Anxiety, ALS, or SSRI reaction.

[uvaroxanne]

I'm sure that a lot people with health anxiety worry about ALS as it is a condition diagnosed by exclusion and is one that has no cure. So, I am sorry if I sound like a hypochondriac right off the bat. These are my symptoms. Last August I experienced two classic panic attacks. I took Lexapro for approximately a month and half, during which time I experienced mania, brain zaps and dizziness. I quit the lexapro cold turkey and began experiencing headaches, vertigo and eye floaters. These conditions improved but left my anxious about my health, so in April I took two doses of Effexor XR, which I later was told should never have been prescribed to me. During those two days, I felt mania, depersonalized, and even felt like I was having a stroke as my right arm seemed to work slower along with my right leg. Since April, I experienced weakness in my right arm like when shaving or brushing my teeth. In mid-June, I developed muscle tiredness and twitching in my ulnar nerve area area my elbows that I could feel with the other hand. During this time, I started worrying about ALS, and my doctor thought I should go on Zoloft and Xanax for health anxiety. As I took the medication, I began to experience trouble swallowing along along with increased twitching. I could actually see my calf muscle twitch for periods for up to a whole day. The same goes for my right arm as well. I have been to three neurologists, since I have moved between cities during this time. Babinksi test and Hoffman were normal as well as the normal neuro workup. My MRI of the brain and MRA of neck and head were clean as well as an EEG. My third neuro said she was worried about ALS, and ordered an EMG/NVC of my right arm and said it should tell if I had ALS, but then she also said she had a patient that had a completely normal one and then a year later had full-blown ALS. My EMG of the right arm, who was done by the best neuro in Richmond, told me my arm was normal. Unfortunately, my twitching has gotten worse over the last month and I am tripping a little more.

1) After all the tests I have had, specifically the EMG, would early-onset ALS be ruled out?
2) I have TMJ Disorder in my right jaw. Could this be the cause of my swallowing problems and the weak numb sensation in my right arm?
3) Could my full body muscular twitching be caused by all the SSRI/SNRIs or my anxiety?

Thank you very much for your help and have a good day

[TyphoonTycoon]

Just throwing a few thoughts here....

With SSRI's I believe a common stated side effect is the loss of fine motor skills, I certainly noticed this when I was taking paxil (which I personally would not take again) and found the signing of my name on a lot of forms a constant battle, further more I noticed that even trying to move small objects such as a cup noticeably off.

I believe the symptoms you have written down seem almost certaintly to a result of anxiety.  I noticed that with myself from other health scares albeit not related to ALS.  Many people seem to go through a process of searching on the net for their symptoms, read it could be assoicated with some serious and fatal disease, anxiety increases, their mind becomes firmly LOCKED on looking for other symptoms of that disease and a vicious cycle ensures to the point they are now absolutely convinced they have the disease and believe it or not, start acting out the symptons subconciously.

The all over fasciculations I believe are benign.  Although I do not suffer from ALS myself, I often get episodes of fasiculations in the months where there clearly has been a lot of stress in my life and then the fasiculations disappear once the period of hightened anxiety dissaptes.

[Cdwf]

Thank you for this post. I began having fasciculations last year during a stressful time and also have hyper reflexes which really frightened me.  I began taking welbutrin xl a few days ago and they have come back.  I am very anxious about health conditions and have many crazy symptoms. I suffer what I believe to be unnecessarily. I am going to give the welbutrin a try and hope the symptoms go away.  Your post helped me to relax about the fasciculations

[holbalsa]

MY GOODNESS--DONT YOU FIND IT ODD THAT AS SOON AS YOU STARTED TAKING ALL THOSE MED'S YOU STARTED TO EVEN MORE FEEL CRAPPY?  ANXIETY IS POWERFUL....I HATE TO SAY IT BUT, I BELIEVE THE ANTI-ANXIETY MED'S REALLY ONLY SHUT DOWN VERY MILD CASES OF ANXIETY. SO IT MIGHT BE UNDERSTANDABLE THAT YOUR POWERFUL MIND COUPLED WITH MEDICATION DESIGNED TO TUNE OUT ALL THE BODIES ANXIETY/STRESS MECHINESIMS  AND A POSSIBLE ILLNESS --IS A REALLY UNSTABLE COMBO???

AREN'T YOU SICK OFF YOUR DOCTOR DISHING OUT CHEMICALS THAT SCREW WITH YOUR MIND EVERY TIME YOU COMPLAIN...I IMAGINE A BIT OF MENTAL CLARITY MIGHT SERVE YOU BETTER. YOU CERTAINLY SOUND SANE TO ME.

SO YOUR ?'S
1)MOST RESOURSE'S SAY YES    2)I HAVE HAD TMJ SO BAD THAT IT FELT LIKE PAIN SHOTTING FROM MY JAW OUT MY FINGERS    3) YES, YES  (REMEMEBER ITS A BAD COMBO) AND POSSIBLY BENIGN FASICULATION SYNDROM