I monitor the TMIC for my daughter who has TM. I do not have TM myself. Your
description of the jolt sensations are similar to sensations I occasionally
get in my leg from an old motorcycle accident injury that damaged the muscles
and nerves. My explanation is purely speculative, but I thought I'd post it
for your consideration. As I understand it, Myelin is the protective sheath
around the nerves. Similar to an insulator around an electrical wire. When
TM attacks the Myelin it disrupts its insulating properties. This in turn
disrupts the electrical nerve signals allowing them "short out", jump around
to other nerves sending the wrong signals to the wrong places or cut off the
signals all together. I believe our feelings of pain, numbness, pressure,
tingling, electrical sensations and so on are the brain's interpretation of
these nerve signals. In the case of my leg, the feelings are fairly
localized, because that is where the damage is, and is in a remote part of the
"circuitry". The sensations being variously: sudden sharp pain, electrical
tingling, numbness, twitching or muscle spasms and unusual hot/cold
sensations. In the case of a TM damaged area of the spinal cord, there are
more "circuits", representing various parts of the body, for the nerve signals
jump between causing erroneous messages to be received by the brain. The same
logic (?) would apply to the "control signals" sent out by the brain to
control muscle functions like walking, bladder and bowel control. When these
"control signals" are disrupted by the TM damaged area, the controlled
functions are disrupted.
In line with my analogy, the jolt you felt may have been caused by pressure on
the TM affected area from bending over the hamper, causing the signals to
"short out" and producing the jolt.
Also, since the body functions in accordance with its chemical balances or
imbalances, the food additive suggestion may have some merit when mixed in
with all the other variables.
Again, this is pure speculation on my part, and obviously a very simplistic
view of a complicated situation. But it is just my way of seeing things.
Take it for what it's worth.
Warm Regards
Leo
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From: JHarper33(AT)aol.com
Sent: Saturday, March 15, 1997 6:17 AM
To: tmic-list(AT)eskimo.com
Subject: Re: jolts
In a message dated 97-03-14 16:58:36 EST, you write:
<< 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