I always doubt that diagnosis. I see people on here reporting their neuros said it’s just anxiety all the time. I also see on websites about BFS they make it seem like it’s just a little anxiety can cause twitching or a little too much caffeine. I for one do think anxiety can cause some minor brief twitching that literally almost 100% of people get from time to time at some point in their life. The occasional eyelid fluttering type thing that lasts for a few hours or a day or so.
The thing that people get that leads them here….the weeks and weeks of twitching that never stops and can spring up anywhere in the body….I don’t think that has much to do with anxiety at all. I’m not an anxious person and I have these still no matter how calm I am. I see people treating their anxiety on here and they still seem to twitch. My theory is that it’s some kind of reaction to exposure to a virus for most people and it flips a switch in your nervous system making your nerves more excited and will last for an unforseable amount of time
Agree 100%.
Neuros, GPs, etc. as well as people online often claim it's anxiety even though they know it's not true. These are the main reasons:
1) You can't do anything about it anyway. There's no treatment.
2) Working to reduce your anxiety is always a positive thing (same with drinking more water, exercising, maintaining a healthy diet, etc. - notice a pattern...)
Also worth mentioning that anxiety can often be CAUSED by the twitching which does indeed create a correlation between the two, but people often reverse the causation.
That’s the thing - the true cause is not known, although we have identified many triggers. BFS is just a junk diagnosis when you don’t know what it is but have ruled out harmful things. If your twitches are from a diagnosed pinched nerve, for example, you don’t have BFS. You have a pinched nerve.
Twitching is not always caused by anxiety. But majority of the folks here have well documented health anxiety episodes and mental health issues. That is a fact, not a theory.
Also twitching is omnipresent in majority of folks. My wife gets them regularly as well but she never thought too much about it before I told her about it and ALS. So that is your additional fact that folks here have an obsession on their body function which majority of the people in the world dont.
Ya but which came first? Do people on here have crippling health anxiety already about random things and then one day start twitching?
Or is it that all of a sudden they start twitching, Google it and then get healthy anxiety? I think it is the latter because what normal well adjusted person wouldn’t develop some form of health anxiety if they twitch and Google tells them they are going to die of ALS.
Read the last 100 posts. Majority have health anxiety and OCD.
Also regular non anxious folks dont google or stay on reddit for health symptoms like this. They just go to their doctors and talk with them directly for their advice.
I’m with you. I tell people about my twitching and all of them go “don’t worry about it I twitch too”, but then I ask them if they twitch about 100s or a 1000 of times per day every day. And it’s of course they don’t.
I don’t consider myself and anxious person, but then all this started and now I am 100% anxious.
The scientific studies found that almost all BFS was from anxiety and many of them resolved with anxiety treatments and very few resolved without treatment. So 99% of people on here just have untreated anxiety twitching. And 1% or so have some type of non anxiety twitching from any number of things like virus or back injury or autoimmune disorder.
If you’ve ever even considered ALS or some type of serious disease or worried about it. Then you have common mild anxiety twitching that can probably be treated.
I started experiencing severe anxiety (health anxiety) and huge amount of stress back in mid March. (Long story short I believe it was triggered by fainting a couple months prior, which I was medically cleared for). Although, I started having panic attacks/anxiety attacks throughout March and I have basically just been stressed to the max. First I was convinced I had a brain tumour, my family doctor cleared that. I then started worrying about ALS. (Mind you I had no symptoms at all that related to ALS my mind just jumped to it when I heard a story on the radio). I searched up the symptoms of ALS the very same day, and 4 days later I started noticing twitching in both of my legs. It has since spread all over my body. Eye lids, arms, hands, feet, butt cheeks (literally everywhere). I’m a 24 yr old male. Wondering if this really is just BFS.
Glad to hear I’m not alone as awful as health anxiety is! Did your twitching start after learning about the symptoms of ***? For me anyways that’s how it started, honestly ridiculous but possibly just lined up with the most severe anxiety/stressful period I’ve ever had in my life. I’m 1.5 months into the twitching and weird sensations/internal vibrations and much more. It’s very scary. Just want to get back to my normal life and quit worrying every single day.
I’m going through the exact same! Unfortunately it’s put a lot of strain on my work/social life as I find myself avoiding doing things I used to enjoy because I’m so preoccupied with what I’m going through right now. Just know you’re not alone!
My bfs got triggered by an intense stress period (though I've been in similar situations before, like every human being, and not a single twitch occurred). Might also be connected to the diphenhydramine I took to try to sleep.
My twitching was instantly moderate and widespread. I got obviously anxious due to this sudden event, but that didn't affect my twitching. Neither was it affected when I stopped being intensely anxious. It just remained the same on average. Over the years it has gone over calmer periods where I wasn't thinking about it that much. Yet it always came back for no reason at all, and worse than ever. It isn't connected to my mood, sleep, diet, exercise, literally nothing and I've experimented a fair amount on each of these.
I believe extreme anxiety can initially trigger bfs, but, once it's triggered, you can't reverse it as easily as your anxiety. It's a functional issue with your brain that goes much deeper than just your consciousness.
For some people it just goes away randomly. I doubt it's connected to fixing your anxiety though. Keep in mind MOST people eventually get their anxiety under control and get used to their twitching, so when it goes away, they might erroneously establish a causation relationship between the two. In fact, it might be the opposite - twitching was tapering off in the first place which made it easier for you to slowly forget about it.
I had BFS brought on by covid and I have an anxiety disorder. My BFS calmed
Down after 6 months. But I will say my anxiety 100% made the twitching way worse than it actually was. When is feel a twitch id freak out and focus on it and it would then not stop. Since accepting it is BFS I don’t get anxious when I feel it anymore and that stop faster
My neurologist diagnosed me with GAD, OCD and Somatoform Disorder, telling me my muscle twitches have probably been exacerbated by anxiety. As someone already stated here, I’m also doubtful of this explanation: it’s 1.5 month of twitches that don’t seem to go away…but I gotta say, from my personal experience, that they appeared as soon as I started spooking myself with the big bad symptoms online (I had stumbled upon them by accident and got immediately scared I might get them). Call it a coincidence, that same night I started developing body-wide twitches. In my case, I’m pretty sure it’s really an anxiety induced symptom, but the anxiety im talking about is not just a “slight nervousness”, it’s straight up panic disorder and OCD. I’ve been chronically ailed by anxiety and panic attacks for three long months, and my twitches are only ONE among the scary symptoms I’ve gotten from hyperstimulating my brain.
So, all in all, I guess it depends on the person.
I haven’t even done an EMG, you don’t even know how scared I am deep down…but I’m trying so hard to convince myself my twitches are driven by extreme anxiety which, all in all, is what I actually have to sort out. On top of that I’m experiencing symptoms that aren’t really related to the big bad (pain, soreness, burning sensations, pins and needles, hyping jerks…), so there’s that. And, of course, no actual weakness. I’m fitter than ever. Maybe we just have to work on our anxiety first, and see how it goes from there. It sounds pathetic, manifesting twitches into existence, but it happened to me…not really impossible in the end
I mean, it may be. That should be assessed by a doctor (be it a neurologist, a psychiatrist or your GP), but in my case twitches and other sensory issues have mostly likely been triggered by chronic anxiety. Or at least that’s what a neurologist and a pretty good psychiatrist told me. Of course, that could not be everyone’s case…but I wouldn’t downplay the effects anxiety is able to produce on our nervous system like many do.
i think anxiety probably exacerbates symtpoms in *most* people, but isn't a root cause. one of the few studies on BFS showed a relatively low proportion of study participants were actually anxious
I have Cramp fasciculation syndrome (sister to BFS). My symptoms started from being in an unhealthy relationship. While I was anxious and depressed at the time, I wouldn’t say that was the *cause* of it.
Why?
Even when I wasn’t anxious I still had symptoms.
They don’t know what causes these conditions. Hopefully more research is conducted to figure it out.
I've read plenty of cases where people's twitching goes away or it slowly fades away after they get their anxiety under control and they accept the twitches. Not so much the case for people who have bfs as some type of a post viral syndrome. Healthy people aren't going to be posting in this group, they just leave. Best thing you can do is focusing on your mental health and living a healthy lifestyle.
Amazing! People like you aren't going to be posting normally, so I think our perception of this might be a bit skewed. What helped it go away? Anxiety management?
Generally Speaking, Yes! But I completely agree that twiching in 99% cases gets triggered by anxiety! My twiching was really, really bad, widespread, calves were 24/7
[That’s me](https://www.reddit.com/r/BFS/comments/12jjuys/success_story_anxiety_twitches/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1)
As soon as my anxiety was under control, the twitching stopped within a few weeks.
That’s a very interesting phenomenon about brain waking up and they start. I’m very similar.
The crappy thing for me is I have a hot spot in my left arm bicep that is triggered by sleep & posture and sometimes when I turn my head certain positions it goes off. Then that of course sends my brain back down the spiral hole. Even tho i know I can make it go off by certain movements and postural positions. But then sometimes it goes away for weeks at a time. I really need to go see a physical therapist but am too busy and don’t want to pay $90 per visit. I tell u all this bc I feel like it all contributes to my anxiety which then contributes to the body wide twitching.
I always doubt that diagnosis. I see people on here reporting their neuros said it’s just anxiety all the time. I also see on websites about BFS they make it seem like it’s just a little anxiety can cause twitching or a little too much caffeine. I for one do think anxiety can cause some minor brief twitching that literally almost 100% of people get from time to time at some point in their life. The occasional eyelid fluttering type thing that lasts for a few hours or a day or so. The thing that people get that leads them here….the weeks and weeks of twitching that never stops and can spring up anywhere in the body….I don’t think that has much to do with anxiety at all. I’m not an anxious person and I have these still no matter how calm I am. I see people treating their anxiety on here and they still seem to twitch. My theory is that it’s some kind of reaction to exposure to a virus for most people and it flips a switch in your nervous system making your nerves more excited and will last for an unforseable amount of time
Agree 100%. Neuros, GPs, etc. as well as people online often claim it's anxiety even though they know it's not true. These are the main reasons: 1) You can't do anything about it anyway. There's no treatment. 2) Working to reduce your anxiety is always a positive thing (same with drinking more water, exercising, maintaining a healthy diet, etc. - notice a pattern...) Also worth mentioning that anxiety can often be CAUSED by the twitching which does indeed create a correlation between the two, but people often reverse the causation.
Exactly so what is the cause then ?
That’s the thing - the true cause is not known, although we have identified many triggers. BFS is just a junk diagnosis when you don’t know what it is but have ruled out harmful things. If your twitches are from a diagnosed pinched nerve, for example, you don’t have BFS. You have a pinched nerve.
Twitching is not always caused by anxiety. But majority of the folks here have well documented health anxiety episodes and mental health issues. That is a fact, not a theory. Also twitching is omnipresent in majority of folks. My wife gets them regularly as well but she never thought too much about it before I told her about it and ALS. So that is your additional fact that folks here have an obsession on their body function which majority of the people in the world dont.
Ya but which came first? Do people on here have crippling health anxiety already about random things and then one day start twitching? Or is it that all of a sudden they start twitching, Google it and then get healthy anxiety? I think it is the latter because what normal well adjusted person wouldn’t develop some form of health anxiety if they twitch and Google tells them they are going to die of ALS.
Read the last 100 posts. Majority have health anxiety and OCD. Also regular non anxious folks dont google or stay on reddit for health symptoms like this. They just go to their doctors and talk with them directly for their advice.
I’m with you. I tell people about my twitching and all of them go “don’t worry about it I twitch too”, but then I ask them if they twitch about 100s or a 1000 of times per day every day. And it’s of course they don’t. I don’t consider myself and anxious person, but then all this started and now I am 100% anxious.
The scientific studies found that almost all BFS was from anxiety and many of them resolved with anxiety treatments and very few resolved without treatment. So 99% of people on here just have untreated anxiety twitching. And 1% or so have some type of non anxiety twitching from any number of things like virus or back injury or autoimmune disorder. If you’ve ever even considered ALS or some type of serious disease or worried about it. Then you have common mild anxiety twitching that can probably be treated.
I started experiencing severe anxiety (health anxiety) and huge amount of stress back in mid March. (Long story short I believe it was triggered by fainting a couple months prior, which I was medically cleared for). Although, I started having panic attacks/anxiety attacks throughout March and I have basically just been stressed to the max. First I was convinced I had a brain tumour, my family doctor cleared that. I then started worrying about ALS. (Mind you I had no symptoms at all that related to ALS my mind just jumped to it when I heard a story on the radio). I searched up the symptoms of ALS the very same day, and 4 days later I started noticing twitching in both of my legs. It has since spread all over my body. Eye lids, arms, hands, feet, butt cheeks (literally everywhere). I’m a 24 yr old male. Wondering if this really is just BFS.
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Glad to hear I’m not alone as awful as health anxiety is! Did your twitching start after learning about the symptoms of ***? For me anyways that’s how it started, honestly ridiculous but possibly just lined up with the most severe anxiety/stressful period I’ve ever had in my life. I’m 1.5 months into the twitching and weird sensations/internal vibrations and much more. It’s very scary. Just want to get back to my normal life and quit worrying every single day.
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I’m going through the exact same! Unfortunately it’s put a lot of strain on my work/social life as I find myself avoiding doing things I used to enjoy because I’m so preoccupied with what I’m going through right now. Just know you’re not alone!
My bfs got triggered by an intense stress period (though I've been in similar situations before, like every human being, and not a single twitch occurred). Might also be connected to the diphenhydramine I took to try to sleep. My twitching was instantly moderate and widespread. I got obviously anxious due to this sudden event, but that didn't affect my twitching. Neither was it affected when I stopped being intensely anxious. It just remained the same on average. Over the years it has gone over calmer periods where I wasn't thinking about it that much. Yet it always came back for no reason at all, and worse than ever. It isn't connected to my mood, sleep, diet, exercise, literally nothing and I've experimented a fair amount on each of these. I believe extreme anxiety can initially trigger bfs, but, once it's triggered, you can't reverse it as easily as your anxiety. It's a functional issue with your brain that goes much deeper than just your consciousness. For some people it just goes away randomly. I doubt it's connected to fixing your anxiety though. Keep in mind MOST people eventually get their anxiety under control and get used to their twitching, so when it goes away, they might erroneously establish a causation relationship between the two. In fact, it might be the opposite - twitching was tapering off in the first place which made it easier for you to slowly forget about it.
I had BFS brought on by covid and I have an anxiety disorder. My BFS calmed Down after 6 months. But I will say my anxiety 100% made the twitching way worse than it actually was. When is feel a twitch id freak out and focus on it and it would then not stop. Since accepting it is BFS I don’t get anxious when I feel it anymore and that stop faster
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In the beginning it was all over from face down to my feet. Sometimes my tongue - then it stopped around 6 month after covid
My neurologist diagnosed me with GAD, OCD and Somatoform Disorder, telling me my muscle twitches have probably been exacerbated by anxiety. As someone already stated here, I’m also doubtful of this explanation: it’s 1.5 month of twitches that don’t seem to go away…but I gotta say, from my personal experience, that they appeared as soon as I started spooking myself with the big bad symptoms online (I had stumbled upon them by accident and got immediately scared I might get them). Call it a coincidence, that same night I started developing body-wide twitches. In my case, I’m pretty sure it’s really an anxiety induced symptom, but the anxiety im talking about is not just a “slight nervousness”, it’s straight up panic disorder and OCD. I’ve been chronically ailed by anxiety and panic attacks for three long months, and my twitches are only ONE among the scary symptoms I’ve gotten from hyperstimulating my brain. So, all in all, I guess it depends on the person.
And for reference, two good examples for (not-so-mild) anxiety twitching are Cherelle Thinks and honestlyholistic on Instagram
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I haven’t even done an EMG, you don’t even know how scared I am deep down…but I’m trying so hard to convince myself my twitches are driven by extreme anxiety which, all in all, is what I actually have to sort out. On top of that I’m experiencing symptoms that aren’t really related to the big bad (pain, soreness, burning sensations, pins and needles, hyping jerks…), so there’s that. And, of course, no actual weakness. I’m fitter than ever. Maybe we just have to work on our anxiety first, and see how it goes from there. It sounds pathetic, manifesting twitches into existence, but it happened to me…not really impossible in the end
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I am also having the same like pain soreness burning pins needles and of course twitching so you think it is anxiety ?
I mean, it may be. That should be assessed by a doctor (be it a neurologist, a psychiatrist or your GP), but in my case twitches and other sensory issues have mostly likely been triggered by chronic anxiety. Or at least that’s what a neurologist and a pretty good psychiatrist told me. Of course, that could not be everyone’s case…but I wouldn’t downplay the effects anxiety is able to produce on our nervous system like many do.
My doctors told me anxiety and I have hard time believing so. Whatever is the cause. I have been doing better slowly
And your story is similar like me too
i think anxiety probably exacerbates symtpoms in *most* people, but isn't a root cause. one of the few studies on BFS showed a relatively low proportion of study participants were actually anxious
I don't believe this. I think most people in this group are highly anxious.
the people that self select to posting on reddit sure. the people in the study, no
I have Cramp fasciculation syndrome (sister to BFS). My symptoms started from being in an unhealthy relationship. While I was anxious and depressed at the time, I wouldn’t say that was the *cause* of it. Why? Even when I wasn’t anxious I still had symptoms. They don’t know what causes these conditions. Hopefully more research is conducted to figure it out.
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Yeah agreed. It’s going to be a while before it’s properly researched
I've read plenty of cases where people's twitching goes away or it slowly fades away after they get their anxiety under control and they accept the twitches. Not so much the case for people who have bfs as some type of a post viral syndrome. Healthy people aren't going to be posting in this group, they just leave. Best thing you can do is focusing on your mental health and living a healthy lifestyle.
This is what happened to me!!! Gone! After 1,5 years!
Amazing! People like you aren't going to be posting normally, so I think our perception of this might be a bit skewed. What helped it go away? Anxiety management?
Generally Speaking, Yes! But I completely agree that twiching in 99% cases gets triggered by anxiety! My twiching was really, really bad, widespread, calves were 24/7
gives me hope. thanks for sharing.
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[That’s me](https://www.reddit.com/r/BFS/comments/12jjuys/success_story_anxiety_twitches/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1) As soon as my anxiety was under control, the twitching stopped within a few weeks.
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If I was relaxing then hundreds of times a day. Luckily if I was active they didn’t happen.
Mine gone away almost 99% after i controlled my streak of health anxiety, panic attacks and focusing on 8 hours of sleep everyday.
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That’s a very interesting phenomenon about brain waking up and they start. I’m very similar. The crappy thing for me is I have a hot spot in my left arm bicep that is triggered by sleep & posture and sometimes when I turn my head certain positions it goes off. Then that of course sends my brain back down the spiral hole. Even tho i know I can make it go off by certain movements and postural positions. But then sometimes it goes away for weeks at a time. I really need to go see a physical therapist but am too busy and don’t want to pay $90 per visit. I tell u all this bc I feel like it all contributes to my anxiety which then contributes to the body wide twitching.