW, I saw a therapist for 6 months last year and it helped a lot.

I think the main thing, as you said, is to let it go. I must stop trying to control and know everything about health. While I was at the library looking for a HA book, I saw one about how the brain works and how to eat to keep it well. I was going to take it and then I realized I was just going to understand more about the human body and again will fall in the HA loop. So the book stayed there and I left. I know how to eat healthy, I don't need a book about it.


I think, my main problem is that I don't accept death. I don't accept that some day I will die. Just thinking about it is very difficult for me. I want to live forever !! :) While I'm better dealing with my HA lately, I still don't accept death.


And when you say "Accept the risk of not knowing and accept that I may be uncomfortable until the current symptom goes away. This is normal.". This is what I need to do.


I will keep your post somewhere so I can read it again when I feel HA is coming back.

[RadioGaGa]

This sounds like normal twitching to me. A few weeks ago, extremely hungover, I had the worst thumb twitch of my life.

This morning on my way to work I had too much coffee - an hour later, my pectoral muscle was twitching!

Anxiety likes to cause these things.

ALS twitching is usually not felt by the patient, and looks like "worms" wiggling under the skin.

[Dentifirce]

Thanks! I'm not alone!

Yesterday I did a very hard training and when I went to bed, my muscles started twitching like crazy. I had difficulty to fall asleep because my cheek was twitching non stop.

It's weird I never had these problems before and now it's there for a month...

[Dentifirce]

Damn it's difficult ! Some days it's better but when I focus on this and start to panic, it's just crazy.

The more I think about this problem, the more I think it's related to an injury. I did some work on my floor about a month ago and I had to remove stuff that was stuck on my wall (like REALLY REALLY stuck). I used my left hand to removed all this and I remember the tip of my index stayed numb for 1-2 weeks. I may have injured muscles and nerves in this region too (I can feel the muscle between my index and thumb twitching).


Now I don't know if it takes time to heal... I can trigger the twitching by applying pressure on this region (muscle/nerves/joint). When I stop applying pressure, the twitching stops...


Or.....it's all in my head and it's not an injury :S

[Dentifirce]

Well, my hypochondria wins again...I decided to see a doctor later today... :weep:

---------- Post added at 21:36 ---------- Previous post was at 18:49 ----------

Well just saw a doctor. Never in my life I felt so stupid in front of a doctor.

I could not even finish my sentences, he was always talking over me.

"You have nothing, no disease and there is nothing we can do for this."

No matter what I tried to tell him, like the pain at the base of the thumb or anything, he was always saying : you have nothing

He really spotted the hypochondriac in 30 seconds :D ! But he was more in a mood of laughing at me more than trying to explain me things...

The only thing he told me is to get a thumb brace and try this....

I know I don't have ALS or fatal disease, I just want it to stop ! I don't want to twitch forever damn !