Neck/Jaw and Eye pressure

[bradros]

Hello, quick question about some symptoms i have been expeirencing for a couple of years. I seem to have a pressure sensation in my neck that runs up the back of my head, whilst my jaw when moved up and down creates a pressure in my forhead, so as the jaw moves down the pressure in my forhead grows - like an urge.

I have pressure/strain behind my eyes, combined with visual disturbances - film grain/snowy - eye flickering (rare), all of which i can only describe as a urge of pressure almost like things are moving incorrectly or positioned incorrectly.

The neck problems also come with muscle spazams, so if i move my arms up and down, my head visably and franticly vibrates, and this can be felt all throughout my body down to my legs, now with these symptoms the first thing that comes to mind for me, is something out of position in my neck area, thats causing these spazams and pressures, but i have also begun to endure twiches all over my body in random positions, short term memory loss - and mood swings, although this might jsut be general depression.

CT, MRI, EEG all clean, and it seems these 3 tests are all the doctors can provide me, also inner ear dizzyness problems have been ruled out.

ANY suggestions?

Thankyou

[bradros]

dont take any supplements or sports drinks, i dont actually do much weight lifting to be honest that was the best example i could provide, and yeah i appreciate any advice, but i live in the UK, and when your on the NHS you can't really pick and choose a neurologist, unless you try paying a private specialist, i even asked my doctor if they knew a certain hospital or doctor that might specialsie further in nerurology etc, basically the reason why im posting here is just to find some alternate opinions because every specialist or doctor ive seen in UK has been pretty poor.

Thanks

[ggreg]

Well, we didn't mean to describe your "pressure" and "spasms" as painful, but most of the time this sort of thing does hurt.  From my own personal experience I have had muscle spasms that were both painful and not painful.  Nevertheless, whether it's painful or not, my advice remains the same, which is:  Both the good doctor and I think you should visit a top neurologist, and we gave you various ideas as to what could be bothering you.  I might add that since you bring up the example of doing reps and lifting weights, quit drinking the sports drinks and various supplements recommended for people who work out in the gym, and see if that helps you feel a little better.

[bradros]

sorry if i misinformed you but i am not suffering from severe pain, but instead more like casual/constant mild pain, i wouldnt even use the word pain to be honest, the best way to describe what i feel is, you know when you have been doing crunches or press ups or any muscular based exercise, when you get to that final crunch of your set, your body begisn to shake and rapidly stuggle to complete the manouver, i get that feeling throughout my body on a permanant basis, my first weight lift would be shaking/vibrating like some who had just done 12 reps. Thing is i can still lift the weight its just like my bones/muscles something isnt happy about it.

and also ive began to start twitching on a regular basis, started off with minor twitches under the skin, now its big arm or leg jerks, but only when im sitting, never when im moving.

Thanks anyway.

[Dr. A. Srivastava]

Thank you very much for your question; although it is quite difficult for me to give you a precise opinion here without being able to examine you & seeing your investigation reports, but I would try to provide you some relevant information about your health concern.

Main possibility of your pain in back portion of head could be a nerve end inflammation that may have been originated after an injury or infection. Another possibility could be the neck problems and pain may appear due to irritation in the cervical (neck) spine because the nerves that supply the back of the head start in the upper cervical spine. Mostly, this kind of head pain aggravates after turning head and typically occurs in patients with previous neck injuries and in patients with marked arthritis of the upper cervical spine. In addition, this pain exacerbate with prolonged sitting in a stooped posture and when working on computers for long hours.  Since you are presently suffering from severe pain, please arrange an appointment with a neurologist right away for further assessment & treatment. Hope this helps.

[ggreg]

This sounds to me like muscle spasms, I've felt those when I took a bad medication that gave me Parkinsonian type symptoms, I felt it in my neck and jaw first, and soon my body felt clenched up, to me it was quite scary.  The antedote was a heck of a shot of Valium, it reversed the effect, but to this day I have nightmares over it.  Sooooo, if you are on any medication, side effects have got to be reviewed by the prescribing doc.  But assuming you are not on medication, and I don't care what the scans and tests showed, you are having uncontrolled muscle spasms, and could be from a variety of disorders, to include epilepsy, seizures, neuromuscular disorders, the list is long.  You at least should be on an anti-seizure type medicine to stop this.  The docs also need to look at the possibility that you have one of the Parkinson type problems, in which case other medicines are employed.  And then the epilepsy medicines are a different kind of drug, too.

There are other tests a neurologist can do for you, put together with your very well-expressed history of symptoms, and his familiarity with all sorts of neuromuscular problems, so seek out a top neurologist, you can find them at university hospitals in your state or a nearby state, or a large hospital of repute, and request a complete new workup of your symptoms.  I could not bear it if I were in your situation, I know exactly how you are feeling, and since there are medications that help tremendously with these types of disorders, there is no excuse for a doc not to at least give you SOMEthing to ease up the spasms you're having whilst you wait to see a doc who specializes in movement disorders.

By the way, memory loss and mood swings, that's because you're sick.  When a person is going through something traumatic like what you got, it drains the adrenals, the spasms hurt, and you don't know where you're going in life with all this other going on.  When you get a proper diagnosis and good treatment, you can pick up where you left off, and life will be good for you again.  You and a relative and friend should pool your resources and try to find the right doc, and if your general doc is open to referring you to the big guns, you can ask him to help you, too.  And again, if you're on any medicine, immediately and forthwith get the prescribing doc to review those and get you on something else that won't cause your side effects, if that's what it is.