Involuntary foot stomping
 

Among other neurological problems that the VA can't diagnose I've started involuntarily stomping my feet while standing. This will only last a few seconds and I may only stomp them 5 or 6 times. This has been going on now since early Feb this year. The civilian neurologist I'm seeing now has suggested that I see a 'movement specialist'. I'm looking for some answers that might be causing this. I have had CT and MRI scans of my brain, cervical and thoracic spines and they show no problems nor does all the lab work I've had done. I'm at a loss as to what to do. I'm hoping that if I get to see a movement specialist that they can come up with something but in the meantime does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks

What do you mean "stomping"?

Maybe I should have used the word 'marching' as in LRLRLR

Does it happen when you think about walking?

I've only noticed it when I'm standing still and just suddenly have the urge to 'stomp'.

I remember a time when I had the urge to march. It was when I was on Paxil. I was up and down the hall 100+ times a day. It was awful. Needless to say I didn't take Paxil very long. I was like the Energizer Bunny. :o

I'm not quite that bad and the only medications I take are 800mg Ibuprofen for the headache I've had for over a year.

HHMMM? :confused: Your headache might have something to do with it. Or the Ibuprofen? A side affect perhaps of long term use? :confused:

The headache, according to my current non-VA neurologist is more likely a 'rebound' headache from Ibuprofen overuse. I'm waiting to get some meds from the VA that I can take to get me off the Ibuprofen. According to her no, the marching/stomping is not caused by the Ibuprofen.

Look it up on the internet.

The class of SSRIs and SNRIs can cause this. Some opiates also, affect serotonin.

If you take NO other drugs, and still show this side effect which is called Akathisia.... check and see if you have had a chest Xray recently. Some hidden tumors (cancer) secrete large amounts of biogenic amines, which serotonin is one of.

Some lung cancers and others called carcinoids, secrete serotonin
which causes akathisia, (uncontrolled movements of the muscles) like your stomping, or pacing or an inability to stay still. These tumors don't show up right away, and may only show with the presence of serotonin in the body.

So a chest Xray and/or blood work for serotonin may show something.

I had a thought. Maybe this foot stomping urge has something to do with the same process that causes jerking leg syndrome when your in bed at night. Try some of the treatments for that and see what happens. :wink:

I know that if I get that jerking feeling in my legs if I take some magnesium and potassium for a few days it goes away. Also since I started taking MSM for my bad knee I haven't had it.

Just a thought. :rolleyes:

I'm going to post a link to a video my wife made this past Nov to better explain what I mean by 'foot stomping' - VID 20171130 212432 - YouTube