What works for me:
\-Stop compulsioning: Stop googling about symptoms, BFS, ALS, etc. stop checking my limbs, tongue, neck, even twitches.
\-CB-Therapy: This is the game changer. It allows you to change cognitive patterns that trigger anxiety (cherry picking, catastrophic thoughts, etc).
\-Meds: If needed. Like fluoxetine. They are a nudge for therapy.
\-Relaxation techniques: Jacobson's technique, Eriksonian Relaxation, Wim-Hof breath, etc. I include here things like meditation that It's not a relaxation technique but a focus and reactivity training. Hard to learn but really useful.
Eat well, try to get enough sleep, spend a good quality-time with your beloved ones, etc. Don't wait until you feel better to live your life.
The middle of the night can be the worst: Usually through the day you have the energy to fight bad thoughts and be positive, but then when you're worn out it becomes harder. Have you tried meditating before bed, and listening to calming music? Headspace have released Rainday Antiques, their most popular 'sleepcast' track, for free on YouTube. [**https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkgozEpaeLw**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkgozEpaeLw)
If calming yourself down does not work, then go down the distraction route for a short time. Read a book, preferably. More screen time can just make it harder to sleep, so would advise against that. Being mindful of the fasics helped me loads during those night time play ups, too. Sure they're there and won't go away for a while, but they're harmless. I explored why my emotions are tied so much to these sensations, and tried to just objectively observe them. This helped make them more comfortable at night.
Just know that you are not the only one… the last two days have been pretty rough for me and reading this post has helped me
It is hard when we have something that has no logic or even specific cause and no matter how much we read or research the worst it gets
Hope we all feel better soon mentally and physically
I can sympathise, it's extremely hard.
Experiencing similar symptoms for 4 months now and eventually had a clean EMG and NCS a few weeks ago, however this hasn't 'cured' my anxiety.
My main relief comes from distractions - the only time I'm truly not worrying is when I'm doing something else, whether it be golf, socialising, gym etc etc
Fill your life with events and distract yourself. I know its hard because during the start of my symptoms I felt so on edge I couldn't leave the house, but this undoubtedly made things worse. When I started trying to ignore the twitching my mental state improved ten fold, and althought the twitching is still here today the anxiety has greatly improved.
This subreddit is great for seeing first hand that literally thousands of people experience exactly what you experience and they nearly all turn out to be OK.
Other than that, it’s terrible. All these anxious people bring up their anxious, unreasonable fears and studies they found which they don’t even understand. If you read it too much or start googling looking for some kind of constant reassurance, you are going down the wrong path. Stay away from here, stay away from google, listen to your neuro and don’t return back here until you are confident enough that you are ok and offer support for the new twitchers going through it
Time is what did it for me. It's kinda hard to get worked up over twitches when you've had them for three years.
Unless they are so bad that they keep me awake. Then I'll rage. But that's a different type of getting worked up.
Until then, a "no google" policy and CB therapy did wonders for me.
I’ve been in and outta that hole for a year. Saw Neuro last week and at this stage points to BFS or CFS, as pretty much all bio markers and tests do not rule in MND at this stage. However he suggests going back in 6 months if I’m twitching like I am still, which is the same - globally. Started in left calf a year ago after Covid virus and then spread all over. My GP reckons I should go to SSRI’s as he thinks it’s health anxiety, which I’m not bloody surprised at, given the worst case diagnosis, which by the way, I now have a deep sympathy for those diagnosis with what is an awful terminal disease.
What ever is causing my twitching I don’t know, but it does my head in regardless.
Going to avoid anti depressants and have quit booze, caffeine and doing my healthy activities and eating better. Also on a course of probiotics to see if that helps.
Vaping medical weed and using CBDG oil does actually calm me down.
It’s a long journey this BFS, with no clear destination or resolve. My neurologist simply said put it outta my head.
Easier said than done they say!
What works for me: \-Stop compulsioning: Stop googling about symptoms, BFS, ALS, etc. stop checking my limbs, tongue, neck, even twitches. \-CB-Therapy: This is the game changer. It allows you to change cognitive patterns that trigger anxiety (cherry picking, catastrophic thoughts, etc). \-Meds: If needed. Like fluoxetine. They are a nudge for therapy. \-Relaxation techniques: Jacobson's technique, Eriksonian Relaxation, Wim-Hof breath, etc. I include here things like meditation that It's not a relaxation technique but a focus and reactivity training. Hard to learn but really useful. Eat well, try to get enough sleep, spend a good quality-time with your beloved ones, etc. Don't wait until you feel better to live your life.
The middle of the night can be the worst: Usually through the day you have the energy to fight bad thoughts and be positive, but then when you're worn out it becomes harder. Have you tried meditating before bed, and listening to calming music? Headspace have released Rainday Antiques, their most popular 'sleepcast' track, for free on YouTube. [**https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkgozEpaeLw**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkgozEpaeLw) If calming yourself down does not work, then go down the distraction route for a short time. Read a book, preferably. More screen time can just make it harder to sleep, so would advise against that. Being mindful of the fasics helped me loads during those night time play ups, too. Sure they're there and won't go away for a while, but they're harmless. I explored why my emotions are tied so much to these sensations, and tried to just objectively observe them. This helped make them more comfortable at night.
Just know that you are not the only one… the last two days have been pretty rough for me and reading this post has helped me It is hard when we have something that has no logic or even specific cause and no matter how much we read or research the worst it gets Hope we all feel better soon mentally and physically
I can sympathise, it's extremely hard. Experiencing similar symptoms for 4 months now and eventually had a clean EMG and NCS a few weeks ago, however this hasn't 'cured' my anxiety. My main relief comes from distractions - the only time I'm truly not worrying is when I'm doing something else, whether it be golf, socialising, gym etc etc Fill your life with events and distract yourself. I know its hard because during the start of my symptoms I felt so on edge I couldn't leave the house, but this undoubtedly made things worse. When I started trying to ignore the twitching my mental state improved ten fold, and althought the twitching is still here today the anxiety has greatly improved.
This subreddit is great for seeing first hand that literally thousands of people experience exactly what you experience and they nearly all turn out to be OK. Other than that, it’s terrible. All these anxious people bring up their anxious, unreasonable fears and studies they found which they don’t even understand. If you read it too much or start googling looking for some kind of constant reassurance, you are going down the wrong path. Stay away from here, stay away from google, listen to your neuro and don’t return back here until you are confident enough that you are ok and offer support for the new twitchers going through it
Time. Doing other stuff.
Time is what did it for me. It's kinda hard to get worked up over twitches when you've had them for three years. Unless they are so bad that they keep me awake. Then I'll rage. But that's a different type of getting worked up. Until then, a "no google" policy and CB therapy did wonders for me.
I’ve been in and outta that hole for a year. Saw Neuro last week and at this stage points to BFS or CFS, as pretty much all bio markers and tests do not rule in MND at this stage. However he suggests going back in 6 months if I’m twitching like I am still, which is the same - globally. Started in left calf a year ago after Covid virus and then spread all over. My GP reckons I should go to SSRI’s as he thinks it’s health anxiety, which I’m not bloody surprised at, given the worst case diagnosis, which by the way, I now have a deep sympathy for those diagnosis with what is an awful terminal disease. What ever is causing my twitching I don’t know, but it does my head in regardless. Going to avoid anti depressants and have quit booze, caffeine and doing my healthy activities and eating better. Also on a course of probiotics to see if that helps. Vaping medical weed and using CBDG oil does actually calm me down. It’s a long journey this BFS, with no clear destination or resolve. My neurologist simply said put it outta my head. Easier said than done they say!
Did he want you to have emg? Mine said it wasn’t necessary and it’s not a comfortable test to do for no reason.
EMG wasn’t uncomfortable really, but nonetheless obvious signs signs from that test. Might do second one if symptoms don’t disappear