I am getting this looked at in a few weeks, but given the number of opinions I have already gained I thought a few more ideas may not hurt to walk into my Dr.'s office with...
Since I experianced a family member's death at age 8, I have had twitches brought on primarily by stress. Through middle school they were simply head twitches (side to side) that came and went with time. Through high school they were less noticable, but remained and developed into minor facial twitches on rare occasions. Within the last 6 years or so, the twitches have become more severe and much more noticable. They have developed into more diverse twitches. The major ones still currently affecting me are facial twitching (mostly corners of my mouth -- no particular order, side, or sequence, just random) and quick, sudden head jerks (up and down). These are the two that begin causing muscle tightness and are clearly the most evident. During these 6 years, I have also been known to experiance jaw opening and clenching, eye and cheek movements, and some other random muscle twtiches for extended periods of time, as well.
Generally the bouts of twitching come abruptly and remain for days or weeks at a time, and seem to be caused by stress and become intensified by stimulants (ie, caffine). In the past months though, they seem to be coming on more violently and far more frequently. For weeks the twitches and head jerks have been causing me pain in my neck and jaw, and there seems to be no end. Sometimes I have sudden blinding flashes of constant, unending twitching for several minutes. Aside from the pain, anyone spending enough time around me begins to question if I am on speed because the reflexes are so similar.
No history of anything that would cause this in my family. Was given Halidol once by my shrink when I was on mood stablizers, but he never actually diagnosed the twitching (more like shoved pills down my throat, which worked for a while -- my insurance eventually changed and now I have had no meds for anything in over a year).
So, any thoughts?
Thanks for your time.