Please help! Muscle twitches in legs/ arms won't go away

[1sterling]

I have had muscle twitches starting 6 weeks ago. I am 43 yr old male in good fitness...Started in my right arm. I have a history of anxiety in the past ( heart palp. , stomach aches) ..I exercise a lot which helps the twitches go away for a while- then they come back 30 - 45 min. later. My arm twitches stopped 2 weeks a go - but now have spasms in both my legs. The more I focus on them - the more they contunue. My Dr. put me on Clonazepam (1 mg twice a day)..The meds help me sleep and relieve my symptoms for 6 hours or so...Not as effective during the day though (when I am thinking a bout my symptoms)..I don't have the symptoms if I am walking or moving usually (only when sitting down with legs resting...I will see a neurologist in a few weeks. I am scared about all the Google diseases that come up when I look up muscle spasms..(ms - ALS, etc.) Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I feel very alone. I can't seem to get these symptoms off my mind. If I am totally relaxed and doing something that takes my mind off my symptoms some times they will go away...Thanks for any advice..

[ILADVOCATE]

Well the last thing I want to do is worry you more. But if you are seeing a neurologist depending on what medications you took in the past I would ask about tardive dyskinesia. Google "patient education tardive dyskinesia". That has a list of medications that could cause it. Is Klonopin the only medication you take now? Because I have tardive dyskinesia and its helpful on it. What medications did you take in the past? When did these muscle twitches start exactly? Are they only when you have anxiety episodes or do they occur at other times? I think your post more belongs in the neurology forum but its important to understand that anxiety disorder has physical symptoms as well and also some people with anxiety disorder obsess about rare conditions they don't have. I'd rather not worsen that but its always one thing I think about but only if you ever took medications that could cause it and if you did its worth asking about.

[jimfear]

My anxiety symptoms all worsened as soon as I started having muscle twitches, mainly because they are a symptom of many scary neurological disorders. On top of that, all I could do was try and self-diagnose(big mistake). Looking up my symptoms on webmd or google only fueled my anxiety. I was a wreck for two months and am just starting to feel better. I had to be put on Clonazepam for a month, then switched to Citalopram. I found that the best remedy for my muscle twitches was a) Exercise and b) not worrying about them when they happened, which i realize sounds difficult when they happen all the time, but by dwelling on them and diseases associated with them it only makes everything worse. It's good that you're seeing a neurologist, reassurance by professionals can be more soothing than medication. I'm new to anxiety and depression, and am just learning that accepting the symptoms as part of the disorder is usually a very helpful tool to get rid of them . Muscle twitching can be scary, but don't let it consume you, it will only worsen things.

[ILADVOCATE]

Well I've had panic attacks in the past before recovery but my primary diagnosis is schizoaffective disorder. I certainly know about anxiety attacks and I know they have physical symptoms but how bad can get they get overall? I know a family member thought they had a heart attack and it was really an anxiety attack. Is it common to have all kinds of physical issues happen when it really is anxiety? I know I was originally prescribed Klonopin for anxiety (panic attacks) years ago but I never had full blown panic attacks of this kind so I'd like to know more.