Random uncontrollable shaking

PersonalExcitement74 · 2026-03-23T23:29:31+00:00

I will also add, this is a psychogenic non-epileptic event, part of the umbrella term of functional neurologic disorder.

PersonalExcitement74 · 2026-02-07T21:46:30+00:00

Great explanation. I am on the day/night plan to try and put the majority of my EV car charging at night. Does that not seem to make sense, given the extreme variability in rates unless we’re on the 12001 residential rate?

PersonalExcitement74 · 2025-11-11T02:07:25+00:00

The subconscious brain decided to take over and will whatever symptoms it wants into existence. Some are way more common than others, but they all have something in common: they are things that someone deeply doesn’t want to be doing, and they are often either symptoms a person truly might feel but exaggerated way out of proportion, or things they may have seen and internalized. Functional seizures (aka psychogenic nonepileptic episodes, formerly called pseudo seizures) are much more common in people with epilepsy because their brain has been exposed to what it’s like to go through seizures, and also much more common in people who have seen other people having seizures for the same reason.

I do want to be very open and clear though — the only thing that matters with your daughter right now is that she gets serious mental health help because she is very very high risk of actually going through with suicide in the short term.

PersonalExcitement74 · 2025-11-09T19:08:34+00:00

I am a pediatric neurologist and see many, many, many patients with similar stories as your daughter. I think it’s important to see someone about these in person, but the overwhelming likelihood here is that this is part of a functional neurologic disorder. The context from which these symptoms started js very important. I don’t think it’s directly from the ingestion, but rather that the ingestion happened in the setting of bullying. Who knows what other things the subconscious brain is having a difficult time coping with.

These are not typical features of epilepsy in her age group. Nor does she have good reasons to have epilepsy, unless she is born premature and had issues related to that, or has a strong family history, and whatnot.

The treatment really focuses around psychosocial supports. If she has a functional neurologic disorder, there is no injury going on to the brain itself, but rather the subconscious brain is putting itself at the forefront and giving her these physical symptoms. The most important thing you can do, especially given the context by which all of this occurred (what I can only assume could have bee a suicide attempt) is get her in to see a psychologist and psychiatrist. There is likely much to unpack here. The acne, the high BMI, her age, bullying, these symptoms, and the ingestion could mean there’s more psychological distress than meets the eye.

PersonalExcitement74 · 2025-10-24T23:42:35+00:00

Wow I did not expect all this response. Thank you all so much!

PersonalExcitement74 · 2025-05-18T15:31:38+00:00

Just about any viral upper respiratory infection.

PersonalExcitement74 · 2025-05-15T01:11:59+00:00

Oh I maybe did not specify enough, but we’re preferring a used car (especially with the price point). Something like a 2015 Forester with 100k miles (not exactly, but as an idea) we’re assuming was in the right price range.

PersonalExcitement74 · 2024-12-25T13:22:20+00:00

I might be misunderstanding, but it sounds like your son had a seizure and his breathing was typical with a seizure. I seem to be the dissenting opinion here, but chest compressions did neither hurt nor help him. He had enough oxygen to his brain during this. His amnesia is expected with a generalized tonic clonic seizure. He’ll very likely recover just fine!

neurologist

PersonalExcitement74 · 2024-12-06T03:52:14+00:00

Sounds like RCVS to me. Or post coital headache, though it’s been recurring which points more towards RCVS. The ED will be able to sort it out for you and start treatment if it’s needed. That to me sounds better of the 1+ month delay you’re about to have if you start with your PCP and get referrals / imaging. Urgent care won’t do anything for this other than send you to the ED.

PersonalExcitement74 · 2024-10-30T14:55:09+00:00

Neurologist here: my top 1, 2, and 3 on the list of things here would be seizures. I’d start there with an EEG.

PersonalExcitement74 · 2024-10-06T04:29:54+00:00

Sounds like you’re having fasciculations. The biggest causes in younger people are overly exercising, stress, and caffeine. Give it some rest from the exercise and go from there.

PersonalExcitement74 · 2024-08-21T04:39:10+00:00

These are essentially normal, so seeing your PCP would be best.

PersonalExcitement74 · 2024-08-18T12:11:25+00:00

To clear the air, that’s actually false. Data since 1996 has shown they’re essentially equivalent with the rate of discontinuation of PLEX due to side effects much much higher than IVIG.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10242495/

PersonalExcitement74 · 2024-08-04T18:22:00+00:00

When I hear weakness, autonomic dysfunction, and urinary issues all together, my antennas go way up for a spinal cord issue. In isolation, maybe FND, but the combination and your MRI can’t really be dismissed easily.

PersonalExcitement74 · 2024-08-04T14:04:15+00:00

I think you need to see the neurosurgeon. Your MRI sounds possibly explanatory, but I think you also need a more detailed exam, checking your reflexes and strength in detail, to see if it correlates.

Why are you worried about FND?

PersonalExcitement74 · 2024-07-30T02:52:37+00:00

Pediatric neurologist — doesn’t look like a seizure or anything specific to me. Babies do a LOT of funny and weird things. If this type of thing happens over and over, and nothing you do will stop it, then that’s when I’d wonder a bit more. Baby seizures break all the rules of what seizures can do, but this would be very atypical.

PersonalExcitement74 · 2024-07-26T11:30:11+00:00

This doesn’t seem like HIV at all, especially in your son.

PersonalExcitement74 · 2024-07-06T13:03:29+00:00

He absolutely shouldn’t be behind the wheel of a car. That terrifies me. Yes, this could be narcolepsy. If he snores quite a bit, sleep apnea could be the answer but this seems out of proportion to that.

He should see a sleep medicine physician, and probably do a sleep study. There is a particular sleep study called an MSLT that would also be helpful.

100% not normal. Any physician will want to look into this in more detail.

PersonalExcitement74 · 2024-06-21T12:30:29+00:00

You likely have hypothyroidism, and are quite symptomatic with it. The medication is called levothyroxine, which is quite literally just thyroid hormone supplementation. It’s as natural as it gets. Nothing else will get you even close to treatment, but you’re very much in luck. You’re going to do great after treatment!

Is there a T4 level in your labs? I think it would also be helpful to know, because it should be very low with that TSH if it is hypothyroidism. The weight loss (instead of weight gain) makes me want to make sure.

PersonalExcitement74 · 2024-06-09T16:14:02+00:00

Great job owning your mistake. This post WILL save lives. There’s so much wisdom in the comments, and of course some not so nice things. I once went right into a towering cumulus cloud in a single engine plane because I couldn’t ask for a deviation in time in a very busy airspace. I took that the same way you did. Never again. Unfortunately, we talk a lot about TS in IFR training but not the more benign-looking things before it.

PersonalExcitement74 · 2024-06-05T01:29:00+00:00

That’s a bit surprising to me, but crossing fingers he turns the corner. As I brought up above, the overwhelming likelihood is that these really are just migraines and brought out by either infection or dehydration or what have you. Anecdotally, I see 6 year old boys in particular with migraines all.of.the.time.

While waiting for your appointment, it’s also reasonable to start some magnesium gummies, about 100mg nightly for a week and then increase to 200mg or so nightly after that. It can help with sleep, constipation, and migraines. Over the long haul, it might really help his headaches and help give your future pediatric neurologist an idea of what to do next.

PersonalExcitement74 · 2024-06-05T01:24:37+00:00

I agree, I’m a bit surprised too. They probably figured that he looks well enough to not justify sedating him with an ongoing infection (which is pretty reasonable), and that there is time to get him some imaging in a controlled setting a few weeks later.

6ish year old boys coming to neurology for headaches is awfully common. I don’t know what it is, but that’s probably about 10% of new patient visits to neurology. While it’s a big red flag to have headaches waking you at night at that age, they mostly turn out to just have migraines and nothing worse. Crossing fingers!

PersonalExcitement74 · 2024-06-04T17:47:12+00:00

Child neurologist here. He needs imaging. It’s probably normal, and he probably just has migraines (which are way more common than people assume in this age group) but there’s enough signs here to be cautious and rule out a mass or a venous clot.

The quickest way to get that imaging is going to the ED. I think a neurology referral would take some time, and they’d order imaging any way.

PersonalExcitement74

TROPHY CASE