For a few weeks, I've been having uncontrollable head & body shaking & jerking @ night, when I try to go to sleep. Last night & this morning, it was the WORST, & I was wondering if I was having acute seizures. The second that my body relaxes , & I drift off to sleep, my body jerks, but my head jerks the hardest. The 1st few weeks, I thought it was a new tic from my Tourette's. But I guess not.
I went to the ER this morning, & the doctor asked me about my psych medications. I HATE when they turn my physical problems into psychological problems & want to believe I'm a hypochondriac! I'm NOT. He even came in the room & caught me off guard, jerking as I was drifting off to sleep, & he said, "Is this the kind of jerking you experience when you sleep?" I said "yes". & he asked me what meds I take. I told him I take Luvox, Clonidine, & Wellbutrin.
& he said that he was going to prescribe an antihistamine because (in his opinion) the psychiatrist put me on the wrong meds. He prescribed me 50 mg of HYDROXYZINE. He put the diagnosis as "Muscle spasms", & he gave me a paper on muscle CRAMPS. He insisted that my psychiatrist put me on the wrong meds, in which she didn't. I was like, "No, because I've been on these meds for months & months, & this head jerking didn't start until a few weeks ago." He was like, "Yeah, whatever!"
I was only there for an hour & a half. I was like, "Wow! This was the QUICKEST ER visit I've ever had in my LIFE!" My friend & 1 of her coworkers were with me, & my friend was VERY pissed because she KNEW he didn't handle my situation correctly! She said he was 1 of those lazy ER doctors who only care about making $$ & not helping patients.
But anyway, she said that if I was complaining of uncontrollable jerking, the Dr. shouldn't have ordered simply a blood test to check my salts & potassium levels. He said they were fine, after the test. So since nothing from the blood test showed up wrong, he felt it was all in my head, & I was being a hypochondriac, based on my psychiatric diagnoses, such as OCD, Tourette's (neurological), anxiety, & depression. My friend said he was supposed to do a CT scan, an MRI, or something. & he just gave me a "diagnosis" based on the complaint I had. I was thinking, "Wow! I never knew we have muscles in our head."
That visit really was a waste. I started not to go, but my friend URGED me to go because you never know what could happen.
So when I got back home, she told me to google "uncontrollable head jerking during sleep". & I found out about this condition, called myoclonus. & that described EXACTLY what I was going through! The second that my body relaxes, I fell that head & body jerk that feels like an electrical brain impulse or something. That's what made my friend think I might've been having acute seizures.
& when I told the Dr. & 1 of the nurses @ the hospital, they said, "No. They weren't seizures because you would've bit your tongue, & it would've bled."
My friend's sister has seizures, & she said that her sister doesn't bite her tongue with EVERY seizure. My arm & leg joints would feel weak, as soon as I drift off to sleep, & then I feel that electrical jerk in my head. & my arms & legs flail & flap all over the place.
I also read that with myoclonus, your body is tricked into believing it's dying, so you have that electrical brain impulse to alert you that your body is not dying. & I also read that I can be having myoclonic seizures &/or acute seizures. & that's what my friend told me BEFORE I even went to the ER. So my friend was right.
Tags: