Physical anxiety symptoms - muscle twitches, cramps, weakness

Rubybleu · ‎02-03-2019

The past week or two I’ve been totally ruled by my health anxiety. I started having a weak feeling in my left hand and arm and something about MND came on TV and now of course I have MND. I’ve been experiencing muscle twitches and cramps/sore muscles, mainly in my calves and forearms. I saw my Dr in relation to this and he tested my reflexes, strength and pulses and all was fine. I keep trying to reason with myself but I just can’t shake this MND idea. It’s ridiculous. My Dr only prescribed medication to take when I’m having a really bad moment but the problem is I’m having these every day for most of the day.

Is anyone else experiencing this type of physical anxiety symptoms? This is all new to me as I’ve never experienced this type of anxiety before.

LP-99 · ‎10-11-2019

Hi Rubybleu

i have experienced the exact same symptoms as you have. Thought I had a serious neurological disorder. Went to the doctor who performed the tests and all good.

Note that even though I had the tests performed I still believed that I had a serious illness! That’s anxiety hey!

i first experienced the muscle twitches over 20 years ago after the death of my grandfather. These persisted for well over a year; and only dissipated after I got my head right. At times the twitches would last for weeks in one area and even drugs like benzodiazepines would not relieve them!

I have had reoccurances of the symptoms since, and they usually apper after I have been worrying non stop over life issues for a period of time.

its been about 8 months since you posted so I hope that your anxiety and symptoms have improved.

TryingToRelax · ‎27-11-2019

Hi Robbie,

Just as an update for the forum if it helps someone.

I did end up going to the neurologist on the Tuesday and he was saying that basically after taking all of the information and thoroughly examining me that he was 100% certain that I did not have MND. He believes that the entire dizziness which started all of this health anxiety and twitches was actually simply anxiety in the first place manifesting as dizziness . I never felt stressed but it must have been underlying stress and lack of sleep, I assume I just kept shifting to the new norm in my life with the added stressors without dealing with them.

The neurologist also provided printout of a study from 1993 (pre internet) basically concluding that only people who knew what the twitches meant (Drs and physios)were the ones stressing about it enough to seek neurological assessment. Nowadays we all have access to Google which makes matters worse.

Once leaving the Neurologist I felt very relieved and within a day or so my dizziness had lessened , twitches are still there but a lot less. I am now almost back to normality. Satisfaction of of completing the tasks that were on the back of my mind I think are key to my healing.

I too take magnesium, I got hold of one from the US that is absorbed into the red blood cells more quickly.

Hope this helps others out there.

Scott11 · ‎11-12-2019

Hi Guys,

thankyou for sharing your stories.

i have been reading and re reading these post over the last few weeks and would like to share mine.

I’m an ex AFL footballer and have a history of a few concussions which could be the cause of my anxiety.

around the middle of September I started to experience burning sensations through my body it started a week before we went overseas, I went to the GP to get some sleeping tablets for the flight as im not a good sleeper at the best of times and explained to the GP what I was experiencing and explained I also have trouble with confined spaces and only being able to sit it the aisle seat on planes, the GP gave some anxiety tablets which made me feel very nauseous so I stopped taking them, when we landed overseas within a day my symptoms went away, we were away for nearly a month and was feeling great, within a week of being back all my symptoms returned as well as muscle twitching in my calves which continue today, I like a lot of you thought I had MS and MND I saw a Neurologist and had a physical which she said I was fine although with my history of concussions she wanted to do a brain and spinal MRI, the brain scan came back clear but I was diagnosed with Cervical canal stenosis which is a thinning of the spinal canal which cushions the spinal cord from my spine which could explain my headaches, cloudiness and dizziness at times. I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders leaving the neurologist after she said I don’t have MS or MND, I felt good for a few days but my calves are still twitching so I can’t accept the fact that MND had been ruled out and every hour of the day I am thinking there is still something physically wrong, I’ve seen a psychologist 4 times and been doing the breathing and relaxation techniques to little affect. Going back to the GP today to try some new meds but until I see the spinal surgeon in a week about my spine my negative thinking won’t rest until I get some feedback from him.

I am somewhat comforted by many of if not all your experiences as I am going through very similar, it’s been a very tough few months not knowing what the hell is going on with me and need some sort of surety.

will keep you all posted

Robbie8888 · ‎15-12-2019

I am glad about the update this was absolutely identical to my experiences after I left the neurologist after he examined me all my stresses disappeared not completely but over the course of months it slowly went away 🙂

Robbie8888 · ‎15-12-2019

Hey Scott this is extremely scary because I went through it too my whole body went through extreme twitching including my throat and tongue I couldn’t see properly and I also had severe dizziness but after I seen the neurologist and he cleared me of absolutely everything I had a huge weight lifted off me but slowly slowly all those symptoms went away unfortunately it doesn’t go straight away because from time to time I have little twitches here and there this has lasted for a good 6+months but now I have little to no twitches I did notice controlling the fear did help me a lot

Scott11 · ‎05-01-2020

Hi Robbie,

thanks for the reply, had my appointment with the spinal surgeon and he also cleared me of anything nasty, but of bit of arthritis at the C6 but nothing to worry about, started taking some medications with some good results my body sensations have gone but still have twitching in my calves, I think I’ll have to be patient and give that time to subside

TwitchMan · ‎28-01-2020

Firstly, I would like to thank you all for sharing your stories. This forum has given great conform in helping me and my family cope with my symptoms that started last year.

I woke one morning 2 weeks before Christmas to find my right calf had a twitch. The twitch didn't give any rest for a straight 7 days and I couldn't go 2 seconds without a large POP in my leg as the twitch took hold. It temporarily stopped after I was in hospital for over 12 hours for investigations, although my leg became very sore. There were random twitches all over my body but mostly in my leg. Once they had subsided after 7 days, they would come and go in my leg lasting hours and then go but would always be back in the morning. I had several checks and tests by a Dr and it recently came back that I was low on Vitamin D, although the Dr didn't think this was my cause and just said we would monitor.

Now the interesting thing here is 3 months prior, my wife also developed twitches in late September. We went through hell thinking the worst and paid privately to see a neurologist and have various scans that all came back clear. Again, one of her blood tests that came back negative was Vitamin D. She has been on supplements for a number of months and was getting very little change in symptoms, often getting worse not better.

We have been suffering and thinking all the what ifs whilst looking after our 2 children under 4. A real nightmare as most of you also explain! But how can we both be suffering this, the same as many have explained on this forum without an answer. It seems too much of a coincidence that we would both have it only months apart without any possible explanation from the specialists we had paid to see, and Vitamin D not really seen as the cause.

We started looking at the environment around us. But have found nothing. Both myself and my wife feel low, we spend most of the time sat on the sofa as we just cannot figure it out even contemplating moving from our beautiful home.

I hope all of you find a solution you our issues and for ourselves,

Best Rich x

Robbie8888 · ‎05-02-2020

I also had low vitamin d I forgot to mention that, I hope the best rich 🙂 x

mndgrief · ‎12-03-2020

I lost my partner to MND last August, I believe he had it for 20 years or more without diagnosis, his calves and arms continually twitched, his feet would get so sore he couldn't stand for days, doctors told him there was nothing wrong with him, I got so fed up that I had him go to his mother's (adopted) neurologist who diagnosed her with MND when all other doctors told her there was nothing wrong. I am not saying you have MND but it might be worth asking your doctor about. I hope with all of my heart MND is not your diagnosis, my partner also suffered from anxiety.

Jojo-F · ‎15-04-2020

Hi everyone. I have experienced similar symptoms to all of you o and off 5 years. I’ve had 4 MRI and 5 CT scans looking for MS. I have lesions on the brain that are not in the right area for dx of MS. My neurologist last year diagnosed FND (functional neurological disorder). It’s a psycho- neurological condition and is listed as a rare disease. Good news is- the symptoms are real and it’s not kid threatening) but can be frightening and very serious. Can I suggest you take a look? I was diagnosed by a neuro and am educating my doctors on it. Sane explains the condition on its website.

And there is a great article about it by Tracy Bowden of 7.30 on the ABC website that's worth looking up.

I was diagnosed ENDEP and it helps a lot.