Sudden, involuntary jerking in cold temperatures myoclonic seizures or shivering?

[FutureV1ctorian]

I am a 14-year-old female in perfect health except for asthma. I can never remember a time when I've "shivered" in cold weather. I've noticed within the past 3-ish years that when I am in the cold, I seem not to shiver for several seconds, then suddenly jerk and/or spasm (not sure which is medically correct). This doesn't generally happen more than twice per cold exposure (i.e., I might go out into the cold, spasm, wait a few minutes, spasm again. This doesn't usually happen more than twice). I also have self-diagnosed myoclonic seizures at night when falling asleep. Could that be linked to these "cold spasms?"

[supermum_ms]

Hi there,

Unfortunately the problem with self-diagnoses and  googling symptoms, is that you can misunderstand medical terminology and accidentally start to assume what you've been experiencing is exactly the same and inadvertently believe weird normal must be abnormal.

"Myoclonic seizures are characterized by brief, jerking spasms of a muscle or muscle group. They often occur with atonic seizures, which cause sudden muscle limpness."
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/epilepsy/myoclonic-seizures

You said..."I also have self-diagnosed myoclonic seizures at night when falling asleep. " but its a perfectly normal situation to experience startling jerks as you are falling asleep, which are not the same as seizures!

"Hypnic jerks or sleep starts are benign myoclonic jerks that everyone experiences sometimes in a lifetime. Although they resemble the jerks of myoclonic seizures, they occur on falling asleep and are just benign nonepileptic phenomena."

- NIHwww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov › pmc › articles › PMC4481805

Shivering is an involuntary reaction when exposed to cold temperature, shivering is basically from small rythmic muscle contractions with or without the occational larger jerkier contraction too. Small rythmic muscle contractions are more like tremors until you warm up, whilst the larger muscle contractions will look and feel more like a startle jerk and these larger muscle contractions will replace the smaller rythmic muscle contractions the colder it gets or the longer you are exposed to the cold ie hypothermia.

Hope that helps.......JJ