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Avatar universal

Muscle jerking!

Allright, Im caught in this loop of muscle jerking and twitching. It goes like this: If im moving around (Walking, moving my body, ETC) ill get limb jerks, my arm, leg, head, whatever im moving, will move hard, or off, or wobbily. And when im sitting my muscles will twitch and my legs and arms and feet and all limbs will jerk suddenly at random (only one jerk, not liek a seizure or constant jerking, just once). Can anxiety cause this? Ive been trying to ignore this but thats not stoping it. Then I tell mself that it must be something else because it happens when I dont worry. I also cannot stop figgeting and moving around. Ill notice other people are sitting quietly and ill be twitching or touching myself, i cannot sit still at all. Does anyone know anything about this? Thank you
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Avatar universal
The last post on this thread was Apr 2012 so likely they won't see your response.
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1807837 tn?1336098763
I have this too.Along with muscle tension and many other symptoms.My doctor diagnosed me with carpel tunnel and restless leg syndrome.I hope this helps.
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667923 tn?1421462724
I really am posting this to all of u, but GTO67 caught my attention when they mentioned the part where the limbs twitch and jerk...and when everyone else seems to be still, when I seem to have to twitch or jerk. I have also been asked, if I knew that my head bobbled some. I really believe I do have neurological deficits, somewhere in my Central Nervous system or something. THIS is not anxiety...I don't believe it. I have never been anxious or nervous. I have always been patient and easy going, until after I had surgery on my neck and was hit by a nerve block(ESI) of my Thoracic.


"Allright, Im caught in this loop of muscle jerking and twitching. It goes like this: If im moving around (Walking, moving my body, ETC) ill get limb jerks, my arm, leg, head, whatever im moving, will move hard, or off, or wobbily. And when im sitting my muscles will twitch and my legs and arms and feet and all limbs will jerk suddenly at random (only one jerk, not liek a seizure or constant jerking, just once). Can anxiety cause this? Ive been trying to ignore this but thats not stoping it. Then I tell mself that it must be something else because it happens when I dont worry. I also cannot stop figgeting and moving around. Ill notice other people are sitting quietly and ill be twitching or touching myself, i cannot sit still at all. Does anyone know anything about this?"


When I copied what u said to quote it, some other words popped up that I didn't see in ur post or in any of the others for that matter, but some were things that I have experienced...like a Head injury(I did experience a head injury, in a car accident where I hit my head on the roof of the car and had a bad headache 10-15min. afterward) I did eventually have to have a C5-C6 spinal diskectomy because my head was forced in a downward positon. I also do not have ANY curve in my Cervical vertebrea. I was also diagnosted as having a Chiari Malformation of 6.5mm.(It is said that a person experiences neurological defecits over 5.5mm) I am really wondering @ this one, because my CM is 6.5, which makes me a candidate for neurological deficits. They changed this to Tonsilar Ectopia, so I don't know much @ it, but looking it up as we speak.


Head and face reconstruction( I didn't have reconstruction of the face persay, but they had to shave my hair...up to the top of my temples for another surgery that I had back years ago, a bone spur removal from left jaw) It was back 24 years ago and thought maybe, I had scar tissue or adheshions somewhere in there, from that surgery.


I have so many questions that it seems impossible to get the answer, but THIS is not anxiety...I don't believe it. I might be seeming anxious now, but that is because I just want answers...I am sooo tired of being SICK!!.

Why does my face stay numb all day and the back of my neck stay tight and tense? Why do I feel like my face is being pulled downward? Why do I have cramps/spasms in my neck?Why does the top of my head still hurt and sometimes, I can't even touch the top of my head. I experience so many head pains on my temporal region that feels like someone is pressing inward on my head?

I must say that I have never been an anxious or nervous person. I have always been patient and easy going, that is until here recently from all of the stress from the pain, cramping, burning, aching and all of the agony that my body is dealing with. I still am a very patint lay-back person...and just don't think anxiety is the answer.  I have never experienced PAIN like this in my life...only after, the surgery on my neck did I start going downhill. Then, trying to relieve the pain...was I hit by a nerve block(ESI) of my Thoracic...so, there is a legitimate answer, I just can't give up.


After, I had that surgery on my neck I had to take medication that I never had to take, in my life. Before, the surgery I never even took anything for a headache hardly,never had to...much less these strong medications that the Docs have put me on and I do feel that IT, could be the culprit of most of my tremors and spasms and the toxic feeling that I experience. I believe medications, could be most of our problems, but what is a person to do that is in utter "Heck" from all of the agony their body is dealing with and in? It seems like the Docs just keep giving it to me, but I just want to FLUSH it all. I wish, I never had to take another pill!!
Also, due to ALL of the pain that I was experiencing after sugery, I was told that I needed to receive nerve blocks...that it, would relieve this pain. yah...yah...yah...NO, IT is a very dangerous procedure. I went ahead and did the series of 3 Epidural Steroid Injections, due to me not being able to even work or get anything done....and I was hit by a nerve block(ESI) of my Thoracic. I experienced what was called a "wet tap"..and it actually felt like a bolt of lightening had struck me, while I was just laying there and wonder if they hit my spinal cord or something.
I want to say that I had been a healthy person my whole life, until after my surgery. I know...I have NEVER felt so bad in my life...and sometimes, the pain can be unbearable. I just want to get well.
I have so many symptoms that it feels like I could even be dying sometimes, but I don't want to seem dramatic, but this IS a very dramatic situation here...It is BAD. I hurt so much and just want to feel somewhat like the person, I used to know.:(
I felt great b4 I had that surgery and only had a small sleeping problem, but it even makes me wonder that IF it all started, when I hit my head on the roof of that car...But I went right back into working 60+ hrs. a week, like nothing was wrong. The only thing that happened was that 8 years later, I got to where I couldn't find a comfortable place to rest my head, when I tried to sleep at night.  
It feels like something is terribly wrong in my body, but the NS won't look any further, because he can't see behind the titanium plates. He wouldn't do further testing to definitely rule out that it is the surgery or not that he did on my neck...so, I am still trying to find an answer...6 yrs later.
I appreciate anyone who responds. I need someone to give me a direction or someone who can give me some answers. I am sorry that this is so put-together and messy, but my mind is having trouble concentrating or focusing...Oh, and my memory is really giving me a hard time too...
I hope all of u have found urs and is on the road to recovery. Take care and God Bless always.:))<3 Karen
Ps. I will keep watch here and update this information, for I feel I am on the right track and I'm getting closer to finding my answer.:)
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Avatar universal
I'm 17 years old and I have struggled with anxiety since I was 11 but recently I started feeling strange like I'm in a daze or a dream. My eye sight is off as well. I twitch only when this weird stuff starts happening to me... It lasts for about 3 weeks then goes away for a few months then returns.... Any ideas if this is all from my anxiety???
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Avatar universal
Magnesium deficiency can cause muscle aches, twitching, restlessness, tics, etc.
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Avatar universal
Sorry I forgot to say what helped with anxiety from Neurologist.  He put me on .25 mg of Clonopin.
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Avatar universal
I have been getting the twitching and jerking for the past couple of months after worrying about my throbbing head( which turned out to be mucus blockage and not tumor) I had so many panic attacks I think I stressed out my body and entered into an entirely new level of anxiety.  Which I have struggled with since I was 15, and am now 31.  I have tried to pinpoint what causes the twitch/jerk attacks and it us mostly under stress but it also occurs lightly throughout the day.  Neurologist said I have BFS,  it has helped with anxiety attacks but not with twitching.  It is hard to stay strong but I have to know I am gonna be ok and it will pass.  Nothing is going to happen to us!! :)
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Avatar universal
Hi, i'm 40 year old asian female. i just woke up from trying to sleep cuz of all the twitching. almost hiccup in various parts of the body.  I want my body to rest and sleep, but hard to sleep when all of a sudden i get twitch on my leg, twitch on my throat, sinking feeling in the pit of the stomach, heart pounding, etc, etc. it's definitely anxiety. i just have to remind myself i'm not going to die from it and nothing physically bad comes out of these anxiety symptoms, but boy when you are going through it, it sure is scary.  Good luck to everyone and let's stay positive and get better and don't get discouraged when we have a particularly bad episode.   : )
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585414 tn?1288941302
You might want to ask about Tourrette's Syndrome as what you describe might be tics from Tourrette's Syndrome. A person I know has Tourrette's Syndrome and the onset of it was at around that age. That is treatable with a variety of medications including one I take for unrelated reasons which is the Catapres application. There is a forum for that and you might want to post in the neurology forum as well as of course only a doctor can provide a diagnosis but they should definitely rule that out. Obsessive compulsive disorder can accompany that as well. A neurologist would be able to provide a full diagnosis and explanation.
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Avatar universal
I'm worried about my son. He is jerking and twitching. Not constantly but a lot and I can tell he is trying to control it or mask it. He has been kind of compulsive since 4th grade when he started popping his neck a lot. Then a couple of years later he problems with his knee and he started popping it too. Now he just started high school and he is having all these twitches. He also developed a stutter but that is not so frequent. He's a healthy boy big and strong. Touch of asthma but that's all. I'm going to take him the doctor next week and see what she thinks.
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358304 tn?1409709492
Def. a symptom of anxiety/tension.

You say you are trying not to think about it or worry about it, but you also said when you are in a room, you are always looking at yourself ect.

Once you stop being so obsessive with it... and just try to ignore it... and just accept the fact that it's anxiety/tension/nervousness... then it should slowly leave. =)

I get this all the time, especially at night in bed. But I don't worry about it.

Have you been getting good sleep? Make sure and get your 8 hours and don't over do it on your body. =) It needs rest too.

Good luck! Be happy that's the only thing you've got.

Alot of us would die to have that rather than the anxiety symptoms we get. haha.

Keep us in touch! Welcome to the community!
Helpful - 0
585414 tn?1288941302
This seems to be from a while back. Does this still happen? Is it only when you are undergoing anxiety attacks? You said it happens when you are calm as well. I know that some medications can cause temporary movement disorders such as akathesia and dystonia. Akathesia creates to the desire to continually remain in motion and have trouble sitting for more than brief periods of time. This can be relieved by a side effect pill. Speak to your psychiatrist about that and by the descriptions of the motions (you could post this in the neurology forum) I'd ask him to rule out tardive dykenesia as a criteria if you take or have taken any of the following medications on this site (which is clinically accurate) "patient education tardive dyskinesia". Obviously, during anxiety attacks people can have physical symptoms that appear like something else but if its occuring at other times it could be medication induced. As the site itself says though "many of these medications may be neccessary" and nothing should ever be changed without speaking to a psychiatrist but if that were diagnosed the medications would be changed and the condition is treatable. And if its a temporary movement disorder such as akathesia which is common with SSRI anti-depressents (which do not cause tardive dyskinesia) then its not anything of concern but a side effect pill could easily relieve the symptoms of it.
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Avatar universal
Hi, this jerking has been happening to me from the last while. It seems to be linked to anxiety. Has anybody got any solutions?
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Avatar universal
yes this can be anxiety. being tense or stressed or about to panic will case muscle jerking. being restless is a sign of being nervous. dont worry :) take care & best wishes.
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Avatar universal
Yes I do this sometimes, when I'm on the verge of a panic attack, my muscles twitch and my legs and arms. It intensified greatly while I was on Lexapro (which I am now off) and I would have whole body twitches, literally jump out of the chair. I believe it is anxiety related.
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