muscle twitching and anxiety

[sam1979]

hi,
ive been suffering with anxiety for years but for the past eighteen months its been awful. i get constant muscle twitches, aches and eye pain and after looking up my symptoms on the internet, am convinced i have MS.
My boyfriend thinks i am insane but i just cannot get it out of my head.
Can twitching be connected to worrying?

Also, last month i thought i had HIV. Every symptom I get always develops into the worst case scenario. The HIV thing began because i developed a bad cold and read on the net this can be one of the early signs!
I know its totally ridiculous but i dont know how to overcome my severe health anxiety problems.

I am not on any medication and I wondered if anyone is going through a similar thing?!

thank-you

[Hjo]

hi Sam
my Name is Heather
i too have health anxiety and i to have had all the symtons you have,e.g constant muscle twitches, aches and eye pain all this due to anxiety YES anxiety. Ito have thought i have MS i also thought i had a bad heart and the i would have a heart attack.let me reasure you,you are not alone and there is help out there. Cognitive therapy it takes time but does work. ask your GP to refer you.

ALL THE BEST Keep me up to date

[bethe96]

I also have constant muscle twitches, all over, as well as numbness/tingling/burning sensations in arms, hands, legs and back. My pcp also suggested anxiety as a cause after tests and ruling out many possiblities. I am reluctant to accept this as the cause, and constantly worry about the horrible disease that is the real cause. So if it is anxiety, I have way more of it now! Interested to hear more from those with similar experience!
Beth

[pente]

For anyone with muscle twitching, tingling and cognitive problems. Cognitive problems may be due to Chronic Fatigue Symdrome. Get yourselfs checked for all HHV viruses. CAn be picked up anywhere, and doesnot take a lot to have a relapse later on in life. Particularly HHV6,7 and 8. HAve your PCP check your beta-2 microglobulin levels for an inflammation check. THese viruses and HIV as well cause beta 2 to increase.

[sam1979]

hi Sam
my Name is Heather
i too have health anxiety and i to have had all the symtons you have,e.g constant muscle twitches, aches and eye pain all this due to anxiety YES anxiety. Ito have thought i have MS i also thought i had a bad heart and the i would have a heart attack.let me reasure you,you are not alone and there is help out there. Cognitive therapy it takes time but does work. ask your GP to refer you.

ALL THE BEST Keep me up to date

Thanks Heather. It is so reassuring to know I am not alone in this. Everyone I know tells me to relax and loosen up and to stop worrying but i just find it impossible.
I will certainly try the cognitive therapy. did you have any tests or did your gp recognise it as anxiety? i am slightly nervous about going in case they do say i may have ms.

thanks for replying

sam x

[tomconner]

All,

Muscle twitiching is very, very often a primary indicator of magnesium deficiency.

And CFIDS patients often have raging magnesium deficits -- so the two are logically linked.

Word of warning: be very careful about which magnesium supplements you take! I recommend Shaklee Osteomatrix. It basically ended my back pain -- then cheapskate that I am -- I tried some cheap "Wal-Mart" stuff recently -- and just barely skirted going to the hospital with a kidney infection. (I truly was afraid my kidneys had shut down!)

I could barely crawl out of bed for three days in a row -- and wound up on heavy Cipro. That didn't happen on Shaklee -- and I won't go back to the cheap stuff.

If you have pre-existing kidney disease, make sure you have something that dissolves and absorbs properly -- as Shaklee -- an "all natural vitamin" -- is known for doing. Drink lots and lots of pure, non-chlorinated water.

Also note that magnesium tests at your doctor's office are mostly likely worthless for documenting a true deficit. You could have a horrendous cellular magnesium deficit -- and the blood tests would lie and say, "Oh, you're fine!" The only way to know for sure is empirical trial -- and it might take three months. Don't go overboard -- and don't overdose yourself, though! Follow the recommended dosing guidelines.

Most of those tests are a little like this analogy for measuring absorption:

Picture the nearest interstate highway to your house. Then picture a truck going down that highway. If you find an item on that truck on the highway, does it automatically mean that item is also in your house at the same time?

Of course not!

If this sailed over your head, don't worry. It just means that the truck has to carry something directly to your house -- for it to get into your house, right? (Or you bring it in yourself -- and that's how it gets from the truck to your place!)

Cells are like houses -- bloodstreams are like highways. (That's maybe why they call highways "traffic arteries" -- and why roads on maps almost look like circulatory systems in humans.)

I'm drawing this comparison because doctors -- in taking magnesium tests -- are assuming that just because something (magnesium) is on the "interstate" of your bloodstream, that means it's automatically in the "house" of your cells. And that's just not AUTOMATICALLY true.

Get it? It's an original comparison -- and very valid. Just because a supply of a nutrient is in your bloodstream in adequate quantities, that doesn't automatically mean it's getting into the tissues in the same quantities. And that's where the need is -- not necessarily the "bloodstream interstate" -- but inside the "house of your cells".

Hope this helps (And I'm betting that there's a 97.5% probability that this is your muscle-twitching problem. Just remember that magnesium isn't the only nutrient you need to keep in balance -- rather, that this was just the "tripwire trigger" that got your attention. All the other nutrients need to be in balance too -- and that's why I also recommend Shaklee's Vita Lea multi-vitamin. (And no, I don't sell Shaklee -- but I'm thinking seriously about it. It's helped me more than maybe $100,000 in medical bills over 22 years.)

[tomconner]

By the way, a lot of blood pressure problems are tied to magnesium -- things that mimic depression and anxiety. Plus, doctors are finding that at least 60 percent of Americans have documentable deficits -- even in their bloodstreams. And it's looking as if many, many heart attacks and cases of heart disease are being linked to magnesium deficits. But most doctors will NOT tell their patients this! It's outrageous -- but they won't -- because they didn't learn it in medical school (and therefore, it can't possibly be true.)

By the way, medical anxiety is common these days -- and some of it might be biological in origin. It's amazing how much of most anxiety subsides when you get your nutritional needs taken care of. It's bizarre, but chocolate cravings also tend to subside or even disappear when magnesium levels and other nutrients "normalize" to their optimum levels.

[kaylie]

I started with one muscle twitch...they are calling it myoclonus. All tests are normal-MRI brain, spine and EEG. Blood tests all normal. It gets worse when there is loud noises or I am stressed. I am scared and don't know what to do. This happened 3 weeks ago, started one day out of the blue and has been constant ever since. Except when I sleep, so I am told. There is no definite cause yet. It is like a hiccup that won't go away. Any body have any ideas, suggestions, anything..the magnesium may be a place to start..Thanks

[Bryon]

I too am having problems with this sort of thing. I get twitches in my calfs, hamstrings, arms, and a lot in my eye lids, which is supper annoying. I looked up stuff about muscle spasms and returned a lot of results about MS too. So, like you I am hoping that this is not the case. I am only 26 and have read that MS is a disease that is more likely to occur in people older that 50, but there is still that worry. This has reallly been the first reassurance that it could be something else. I am highly stressed with things such as work and school so I am hoping that it is that and nothing major. I'm thinking that I should go get check out. It has been bad for like a week now and if it keeps up I'll proably head in. It's nice to know that there are others out there experiencing the same symptoms. Keep your heads up and hopefully we all be fine.

Bryon

[sam1979]

thanks for all your feedback. it is interesting to hear all the suggestions. i have now got some magnesium supplements which seems to have helped already! amazing if it is that simple.
i am allergic to many dairy products so i know my nutrients are probably lacking in certain areas.

good luck to you all and take care