Wha is it called?

[Sailorsong]

Well last Thursday while having lunch I started getting the old tremors in my right arm when I reach for things. It gets so bad that I have to brace my forearm on something just to be able to get food or drink into my mouth. So I guess I am have a what ever it is called again (attack, flare, relapse). So what is it called?

Anyway like all of the other times I also have a new symptom. It has been feeling like the muscles in the upper part of my adomine are being pulled tight (even though when I fell my stomach they don't feel tight. The last time I had a what ever it is called the new symptom was a feeling that my right foot is turn inward even though it is really striaght. That was about 2 years ago and it still feels like that, but at least only when I am walking. Otherwise it would be driving me crazy by now.

I think I actually had a warning about this one. I also suffer from PTSD, I consider it a mild form as it only seems to effect me in my dreams. These dreams keep me from getting any real rest while I'm sleeping. This is because when I have these dreams I spend the entire night trying to wake up from them. It is a real battle happening in my mind! For the last couple of weeks I have been having these dreams very night. As such I think I was getting very worn down allowing this new episode to happen. My shrink gave me an Rx for something to help me sleep last time I saw her, but I might as well be taking sugar pills for all they do. I guess I'll have to cal the VA to see if I can get some other Rx from her to help me sleep. It has gotten to the point that I am almost afraid to go to sleep because of the dreams!

Dennis

[Sailorsong]

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions.


Jules:

  I guess I didn't expain about the dreams correctly. It isn't that I don't know what is a dream or reality. The dreams are from when I was in Veitnam and I do know that is what they are. It is more like my mind wakes up partially when I have them and I spend the night trying to either change what I am dreaming or to wake up. Eventually I do wake up in the night but as soon as I go back to sleep (after checking the clock) the dreams start up again and I'm right back into trying to wake up again. Usually I am waking up about every 2 hours during the entire night. Since it usually takes about 90 minutes for someone to enter REM sleep it means it takes about 30 minutes for me to recognize the type of dream I'm having and to wake up. Before this time I would have these dreams for only 1 or 2 nights in a row and it would be months between episodes. So far in the almost 40 years I have been having these dreams I have never been able to figure out what triggers them.

Dennis

[Fluffysmom]

Lack of sleep can sure mess things up in the body, can't it?  The PTSD may only affect your dreams, but that lack of quality sleep can mess up your days.

I always hurt worse and am more likely to catch a virus if I'm not sleeping well, and then I can get a flare of symptoms, or exacerbation, whatever you want to call it.  I'm not diagnosed, but I've definitely had my symptoms flare up just like I had a diagnosis.  I get tremors, too, mostly in my right arm, head and neck, but sometimes involving my whole trunk.

My sleep is interupted by my 14 year old 17 pound cat with health problems.  He drives me crazy, but I love him, too. I've changed his medication, bought a difuser that is supposed to calm him down; nothing helps.

I'm sorry about your bad dreams.  Do call the VA and see if she can suggest something else that will work better; good sleep is so important to your health!  I'm sure your shrink has a lot of different options to offer you, until she finds the right one.  Hopefully it will be the very next one.

Wishing you wellness,

Kathy

[JulesL5S1]

You are not alone.  Many here have experienced similar symptoms.  You are not imaging them.  They are real.

I also may have had the "MS Hug".  For me it started after a major viral illness.  I noticed about a month later that my midsection felt very tight.  Almost like an ace bandage had been wrapped tightly around it.  It was worse when I was laying down.  (Perhaps because everything was quiet and I could really sense it.)  Sometimes it seemed to be hard to breathe.  I think it was more the sensation.  That my midsection was so tight it couldn't expand.  

Since it was about a month following a major illness my doctor did the xray to check for pneumonia, bronchitis, broken/bruised ribs, etc and everything was normal.  With my family history of heart disease I also saw a cardiologist and everything was normal.  Finally since it still wasn't going away I was referred to a pulmonalologist - he was a jerk and just said I was "emotional".  So I stopped trying to get answers.  Eventually it went away and I have not had that symptom again.  That was about 10 years ago.

I also have "bouts" of the shaking arm/hand.  Mine don't stay for long - or I just learn to stop using my arms that way

With respect to the dreams.  You may want to research "cataplexy" and see if you have any of the other symptoms.  My new neurologist just dx'ed me with cataplexy.  It is usually a subset of narcolepsy however it can be indepent and is then usually resulting from a lesion in the brain.  (Of course my brain MRI is clear - I have shy lesions!)  One aspect of cataplexy is vivid dreams.  (Please work with your doctors since it may be more likely it is PTSD).  My dreams are very vivid.  When I wake up it takes me a few minutes to distinguish whether the dream was real or whether what I just woke up to is real.  I can also recall my dreams.  The dreams are intense.  Just as PTSD dreams can be intense.  There are times when I can't separate emotionally from the dream and I end up taking a "sick day" because I am an emotional wreck.  I also have the sleep paralysis - when I am trying to fall asleep there are times when I am ready to drift off and I want to swallow but I can't.  I then fight to wake up because I am afraid I will choke.  In the morning there are times when I wake up - in my mind - but my body won't move.  It takes a few moments/minutes for me to be able to move.  That is sleep paralysis which is another symptom of cataplexy.

I hope you find some answers and some solutions.  cheers, Jules

[GrannyJo6]

Is exacerbation the word you are looking for? I've never experienced the MS "hug" but perhaps that is what you are experiencing with the tight feeling across stomach. Others will give you more info on that, I'm sure!

Hope you can find something to help you sleep without the bad dreams. I have night terrors with no PTSD so I cannot even imagine what you must be going through! Jo