how many of you have muscle twitches? - Panic Disorders Message Board

montos · 03-03-2004, 01:33 AM

I've been getting muscle twitches for the last two months and my Dr says it's anxiety related. They do get worse when I'm anxious but I didn't know they were a common symptom. I get them in my calves and feet usually (though my left deltoid is driving me nuts right now)

I know a lot of other serious health problems can be related to twitching so if anyone else gets this (espesially non-eyelid) please tell me and make me feel a whole lot better.

thanks,

p.s. I'm not on any meds so it's not that.

OhioGolfer · 03-03-2004, 06:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by montos

I've been getting muscle twitches for the last two months and my Dr says it's anxiety related. They do get worse when I'm anxious but I didn't know they were a common symptom. I get them in my calves and feet usually (though my left deltoid is driving me nuts right now)

I know a lot of other serious health problems can be related to twitching so if anyone else gets this (espesially non-eyelid) please tell me and make me feel a whole lot better.

thanks,

p.s. I'm not on any meds so it's not that.

Twitching is very common with anxiety and panic disorder. I have it quite frequently. Don't overly stress yourself with internet research on all of the dreadful things that can cause muscle twitching. You can just add to your anxiety.

That being said, there are some very common maladies that seem to go hand in hand with anxiety/panic and the twitching. Two of these are Fibromyalgia and Sleep Apnea. I have been diagnosed with Fibro, and have an evaluation Friday for Sleep Apnea. Check out the fibro and sleep disorders boards here to see if anything rings a bell. My docs now seem to think that there is an excellent chance I have sleep apnea, and that if I get that treated, my fibro symptoms and anxiety will be dramatically reduced, if not eliminated.

HTH

Jeff

carrielynn · 03-03-2004, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by montos

I've been getting muscle twitches for the last two months and my Dr says it's anxiety related. They do get worse when I'm anxious but I didn't know they were a common symptom. I get them in my calves and feet usually (though my left deltoid is driving me nuts right now)

I know a lot of other serious health problems can be related to twitching so if anyone else gets this (espesially non-eyelid) please tell me and make me feel a whole lot better.

thanks,

p.s. I'm not on any meds so it's not that.

I had this last year... but all over my body, not just my calves. I also had problems getting a good breath. I worried (actually freaked out is a better description) that I had some devastating muscle disease or something. But it was just the anxiety that was increasing my muscle tension. What's going on is you are unconsiously tensing up constantly and you don't realize it. You've normalized the tension.

I saw a biofeedback therapist who hooked my muscles up with electrodes to a computer and showed me just how tense I was. She then showed me how to relax those muscles. It felt very, very strange, like I was out of control. When I'm anxious, tensing my muscles makes me feel like I have some control. Anyway, she gave me relaxation homework, which I diligently practiced and within two weeks, the twitching and tension was dramatically reduced. I kept up the relaxation exercises for months and months... and 9 months after the first biofeedback session I can breath deeply and the tension and twitching is gone. (I have a couple of minor twtiches from time-to-time, but nothing like before. And I'm confident that too will go away as I continue the relaxation.) It takes about 3-4 months of consistent exercise to "reset" your body's tension level.

It's amazing to me that doctors don't know this, or they don't tell you this stuff.

CarrieLynn

Tony1 · 03-03-2004, 10:27 PM

I have been having leg muscle twitching now that my panic attacks and anxiety have flared up. Wasn't too worried about it but I am glad this is a common symptom.

shawn20k · 03-03-2004, 11:54 PM

hey leg twitches arent so bad, when I get nervous looking at people I make facial twitches and ofcourse that is noticable and is almost always misinterpreted, but I havent found anything yet to work with panic anxiety twitches. Staying away from caffeine altogether is how I eliminated full fledged panic attacks, but Im not sure how to stop nervous twiches, faces or leg twiches or anything, hopefully we can figure it out, good luck, twitches are hard to figure out.