Health Anxiety - Muscle twitches

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your reply, yes actually I went to the psychiatrist and gave me meds for the anxiety, as I have an extreme health anxiety problem.. and the more I think of them the more the twitching spreads on both sides

 

Thanks so much Jan! yes right now I'm always thinking on my twitching and getting anxious on them and more the anxious I am the more I notice them! Thanks so much for your reply! 

I get what you're gojng through. I had this arm twiching violently for 3 days! but right after I stopped worrying it gradually subsided.

Thanks for your response. My days are mixed with me convincing myself all is well vs telling myself i have some very serious illness. I tried my breathing techniques today but while relaxing I felt anxious about the twitches and developed more, then my left pinky and ring finger felt numb as my anxiety increased and I had to call someone for comfort while holding back tears. Then while I was at the height of my anxiety a facial twitch developed. I had another breakdown with tears and as I calmed down the twitches settled but I still feel them or I'm thinking about when the next one will be. I need to get over this...I work from home and I'm alone at most of the day and it is really impacting my life.

Hello, just to update this, after my doctor told me not to worry about the twitching they started decreasing in frequency and while I was recently on vacation for 2 weeks they almost stopped completely (or are back to normal since I've always had random twitching at times)...all to say that when I was getting them i was convinced of the worst case scenario and skeptical that anxiety could be the cause, but in the end that's exactly what it was. Took time for them to settle even after being convinced they weren't anything bad....I hope this helps reassure some of you with similar situations.

Hi Giancarlo,

I posted something similar to your original post earlier this morning. What were your original twitches like? How long after being told you were fine did they go away? Did the twitches interfere with your daily activities?

Thank you!

Hi Ashley,

The twitches themselves didnt interfere we anything since they were small little twitches in my calves or back or eyebrow, though the anxiety they caused certainly interfered to a degree. The original twitches were in my left eyebrow that was probably the result of eye strain, then I became hypersensitive to all bodily sensations and would even notice hair moving on my leg (from static likely) and so I would notice twitches in my abdomen, back , shoulders, nose, cheeks, thighs and then especially calves. I was also having more of those jerking type movements usually when I'd be falling asleep...my doctor explained to me that these were all an increase of myoclonus (i think that is what he called them) activity due to increased anxiety and hypersensitivity. After a few days I started accepting and believing that and though I was still having them more frequently than usually, they started decreasing after a few days...a couple of weeks later I changed my prescription for my glasses and started wearing them more and my eyebrow twitching stopped after a week. So I'd say it took about 3 weeks total for it to be back to my baseline level of twitching (I've had infrequent twitches for years as has my brother and several other people I know).

Sorry, just to clarify, the twitches got worse and peaked after I googled what they could be and saw ALS or MS...that resulted in anxiety attacks where the twitching would be all over and more intense.

Thank you so much for your reply.  Yesterday was much better when I just tried to tell myself it's anxiety and that it's not going to get any better the longer I dwell on it.  The only thing that sort of still worries me is that it seems to happen more on my left-side than the right.  I also at this point don't feel very subjective and can't really determine if there is some sort of weakness.  I really don't think that there is, but when you've been so in tune to your body for so long, you don't know which way is up anymore. 

Well now I take back everything that I just said.....I'm preparing for a lecture this morning (I teach in a nursing program) and as I was flipping to the section I needed to get to, I flipped past ALS......I thought "what the heck......let's just read the symptoms since I'm feeling fine and in control again." Bad idea.....it says twitches and weakness, mainly in the hands and forearm are one of the main symptoms.  I feel like my left side doesn't work right, like my hand and arm don't want to do what I want them to do.......but is that just me paying too much attention???  Freaking out again. 

Hi again! Almost that exact same thing happened to me...I also noticed the twitching happening more on my left side (left eyebrow, left calf, left hand, etc) though would get the occasional on the right side...and yes, now that you are hypersensitive to your body and anxious you might certainly be experiencing subtle differences in strength...I remember thinking my right shoulder was weaker than my left because it would tire more quickly when holding it up (but then at the gym having no issues lifting)...I would also flick or snap my fingers to see if my reflexes and speed were normal and be concerned that one side was less quick or more tired than the other....I was also concerned about feeling more tired than usual but of course that is what anxiety will do to you... I remember having an all out anxiety attack thinking I had something like ALS and feeling spasms throughout my body including in my cheeks and nose! It can literally happen anywhere. And btw, you may be noticing them more on your left side because you're worried about that specifically, but I can tell you that when I was also worried about it I would see my calf twitch on the right side and not even feel it (despite seeing it clearly twitch). My psychologist also explained that you'll have twitches that you feel and you'll have some that you dont feel...and sometimes you'll think you felt a twitch but it wasnt (also true, I realized after that moving my wrist in a certain way caused a twitch like feeling)...seeing my doctor was reassuring and it allowed my mind to stop associating any twitching with the beginning of something terrible...once you can remove the fear from the twitching, it will help you greatly. How long have you had them for?

The first one I had was like a month and a half ago.....and it was the hand one.....like that area under your thumb that’s sort of fleshy. That’s what I noticed for like a week. Prior to that I had the eye thing going on but didn’t connect it. Then everything blew up. I agree that I’m probably projecting some of this stuff now. It’s jus hard to turn your brain off and not focus on everything your body is doing. I don’t know how to specifically test forearm strength or I would

Right, so for me it was my eyebrow that was twitching daily on and off for 11 days and then when I googled it made it 100x worse. I know it's hard to ignore bodily sensations. I have IBS and almost daily gas type and pain and I've had to learn to ignore that as well. Being hypersensitive to symptoms and bodily sensations isnt necessarily a bad thing, it only becomes bad when the fear of "what if" takes over. If it started a month and a half ago and you haven't noticed obvious other symptoms I think that is reassuring.. when I told my doctor I was worried about MS or ALS he said that was good because he could tell it's wasnt that immediately...he said with MS it would be a specific area only to start off and with ALS it would be more weakness related to strength and muscle loss.

The only other thing I have noticed is that when I’m browning meat or something like that....I feel like my hands get tired quick. That also could be that I don’t do it very often. I don’t know if that is a strength thing or not though.

Yes it could be that they're just tired. Going to see your doctor to get their advice can go a long way to help reassure you

Definitely. My PCP does not think that’s what it is at all. He thinks it’s all stress related (which I don’t think I’m more stressed than anyone else, like I’m not feeling stressed everyday), and that moms with young kids start worrying like this because they are afraid of what will happen when they are gone. I have a 4 year old and a 10 month old and we have had lots of life changes in the past year (new house, new baby, renovation), so I’m wondering if all that has just kind of sat below the surface and is coming out  now.