TWITCHERS: Neurologist, Psychologist: You're just anxious. Time to accept the Dx

[AnxiouSteve]

Surprise surprise.

I feel great on the outside.  Inside I can tell that I'm still a bit to 'revved up'.

First I went to the Neurologist:

He prodded and poked and had me walk on heals and toes, etc.

The neuro said some interesting things. 
He's got a lot of people coming to see him lately from Wall St with twitches and tremors that have no explanation other than anxiety. 
He said an EMG will be a waste of money and time, and I MUST ACCEPT THAT.  I didn't want that anyway. 
He said that if it's not better in three months to come and see him, but only if I'm worried about it, and he will do an MRI and EMG if it makes me feel better.
He said that doctors are their own worst patients, and that made me think of us.  We are so expert in our disease of fixation.
I told him that in a study of 121 individuals with benign fasciculations 40 worked in health care, (The rest spent too much time on 'The Google' I bet) which he found interesting.

He also pointed out that my Magnesium reading on my blood test was low, any lower and I would be clinically deficient, and that could lead to twitching.  This blood work was done AFTER I'd started taking supplements!!!
--I've read that when we are stressed we fly through magnesium.  Twitchers, if the twitching bothers you, take some supplements.  You may be magnesium deficient.
I mentioned that the twitching was better, even when I was anxious like today, which was my worst day in a while, terrified of what he might tell me.

He pointed out that he has seen people with ALS.  The twitching is prolonged, persistent, and looks like 'constant ripples and waves' whether the muscle is at rest or not, but we know that, right?

Dx:  Benign Fasciculations
Rx:  Fiji Water, Magnesium Supplement, Gatorade, a good Multivitamin, and see someone about CBT


Then I went to see the psychiatrist. 

I apologized for going through my Xanax at a rate that was about 50% accelerated.  He said he wouldn't give me more, but I think that was just to check my reaction.  I told him I had a good excuse:  The St. John's Wort I told him I would take (and showed him the bottle last time) has been shown clinically to basically halve the effectiveness of both Seroquel and Xanax.  (Thanks again Catlover82) He said 'I forgot to tell you.'    I told him I was no longer taking SJW.  I told him I worried about the Paxil, specifically SSRI Discontinuation Syndrome, and he said no Paxil, but upped my Seroquel.

He said I might be a hypochondriac.  I said, 'Technically, only if I don't accept the Dx from the neuro.'

Dx:  'Ambiguous Need to be Medicated Syndrome' (my term, perhaps someone could help me refine it)
Rx:  75mg Seroquel Night (up from 50mg), 37.5mg morning (up from 25).  .25 Xanax AM and PM (same as before).  Go to NA ((!) marijuana cessation (!)).  And read about CBT on web.  No psychologist necessary.

So there it is.  I've decided to reading in this topic as well (present threads excluded), but you will still see me in GAD and Medications forum.  Feel free to PM me, but I need to break the cycle of HA Neurosis and focus on my General Anxiety.  I still feel my lower jaw moving like I got too much adrenaline in me.

[angeliz]

Please read my post...Best wishes to you

[angeliz]

Have you had ANY medical testing done.???

[Ben]

Steve, this is very helpful, thank you so much. I have no obvious weakness and can do the heel walk and toe walk and walk heel to toe with eyes closed and all that so I'm hoping I'm ok too. I haven't been to a nuero but my regular Dr just says "anxiety". Personally I don't think a clear emg would help me move on so I'm just going to have to live with this fear until a year or so goes by and without any weakness I'll probably be able to move on.
This is a nightmare. Thanks though for your post, it really does help.

[idreamofskiba]

I'm so happy for you!

[Kayteecatt]

I'm so glad to hear you're going to heal yourself, but we've come to enjoy your humor around here...we'll miss ya.

[AnxiouSteve]

Have you had ANY medical testing done.???

I didn't get an EMG, and I don't want one.  I've been neurotic enough, worrying about a disease that I have about a 1 in 2 million chance of having.  I'm just trying to say 'enough'.

This guy was a professional, he looked me up and down, he did not see anything that would indicate a serious problem.  That's it (right?). 

If I did have something neurologically wrong with me, it wouldn't have been what I was fearing, and he would have said something like "I've ruled out ALS, but I want to check for...." (right?)

I responded to your post, btw.

[AnxiouSteve]

Ben:  Good luck with it all.  I'm glad you take comfort in my post, and you will probably take comfort when I'm back in the Health Anxiety forum being irrational again in a few days.  Let's hope that doesn't happen though, for my sake.

Keep in mind that I'm not 'cured' of anxiety.  I'm just feeling good about it right now, and employing a strategy that involves not doing all the things I was doing before, no matter how compelled I may feel to check for wasting, or look at my tongue, or whatever.

So far so good, but let's see how I feel tomorrow.  In fact, let's see if I can sleep through the night, like the last 28 years of my life, now that there is no neuro appointment looming.  Even that would be a big step at this point.

idreamofskiba, thanks for your kind wishes.

Kayteecatt:  I'm not going anywhere, it's just that I wont be in this topic.  I'll still be in General Discussion, Medications, and G.A.D. topics.  I tried to help angeliz out a little and it already made my palms sweat, legs twitch, and face tingle.  At least it's not Health Anxiety for a change, though.

[AnxiouSteve]

So there it is.  I've decided to reading in this topic as well (present threads excluded), but you will still see me in GAD and Medications forum.  Feel free to PM me, but I need to break the cycle of HA Neurosis and focus on my General Anxiety.  I still feel my lower jaw moving like I got too much adrenaline in me.

I obviously meant to say that " I've decided to stop reading in this topic"

I'll still be in G.A.D. Topic, General Discussion, and Medication..

Feel free to PM me any time, but try not to scare the crap out of me