Twitching?

I just wondered if anybody else has uncontrollable muscle twitches as a result of PTSD. I twitch constantly, it gets worse during times of stress/anxiety, when someone puts their hand on me and when I am falling asleep. I saw a neurologist a few years back and was told it was mild tourettes, despite rarely having vocal tics. My therapist on the other hand seems to think its more likely to be related to PTSD and the trauma itself.

I just wondered if anybody else with PTSD suffers from this?

Hi Lauren,

Yes, I can very much relate.
My twitching-shuddering, really- became noticable 3 months or so after the trauma.
That was 2 and a half years ago, and while the twitching has calmed since then, it's still present.

Like you, it's worse when I'm stressed or upset. Thinking about the event exacerbates the twitching; right now my muscles are tight because I'm trying to supress them.

I read somewhere that when an animal survives an attack in the wild, the animal will shake violently, s/he will literally shake the fear and trauma from his/her body.

Interesting, I think.

Wish you well,

Evol

Hey Lauren,
Oh boy! Yeah I had terrible twitching while dealing with my CPTSD. I was hyper vigilant with all sounds and movements. The slightest un-expected sound and I would jump right out of my skin.
Medication helped some but more than anything Therapy and learning simple grounding techniques. Also mine was always worse while I was having trouble sleeping.
Take thing slow, it helps.
One

Thank you very much Evol and One. Its good to know I am not alone . The animal twitching is definitely interesting. I find that sometimes it gets really bad and the twitches are bigger. I rarely have periods without them, but I hope one day they might go??

Thanks again x

Mine left eventually. I think some meds might have contributed.
In my Experience with CPTSD, my thoughts needed to be sorted. Emotions and ideas need to be paired because they seemed to have lost eachother during my traumas. The brain is an organizer and becomes resistant at some point to new activity until we have dealt with the unfinished business.
My brain was so instant that medications rarely worked. So they would increase them to high doses. I was on complete overload. At times my brain would give in a let itself be sedated, but only for short periods of time.
This is why sleeping meds don't work for long by the way. Your brain predicts that you are trying to put it to sleep and it revs up so they wont work. I was on SO Many drugs! Even chloral hydrate wouldn't put me down. Insomnia set in. My body would twitch itself awake.
So what worked was Therapy. Talking out everything, sorting all those memories into a healthy understanding, healing the emotional baggage, all my "stuff".
Then my body relaxed, I slept better, needed less meds and the twitching left.
It took me 5 years of full time therapy-a year and a half as an inpatient in a womens trauma ward. But considering I had been living in the CPTSD mindset since a child, 5 years worth of time to fix it was well worth it.
I am now symptom and Med free.
People can recover. Everyones PTSD is unique but there is so much help available and people do get much better.
I hope you are getting some Therapy, you are worth every effort to feel better.
Big Hug,
One

Big hug to you too, that was really nice to read, thank you. I am in my second year of psychodynamic psychotherapy and my T is wonderful, I couldn't have asked for a better, more intelligent person to help me. Its hard going, but necessary as I also have DID.

Its really reassuring to hear this can be overcome. I am on quite high doses of meds, but not really for my twitching. I sleep extremely deeply and have night terrors and sleep walking and night sweats. I twitch and thrash about, but it rarely wakes me and is more of a problem for my partner/ex/don't have a clue. I once hit my face on a table in my sleep, splitting open my lip, and I still didn't wake up!

Anyway, thanks again, you've really made my day

Good for you! Therapy is KEY. I think you'll find that PTSD and DID have a lot in common and the same sources of trauma.
I was never on meds for twitching, I think my body tried to fight the meds by twitching sometimes. I hit my Husband more than once in my sleep. I packed quite a punch it seems! :roll:
And one other suggestion; Hold on tight to your sense of humor. Laughter really does help us heal.!
Happy day,
One

packed quite a punch lol . Thank you again, I try to laugh, it beats feeling rubbish, but as I'm sure you know it isn't always possible unfortunately.
I'm learning how similar they are all the time, in fact I'm learning full stop all the time x

I twitch a lot, but I never connected it. I guess I forget about the physical things that PTSD can do to you.

I thought I was going crazy. I want to thank you all for sharing. This has really helped to know I am not alone. I am discouraged to hear this may last years. I wish you all the very best. Thanks so much!