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The type of twitching you are worried about is a very specific kind caused by the disconnect between the lower motor neurons (neurons in the spine) and the muscle. By the time this type of twitching happens, the connection is already seriously damaged/non-existent and the EMG can not miss it. That specific type of damage is frequently picked up on during emg exams before there are noticeable issues. You simply can not get it "too soon". If the emg does not detect an issue, the twitching is caused by something else that is NOT what you fear. A reminder that the vast majority of people in the world twitch. The trouble for the people worried about it here is that they notice it more, focus on it more and assign a sinister reason for an entirely normal thing that happens to everyone. Anxiety amplifies twitching, which is just such a bummer of a response to a thing already causing anxiety!

My God, those are fantastic results. Are you serious worrying about that? Leukaemia would not just have slightly off numbers, your platelets, WBC and other readings would be off the charts. Believe me, I’m the king of HA, so I understand the fear, the reading into every word or intonation the doctor makes, but jeez, those results are so clean you could eat off them. By the way, F—K Google.

Welcome to the forum. My physician told me that it does not matter if one result is high. He said it matters if many results are low or high, or in certain combinations. In your case, only one result is marginally high, so I would not be concerned.

Oh my goodness. 35!!!!! my God!!!!! Come on!!!! 35 is young!!!!!!!!!!! I am getting on for over twice your age and still feel 30. AGE IS A NUMBER. YES it is, and that's all it is. In the UK earlier this year we had an old guy who was 99 doing a walk a hundred times round his garden to raise money for the NHS. He was knighted by the Queen for his efforts. It's what's in your mind that counts. Some of the greatest people have been old when they have invented some of the worlds most useful scientific works. As for dating guys, well, if a man wants you and is only concerned with your age and looks keep well away. Anyone that really wants you will accept you as you are irrespective of age or looks. They say ' love is blind' and it is. Who gives a damn about a load of morons who only regard a woman as a sex object? The world is full of them. It is also full of good respectful guys who value a woman for what she is. A woman has to be discerning in her choice. I do appreciate what you are saying about this ridiculous age thing on social media. It's just a load of old rubbish and best ignored. I can speak from years of experience in counselling and one of the most important things is self worth. Self esteem. This is not the narcissism form of self admiration, but a feeling you are of value to society and those close to you. 'Love thy neighbour AS THYSELF'. That's the important bit. 'Love thyself' because if you don't how can you love another? Live your life, and realise that age has little to do with love, real love.

Hey, if it helps any, I'm on antidepressants too, have been for a while now, and on and off for about 6 years. They've literally saved my life at times, there's no shame in a helping hand to get better. You don't get a medal for getting through this without them, so my thinking is I may aswell take all the help I can get. You'll get to the other side ❤️

I have had actual health issues in the past and I have found that if I distract myself with work, something I enjoy, etc., things improve. If your physician thought there was any chance of any problem, more tests would be done, so you are good to go. You could also seek support from friends, family, religious affiliation, mental health professional, etc.

That is accurate though. They call it a woods lamp in literature, took it's own rabbit hole to figure out that's just a black light. 😅

Hi. DP. You have raised an interesting point about getting you to click onto a site. The more sensational it is the more likely you are to click on. That's one of the problems with Googling. At the end of most articles on illness they will try to sell you something or suggest a consultation. In the UK the only really reliable website is the NHS one where no adverts are allowed. Sadly, there are many who cash in on the suffering of others. Google makes its millions by adverts!! It's why it's so important to check if a practitioner is a registered one. (UK). I am talking about alternative and complimentary practitioners. Up to a few years ago it was OK to call yourself a counsellor without any real training, and a lot of harm was done. The old journalist's expression comes to mind. 'Good news is not news'. So true! In the UK daily thousands of operations are carried out with good results, but is it ever mentioned? No, of course not. But should one go wrong it's headlines. We as humans, well most of us, tend to pick up on the negative rather than the positive aspects of life. Why? Because with the negative fear creeps in. Positive aspects don't create fear. It come back to the reason it's bad to Google. It's mostly negative, and for all the reasons stated above. You were calmed by your consultant because it was positive news. So much mental damage can be done by dwelling on the negative.

I'll also add: Considering your age from your profile pic - the younger you are, the more infinitesimally smaller your chances are of getting it. The highest rate of these cases are among the *elderly*, and on top of that it's a tiny tiny TINY percentage of the population. I know you probably read an article on the 'net about a 20-something that got it but you have to put things into perspective - the reason that article was put up on the 'net is because it gets you to click. Hearing about an older person getting it in their 60s or 70s is not as exciting as a story about someone who had it in their 20s. It's similar to how COVID deaths among young people make articles to scare you, but they ignore the number of elderly that die from it. These Internet articles focus on the rare things because those generate headlines and clicks, and that's why the Internet is really bad for us hypochondriacs because our brain has rewired itself to process the catastrophic stuff first instead of the logically mundane stuff. Good luck with your therapist, and keep this stuff in mind. It's basically looking at it from a birds-eye view.

Thank you so much ❤️❤️❤️ I needed these. Finally feel like I'm coming out of a bad few anxious days, sorry for word vomiting it all out here, haha, this forum has just been a great support for me during my struggles over the past year. Had a good cry to my mum, deffo lifts a bit of weight from your shoulders doesn't it? Just need to keep pushing on and keep all of this in mind. Thank you again everyone ❤️

Something I learned from visiting my neurologist about this, and this also is backed up by that sticky on nomorepanic.co.uk ALS is a disease of *doing* , not *feeling*. What happens with ALS is that one day you'll be ok, and another day things won't work. The way he told me is that it is kinda like when you issue a command to your computer and your computer doesn't do anything. It doesn't respond. Period. It's like the signal that goes from your brain to the place you're worried about is just gone. What he said is if you have days where you feel slightly weaker, like if you were lifting weights and could do 300 lbs but the next day could only do 275, that's not ALS. It is usually very simple stuff like stiff muscles from over or underuse, or you strained it or you need to work on another part of your arms, for example. It's a disease of *doing*, not *feeling*. Keep that in mind. If you FEEL weak that's different from being CLINICALLY weak.

I got it removed today! Doc said it's probably something like an angioma or a pyogenic granuloma - gave me options of watch and wait or removal. I of course "I'd love to get rid of it" Showed him the recent flare of my foot and he suggested antifungals as I might have an infection over the top of my psoriasis. I neglected to mention I've pointed a black light at it and it glows red (points to bacterial, not fungal) but that's kinda whatever I guess. I'll try the antifungals... for the thousandth time of course, but tempted to just bathe tf out of the area with something like hydrogen peroxide or I guess ozonated olive oil has had a good tract record thus far with skin infections. EITHER WAY, now I wait on the biopsy which will probably show blood and blood vessels. I feel a bit embarrassed to go in about something like that but I'm glad he was willing to take the damn thing off. I feel like I was getting kinda dysphoric about it. Had considered a wide variety of ways to get rid of it. Provided it's just blood vessels, he said they usually don't come back. That is a load off! I don't want to have to think about the damn thing ever again. Dude was straight up with me which I appreciated, universe knows I already knew there's a corresponding cancer but I'm pretty sure after a year if I had something like a sarcoma that would have become a much bigger problem. So... that's my excitement for the day!

It had been quite some time since I went to the ER. A few weeks ago I came home from Starbucks in the evening around 930pm and began to not feel well. I told my wife and I tried to lie down. Suddenly, I really felt badly and threw up. This happened 3 times and I thought I saw red. I did not panic and tried to lie down again. I had trouble falling asleep and got up again around 3 in the morning and threw up again 2 more times. I felt dehydrated and was really feeling bad. I also had pain which radiated from my stomach to my back and to my side. This made me a little concerned. My wife who does not have any health anxiety thought I should go to the ER too as she thought I may be dehydrated and my pain was still there. (She is a pharmacist). We arrived at the ER around 5am and it was pretty empty. I was signed in and they took me back and took my vitals and asked my symptoms. etc. They then put me in a room and a nurse came in and took my vitals again and again asked my symptoms. They took blood and urine. They hooked me up to an IV as I was dehydrated. Due to the pain. they also ordered a CT scan with contrast of my abdomen and pelvis. Both tests were noted as unremarkable. They also checked my cardiac enzymes which were also negative. The ER physician came in and thought it was a virus and they discharged me at 3pm. I still also had some persistent nausea. I lost around 7 pounds. They told me to follow-up with my physician and he said to be safe, to call my GI physician and schedule an EGD. I called my GI physician on Thursday and they scheduled me for an EGD on July 1st. There is no prep for an EGD and I have had many of them before. I went to an outpatient center and arrived at 945 am and was taken back to the room at 1045am. They hooked me up to a BP and heart monitor and I was taken back for the test. My GI physician said to me have a nice sleep and he was right, I did. I was out like a light and woke up in the recovery room and left the facility at 1130am and was driven home. The EGD results were essentially negative. I asked my GI physician why the nausea and he did not know and said maybe stress. It has been a little over 3 weeks now since the ER visit and I still don't feel 100%, but I think I am getting better and have gained around 3 pounds back.

Thanks. I guess what really scared me was I thought I saw red in my throw-up.

It sounds like we need another meta-analysis since individual studies don't mean much. We're getting conflicting information about the efficacy of the vaccines against the delta variant. At this point we can't even say the vaccines stop the spread, however there is still one core benefit to having the vaccine, and that's to minimize serious complications/death from catching COVID, and I imagine even that should be a good motivator for most people to get the vaccine. We are at a crucial crossroads - hopefully the virus doesn't mutate any further, and it appears this variant, while incredibly contagious, isn't as deadly - it *appears* to be more deadly because it's infecting way more people, but the lethality of this virus compared to the beta variant appears to be lesser. This obviously doesn't mean we should be going out and partying and such, but it also means that things need to be put into perspective.

I get similar issues from working on a computer every day, and pretty much every day for the past 20-something years. 😛 I also tend to prop myself up on my left elbow when on the couch, and that causes frequent aches/pains in my left elbow and shoulder. Asked my doc about it once and she said take Tylenol or Ibuprofen if the pain is too much, but otherwise don't worry unless it starts to affect my quality of life. So far so good and I don't even take the OTC pain relievers for it.

It is so irking I can have great months at a time and poof 1 physical ailment or drama within my life and here it comes ANXIETY PANIC. The jumping out of my sleep, Tmj issues, crazy scary ruminating, is this my day will my kids make it without me, jitters, sweats, heartbeat all over the place. My anxiety isn't just a 1 time poof it came and went see you in 6 months nope I am keyed up and freaked for days and days on end. Am I the only 1 this happens to?

To confirm Jonathan's point. Several weeks in the future, you are going to look back at this and wonder what was going on in your head. I would have a panic attack over that because I wasn't still thinking it or had moved onto something else. We have to separate the thinking into what we can change and what we can't. If we can't change it, we have to let it go. What we can change can be further broken down into steps so even that won't be overwhelming. Accept and go with the flow - use the nerves in a motivational way. I have had my med dosage dropped to half in June....and like the fates, I had to start standing for myself in multiple areas to get things done around me. I more than stepped out of my comfort zone (picture Moses parting the Red Sea), and actually got a lot accomplished! I had issues with car repairs, my anxiety med refill, AND work interpersonal issues - ALL AT THE SAME TIME! On half the meds, I could have easily let it take me down a bad path of old thinking - leading to lack of sleep, nausea, and non-functionality. Thursday, it was supposed to end when an upper-level manager at work wanted to follow up on an email I sent him (half hour). He could fire me, he could wonder how things are, he could give me an official warning for pulling him into things - personnel file. It was TEN minutes and everything had cleared up in my email before that. He acknowledged that resource was not where it was supposed to be and that he would track it since my project is important. It was originally supposed ot be two years at the most - I am now in YEAR FIVE and there was NO movement in 2021. Well, that meeting went well and I wanted to celebrate.....by mowing my lawn lol. Guess what, DUMB ME put the bottom of the gas can's contents into the six-year-old mower so I could refill the can for future runs.....I gummed up the carburetor of the mower! Another test was finding a repairman since Sears Roebuck & Co. (United States department store chain) closed a bunch of stores in my area in 2018. I used to take the mower to where I bought it and it would be gone for three weeks lol. Anyway, I found a local hardware store who said it would be a week before they could get to it, but I am okay. The next thing will be hiring a mower to do a one-time job if I can't get it back in time. **Moral of the stories - anxiety will NEVER go away! We must take things one at a time, and not let it overwhelm us. It definitely takes practice. I use one of God's parables - He doesn't put more on me than I can handle. He's got my back. ----> And that upper-level manager said that everybody stepped in - because they respect me! How's that for hidden gems in trials! Not bad for my 250th post!

Posted Wednesday at 08:49 AM No. Trudy, you are not. What you have is GAD, but you know that. ALL your symptoms are so typical of anxiety that if you look up '100 symptoms of anxiety' you will find them all there. And that's all it is, anxiety!! Now in no way am I minimising your feelings, god knows, been there. It does so often come and go, and that is the frustrating part of it. We can be somewhere enjoying ourselves when WHAM!! seemingly out of the blue it hits us. Something has triggered it off. It can be a sight, noise, voices shouting, a smell or anything. It's no use trying to find these triggers becuse they can be elusive and the more you try the more anxiety you cause. It still comes down the the old word ACCEPTANCE. I know, over the years I have said this so often and it's still true. No fighting or struggling with IT. That's a fight you can never win. Slow down and take it a day at a time, even an hour at a time. The more you try to loose it the worse it will get. Give up the struggle, not give in, that's different and can lead to despair. Are you on any medication? It can help a lot in the short term, but only that prescribed by your dodctor. Go easy on yourself, what you have is so common in anxiety. Quote Edit

I think the ruminating is the worst part of all of this. There is always something to think about, and then I get anxious because I am not thinking about something.

Not even close to being alone, I have problems of being unbalanced that never goes away aside from maybe months at a time.

Woah, your problems sound exactly like mine and from probably the same issues as well lol.

From what I understand the pfizer vaccine is about 40% effective at preventing delta infection - but that it’s extraordinarily rare for someone to require hospitalization that is vaccinated, or even have long haul afterward. We may get it, but probs a sniffle. Get a booster when it’s required and you’ll be golden. My fears are less about covid as a health concern than the economy falling apart again - like mental health wise for everyone. That was so hard.

Thanks for sharing. I thought this was all over. 😔

I am getting tests done next week.

Welcome to the site!

Thanks guys its like we feel miserable and afraid of the other shoe to drop then on the other hand I feel guilty about my issues because by comparison other people have way more drastic issues and here I am complaining can't win for losing.

That's the course of my HA as well. A few good weeks maybe months if I'm lucky and them bam down the rabbit hole again with no light in sight. All I know is the sun will rise again...somehow we'll get back to zero...eventually....somehow. Meanwhile, it's a horrible place to be. You are not alone.

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes. I am trying to keep the weight I lost off, but it is difficult.

I would not be concerned. If you remember, I had basal cell carcinoma around 12 years ago. Basal cell carcinoma typically does not cause major problems. I had surgery done by a Moh's surgeon. He said it should never come back and it has not. Many people have pre-cancerous skin issues and they never turn to cancer. The key here is you got it taken care of and you are now in good shape. When I had my skin cancer, I was told to come back every 6 months and now it is yearly. Dermatologists see all kinds of issues and if there was any sort of major issue, he would have told you and have you come back sooner.

Hey, @MARC! Sorry you had that experience, but thanks for letting us know how you're doing. I hope you feel much better soon, my friend.

I'm so sorry for what you've been through. I'm glad all tests have turned out ok. It could very well be a virus or even perhaps food poisoning? My husband had a bad case of food poisoning once that knocked him down for quite a while. Please keep us posted on how you are doing.

Hi. bin. Absolutely right. Every individual is different. One person's high blood pressure may be normal for them, Google can only generalise and try to sell you something for your 'anxiety'. They make their money from adverts and are laughing all the way to the bank. They prey on venerable people. By comparing ourselves with others we make a big mistake. YOU are YOU, not someone else. Although that is obvious, it's a point so often missed. Joe Blogg's headache is not yours. Joe Blogg's doctor knows her and can decide what her problem is. He knows us too from our records and is the only reliable source of information. Over the years on this site I have seen so many get in a right tizz over something they have read on Google. LEAVE IT ALONE for your own peace of mind. It's so often misleading and would only make sense to anyone trained in medicine.

ALS twitching doesn't jump around. Als doesn't present like this and that's why your Drs aren't concerned. Hugs. You are okay. (Former als worrier here)

Thanks for the reply, I really appreciate it. I'm glad to say I'm doing a lot better now. The twitching and soreness isn't nearly as bad as it was, and taking a few days to go hiking around outdoors and get myself out of my own head helped a lot. There will definitely be bad days in the future, but I'm glad I have all of you here to talk to whenever things get bad.

Carbonation can upset some people's stomachs (soda in the morning worsens my nausea personally) and can cause bloating and gas. Artificial sweeteners kinda make them more fizzy which can make one more gassy. Two 2 liters is over 1 gallon which is a pretty large amount of liquid and would be likely to upset your stomach if drank quickly even if it were water and probably shouldn't be drank in a sitting (used to have a teacher in highschool who was an asshole and would get kids to drink an entire gallon of milk in a couple minutes... it's too much volume for most people's stomachs... so often the kids would promptly vomit). Artificial sweeteners aren't great but it shouldn't make you permanently or seriously ill. If you're concerned about the health implications of artificial sweeteners, even in the case of expired diet soda, I'm fairly certain they're reversible through abstinence... though I don't think this is what's going on here at all.

You have to watch that. You forgot about the caffeine. Really, the only thing that would be of concern is the sweetener. Chemicals. I drink weakly flavored sparkling water.

If it makes you feel better, know that you're not alone. My anxiety if flaring as well...my fear of choice is just different than yours at the moment. Sigh. Hang in there. We'll somehow get through to the other side. You got this.

Bruh. Your kidneys are fine. There could be a million different reasons for why your BUN levels are slightly off. Reasons so insignificant, they can vary from day to day. Kidney issues aren't subtle. When you have them, you know you have them. There's no second guessing it. And even if they are acting up (which they're not), remember that you have two. You can live with one. And if they're both being assholes, you get a transplant and you're golden. Hell, I'll hook you up with a kidney if you're really desperate. As long as you agree to pay off my student loans 🍻

Acceptance is key. To overcome anxiety, one important key is learning to accept that these things "just happen." We need to learn to accept that the body just does these things sometimes, and that not everything is severe. We also need to learn to accept what we cannot know, as life is full of uncertainties.

Lonesailor has made a very important point. We can explain the workings of anxiety (to the best of our knowledge) and we can provide the pointers etc but we are unable to provide that understanding, the AHA moment where it all snaps into place and you 'get' what we mean. There is no timeframe for this, it happens when it happens so don't get disheartened if it just doesn't make sense. Persist, read as much as you can and allow the information to sink in.

Acceptance is a strange animal! What prevents most people from continuing is that there are no instant results. Pop a pill and feel better. Yes, but that is no long term solution. Just a band aid on a wound. What you need, and we all need, is something that will be there no matter what so that when anxiety strikes we are prepared. Acceptance is like sailor's 'Off Switch'. It is always available and there when, in the future, you get a setback. You can't just say to yourself 'I am going to accept this' then wait and see what happens. It has to be engraved on your heart. But it takes time and a good deal of patience, and in anxiety patience is not easy. To me it is obvious that you are not accepting. To want everything to 'go away immediately' is a pipe dream. There are no 'quick fixes' in anxiety. 'Others are so happy'. Are they? They may seem so but then you would appear 'happy' to someone who doesn't know you. Never ever think you are a bother. You came for help and as far as we are all concerned you are just another fellow being in trouble. You won't suffer for ever if you accept and give it time. Stop trying to control 'IT', pushing 'IT' away, trying to distract yourself. Just accept that, for the moment, you will feel down. Accept everything it throws at you however hard it may seem. Anxiety is a cheat and a liar but we believe it, don't we? We believe its lies when it tells us we will never recover. I suspect from your posts that you have the necessary courage and determination so go for it. Jon.

Hello, I am currently conducting research on how women with GAD aged 35-59 talk about it? And I am looking for participants for an online zoom interview. If you would like to participate please contact me. thank you so much, Jamila