Dear Anthony_a,
Welcome to the forums. I'm sorry to hear of your anxiety.
I have anxiety too and while I haven't had muscle twitches, it's entirely possible that anxiety can cause it. As you've discovered over the weeks, anxiety can affect different parts of your body - from your digestion to your heart to aches and pains. I've also had breathing difficulties which were terrifying until I learnt how to manage my anxiety.
The thing about anxiety is that it's often the cause of these physical symptoms, yet our anxiety over these physical symptoms often makes the anxiety worse, which means more physical symptoms. It's like a never-ending cycle, unless we consciously break it.
You've taken a great step in seeing a psychologist. To supplement your psychologist visits, I can suggest the following:
- Acceptance: It sounds insignificant, but you need to fully accept that your symptoms are anxiety-related before you can control them. This means that when you feel a physical symptom, try not to let yourself spiral into wondering what disease you have. Rather, accept that you are feeling anxious and that your body has been through a lot because of that anxiety.
- Mindfulness & Relaxation: I use an app called Smiling Mind to help me control my anxiety. Once you're able to accept that your physical symptoms are a result of anxiety, you can work on managing the anxiety. Relax your body and practice mindfulness. You can also try some yoga (just 15mins of it in the morning can make a huge difference to your mood). Keep at it because it will take some time before you feel your physical symptoms lessening (it was a week or two for me).
- Practice: You need to continue managing that anxiety because it can come back. This could mean doing a daily mindfulness exercise, or daily morning yoga. Personally, a mindfulness exercise every night before I sleep helps a lot.
I hope this helps.
Kindly,
M
