School Days Flash Back

    These past few months, I've been taking classes at the local college studying Phlebotomy aka "hospital vampires". LOL Some evenings, especially if I've had a busy day, by the time I get to class at 6pm that night I'm worn out and stressed. This, of course, starts a barrage of tics consisting mostly of grunting, upper body shakes, head snapping, leg jerking, and hand spasms. On this particular evening it was especially bad and I ended up having to take some medication to get me through the class. As we all know, meds take a few minutes to actually kick in, so in the mean time I was left with the anxious task of keeping enough control to where I could focus on my class and yet let my tics out as needed.
    This brings me back to my home-schooling days after my tics came on full force and sitting for any period of time without some extreme mental focus was torture. Fortunately, my mother was a patient, understanding teacher who helped me work through my school days and helped me come up with numerous coping mechanisms such as frequent breaks to stand up, stretch, and get a drink which helped to break up the monotony of staring at textbooks and word problems that my very distracted brain often had trouble concentrating on. Twitching and squeaking or screeching every few seconds or minutes isn't exactly helpful to the learning process.
    Often, during the peak of my tic cycle, my tics would become so frequent and jarring that I was forced to come up with alternative methods to get myself through my lessons. These were the days before I even know about about pressure therapy and weighted blankets.What I would end up doing was scrunching myself down in my chair and pushing my body up against the table as snugly as possible. This served to provide some relief and comfort to the storm going on inside my body.
    Anyway, during this particularly difficult evening of class I was desperately trying to think of something to get me through it, because I was determined to make it through the entire session. Suddenly, it came to me. All those years of sitting at home doing lessons had prepared me for just this sort of occasion. So I scrunched myself down in my chair and scooted it up against the table as close as I could without hampering my ability to take notes and within a minute I began to experience some relief.
    In conclusion, when we become adults, we put away a lot of the things we used to do as children. However it's important to remember that some of those things had a valuable purpose and that doesn't necessarily go away just because we "grow-up".
 

Weird or Just Normal?

    I've heard many people with different neurological disorder mention weird and freaky symptoms that can be somewhat unsettling no matter how many times it happens. Sometimes these occurrences cause the person the feel anxious, scared, worried, etc. They can also make one feel a change in perception or that they're "losing it". Unfortunately, doctors don't always have the answers or at least one that you would like. Often people suffer in silence thinking there is nothing they can do.
    Ever since I was little one of the weirdest and most unsettling symptoms I've experienced has been what I've dubbed "the fast feeling". To this day, I'm not entirely certain what it is, although from brief research I have come to believe it takes place in my frontal lobe, possibly what they term a micro-seizure. Disclaimer: This is my own observation and should not be taken as a substitution for medical advice.
    Anyway, enough with the technical stuff. This fast feeling would come on somewhat subtly and quickly. One day I was doing dishes and fixing something to eat for lunch. All of the sudden, all the sounds I heard and the movements I did or observed changed in perception. Everything sounded really loud. I began to feel anxious. Every time I moved or someone around me did, it felt as though it were happening at an accelerated rate and yet somewhat slow at the same time. I wanted to stop moving and just hide under my blankets with my eyes and ears covered until everything quieted down and went back to normal, but I was afraid, if I stopped doing "normal" tasks, it would get worse and I wouldn't be able to handle it. So, I kept going and with some intervention and support from my mum, eventually things resumed as usual and it stopped as quickly and subtly as it started. I've had episodes like that that lasted from five minutes to an hour.
    Fortunately, it decreased in frequency as I got older and now it only happens once in a blue moon. It's scary when that sort of thing happens and it's even worse if you happen to be alone when it does. My point in telling you this story was not to scare anyone or make them feel sorry for me, but to let you know that, when these "weird" instances happen to you, you're not alone. It doesn't necessarily mean that you're "losing it" or that somethings horribly wrong. Sometimes the brain glitches and it can take a bit for it to reset. Mine is only one instance, so feel free to share your own story and comments. :)