jordanjersey1995
27-08-18, 23:03
Hey everyone,
First of all, I'm new here - but am a serious sufferer of anxiety so expect to see me around often! I've read some of the posts and the care and attention you all give each other is so warming and shows what a great community you all are on this site, something I hope to be able to add to. :)
About my symptoms, basically for the past year and a half I have been suffering with constant muscle 'twitches' or movements (when you look, it looks like one small area of the muscle tenses in a slip second, sometimes just once, sometimes in a fast repeated pattern) - these twitches occur 24/7, from the moment of waking up till falling asleep, 10's of times a minute, all day every day. I OF COURSE consulted Dr. Google when I first noticed these, which told me that what I was feeling are called 'fasculations' and that I'm dying of ALS.
After this, I visited my GP who listened to my symptoms, and examined the tone of my muscles and also my reflexes (hammer to the knee). His conclusion was that I wasn't actually suffering from fasculations, but instead from muscle 'jerks' - something I may have for life, or may find disappear when I become less anxious. This comforted me for a few months, but then I became re-focused on them, and convinced myself once again that these are symptoms of ALS. I visited my GP once again (about a year apart from the first visit) - again, he examined my muscles, performed the hammer test again and concluded that these are jerks, and that true fasculations appear as 'worms crawling under the skin' and not what I am suffering from (I even showed him a video of my twitches to see what he thinks), so this comforted me once again. He gave me beta-blockers to curb the anxiety and hopefully the twitches, but they didn't work on me.
He has since recommend I see a Psychiatrist as the anxiety is consuming my everyday life.
When doing Yoga, or holding a squat position my legs shake tremendously instantly, not when they begin to get tired. I also find that I'm on my phone with my arm not resting against anything, sometimes it will shake to hold it up. However, I was just in Oslo, walking miles every day, rowing boats, kicking a football about, all without trouble. The logical part of my brain is saying that, if I had been suffering with ALS for over 1 and a half years, I'd of struggled to do these activities.
I would also say, that the twitches do become excessively worse when I'm anxious and focusing on them, they also seem to get worse after consuming caffeine. (I have stopped having caffeine for months now). And they definitely reduce massively when having a hot bath. My flexibility has really suffered though, I can not touch my toes - not even close, and I feel very tense in all of my muscles (knots everywhere!). Maybe the twitches are caused by tight muscles caused by years of stress and anxiety? Am I being silly to keep thinking I'm dying of ALS?
What do you guys think? I'm twitching like mad right now!
First of all, I'm new here - but am a serious sufferer of anxiety so expect to see me around often! I've read some of the posts and the care and attention you all give each other is so warming and shows what a great community you all are on this site, something I hope to be able to add to. :)
About my symptoms, basically for the past year and a half I have been suffering with constant muscle 'twitches' or movements (when you look, it looks like one small area of the muscle tenses in a slip second, sometimes just once, sometimes in a fast repeated pattern) - these twitches occur 24/7, from the moment of waking up till falling asleep, 10's of times a minute, all day every day. I OF COURSE consulted Dr. Google when I first noticed these, which told me that what I was feeling are called 'fasculations' and that I'm dying of ALS.
After this, I visited my GP who listened to my symptoms, and examined the tone of my muscles and also my reflexes (hammer to the knee). His conclusion was that I wasn't actually suffering from fasculations, but instead from muscle 'jerks' - something I may have for life, or may find disappear when I become less anxious. This comforted me for a few months, but then I became re-focused on them, and convinced myself once again that these are symptoms of ALS. I visited my GP once again (about a year apart from the first visit) - again, he examined my muscles, performed the hammer test again and concluded that these are jerks, and that true fasculations appear as 'worms crawling under the skin' and not what I am suffering from (I even showed him a video of my twitches to see what he thinks), so this comforted me once again. He gave me beta-blockers to curb the anxiety and hopefully the twitches, but they didn't work on me.
He has since recommend I see a Psychiatrist as the anxiety is consuming my everyday life.
When doing Yoga, or holding a squat position my legs shake tremendously instantly, not when they begin to get tired. I also find that I'm on my phone with my arm not resting against anything, sometimes it will shake to hold it up. However, I was just in Oslo, walking miles every day, rowing boats, kicking a football about, all without trouble. The logical part of my brain is saying that, if I had been suffering with ALS for over 1 and a half years, I'd of struggled to do these activities.
I would also say, that the twitches do become excessively worse when I'm anxious and focusing on them, they also seem to get worse after consuming caffeine. (I have stopped having caffeine for months now). And they definitely reduce massively when having a hot bath. My flexibility has really suffered though, I can not touch my toes - not even close, and I feel very tense in all of my muscles (knots everywhere!). Maybe the twitches are caused by tight muscles caused by years of stress and anxiety? Am I being silly to keep thinking I'm dying of ALS?
What do you guys think? I'm twitching like mad right now!