Just Wanting Someone to Relate With - Twitching Etc.

[TAMUAero]

Man, where do I start. This has been a rough first semester at TAMU. I recently transferred into the Aerospace Engineering program here after separating from the Army after 9 years. I am sure all of this manifested with the new found stress of being an Engineering student. About 2 weeks into the semester I felt odd, I noticed I had been losing hair and I was obsessing over it. I had obsessed to the point where I felt like I was walking around 24/7 in a fog. I didn't feel like I was inside my body.

This is when the relentless googling started. I was convinced that my hairloss and brain fog must be the result of a serious medical condition. I settled on Multiple Sclerosis even though I exhibited virtually zero symptoms. But wouldn't you know it, after a couple days of googling and reading I woke up in the middle of the night and my hands and feet were numb/tingly. Oh F***. Fears confirmed, that was it. I was miserable and the numbness/tingling didn't get any better for a few days so I scheduled a doctors appointment.

The night before the doctors appointment I woke up and my ENTIRE left side of my body from my scalp to my waist was numb and tingly. I freaked out, jumped out of bed and started pacing around the apartment. The numbness subsided, but I didn't go back to sleep. I went to the doctor that morning and she immediately noticed my anxious/tired face. She didn't seem concerned that it was anything more than stress/anxiety. I got prescribed buspirone, lexapro and temazepam.

That same day I got back to my apartment and became convinced that the left side of my face was drooping (it was not). So I went to the emergency room convinced I had a tumor or something terrible. Side note: when you go to the ER and tell them you have a numb/weak feeling side of the face (even if you are 26) they push you straight to the front of the line and give you the works of tests.. Everything came back clean.

I took a couple days off school and felt fine. Until, I got back on google. I decided it was a good idea to start reading about ALS.. Literally, THE DAY AFTER I started reading about the symptoms I noticed persistent twitching in my calves. I had a melt down. It has now been 2 weeks and the twitching in my calves are still present 24/7. In fact I have random pulsing twitches in other parts of my body. Although they are less frequent.

As an engineering student I am proficient with math.. So I ran the numbers based on the CDC's prevalence rate of ALS. I took into account my age and the fact the twitching was my first symptom opposed to weakness (rare). The numbers say at 26 I have a 1:6,000,000 chance of having the disease. In fact, there are a handful of people out there on the same meds I was prescribed who complain of twitching. But I can not shake the fear of ALS. What is wrong with me?

Please tell me there are other people out there as dysfunctional as myself. I need to learn how to get past this phase in my life. It is incredibly distracting to my studies and to my social life.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far.

[gypsylee]

Hi and welcome

Health anxiety isn't really my thing (I notice on here two main groups and I'm definitely the social anxiety type) but you would be amazed at how many people post freaking out about ALS. Especially around the time of that ice bucket challenge raising money for ALS! I always tell people not to google symptoms because that even ends up with me thinking I've got a brain tumour or something.

Anxiety can cause so many physical symptoms. There's a post here somewhere about it. As for dysfunctional.. I always think I am the most dysfunctional person in the world!

Cheers,
Gypsy x

[fixmybrokenmind]

Twitching muscles is a simple sign of a magnesium deficiency. A deficiency will also cause anxiety. Try purchasing some magnesium oil and rubbing it on the affected area and any other open skin to begin with to increase your levels. After 15 min shower off. I bet your twitching will subside very quick.

Stress is not helping you either. Start doing some breathing exercises to calm your nerves and mind.

My anxiety is almost exclusively health anxiety. I had some chronic fatigue and brain fog and I constantly worried that it would stay with me forever and ruin my life/chances of success. I am learning to realise that almost all of the fatigue/brain fog is because I am stressed.. Quite a nasty circle.

[FruitSalad]

Hi Tam,

I had lots of tingles, in my legs, arms etc. In my first few months of detoxification that stopped, and haven't had it since. Keep in mind hair is not just to keep us warm, but also helps in the removal of toxins (ie; the FBI will do hair analysis for poison and it works great.) Remember hair is an output :-). Perhaps that will give you a bit of a paradigm shift. I would say this is related to over toxicity and congestion, the hair loss would lead me in that direction. But that's just how I solved my issues.

And yes, before my healing, I had health anxiety same as you, googling all the time etc. That is a thing of the past for me.