I’ve been having some troubling neurological symptoms over the last few years and its really starting to take a toll on my health. I wanted to reach out and see If anyone else is experiencing similar symptoms and maybe they have received a diagnosis for the problem. Things have gotten quite a lot worse for me recently and I’m quite honestly scared. I’m thinking that It could possibly be a rare form of epilepsy. Even though I haven’t had seizures, my symptoms seem to have triggers.
I’m a 34 year old male without any previously diagnosed medical conditions. Back in 2012, while I was working as a part time musician, I started having a tingling sensation (no pain) in my right temple, which seems to have been caused by spending too much time concentrating on learning or practicing something related to music. This was soon accompanied by a loss of concentration- I had difficulty expressing myself in words and concentrating on other things. I don’t know if this was noticeable to other people but I certainly noticed it and I felt that I was not able to use my brain to its full capacity. I was also more susceptible to earworms, I would have songs stuck in my head for days at a time. Things got so bad that I had to give up playing music altogether. After some months, my symptoms improved and the tingling disappeared.
Fast forward to 2019. Over the last few months, I’ve spent quite a bit of time reading books which challenged me intellectually, (mostly law and philosophy related). Three weeks ago, I noticed that the tingling sensation returned, but this time my symptoms have been far worse. I’ve been suffering from increased confusion, inability to hold thoughts in my head for long periods of time, and insomnia. I’ve been unable to fall asleep easily at night and I lie in bed while my brain takes over and makes its own random thoughts while I’m not able to stop it. I’ve also been having hypnogogic jerks. The earworms have returned too, and I have songs stuck in my head almost from the moment I wake up until the time I fall asleep. Yesterday, I had to spend time writing an article, which aggravated my symptoms further. As I lay in bed last night, I had a sensation that I could feel physically feel my brain, like it was suffering from some sort of inflammation- there was no pain but just a rather strange feeling inside my head.
Is anyone aware of any neurological disorders that can be triggered or brought on by over concentration or using my brain too much. It seems the more I engage my brain in complicated thoughts or tasks, the worse my symptoms get. I’m worried that this is some sort of progressive neurological disorder which will affect my quality of life going forward.

Hi DNOLA1

Welcome to NeuroTalk .

I am sorry to read about what you are experiencing.

The only thing that I can think of is does anybody else in your family have similar signs? If so, this might be worth discussing with your doctor.

Best wishes.