Scared...Need Help, Please !!! - Parkinson's Disease Message Board

Ontarian · 08-23-2003, 11:39 AM

Hi.
I am a 27 year old male. I first experienced muscle twitching (ALL OVER MY BODY) last summer. Then, they disappeared (I would occassionaly get some
twitching).

They returned this summer again, after my grandmother was diagnosed with brain cancer.

I am extremely, extremely anxious and scared. I get these muscle twitches all over my body (arms, legs, chest, fingers...). They seem to be more prevalent on the right side of my body, though.

Occassionally my right pinky finger trembles. But, interestingly enough, that started happening only after I read how Michael J. Fox's symptoms started. It feels real, though...I do not force my finger to tremble, I just find a position in which it does start to tremble. It only happens in my right hand. The left one is fine.

I also started feeling pain in my right arm. It is not really the kind of pain as when you fall down and you know exactly where it is located. It feels more as if it is cruising through my arm, making it kinda heavy.

I am extremely panicky since I also have seborrheic dermatitis. Now that I
have rather violent muscle twitches all over my body (but 90% are on the right side) + seborrheic dermatitis
(I also have IBS), I convinced myself that there is something seriously wrong with me
and that I probably have Parkinson's disease or something like that...

Can anybody help me? Is it possible that these twitches + tremors are
just benign resuslts of my anxiety?

Thanks.
Ontarian

Bruce · 08-23-2003, 12:27 PM

When you use words like "extremily panicky" or "extremily anxious", i think you really know what the problem is, and that is likely to be anxiety,

Anxiety can cause muscle tremors. You seem to be really hyper about these symptoms. Their is an early onset parkinsons, but at your age it isn't likely.

The seborrhic dermititis is caused by excessivly oily skin and could be made worse with anxiety. Use a mild shampoo and do not rub the infected areas very hard. You can buy a tube of Cortaid over the counter and apply to the inflamed areas. Cortaid is a steroid and will reduce any inflamation.

Bruce

Ontarian · 08-23-2003, 01:07 PM

Bruce,
thank you very much for replying.

I mentioned seborrheic dermatitis, because its occurence may be connected with Parkinson's disease. I associated the trembling/twitching that I have now + seborrheic dermatitis with Parkinson's and got extremely panicky...

My right arm feels pretty heavy right now and my pinky finger was trembling this morning.

I usually have no problems when I'm sleeping. I'm kinda OK when I wake up, but the problems start probably one to two hours after I wake up...

Strange...

p.s. Do you know if M. J. Fox's pinky finger trembling started out as an occassional, mild annoyance, or did it start (without stopping) and progressively developed in worse symptoms.

Bruce · 08-23-2003, 04:54 PM

I don't know anything about M.J. Fox's pd symptoms, but here is a description of classic pd tremor. The "resting" tremor of pd is most severe when the person is awake but not moving around. The tremor improves with purposeful movment or when the person is completely relaxed or asleep. In contrast, tremors caused by other conditions typically get worse during movementand improve when the person is at rest.

If your tremors continue to be a problem, i would suggest you mske an appointment with a movement disorder specialist (MDS). They are most likely to be found at a teaching hospital or a university med. center.

Bruce

Bruce · 08-24-2003, 06:42 AM

All that i found about M.J Fox's tremor is that he had a "persistent tremor on the pinky of the left hand."

He was misdiagnosed at first, and then when other symptoms appeared, he was diagnosed with pd.

Bruce

[This message has been edited by Bruce (edited 08-24-2003).]