Muscle Twitching, Need an answer.

[marcc64]

Hi, Well where to begin with this?? i suppose i will start with when i first got worried about my health.i am 18 year old male,  About 5 years ago i had some difficulty breathing (felt like i was not getting enough air and had to keep taking a deep breath) so i went to the hospital they done a chest x-ray (fine) and made me blow into a tube thing (my lung strength was fine) they sent me on my way saying it might be anxiety, went to the doc bur he didn't take much interest in the fact i might have anxiety and started asking me about another problem i had at the time. Anyway after that i felt better and the feeling went away for quite a while, i would sometimes panic when out and about (panic attacks i suppose) felt like i could not breath, heart racing ect. Right, now focus on the now, of late this feeling has come back big time (alot worse the before) but this time i have had other symptoms along with it, these include, muscle twitching (worse at night it seems) feels like something is stuck in my throat, cold feet, difficulty swallowing sometimes, anyway this scared me so much once i rushed to the hospital and explained my symptoms, i had an ECG (fine) chest x-ray (fine) oxygen levels checked (fine) blood tests (fine also) after being there for 6 hours they sent me on my way. I am so worried that i have a serious disease (brain tumor, heart disease, lung cancer, TB, Phenomena, ALS, MS, throat cancer) you name it, everything i think i have. The weird thing is that if i focus my mind thinking i have something not related to breathing that symptom becomes better and the one i think i have got worsens, so if i am convinced i have lung caner my breathing is all over the place, if you get my drift? anyway i just wanted to post this on a few boards and heart what other people who may have similar issues as mine. Thanks for reading :)  

[SarahHN]

I have had the EXACT breathing problem for 16 months and for me it is NOT anxiety.If you believe it isn't anxiety then MAKE the Dr hear you.I have had a very hard time getting them to hear me and finally they would do a test here or there and it started showing that yes SOMETHING is wrong but as of today they still don't know for sure what it is.I would suggest finding a very good pulmonologist and get pulmonary function tests,that was the first clue that something was wrong for me,upper airway obstruction however after checking with a scope they couldn't see it which means it comes and goes.I have had cat scans and much more but the last test was a BRAVO test from a gastrointerologist,and it showed very high acid levels even though I wasn't FEELING any heartburn at all.So they think it could be acid somehow affecting my airway or vocal cords.I have no idea if this helps but I think you should go on antianxiety meds and if you feel no better then demand attention from your Dr's.I will list all my symptoms in case yours are like mine,tightness in my throat and the feeling of needing to take a lot of deep breaths and sometimes not being able to get the breath,some chest pain,hoarseness,lump in my throat(which was visable by an ENT with a scope) constant need to clear my throat,minor cough and stridor sometimes. I actually hope yours is anxiety because then you can take meds or relaxation and get well instead of being very sick for well over a year....good luck!

[Qbaine]

My anxiety was pretty bad last summer.  My heart would beat so hard that I couldn't sleep on my left side.  I ended up taking a really low dose of zoloft for about 6 months to help me get over at least my anxiety.  If u see a neurologist they can check you out and possibly give you something to help out with the anxiety.

[wadeheather]

It's a really hard thing to learn to walk and breathe at the same time, especially when you don't feel good.  I have had many crazy symptoms over the past few years with no answers and I have been through days exactly like you are describing.  The best thing you can do is not panic (walk and breathe at the same time). Continue on your journey to find an answer, but don't make yourself sicker in the process. If you haven't already, you should check out the MS forum. There are many of us limbolanders there and I think you may learn a lot, even if MS isn't something that concerns the docs.

[Gaucho25]

Hey man, anxiety/stress plays a big role.. it DOES make things worse...  but I would rule other things out. The muscle twitching may be normal, sometimes people get those too...  Let me ask you, besides the muscle twitches things, and the feelings that you have something stuck in your throat and cant swallow (those also relate to anxiety and stress)... have you experienced visual disturbances? imbalance? lightheadedness? motor problems? In your case I would got o a neurologist just in case and get an MRI... you got nothing to lose, besides if its nothing then you will feel more relaxed.
See ya
ps: I do not experience the cold feet, shortness of breath... soemtimes what I DO feel is that my heart is a bit fast.

[marcc64]

Yes that is what everyone keeps telling me, "it's anxiety Marc, there is nothing seriously wrong with you" lol but i keep making my self believe i have something wrong, it's so messed up i can't begin to try and explain how i feel :( but i guess i don't have to if what you said is true, that you have been there before with anxiety. I have days where i am fine for a couple of hours and bam! this horid feeling hits me again and i feel so down with all the symptoms. Thanks for your reply anyway, appreciate it :)

[Qbaine]

yeah that definitely sounds like anxiety.  I have had a lot of anxiety over the past year because I have a hypersensitive balance system that makes me constantly imbalanced.  My anxiety makes my symptoms worse and may cause different things to pop up. I have some unexplained twitching mainly in my right arm, but my anxiety has caused everything from my lip, to my head, to my butt to twitch. You should read a forum with other people that have anxiety.  It is usually pretty funny because u realize that they say the same stuff that you think to yourself.  It also makes it worse when u think something is wrong and then every test comes back negative; provides your mind with more to wonder about.  Try doing some Biofeedback to learn to relax.  I hope that helps a little.

[marcc64]

Also i should mention these twitches only happen when i am at rest, like when i am just sitting, if i am moving they never seem to happen, weird ey??