Poll Do You Shake?

[Changing4Best]

I don't shake, but I fidget and wriggle my feet constantly, unless I consiously make an effort to stop it.

I didn't even realize I do this until it was pointed out to me by 2 close friends of mine. Once while I was in church and once at the library by the Librarian, who is a good friend.

Then I started to become aware of it, more and more often. It is embarrassing!

My diagnoses is PTSD, along with other things like Bipolar, maybe borderline personality disorder (and dyslexia since birth).

 

[Only 1 of me]

Shake less at the moment, as meds and therapy seem to be making me more level at the moment. I get violent shaking in my legs when I'm anxious, if I'm sitting down its like my legs are jumping around to a fast song no one else can hear. I also get the internal shakes where it feels like my teeth are rattling or chattering but they don't actually. This happens quite a lot in EMDR but I have some as yet unprocessed abuse trauma that centres on my mouth so maybe that will change?

Diagnosis is depression, anxiety and multiple traumas resulting in ptsd

 

[Changing4Best]

This happens quite a lot in EMDR but I have some as yet unprocessed abuse trauma...

Can you tell us a bit about EMDR, like what kinds of things are you asked and how it works. I'm not asking you to get into the personal aspects of your therapy, but I have no experience with it and am VERY interested in it. Thanks.

PS. I know this is a bit off topic, sorry. But I really want to know.

 

[Only 1 of me]

Hi Sheila, I will try to explain a bit. I'm sure there are others who can explain more technically! Basically I have a headset which emits beeps alternately left and right and little buzzers which buzz I my left and right hand alternately but in sync with the ears. At the start of a set of processing my t asks me to focus on one particular traumatic memory, while remaining in the present this is key To observe the events and memories but not be overwhelmed. I tell him how distressing on a 0 to 10 scale it is to me. Then we begin. I observe the first event while the beeps and buzzes happen for a fixed time. My t asks me what came up and I tell him- it can be very random sometimes. We go again but starting each time from whatever came up. At the end he asks me to re rate the distress level of the original memory and it always drops. It usually stays down between sessions. Next session we begin again from the first memory and repeat the process. We keep going session by session until the distress goes down to 0 and stays there. I had a nasty medical trauma and we worked on it for about 3 months.

My t is very good, I have several complex and overlapping traumas so sometimes he will direct me back to the first event if I get lost in the processes. This helps me to deal as much as possible with one thread at a time. At the end of a set we will talk a bit about what came up and see if there are links to my negative thinking that can be unpinned.

Hope that helps to give you a rough idea :-)

 

[Jen93]

I voted for I have PTSD and I shake externally. When I used to get into a hypnogogic state before I knew it was PTSD I would be lying down on the floor trying to do the relaxation exercises, and I'd end up crying and shaking all over my body. I shake during some flashbacks too, as I was actually shaking during the trauma.

 

[ChoctawWarrior]

I have PTSD and I shake when upset, anxious, afraid and during flashbacks

Same here...mostly when I have high stress...

 

[Anna]

I shake. Normally when I get nervous, sometimes for no reason at all. Sometimes it gets so bad, like I will be making dinner start to get the shakes I will drop stuff on the floor, weird thing is I cannot remember how I dropped it, it is like my hand just cannot clasp anything in that moment.

 

[Hopp]

The shakes were the first signs for me (as I understood). Nobody understood why I was shaking; not my doctor, not my psychologist.

 

[Crow]

My therapist explains tremors in two ways. One, it's a protective response. Like when you drink something toxic, your esophagus will spasm to get it out of the body. The second is the body is releasing trauma and the nervous system rewiring to healthier pathways. During therapy I tremor constantly. I have CPTSD

 

[StarChild]

I voted: I shake externally, internally and do have PTSD.

There are times, I wake up from terrible nightmares, and I feel like I'm not myself right then. It starts with shaking internally, which makes parts my body also shake. So If I want to pour water or tea in a glass, my hands usually tremble that much, that I often spill the liquid. Or I knock over the bottle or the glass, for my shaking hands are quite useless at that time. It's often like this:

it is like my hand just cannot clasp anything in that moment

Yes, often during such days, things just drop off my hands. Also my shivery handwriting is unreadable. Meh!

Often my legs shake too. When I sit on a chair or sopha, then my knees are knocking against each other, so it seems, I do some special ritual dance... Not to mention my feet, who then do their own mystical tap dance.

The whole shaking thing can make me very angry, and I start to kick things, or throw things around. But this will do me no good, for it is NOISY. And on such days I can't stand noises! They make me aggressive... Crazy, isn't it?
F*ck the sh*tty shaking! :mad::mad::mad:

 

[Leah123]

I get the shakes rarely, with anxiety attacks or talking about the worst of the abuse and my very hardest times with my family, during therapy. Sigh. I like to hope maybe, maybe it will help, maybe I'm excising some energy that needs to get out. (Crosses fingers.)

 

[CourageofSnow]

I shake almost everyday. My hands have a constant tremor, and often I will have the feeling that someone has just walked over my grave so I have to shake my whole body. I shake when I have flashbacks. I have PTSD and depression.