What kind of symptoms can anxiety cause? Anyone with Benging

In My Humble Opinion
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Short Question: can anxiety cause muscle twitching? Weakness? Difficulty walking? Anyone here with Benign Fasiculation Syndrome? I’ve been experiencing a lot of different symptoms for the past few months. Doctors haven’t been overly helpful. Consulting Dr. Google gets a range from “You’re gonna die” to “It’s all in your head”

The “journey” so far:
Oct-Dec: Left eyelid twitch, this eventually stopped, but then “spread” to behind my ear, then behind the other ear, then to random muscles.

Dec- my herniated discs (presumably) flared up causing a lot of pain in my right shoulder which

Jan- noticed weakness in my legs. I stopped my longtime medication of Seroquel, fearing I was getting tardive dyskinesia, this caused my anxiety to skyrocket. Weakness started in my right arm. Pretty much every muscle feels weak, it’s not that I can’t move them, but I can’t move them much without getting really tired.

Noticed a tremor when holding muscles stretched or against gravity.

Feb- noticed my tongue twitching / fasiculating. This happens more when stuck out and sometimes I can feel them. I looked up tongue twitching and atrophy as a symptom of ALS, and got scared.

Lump in my throat sensation that has normally gone away. Sometime have to swallow twice to get solid foods down.

Cramping in my legs, especially when I bend them when sleeping on the sofa.

March- found out that dropped toes were a symptom of ALS. I immediately noticed how some of my toes hit when I walk, and they hang at different lengths. It’s possible it’s always been this way.

Random muscle twitches have subsided somewhat but continue, especially in my legs at random. I can provoke spasm at will on my arm and trunk by holding my arm in certain positions.

Things I’ve thought of: ALS, MS, Anxiety, Spinal stenosis or herniation, Benign Fasiculation Syndrome.

What my doctors have said:
Psychiatrist: Anxiety and Tardive Dyskinesia. Refuses to prescribe anti-anxiety drugs. Said he had noticed early symptoms of tardive dyskinesia on me during previous visits that I did not notice, so thought all my issues
GP: Anxiety. Routine labs showed nothing remarkable, but I asked for a neurology referral.
Neurologist: Not ALS (based on clinical exam only, no testing). Anxiety and Spinal Issues.
Spine Doctor: Spinal issue (ordered updated MRI). No explanation for the facial symptoms and denied spine issues could cause them. Despite my perceived trouble walking did not think it was an emergency.

Registered at an ALS forum. They were not impressed with my symptoms.

Anyone ever experienced anything like this. Part of me wants to curl up and never leave the house again, part of me wants to just show up at an emergency room and not leave until they find what the problem is.

Thank you for any insights.

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Not a medical opinion:

Anxiety can cause a lot of a symptoms. It’s a typical diagnosis when a specialist can’t find a physical disorder in their specialty. They’re not saying you have anxiety, they’re saying they haven’t found a disorder they specialize in and anxiety is a possibility.

Frankly, it does sound like an anxiety problem, you’ve got some minor symptoms and maybe non-existent symptoms and you’re now looking for a disease, basically hypochondria. You really need to clear up the tardive dyskinesia issue to see if you can take anti-anxiety medication.

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This website may help
http://www.crazymeds.us/CrazyTalk/

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As luck would have it I’m having difficulty typing today and back pain.

If the problem is spinal, is the weakness permanent or is it possible something could be done?

There’s something weird with my right wrist too, if I bend my hand down all the way it does not feel good.

I assume at some point I have to just trust my doctors, but it’s so hard when it’s ultimately your body that’s involved and they don’t see much as far as problems.

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How old are you? I was just thinking that some symptoms present at certain ages.

If it’s not all in your head, do any of the doctors have suggestions as to someone else you could see for a possible diagnosis? And if it is all in your head, I don’t see how refusing to prescribe anti-anxiety medication could be of help unless they know of a better treatment. Maybe you need to see a different psychiatrist?

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I started having severe problems in my mid 20’s that persisted for about 8 years. I still have the facial twitching which is aggravated by most any type of commitment I make until I fullfill it.

My problems were all anxiety related and possibly connected to marijuana use. Weaknes in the legs, pains in chest left arm and jaw that miimicked hard attacks. Severe constipation. I could go on and on. I changed Dr's and found a new Dr. that just gave me some good advice on dealing with stress and within a week he had me cleared up. 

Good luck with your issues, I would not just pass them off as anxiety though until you are sure.
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Wow. Certainly anxiety can manifest in psychosomatic symptoms.

You’ve included details of the physical symptoms you are experiencing. I’m curious to know how (exactly) you’ve associated these symptoms with anxiety - the details of which you did not mention. Was there a triggering event that occured prior to onset of the physical symptoms? Obviously, the host of physcial symptoms you are experiencing are causing you to feel anxious - but did heightened anxiety precede the onset of physical distress?

Do you have a history of generalized anxiety/disorder?

Left eyelid twitch, yet all other symptoms (eventually) bilateral. hmmm…

I won’t pretend I have anything to offer other than to suggest my 1st is guess that what you are experiencing is strictly neurological. Did the neurologist you saw administer testing aside from the ‘clinical exam only’ - which I assume was the 30/45 min ‘wiggle this - poke at that’ once over? What about EMG? Evoked potentials?

2nd guess - infectious disease. Whenever symptoms are so wild it pays to ask: Lyme Disease? Is this even a remote possiblity for you?

3rd guess - a “non-specific virus”, meaning all your symptoms will go away in a few more months following countless more tests.

4th and final guess: toxic exposure. Working with any weird chemicals or elements?

Don’t curl up - the cause will eventually be revealed and then appropriate treatment. You are no doubt tired and quite miserable from this ordeal, but fight back with what you are able for now - diet, sleep, exercise, etc…

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Hi:

I’m 42

I mention anxiety because 1) 3 out of the 4 doctors in four specialties plus my entire family think it is anxiety and 2) I do have a history of GAD. Not because I necessarily believe that is what it is

No testing aside from the “hit this reflex, push my arm away” I was worried about tongue atrophy, but the neurologist told me my tongue looked normal and “he had seen lots of tongues”.

Lyme is endemic in my area, but I never noticed a characteristic rash. Have not been working with anything strange.

Thanks.

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That doesn’t matter. Only half of people get a rash at all, and less than 2/3rds who do get a rash get the classic bull’s-eye. The bull’s-eye can go away, too: mine was gone inside of 4 hours, though other rashes remained until two days after the antibiotics kicked in.

There is some muscle weakness involved in untreated Lyme disease, but you’d likely had horrible joint pain, transient muscle paralysis and cardiac issues by that point as well. (but note that untreated lyme disease is not the same thing as “chronic lyme disease” which you’ll find lots of hypochondriacs talking about online)

But um… muscle weakness, tremor, swallowing difficulties - has anyone said anything about MS? OTOH, it bothers me that your doctor noticed signs of TD and didn’t take you off the psychotropic medication you’re on. This might account for a lot of your symptoms too.

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You had an eye twitch and some head pain and some disk issues flare up for a couple of months, nothing really unusual about that. A little bit of leg weakness and then you dropped the Seroquel thinking it might be causing the problems. That’s the point where things really took off though, increased anxiety and new symptoms. Looking at this logically,* as if you are just a hypothetical*, your problem must be Seroquel withdrawal. Prior to going off the Seroquel you experienced ordinary intermittent symptoms common to middle-aged men. Afterwards you encountered more varied anxiety-amplified symptoms.

So if you were just a hypothetical I’d suggest you begin treatment for Seroquel withdrawal. But assuming you are a real person maybe it’s something you should bring up with your doctors.

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Tripolar offers an interesting observation.

When you ceased taking the Seroquel did you do so following a withdrawal protocol or did you stop abruptly?

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I just quite once my legs started getting weak and my eyelid twitching seemed to spread. Spent close to 48 hours awake shaking…