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Neurological Concern (Inner Tremor, Sleep Shakes) Mystery Illness
by bartleyk, Jun 22, 2007 12:00AM
I am a 29 year old, white male in Michigan, USA.
As many visitors here might experience, I have had an array of unusual neurological symptoms over the past 8 months. I have seen several doctors and specialists (including second opinions) to include neurologists, infectious disease docs, etc. I have had pretty much every test under the sun (HIV, MRIs, EMGs, EEGs, Sleep Studies, Western Blot, and the list goes on and on) and everything has come back normal except for 1 and I will go into that further down.
Ok, so let's get on to my symptoms. At times I have this feeling of an inner tremor of sorts. It is real hard to explain to someone who hasn't felt it but I would correlate it to having an extreme feeling of a caffeine buzz. I actually feel my entire upper body tremor internally for a period of time and then as mysterious as it appears it just goes away. There is really no set schedule on when it comes and goes other than at night which I will get to next paragraph. It thus far comes and goes randomly but appears to be coming on more frequently as of recent. The odd thing is that if my wife touches my arms or stomach or chest, etc., she cannot feel a tremor type sensation, I only feel it internally.
Having said that, at very minimal times will I actually notice a difficulty holding my hands stable if I try to hold them in a certain, unrelaxed position. For example - if I try to hold the phone to my head at just the right angle, sometimes my hands will tremble trying to hold it, but at other times, no problem at all. I only have the problem when I have the internal tremor but most of the time I have the inner tremor I still don’t have that problem. I have no visible tremor at rest at any time really and the internal tremor is never local it is always the entire upper body and in the back of my head too.
My next symptom is that I occasionally have dizzy spells. No real pattern to them sometimes that last a few hours sometimes a few minutes but they don't occur that frequently.
My last and most troublesome is that when I try to go to sleep and or first wake up (I guess you could call it a half sleep state) when I try to move my body I can move it but it is difficult because the part I'm trying to move will shake. The best way I can describe is that it feels like my brain wants them to move but my body is still half asleep and therefore has a hard time moving. Now, I do not have this problem at all once I am awake. And also when I lay down to sleep (guaranteed at night) I get a little inner tremor and a feeling of my heart beating in my head and hands, like I can feel my pulse racing through my body but my heart rate isn’t really high.
Now in conclusion, the docs have ruled out most all conditions and I am only left with a few known possibilities (key word - known). I have been told it could be Parkinson's but the docs don’t think so because they tell me my symptoms are not a typical onset of a PD patient and given my age it would be rare. They tell me it could be MS, but they don’t think so because I have clean MRIs and other tests although it can occur with clean tests. I have been told maybe lyme but my Western Blot was inconclusive. And recently I have been told that heavy metal poisoning could account for these symptoms which brings me to my abnormal test result.
I had a complete blood and hair test workup for heavy metals among other things. The my blood levels were all normal except for a CD54 lymphocyte appeared to be suppressed or something like that and my hair (pubic hair) tested high for arsenic. The level in my hair was over 6 times the normal amount but my blood test comes back lower for arsenic.
As you can see I am in a complete state of confusion. Can anyone shed some light or even ideas for me to check into on this situation?
Thanks for your time!
As many visitors here might experience, I have had an array of unusual neurological symptoms over the past 8 months. I have seen several doctors and specialists (including second opinions) to include neurologists, infectious disease docs, etc. I have had pretty much every test under the sun (HIV, MRIs, EMGs, EEGs, Sleep Studies, Western Blot, and the list goes on and on) and everything has come back normal except for 1 and I will go into that further down.
Ok, so let's get on to my symptoms. At times I have this feeling of an inner tremor of sorts. It is real hard to explain to someone who hasn't felt it but I would correlate it to having an extreme feeling of a caffeine buzz. I actually feel my entire upper body tremor internally for a period of time and then as mysterious as it appears it just goes away. There is really no set schedule on when it comes and goes other than at night which I will get to next paragraph. It thus far comes and goes randomly but appears to be coming on more frequently as of recent. The odd thing is that if my wife touches my arms or stomach or chest, etc., she cannot feel a tremor type sensation, I only feel it internally.
Having said that, at very minimal times will I actually notice a difficulty holding my hands stable if I try to hold them in a certain, unrelaxed position. For example - if I try to hold the phone to my head at just the right angle, sometimes my hands will tremble trying to hold it, but at other times, no problem at all. I only have the problem when I have the internal tremor but most of the time I have the inner tremor I still don’t have that problem. I have no visible tremor at rest at any time really and the internal tremor is never local it is always the entire upper body and in the back of my head too.
My next symptom is that I occasionally have dizzy spells. No real pattern to them sometimes that last a few hours sometimes a few minutes but they don't occur that frequently.
My last and most troublesome is that when I try to go to sleep and or first wake up (I guess you could call it a half sleep state) when I try to move my body I can move it but it is difficult because the part I'm trying to move will shake. The best way I can describe is that it feels like my brain wants them to move but my body is still half asleep and therefore has a hard time moving. Now, I do not have this problem at all once I am awake. And also when I lay down to sleep (guaranteed at night) I get a little inner tremor and a feeling of my heart beating in my head and hands, like I can feel my pulse racing through my body but my heart rate isn’t really high.
Now in conclusion, the docs have ruled out most all conditions and I am only left with a few known possibilities (key word - known). I have been told it could be Parkinson's but the docs don’t think so because they tell me my symptoms are not a typical onset of a PD patient and given my age it would be rare. They tell me it could be MS, but they don’t think so because I have clean MRIs and other tests although it can occur with clean tests. I have been told maybe lyme but my Western Blot was inconclusive. And recently I have been told that heavy metal poisoning could account for these symptoms which brings me to my abnormal test result.
I had a complete blood and hair test workup for heavy metals among other things. The my blood levels were all normal except for a CD54 lymphocyte appeared to be suppressed or something like that and my hair (pubic hair) tested high for arsenic. The level in my hair was over 6 times the normal amount but my blood test comes back lower for arsenic.
As you can see I am in a complete state of confusion. Can anyone shed some light or even ideas for me to check into on this situation?
Thanks for your time!
For the last 6 months my life has been plauged by health problems this is just the last in a line of events ear infections sinus infections loads of antibiotics .
I have a problem that sounds almost exatly like yours .
firstly ive had feelings of virtigo for the last 6 months that come and go as they please
this latest problem started about 3 months ago i first noticed this strange sensation when i wake up like a switch going on and off ---------..........---------..........-------- about 2 seconds at a time a tremble in my chest and face it feels very strong to me but my partner canot detect it .
more recently its been happening in the daytime at random times it doesnt seem to be triggerd by anything . a random trembling in my chest and legs and sometimes arms it can last minits or hours its a strong sensation to me but cant be felt by others .
Its hard to discribe like the vibration/ blood rushing feeling you get after pins n needles .
The past 2 weeks its gotten worse to the point ware when i lay down to sleep after 20 minits this sensation is so strong i cant sleep so i haveto get up untill it subsides . or take sleeping tablets
its definately made worse for me by laying down to sleep .
The only anomaly the doctors have found is i have a slight atrial flutter my heartrate is 100bps
although i am a large lad and my mothers resting bpm is 113
It does feel like my heart is working overtime sometimes like sometimes i only have to walk down some steps and it seems to be hammering away when infact its nice n steady n probably a reasonable rate .
So im starting to wonder if its a circulatory isue as aparently these can be made worse by laying down
Also my doctor said that with a faster than normal heartrate when your body starts to shut down for the night n slow things down if your heart doesnt slow down like it should it can cause some very odd sensations ..
I realy hope you discover what it is . if you do id be most intrested in hearing about it . i wish i had some advice for you as its realy messing me up at the moment and im shure yoru suffering to
Best regards Martin
please be so kind to post THE GOOD NEWS for us who suffer this mysterious diseases.
i too have same problems like those bartleyk and martin. i suffer from inner tremor if i put any part of my body against something solid eg: putting my arms on desk when i type use computer, or around my bottom area to lower back when ever i sit down. it feels like im sitting down on top of CPU of Refrigerator. PLUS RANDOM TWITCHES. pls be kind to spare some information.
I came across this post in search for answers. I have the inner body tremors and cold chills that are in my head, hands, back, arms, and torso. They come and go with no warning. They can last from seconds to hours. I can be sitting or standing and they will start. At first I thought it was from my coffee in the morning, so I stopped drinking coffee. They stayed. So, I thought it was from my Topamax. My Dr took me off of my Topamax for a while, and it wasn't my Topamax. And the burning sensation is unbelievable. And the crawling sensation that goes through my head like there are bugs running through my scalp. People keep telling me to get tested for MS, but if MRI's can come back normal even if you do have MS why bother? Then someone told me that some migraines can mimic TIA or mini strokes. The way my migraines travel or have to take a course before I get rid of them sounds like mini strokes. It's just a thought. I thought I would share with you what was told to me by Just Answers from a Dr at the Mayo Clinic. I was told to contact Johns Hopkins since I live so close to them. The best way to get answers is to go to a Medical school where they have resources to the most updated information and they have access to certain research studies and a "team" of Dr's instead of just ONE DR to work on the problem.