Hi all, my advice would be to try and stop worrying about it (but I know it's easier said than done). I am a perfectly healthy 31 year old, I've hardly ever been ill in my life and all my tests (blood test, urine test, ecg, 24 hour ecg and heart scan) have all come back normal, yet I too have started getting some twitches and they freak me out as well. I had a massive panic attack out of the blue at the end of July, I was screaming for an ambulance, hyperventilating on the floor and then running down my side path half naked towards the ambulance thinking I needed oxygen! It scared me, really scared me. It's been just over 3 months since that day, I've struggled to come to terms with the fact I'm ok, I think I'm over it and then I get a twitch near my heart or a pain etc and I can't stop analysing it and then I feel my body tense up etc. I am getting less and less panic symptoms, up until last Friday I thought that maybe I had beaten it for good but then Friday night I got a twitch on the left hand side arond my bottom rib and once again, because I hadn't had any symptoms for days I panicked thinking 'what if?' I have hardly had any panic symptoms for a couple of weeks yet I feel myself getting down on myself, I catastrophasise everything and think that I'm not going to be able to cope, that I'm going to get back to being bad again but in reality I'm doing so well and I just need to remember that. I was having trouble sleeping as when I lay on my left hand side I could my body twitching around my bottom rib, then I had twiching in my armpit, I now have a bit of twitching in my bum! I don't get twitching very often at all but the more I think/worry about it the more it happens and I think I worry if I can feel the twitching that maybe I'll be able to control that muscle and make my body stop working properly.
For clarification, I've had virtually every symptom, my brain seems to know when I've finally accepted one symptom (pains in chest, in arm, tightness/tenseness in body, pins and needles in arm and lower left leg, weak legs, feel like I'm losing control, bit dizzy, little strange pains, fast heartbeat, twitches, nausea, panic over breathing, sinking feeling in chest, waking up with a start as I'm about to drift off, feeling on edge, feeling like I am going to die - even writing that scares me) and so gives me something else to worry about. It's a trick, it's the adrenaline, it's your brain trying to keep your stress levels up to what it thinks is now your 'normal' level.
Basically, there is nothing wrong with me and I have no doubt there is nothing wrong with you. It's in our head, our bodies have gotten so used to being stressed/anxious (I'd been very busy in work for months, money has been tight, renovations to my house, getting married etc) that it has reset part of our brains to think that stressed is normal so our bodies are finding it difficult to relax. You need to try and divert your mind, you cannot solve the problems in your head by beating them mentally, you can only beat them by becoming relaxed, sort out what is making you unhappy in life and spend more time with friends/family. Go for walks, do more exercise, if you start to feel funny get up and go for a jog, prove to yourself there is nothing wrong with you. Twitching is unbelievably annoying, I hate it, but it's not going to harm us, it's not a genuine problem. Thousands of people suffer from genuine illness, from disability, we are just making ourselves feel bad when there is nothing wrong. It's the hardest illness to get over (mental) but in reality, it's not threatening unless you let it get out of control. Read books about anxiety etc, see counsellors, everyone I know knows someone who has been through something similar, reading books has helped me so much. Talk about it, don't pretend you don't have a problem or anxiety, be open about it and let people help you. The last 3 months have been probably the worst of my life, but in reality when I think about them they haven't been that bad and hopefully they'll ensure that the rest of my long life will be happier than ever as I'll never let myself get into this situation again. There is too much good in life to waste it being anxious, try and be happy and then once you're better change things so you never get stressed again. No job, no money, nothing is worth srtessing yourself out so much that you make yourself panicked and anxious. Your health and family are more important than anything, remember that and surround yourself with those you love and try and do the things you most enjoy. Everyone but you probably knows 100% that there is nothing wrong with you, it's only you who doubts it and having them around you helps as it's reassurance you need more than anything.
Oh and don't google your problems or ring NHS direct if you can help it, both really made me panic more, not less.
It's difficult to beat things that are only in your mind but we can do it, we just need to believe it, to slap ourselves when we have negative thoughts, to try and do full body relaxations a couple of times a day, to breathe properly and more than anything, stop obsessing so much with our bodies. I have felt myself becoming so inward, so obsessed with my own body - selfish almost - when in reality I need to live more in the now (rather than panicking about what I 'MAY' start feeling, what 'MAY' happen to me) and think/plan for the future. Don't look back. Make sure you sleep well, sleep is THE most important thing, it refreshes your body and mind, it solves problems you can't. If you feel uncomfortable in bed, if you can't sleep get up and read, don't keep lying there working yourself up. Reading is such a help, read everything you can. Lastly, try not to worry, I got to a point where I worried about worrying, I thought 'ok, I'm not ill, but I'm going to worry so much that I'll make myself ill.' It's pointless, it's counter productive, worrying makes you worse not better.
