Muscle Twitching

[Moscowolympics]

Hello everyone

Since July of this year, my muscles have been twitching. The twitching has been everywhere: from my nose, tongue and lips to my hands, chest, bottom, thighs, calves and feet. Absolutely everywhere.

It's been quite sporadic in terms of intensity and seems to vary in terms of how anxious I am feeling. I think during late-July I had something of a breakdown, frankly, after a very tough year: relatives passing, a drawn-out relationship breakdown that lasted for months, moving home to live with my parents, pressures of work and saving and learning to drive. I think my body just eventually gave up.

However, these twitches coincided with googling. I won't say what, but I'm sure you can all guess.

I'm very sure there's nothing seriously wrong with me aside from what's going on in my head. I can still perform all the tasks I could months ago and I don't suffer from any clinical weakness.

Yet the fact these twitches still come is bothering me. I have been on About BFS but I try to stay off there because of the various illnesses they talk about. I should stay off forums full stop, frankly, but I can't help it and I do find NMP very helpful and one of the more friendlier ones. Anyway, I do think I've got a form of BFS, but the twitching doesn't affect me 24/7.

Yet whenever I feel I can't do anything as precisely as I want to I begin to panic; I have done (and occasionally still do, but not as frequently) silly tests with my hands and feet and self-test myself by doing tests one would do with a neurologist.

I have mentioned all this to my counsellor and she said the twitches are nothing to worry about and that she suffers from them occasionally herself, while I have mentioned them to my GP during the times I've visited and he's never sent me to a neurologist or anything. The last time I went to my GP was in October for a review of my medication (Citalopram 20mg), which he has now put on repeat.

I'm just after some reassurance, I guess. I'm a lot better than I was back in July but I still have some way to go. If anyone else can empathise with the above I would love to hear from you. Or anyone for that matter!

[MrAndy]

its a side effect of anxiety and very common,do a search on here
nothing to worry about,in fact the more you stress over it the worse it will be

[Moscowolympics]

its a side effect of anxiety and very common,do a search on here
nothing to worry about,in fact the more you stress over it the worse it will be

Oh I know, MrAndy, I've done many searches on here! I've been reading this forum back-to-front for months now.

It's just convincing my brain that that's really the case. I'm getting there I think, albeit slowly.

[Serenity1990]

I have BFS, diagnosed via positive EMG. The twitches rarely affect you 24/7, they come and go as and when. BFS is the sort of twitching you get because of anxiety, though there are probably a whole host of causes for it too.

The constant twitching people sometimes get is from the other type of peripheral nerve hyperexcitability, which is also relatively minor in the scheme of things but of a completely different origin.

Don't worry about the diseases they discuss on the BFS sites, if you've got twitching all over the place that comes and goes sporadically you can pretty much forget about them. What I would say is I encourage proper diagnosis by a neurologist; in my case this pretty much ended my health anxiety dead as I had a genuine diagnosable cause for my symptoms that showed up on a positive scan. However it can allow your doctor to look at other contributory causes for the BFS other than anxiety, for example my neuro was fascinated that I developed eczema at the same time as BFS, so he did allergy tests. Sure enough I do have a dairy allergy and omitting this from my diet reduced my symptoms massively.

[Moscowolympics]

I have BFS, diagnosed via positive EMG. The twitches rarely affect you 24/7, they come and go as and when. BFS is the sort of twitching you get because of anxiety, though there are probably a whole host of causes for it too.

The constant twitching people sometimes get is from the other type of peripheral nerve hyperexcitability, which is also relatively minor in the scheme of things but of a completely different origin.

Don't worry about the diseases they discuss on the BFS sites, if you've got twitching all over the place that comes and goes sporadically you can pretty much forget about them. What I would say is I encourage proper diagnosis by a neurologist; in my case this pretty much ended my health anxiety dead as I had a genuine diagnosable cause for my symptoms that showed up on a positive scan. However it can allow your doctor to look at other contributory causes for the BFS other than anxiety, for example my neuro was fascinated that I developed eczema at the same time as BFS, so he did allergy tests. Sure enough I do have a dairy allergy and omitting this from my diet reduced my symptoms massively.

Thanks, Serenity. I've always read your posts and found them to be very useful, rational and objective, which is what I like/need!

I think I would like a proper diagnosis but the prospect somewhat frightens me. At the same time as well, I should really just trust what my doctor and counsellor are saying, coupled with friends and family. If I were physically ill or had some sort of neurological disease or disorder, I would certainly know by now. This has been going on for six months and I can still walk, talk, eat and hold things (if occasionally clumsy, but that's always been the case with me but it hasn't amplified or grown further). I go to the gym and run and row several km, as well as use the equipment. I just need to get that negative thinking out of my head and instil more rational thinking.

[ShaunRyder]

Sounds like anxiety, I get these along with body zaps!

[MrAndy]

ive had muscle twitches for two years ,ever since i got struck down by anxiety
They actually dont bother me anymore but at first freaked me out

[Moscowolympics]

ive had muscle twitches for two years ,ever since i got struck down by anxiety
They actually dont bother me anymore but at first freaked me out

I've suffered from anxiety and depression on and off for years, but they used to manifest themselves more in terms of emotional rather than physical symptoms. I used to get heart palpitations but that was it, really. That's why the twitching hit me so dramatically because it was so unexpected and pronounced. I am now making the link that anxiety > twitches but there's still a bit of re-wiring in my brain to do.

I think because I get tingling and other common anxiety symptoms alongside the twitching as well (the Anxiety Centre list is something I refer to often), that gives me more confidence.

[MrAndy]

I've suffered from anxiety and depression on and off for years, but they used to manifest themselves more in terms of emotional rather than physical symptoms. I used to get heart palpitations but that was it, really. That's why the twitching hit me so dramatically because it was so unexpected and pronounced. I am now making the link that anxiety > twitches but there's still a bit of re-wiring in my brain to do.

I think because I get tingling and other common anxiety symptoms alongside the twitching as well (the Anxiety Centre list is something I refer to often), that gives me more confidence.

interesting because anxiety was and has always been a very physical thing for me,even if i had a clear head I would still feel very agitated
Dont focus on the twitching it does fade away slowly,I dont get it very often anymore

[Mr Brownstone]

I went to the doctor once about my twitches, she wasnt concerned at all and said it was just anxiety. They have mostly gone, but I get the odd one now and again. However, seeing as its been happening for at least 3 years, I dont think its anything to worry about.