Tremors - muscle spasms.

Hi all,

This is my first post, and i've been suffering from severe anxiety and panic for about 6 months. I have all the usual symptoms but was just about able to cope with them until very recently.

The latest and most distressing symptom for me are muscle spasms or twitches, most noticable in the fingers on both hands. This is usually most noticable when im sitting at a computer when my hands are in a certain position, or if my hands are outsretched.

The physical aspect of these symptoms are bearable as they dont effect my day to day life, its more of a hypochdriacal effect of the belief that i am now suffering from the early effects of Parkinsons or MS. I dont have any of the other symptoms of these diseases but as you probably know its difficult to think clearly when anxiety is pretty much ruling your life in the first place.

Does anybody else suffer from similar symptoms, and if so are there any effective remedies for it that you know of.

Thanks in advance.

Welcome AnxietyMan,
I have dealt with anxiety/panic attacks for several years now. Although I have not experienced what you are talking about I do understand your frustrations. You will find lots of caring and helpful people here at P.C.
Take care and welcome,
Snow

Hello and welcome to Psych central.
a therapist or general practitioner may be able to help with the tremors you are having at this time with medication. Ihopethe best for you in the future. take care Soidhonia

Hello and welcome!

I'm sorry to hear about your anxiety. Are you seeing a therapist or a psychiatrist?

My anxiety often affects my back/neck/arms/shoulders. I get terrible knots which end up sending pain down my arm, sometimes to my fingers. Get yourself to a chiropractor!! That's what I do. You probably also want to rule out any pinched nerves/muscle pulls, etc. My anxiety does quite a number on my muscles. I wake up with a new knot every day.

Good luck. Also, a chiropractor can help pinpoint where the pain is actually coming from. Sometimes pain in the fingers or arms can be coming from a spot in your neck or shoulder. The chiro. can work on the knots/spasms, and tell you exacly where it's coming from so you can use ice, heat, or whatever is going to work best.

A while ago I was convinced the muscles of my face were twiching, and it was ONLY a result of anxiety.

If you have some insight that you are a hypochondriac, that's a good thing, believe it or not. People with disorders like that usually don't have any insight or awareness that their thoughts are irrational. Is there something else bothering you? Sometimes people are worried about other things, and the worry about catching an illness distracts from what the real issue is...

Anxiety can do all sorts of weird things to you, like make you dizzy, twitch, or give you blurry vision.

I also have multiple tremors/twitches... although the other day my body was in such a bad state of panic that would not subside, just about every major muscle would not stop trembling... I digress.

My point is that one thing that can help is to make sure you are getting enough water and potassium. Muscles spasms can be triggered by an electrolyte imbalance. Have a banana every morning, eat lots of fresh fruits and veggies and stay hydrated. Just throwing out an idea. Hope you find some relief soon.

I'd like to thank you all for your kind comments and suggestions, it always helps to hear you're not alone

I saw a counsellor for several weeks, but found it unhelpful. I've also been seeing a hypnotherapist and have been to approximately 6-7 sessions. This I find more useful but still only takes the edge off. This week I was referred to another counsellor via my Doctor who has suggested CBT, which should start fairly soon so fingers crossed.

I use beta blockers to stave off the worst of the panic attacks and started using St Johns Wort about two weeks ago. I think its helping but it is supposed to take a while to build up its full effect. I know a lot of people find prescription meds useful but im against using them myself as I had a bad reaction to benzo's a few years ago when I first started having panic attacks and sleep problems.

Thanks again for the comments, and I hope I can be helpful to you guys in the future.