muscle twitches is it als or ms

[base09]

okay friends i have been really worried and need some more advice i have been having muscle twitches and spasms and jerking all over my body all day lond everyday for about six months now probably longer than that but they dont hurt but i watch them move and can feel them jerking and i get them everywhere all OVER MY WHOLE BODY i can move my arm and i will feel little bubbling in my arm i can be sitting and feel little bubbling all over and when i feel it i look at the spot and just watch it continuosly twitch and spasm out its very scary and in some spots in my leg it stays there for weeks and dont go away and the ones in my stomach sometimes hurt and those are scary but for the moost part i just want to know if this can be anxiety related and if yhall think this is something serious like als or ms or a nerve disease cuz this is not ur average twitch these dont go away they all over my body and have last more than 6 months and i am scared its something else and when i went to the er the nurse said that was weird and the doc said he dont think its serious but im scared cuz he was just an er doc but i got an appointment with the neuro on the 26 but dose anyone else get this like as bad as mine and also i get these bubbling like feelings all aver that last like a second and its weird i get then in my lower arms and in my sides there like mini twitches am i gonna die from this

[crystalfresh]

I would also see if this goes away with in the 2 week testing period on your anxiety medication. If no improvement after 14 days on this med I personally would want more answers. But ruling out anxiety was something you had to try. So far your doctors seem to think it is all anxiety. I'd give the 2 weeks to see if it goes away. At that time if it doesn't, I'd probably look in to stuff a bit more to stay on the safe side and reconsider if anxiety meds are helping you. I'm not a doctor and you can express my opinions to your doctor to see what your doc thinks about all this. But there would always be a question to whether or not it is anxiety until you tried to rule anxiety out by taking meds for it. You are half way there on your anxiety med testing. If anything gets worst contact your doctor right away. Things should be starting to improve now. Do you feel any improvement yet?

[crystalfresh]

If you have a app on the 26 for the neuro that would be longer than your 2 week test. At least at that point you can say if needed, thought it was anxiety, took meds, waited, no change. They will take you much more seriously if you have tried to rule anxiety out with meds which you are doing. Then again it might go away if it was anxiety too. So lets wait another week and see. No matter what you get some kind of answer. The answer does not have to be 100% either. But it should be a noticeable answer. You should feel an improvement in symptoms. If you have no improvement the neuro was going to be the next thing I was going to recommend. But you still need to wait 14 days to see if these meds work on you. It could all go away and if not you are taking the next step with a neuro.

[base09]

so do u think in ur opinoin that it is anxiety or do u think its a nerve disease

[Northcoast]

Hi, base09.  It's good that you're going to the nuerologist, but I can say from experience that muscle twitches, jerks and such are definitely a symtom of anxiety.  There are soooo many symptoms of anxiety.  So don't go rushing into thinking you have MS or ALS or something.  I did the exact same thing last year.  Had a bunch of weird symptoms and ended up at the neurologist with 2 MRI's.  And..... it was all from stress.  Do you feel like you have been under any extra stress during this period that you've had these symptoms.  When I look back I can definitely pinpoint that I was going through a mild depression and the muscle tension and twitches I was experiencing, along with Googling all the symptoms (don't do that!!) got me FREAKED out!!!  It added to the symptoms actually.  So, do your due diligence by getting it checked out.  But know that it is most likely not a big deal.  Do what you can to de-stress.  Cut out caffeine and sugar.  Get some exercise.  Talk to family and friends to relieve stress.  Try to not focus on your symptoms.  Good luck!  

[Limonada]

I get this too - for me, it's anxiety because I feel it when I'm stressed...and when I distracted with something else, it doesn't bother me.  ALS freaks me out, too, believe me....but from what I understand, unless you're experiencing demonstrable (not just perceived) weakness in a limb or limbs, then twitching on its own isn't cause for alarm.  There's something called BFS (benign fasiculation syndrome) that can cause that - yeah, I spend TOO MUCH TIME reading up on this stuff online ;-)

[crystalfresh]

Here is your complication. Specific diseases have specific symptoms with absence of other symptoms. You have them covering so many areas that are unrelated. Anxiety seems most logical since anxiety has multiple specific symptoms that you have. I am not qualified to say it is either but can point out there is definitely anxiety.

Anxiety makes stress, stress makes twitches in many people. But this can be muscle fatigue too. It is normal for you to have things like twitching veins or pulsating muscles here and there. I get them in my arms when I have been working on my computer too long. They always happen hours later or the next day. I find it annoying but I never thought dangerous.

Wait... I had a job working for an online credit card processor years ago. I didn't want it but agreed to watch the network. My luck when I was working on it a hacker seemed to have gained access (probably an old employee programmer) that was seemingly turning off access and trying to shut the servers to hurt the company. I wasn't really experienced to handle this but had to take fast action. I locked them out. Well for days they kept hacking in. This stress of this job was taking it's toll since the network kept going down from repeated attacks. I did go to the doctor because I started to feel sick. I was up all nights keeping the stuff running. I think the stress was taking its toll on me. During my exam I told the doc I had this twitching muscles or veins that go on and off. This was one of the rare times it kept happening. Eventually the hacker got back in and I ended up shutting down access services locking my self out and master password. Which meant all passwords on this server was gone! Retail stores could not process transactions, people could not access their money. For a moment my heart pounded. There was so much chest pain from that stress because I knew how expensive that was going to be to fix and that it would be down for a good 24 hours because I locked all access on the system even root access and lost my connection with log services disabled. There was no way back in, not for me, not for anyone. Then I noticed I still had an open connection from another terminal to go in and reset and put back on services. The hacker was flushed out and I got back in. I quit that job the next morning. I wasn't hired to fight off hackers. After I quit Everything started to get better.

Another time I was trading in the stock market. Stock goes up. Butterflies in the belly. Stock dropped and I needed to puke. That was the joys of day trading. Lost hair over it. Changed professions. Stress is very bad. This would happen in seconds. Nothing happened except that I saw a little number on my screen change and my body started to have tightening in my stomach to puke. Don't get in to day trading.

So if you ask me can anxiety do it, yea, but I think more so that anxiety is creating more stress and that can do it too. I think your GP might be able to explain more about what causes this or even the neuro doc. I don't know why it happens just that it can. I wouldn't jump to a nerve disease over this. Probably a more simple explanation but you would need to get an explanation from a doctor that exams you. The odds are that it could be happening but for a totally harmless reason. Right now you are worked up looking for any reason to explain why you feel the way you do. If this keeps happening your doc can check you out for this. I think this might be easier to identify but doubt it's a bad thing. If it goes away I'd forget about it.

True illnesses can be constant and worsens. If you had a twitch that never went away I'd say go to your doc, show them, they can locate why. You might also want your nutrition checked, can't hurt. But I don't and can't see how bad this over a computer, so as always if there is a concern share this with a doc that is trained to look at it. I still think it can happen, just not sure of the cause. But just by the odds and age I'd suspect it is a non harmful thing that is causing it. One of the most annoying ones is the eye lid twitching. I get that one from time to time. As the nero doc. Right up their ally. Try not to loose sleep over this one though. Before you panic over something that sounds common anxiety and not anxiety there is more likely to be a non dangerous excuse than a nerve disease. I think the neuro doc will be able to answer this better than I. Oh another favorite is the sleepy JOLT! Some people when they get really really tired just out of no where start kicking or have full body twitches. I love when this happens to me, like a mis fired spark plug in the body. Just hate it when it wakes me up when I am dosing off to sleep. My girlfriend does it every time before she goes to sleep. That's gotta be a brain thing in us. I am just showing you that things even powerful full body jolts can happen to healthy normal people. It's real, it does happen but why I really don't know.

Keep a paper on you. Every time you feel strange write it down, twitch all off it along with the time it happens. Maybe you can find a pattern in times or when it happens. You might be able to identify the trigger. Also it might help your doc get a better understanding of how often you feel what you do and when. It could be helpful for both.