September 21, 2009

Oooh ooh, twitchy woman


Twitch
v. twitched, twitch·ing, twitch·es
To draw, pull, or move suddenly and sharply; jerk: I twitched my fishing line.
v.intr.
1. To move jerkily or spasmodically. See Synonyms at jerk1.
Today, I am doing twitching. I've only ever had this happen once before and it's quite a trip, let me tell you. For an hour or more, my body acts independently - of me, of the rest of my body, of rationality. I start tremors in my hands, and gradually my arms, legs, abdomen and back all get into it. My head moves on my neck. It's not like a seizure, as in a seizure, body parts tend to work together. In this case, everything dances alone, to its own beat.
It feels odd, let me tell you. At first I think it is because I've had too much coffee or am hungry or whatever. The usual tremors one sometimes gets from caffeine. But eating, drinking, etc, don't make it go away. And the abdominal twitches are beyond weird. At these times I wish for a tattoo so I can watch it dance to pass the time...
After an hour or so - in this case, an hour and a half, the twitches start to die away but isolated ones still happen - and now the fatigue, headache, and muscle pain set in.
Well, I know what you are going to say - did you call anyone? Get help?
I did. I called my excellent Copaxone nurse, Bonnie, but she hadn't heard of it related to the injection (which I had given a half hour prior to the show). I called the MS clinic, but the nurse was off for today and might be able to call me back the next day. The office staff suggested I vibrate over to a walk-in clinic for assessment but really, what would they do save admit me to hospital or something foolish and then exactly nothing would happen. So I waited and the sensations are lessening. And then I looked it up on patientslikeme, an excellent web resource. Turns out several people also have this little problem. Turns out there's nothing that can be done about it. (what a HUGE surprise). Turns out it is brought on by fatigue or illness, they think. Oh phooey.
Recommendations: more rest. Like I could do anything now except rest - my muscles are totally worn out. Off to my book and a cup of (non-caffeinated) tea.
And hope that it won't happen again. Feel quite oomy.

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