Muscle twitching

Hi there,

I have been experiencing long-standing twitching over the last year, firstly in the thumbs on both hands. I went to my Dr. at the time as I was concerned as my Mother has Parkinson’s disease. He said that it wasn’t that and assured me it was likely anxiety/caffeine etc. He said something about being watchful for things like ALS as I left the office, something quite throwaway but I picked right up on it and have been living in fear of this disease ever since having made the fatal mistake of googling it that day. Since then I’ve had prolonged periods of twitching on and off in various parts of my body. Currently it’s the thumb in my left hand which tends to start after work when I’m at home trying to relax. It’s sporadic but freaks me out when it occurs and convinces me I have some fatal neurological disease despite re-assurance from two doctors, a physic and a chiropractor that I don’t and it’s likely caused by compressed nerve, anxiety etc. Is this all in my head? It feels terribly real when it occurs and has a really bad impact on my enjoyment of life for the last year. Any help on how I can overcome this and move forward with my life would be greatly appreciated,

Thank you,

Karol

 

Hi Karol, and welcome.

These are real physical symptoms, but what most people don't realize is that all physical symptoms, feelings, manifestations, and the way our bodies operate, originate in our brains. And it's now well-known that under stress, our brains are perfectly capable of creating real physical symptoms for no good reason other than to distract us. Think of blushing, and nervous stomach, or of how your heart races when you are startled.

This is the basis of the TMS theory of Dr. John Sarno MD, who wrote four books on this, and it is why our forum exists. The first thing you want to do is get one of Dr. Sarno's books and I would recommend The Divided Mind. I got my first copy from my local library.

Go to the main page of tmswiki.org and start reading. Go to our Success Stories subforum and start reading. Check out our free Structured Educational Program on the main Tmswiki.org.

You'll soon realize that twitchy fingers are not your only TMS symptoms! When you do realize that, be prepared to change your life

 

Twitching is definitely TMS. I've had eye twitches under stress and my thigh muscles twitched like crazy when I had back pain (pre-Sarno). My physio was alarmed by them. She was wrong and everything went away.

 

Thanks so much for response guys,

Would you believe I went to download the book you recommended on kindle and I had already purchased but for the life of me could not remember doing so - The divided mind. Needless to say I’ve been stuck into it all weekend. Nice to know my symptoms may be attributable to something other than a worst case disease which my mind continually tells me it is. For sure I have repressed anger/emotional issues and have started the journaling exercises and am committing to the full course. I have had some level of respite since doing so although my symptoms are still there albeit somewhat less frequent since posting and picking up the book.

I hope some day I can break free of this crippling health anxiety and fully start to believe it is in fact emanating from my mind as opposed to something more sinister in my body. That is the goal. If anyone else has had direct experience re-twitching thumbs any advice re settling the mind greatly appreciated. Surely two Doctors, a physic and a chiropractor would be more concerned if it was something worse. All have said over a year I’d be seeing worse signs, cue the little voice ‘But what if?’

Thanks again guys,

Karol

 

Hi Karol,

Yes, like the others said above, very common to TMS. I had major twitching in both my calves. I think we talk a bit about that in a Podcast interview I did back in November 2018 - have a listen from my website.

https://kevinmviner.wixsite.com/tmscoach (TMS Coach)

 

I had muscle twitching all over my body for over 6 months. The twitching in my thighs and thumbs were the most distracting. The twitching went away after I learned about TMS and hasn't recurred for over 3 years. My dad had Parkinson's so I can relate to your concern. I recently turned the age that my dad had his initial onset of symptoms. But, I refuse to let that rule my life. In fact, I purposely don't read anything about Parkinson's so I rarely ever think about it. When I do, I assure myself that my dad's illnesses are not mine. I'm an individual with my own DNA.

 

@HattieNC, I'm pretty sure that Dr. Gabor Mate believes that Parkinson's originates as an emotional stress condition, along with many other conditions that people generally think are inherited or inevitable. Have you read When The Body Says No?

 

"When the Body Says No" is on my reading list. I'll order it today. Thanks for the reminder! I'm not surprised that there could be an emotional component to PD. Right before my dad got sick, he had gone through a lot of turmoil with his business and had several emotional breakdowns. He had an easy going nature and wasn't prepared to deal with the tremendous stress of being a small business owner. I've always believed that precipitated his Parkinson's.