The last several weeks have been the most difficult part of my life.
This last fall I was reading up on ADHD (diagnosed in 2000) and came across A.S. for the first time, regarding the fact that many many diagnosis's of ADHD are either comorbid with or misdiagnosed A.S. As I learned what A.S. is, I am without a doubt that I was one that misdiagnosed. Same story as many here...
However-- problems, many which I believe my personal issues caused, have pushed me to a breakdown and some troubling, umm... Twitching?
It started a few weeks ago, an occasional jerk or twitch in my right arm or in my neck. I contributed it as stress tics as there were difficulties in my families living situation. The tics became full on jerks and jumps, both of my legs and even my lower back, almost a twisting motion. The stress and tensions eventually exploded, my fiancee and our kids loaded the truck up and went to a motel. After several days going through the protocol of the assistance bureaucracy, I had what I guess would be call a meltdown. I flipped out at the gas station when another truck flew in front of me at the pump (there WAS a line), yelled and screamed, and floored the gas, almost flew into the intersection towards oncoming traffic. The kids screaming at the squealing tires pulled me out enough to slam onto the breaks before I hit the road, but the fact is I don't think I should have even been driving as the jerking and spazzing was quite severe by that day-- most 20 to 45 seconds apart. I managed to park the truck at a laundrymat, the next thing I remember is a big pole inside the laundrymat, and the paramedics standing over me and helping me up to get into their truck from behind the laundrymat. I was told it was an accute anxiety attack and was given 3 days of xanax. By the day this all occurred, my nerves were so shot I was having these spasms constantly, and my mind was so scattered my speech was even impaired to being unable to speak complete thoughts or sentences, my brain locked up. The meds didn't help the nervous problem or the twitching, and after a wild goose chase of wrong doctors (sorry, can't help you here, you need to go to blah blah blah......) I landed at the mental health urgent care and was actually seen. After several hours of repetitive "do you hear voices, do you know today's date?" questions and flashlights in the face, the doctor tells me I have photosensitivity and needed to see a neurologist. He prescribed Saphris and Cymbalta to help with the anxiety and my sleeping problem (I rarely sleep through the night) and said that my twitch seems to be myoclonic seizures. They COULD be seizures-- From birth until I was about 5 or 6 I had grand mal seizures on a regular basis. Epilepsy was ruled out but the seizures were not explained. My stress level has really dropped, but the jerking has hardly, if at all subsided. I have begun to notice most of these twitches as it seems my total attention is drawn to the part that's about to twitch about a quarter of a second before it happens, sometimes the top of my head feels like it's popping, sometimes it's the very back (that's usually when my back and stomach twist or do something like a hiccup), and sometimes it's on one side. but there's always a tingling sensation for a few seconds after a stronger one. I haven't noticed the twitching or jerking to occur so much when I'm moving around, but when I'm sitting still or trying to relax, they can be as frequent as 6 or more a minute. Driving makes them worse, especially in traffic. My memory is seriously affected, I can't remember what I'm doing half the time any more.
I've noticed several things about these twitches-- they are either both of my legs, my shoulders, arms and head, my whole left side, or my stomach/ back alone or in combination with any of the previous. The (stomach/ back) and (shoulders arms and head) seem to be the most frequent ones.
I am 32, and have been seizure free (I think.... I have always had a habit of spacing out a lot, don't know if it's seizures) for 28 years, is it possible that with the excessive stress recently they have come back as myoclonic seizures? My stress level has dropped significantly over the last several days and I am making good progress with not getting my self excited over anything, but the twitching is still there. does anything other than seizures explain this twitching?
12 May 2011, 11:42 pm
