<< Barbara,
When you say "jolts" to the back of the head, do you mean a nasty stabbing
sensation, about where the neck meets the head every couple of minutes?
Gary >>
Gary,
No, it isn't painful at all -- that's was one thing so weird about it
(although I'm always glad not to have pain :-). One day I was leaning over a
hamper getting out the laundry when I felt this odd sensation across the back
of my head -- a sudden jerk or jolt or pull or electric sensation. It was so
fast I don't even know quite how to describe it. With all the other things
going on in my body as a result of TM, it scared me. My heart started racing,
but I think that was a reaction rather than a part of it. I thought maybe it
had something to do with the positon I was in, but the next day it happened
again while I was walking across the kitchen to put lunch dishes away. The
exact same sudden sensation. I think it even made me stumble a bit. For a
while I was having feelings of pressure and odd rippling sensations across
the back of my head also. I posted a question about this here and on the
Neurology Web Forum and a number of other people mentioned experiencing
similar things -- one said it was common to spinal cord problems. One said it
was a reaction to certain foods or additives. A friend who is a nurse said it
sounded like a muscle spasm.
I brought this and other new strange things that were going on up to my
neurologist. He said he thought TM had "altered" my nervous system to where
it was much more sensitive -- not that I was a "nervous" person, but that the
nerves themselves were reacting more. He put me on Carbamazepine (generic
version of Tegretol) and that seems to be helping. I've been on it for a few
weeks now. It doesn't take away all the symptoms -- still have numbness, pain
in hand, arm, and back, balance problems, weak knee, and such, but some of
the new weird things like this and fleeting numbness on my face seem to have
stopped. At least until last Wed. -- out of the blue I felt a buzzing
sensation on the top of my head then feelings of pressure (like someone
pushing down on my head) and rippling sensations for a few hours, then
everything felt normal again, except for pressure off and on. So, I don't
know...
Barbara