Cool discussion!
TwitchyMark wrote:In my case, I've rarely been sick in my life
Me Three.
I attribute it to me having an "overactive" immune system. I was the guy that everyone around me could get sick and I would not, or if I did it would last a day or two to their seven. The year or two before all this went down I started getting sicker a lot more frequently and easily which crescendoed into a case of the shingles after which the twitching started on the left side of my neck and my left shoulder blade (still a favorite spot to this day.) All this I can attribute to career advancement stress.
I do seem to be an allergic person - so says the two immunologist/allergist I saw. I reacted to to most seasonal allergies and a lot of food on a skin pick test, and reacted to a ton of foods on an IGE allergy blood test. But, I don't really manifest anything when I eat those foods. Modern Medicine...who knows?
I have read that a lot of people with fibromyalgia, CFS/ME, and a lot of autoimmune stuff have a lot of allergies. That being said, so does the rest of the population. They say that allergies and autoimmunities are on the rise in places like the US and in any other developed countries. I had read, and my immunologist mentioned and confirmed, that because we in the developed world have greatly removed a lot of the bacteria, viruses, and parasites from our environment, that we develop more allergies and autoimmunities. Our immune systems are like the US army. With all the fire power it has, it can't just sit around and do nothing. If it doesn't have bacteria and parasites to blow up, then I has to turn to everyday stuff, like pollen or soy, or your deodorant, or your own body. Throw in the chemical mess we liven in everyday and BAM! you get some pretty good "knee jerk" (kind of like the one I had yesterday) overreactions that lead to some strange, un-natural immune responses.
and never had any physical manifestations of anxiety before
Me ether.
It was only after I got "overly worried" about all the strange crap my body was throwing at me. Anyone would. You can't wake up with your feet numb/burning/tingling, twitching on the top of your head while your left arm is sore and buzzing and not be a little worried.
certainly never any panic attacks nor widespread twitching
Me ether.
I know I have had eye twitching before in my life but never whole body twitching to where I noticed it like I did and do.
The tinnitus topic. I love this one. Its very close to my heart. I started getting some low level hissing or, only what I can describer as, the sound of electricity flowing through high tension wires - Yes, I'm king of the nuts- a while back. I attribute this to trying to rock out every Nirvana song with my band back when I was 18; and some of the home recording I did. Oh, well, I'm 35, and I think most of my generation and youger have or are going to have sever hearing problems in the future. Time to buy stock in hearing aid companies. I just don't think the human ear was evolved to live in the noise environment we do every day.
After I became a "Transport Specialist" I found out that a lot of people I asked had that same if not worse ringing/buzzing/clicking then I had. I saw a hot shot Otology/Neurotology Dr from Cornell one time, and after he tested me he said I had the ears of an accountant. He could not believe I worked in a high noise environment. I do ware earplugs+ religiously, but I think your average person, at least by my age, has some hearing damage now a days.
I get the cut out cut in ringing, where you your hearing cuts out and then rings and then fades back to normal. I asked the Dr about this and he said everyone gets that. And, after asking a bunch of people, sure as sh*t, everyone does get that. I also sometimes get the clicking in one or both ears that TwitchyMark mentioned. I have long since blown that one off. It is not constant and if you ask around, again, a lot of people have that.
The guy that cuts my hair was recently diagnosed with non vertigo Meniere's disease. Now don't go jumping on the Google and convince yourself you have this because you have some ringing or clicking, the human ear just sucks. But, he gets all sorts of ringing and other sounds. He says at any one point, he has multiple tones of ringing going at once. He could not play his guitar for the longest time because the sound was painful. Meniere's is an autoimmunity. I felt really bad for him. The human ear is just so fragile. So if you just have some clicking or ringing, be happy. Your normal. It could be worse. Wear earplugs when it gets remotely noise anywhere, and don't blast your Bleach album till blood comes out your ear holes.
I may be full of crap but I just thought I would chime in.
MD