Movement Disorders Including essential tremor, dystonia and Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS).


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Old 01-16-2011, 11:11 PM #1
JKelton JKelton is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 7
10 yr Member
JKelton JKelton is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 7
10 yr Member
Confused What IS this?

This is starting to drive me crazy.

About three years ago, I started to get little myoclonic jerks in my hands and arms that I'd notice when I was sitting still reading or studying, and I didn't think anything of it because they were so mild.

I was also having fasciculations at the time which I thought was a positional thing because my posture is so horrible. I'd get them just about anywhere, including my inner ear.

I originally thought the jerks were due to some similar strain on my spinal cord. but eventually, the myoclonic jerks started to increase in frequency and magnitude at night, right before I entered N1 sleep. There was no falling sensation associated with them and I was usually entirely conscious. Occasionally I would have a large, bilateral one in my legs (which is most certainly a seizure) but most of them would be movements, usually in my hands, but sometimes my face. Sometimes my mouth would churn up into an "Elvis" snarl, or my jaw would slam shut, fly open, or I'd involuntarily swallow.

When they occur in my hands as I'm laying down, and I'm entering N1 sleep, they are precluded by a fragmented "dream" like though in the back of my had of performing some movement, like throwing a ball, and then a full second later, my the hand I threw it with would involuntarily move. The more tired I am when I go to sleep, the more of these movements I have.

Around the same time, I also developed a type of tremor in my arms and hands. This is a kinetic/tension type tremor. My fingers vibrate after I hit keys when typing, and my arm shakes when I'm extending it. This is worsened by activity.

This went on for some time, and then I started to become very absent minded and ansy. I found that I could not sit still and constantly had to shake one of my legs when sitting. It's not unusual for me to shake the right one now and then, but I found myself also shaking the left one. I also started to squirm in my seat. I didn't get any crawling or electric sensations, I just had a compulsive, overwhelming urge to move. This started to overwhelm me when I was standing as well, and I'd have to continually bounce on my feet, and I'd find myself moving my right foot at the ankle in a circular motion when lying down. This wasn't involuntary but I'd often not be aware I was doing it.

I also developed a "tic". I'd let out a belt of laughter for no apparent reason. I do have OCD but it's unusual to develop TS this late in life (I'm 30)

Thryoid problems run in my family and I was thinking maybe I had hyperthyroidism, so I went to the doctors and it came back as sub clinical hypothyroidism. My TSH level was very high.

I was put on synthroid and within about two months, the absentmindedness, vocal tic, and most of the compulsion to move was gone and I was able to stand and sit still.

However I still have the jerks, and tremors and I still find myself with a strong compulsion to rotate my right foot and still find myself doing this without having been aware of it when I wake up, or when I'm laying there in bed, or sitting. The compulsion to do this is so strong that I found myself doing it when I was in bed with a fever, and severe abdominal pain from some internal bleeding a while back (not related).

The fasciculations went away over a year ago but the tremor is still there and the jerks are just getting less jerky and turning into more complex involuntary movements.

I also have some mild swallowing problems which I've had for a while. Rice gets stuck in the back of my throat and I no longer have much of a gag reflex, and some coordination issues in my hands aside from the tremor.

It doesn't really seem to fit the description of myoclonus, RLS, or essential tremor. I had some small seizures years ago due to chronic lack of sleep but that resolved when my sleep hygiene improved. I now get between 6 and 10 hours of sleep a night.

Any thoughts?
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epilepsy, essential tremor, multiple sclerosis, myoclonic, restless leg syndrome

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