Muscle twitches (offering some re-assurance)

[Crush]

I thought this might be good reading for someone who is having muscle twitches and needs a bit of re-assurance that it's not anything else:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/603851/twitching_muscles_most_common_cause.html?cat=50

That article really set me at ease.

I must say, that I get a lot of twitching and it hasn't gone away since the hey-day of my anxiety last summer.

Last week a nice big muscle cramp (charlie horse) when in Wal-Mart. Right by the Pharmacy no less. Well everyone gets muscle spams from time to time right? Odd though.. why do I get constant muscle twitches in my legs and elswhere? Let's research the internet. Oh yes.. I see. It must be an electrolyte imbalance seing as I'm not suffering from anxiety anymore. And actually, Odd I did start eating more pickles than usual etc etc. So lets get some potassium supplements. (here are the early signs of me on that path back to anxiety). And lets start exercising those calves and legs every morning. I think it seems to be working.

A week passes and I feel that my new diet and supplements are beginning to work. The twitches seem to be lessening.

But today I wake up and feel some twitches. Darn it's not working. What else could it be? Hmm.. Well I did read something about how Lime disease and other infections can cause electrolyte imbalances. Hmmm.. maybe It's that? I've been eating clean all week and taking supplements and eating pickles. Today in the shower I remembered my experience at the hospital and what I went though. I've kind of been fearing lately that the anxiety might come back full force. But no no don't think about that.

So I came downstairs an hour ago and was posting on another forum about cooking. My muscles were twitching in my legs as they are now. And then I looked at my coffee and wondered if the coffee could be responsible for hyping up my nerves. After all, we just got a new Kuereg coffee machine and I'd like to have some coffee. After all, I did quit drinking coffee last summer incase that was causing my bad nerves. And here I was drinking some. Uh oh. (never mind the fact that I drink caffeinated diet pepsi already.. the coffee.. I guess had a special meaning to my subconsious).

So as I was posting an hour ago, ouch! Big chest pain and pins and needles all over my back. I got a panic attack.

What really happened:

-I thought I was done with my anxiety because it wasn't at its worst for a good while.
-I was still experiencing muscle twitches in my legs. That bothered me.
-Last week I got a charlie horse in my calf when at Wal-Mart in the pharmacy section.
-I pegged it down to an electrolyte imbalance that needed attention all the time knowing that it could be some sort of other disease.
-I started to go through necessarily steps to correct the twitching - strict diet, exercise, pickles, supplements.
-I felt like it lessened it.
-Then today I woke up and had a bad day with bad thoughts and being afraid of getting back to anxiety.
-I noticed more muscle twitches today than usual and started fearing that it could be a disease.. after all, there IS evidence x, y, z that it could be x, y, z disease. I then started to get paranoid about the coffee I was drinking.
-I then started to get the bad thoughts of something being inside me etc (despite my 2 chest x-rays, previous agoraphobia, and diagnosis that I have anxiety)
-I was typing on a forum and bang. A panic attack.

All this started from me not being knowledgeable on anxiety and not fully realizing that I was not over my anxiety. It also didn't help that I read the wrong articles. Like people, all articles are different and will have their own spin. Many will jump right into worse case scenarios, others will play scare tactics. And others, like what I found, are more re-assuring and down to earth. I'm very happy I read that article.

I find re-assurance is a good thing. After all, I really am feeling all these twitches and don't know what is wrong with me. I'm really happy I read that article. I need to know what my body is feeling and how it relates to anxiety to prevent this happening again in the future. I didn't realize that all these months later I still have anxiety. While not at it's worst, it's certainly there. I think honestly these twitches had a lot to do with it.

Anxiety and stress are perhaps the No. 1 cause of muscle twitching, which is also known as benign fasciculation syndrome. Benign means the muscle twitching will not develop into anything serious. Fasciculation is the medical term for muscle twitching. Syndrome means that typically, a lot of muscle twitching is also accompanied by muscle cramps, muscle aches and some tingling. But these other symptoms come on after the person starts excessively worrying that the muscle twitching is a sign of a deadly disease.

[elvisgump]

as a 2 month twitcher, this post is fantastic.  thanks!

[Crush]

as a 2 month twitcher, this post is fantastic.  thanks!

My leg muscle twitches have been going on for months and months now. Since the summer actually. I always heard very little about it in the anxiety world. I read articles that were bad for my anxiety so had to stop reading them part way through when they suggested stuff I didn't want to hear so I just thought it would pass.

Finally the twitches developed into a charley horse in my calf last weekend in Wal-Mart. Then I went into diet/exercise/supplement mode and sure enough had a panic attack today almost a week later after spending the week worrying over health anxieties.

I'm so happy I found that article for re-assurance. I guess I should have just came here on the forums, but I honestly didn't know it was anxiety related.

I think now I can say that I really don't believe I have 'some other issue' anymore. It's all anxiety.

[Notimeforthis]

That was great to read, thank you!  My eyes twitch on occasion--for as long as a day or two, and I always wondered if it had anything to do with  stress/anxiety.  I mostly assumed it was due to lack of sleep, even if I had had enough.  V.interesting.  I would have played out your situation in the exact same way!  Thanks for sharing :)

[Crush]

Thanks! Yeah it's a good story to see how some people can slip back into anxiety. Even since then I know so much more about all the different symptoms and sensations that anxiety can throw at you. I find just ignoring symptoms and telling yourself it's anxiety WITHOUT an explanation of why is what can caues your mind to keep harping on something.

Now when I get a symptom, I will know it's anxiety, but I still need re-assurnace other people have the same problem and like to have explanations about what is going on. I find that is what works best for me.

[Azthat89]

I always worried about my twitches I never even knew stress and anxiety caused them .thanks to reading this today I had a charlie horse in my leg and didn't even freakout about it.I found this website three days ago and already its helped me so much :)

[scared_silly]

Great post! I get muscle spasms/twitches a lot, especially recently. This was wonderful to read, thank you for sharing. I'm the same way when it comes to anxiety. I can't just ignore a symptom I am having and just chalk it up to anxiety. I need to know "why its doing what its doing and what it is". I have never been one to mess around when it comes to health.

[johndeere216]

Thank you!