Uncontrolled Muscle Movement.

[Neverthesame]

This happens to me sometimes and I was wondering if anyone else does as well?

The best way I can think to explain what I'm on about is to tell the story of when this happened last. Feel free to laugh at this, I sure do.

A couple of years ago I was having dinner with my Mum. I had ordered pizza, something I like eating with a fork and knife (because I am strange like that). Now, this particular pizza goes great with salsa. I went to cupboard, got a little porcelain dipping cup, put salsa in it and went to pick it up to put it on my plate. As I'm reaching for this little cup, my hand just shoots out *WHACK. This little cup full of salsa goes sailing across the kitchen, bounced off two walls and came to rest near my feet.
I stood there for a few seconds to register what just happened and to take stock of the catastrophic mess I had just created. I then bellowed out, "What the hell did I do that for?" At this point Mum comes into the kitchen to see what all the noise was about, and asked "what happened?" to which I replied "I punched the f'ing sauce cup!" "Why did you do that?" I am still trying very hard to be angry about this, but am beginning to feel a laugh building. I notice that my knuckle is bleeding. Suddenly comes a ten minute fit of hysterical laughter, followed by me cleaning salsa off the floor, walls and ceiling.

After cleaning up the mess I noticed that the little sauce cup had not broken, I had actually hit the thing hard enough to graze my knuckle on it.

Anyone ever do anything like this? I had no intention of punching the thing, nor was I in any kind of bad mood. My arm just shot out. This is not the first time this has happened. But it was the most memorable.

 

[Friday]

Lmao... Yeah. I do it all the time. It's almost like a tic, or the sleep-jerk thing. Has sent a fair number of objects flying over the years. I'm quick, though! I can usually catch the thing I've just dropped or sent flying. :D It's to the point I don't even notice anymore most of the time; my mind describes the arc, and my hand shoots out to grab the object. Pain in the ass when it's liquid (I drink things with screw on lids, and use short glasses not stemware for wine!). And hilarious when my fingers don't actually work so I just end up batting it, which means my other hand shoots out... And I can actually be batting an object back and forth a few times before my fingers on one of my hand remember how to close, and I can snatch the object out of the air. My mom calls the batting "cat like reflexes". I say "If you're gonna be clumsy, hafta be quick!"

First time we saw Twilight, the part where Edward grabs the apple? My niece & son turned to me with dropped jaws. "Auntie Friday! You're a vampire!"

 

[Deleted member 20280]

Yep Ditto, I did it so hard last week when I was in town the back of my hand hit a wall and I have broken at least 2 bones in it right above the base knuckle of my thumb. I didn't laugh when I did that one :)

 

[ShadowSolace]

I do that too, but it's more or less trying to shrink myself or curl into myself in the face of a perceived threat. I go into straight-up Bert the Turtle mode hahaha -laughs at own self-

 

[Deleted member 28403]

When I'm stressed similar can happend. When stress occurs an option is randomly chosen:

• Protect myself
• Hide and run away
• Freeze
• All of the above
• ???

The "???" Would be mostly that, I jus go ahead, turn into an octopus, as usually described to me by people.

I get a wierd physical reaction, my blood pressure drops down more (lowest was 68/35) and I get quite dizzy, my control over limbs becomes really delayed, and everything is... Interesting. I don't do drugs, so I can't compare :p I need to find a word, such as 'splurt out' to describe my walking. I kinda simply swing, teleport, walk, fly, jump, run and all other possible movements at the same time, not quite controlled so often stopping point is eg. A wall.

Also I sometimes fling out shit and kinda have a sudden shock, so all my muscles flex and everything goes whoosh.

I also acccidentally bump into EVERYTHING almost always. Poles, tables, corners, wall, everything. I often knock stuff off. Also quite dissociative most of time.

Whew, this took long... I forgot what I was writing about a few times :(

 

[Ronin]

I'm sorry, but this will have just the response of (sympathetic nodding along and then laughing at the salsa story).
I could point at all the sprayed walls that I just didn't bother cleaning thoroughly because those accidents were better art than my intentional attempts at art.
So yass, definitely not alone at all.

 

[joeylittle]

Yes. Sometimes a big full body thrash, other times single limbs. I recently just sat and stared at my arm as it twitched uncontrollably. It is such a strange thing. You are totally not alone.

Mine are tied to things that are pretty specific body memories, I do know that much.

 

[Deleted member 20280]

Well now here is a thought, I have a major significant date in February that I really need to process and lay to rest, since 6 pm yesterday I have been having progressively worsening spasms in my muscles making them contract. This is in part down to sleep deprivation as I am a bad insomniac as well. They are worsening as the hours tick by which it totally new. I guess these should be included then.

 

[Viosinger]

I didn't have this, which actually concerned my therapist a bit (I was very out-of-touch with the physical symptoms of my PTSD), and my therapist recommended In an Unspoken Voice by Peter Levine, which explores the effects of suppressed physical movements in potentially traumatic events. As I started paying attention, I realized I have a contraction twitch in my left hand when I'm at my worst. It's involuntary, but the more I allowed it to happen, the better it got.

 

[NicG]

I'm great at throwing things over my head by complete accident. Once I threw a glass rod across a lab class and nearly hit someone in the head. Whoops, lol. I also walk in to door frames and corners a LOT because my legs decide they want to go in a different direction to the rest of my body!

I flinch too, though. Have a tic when I'm stressed or frightened, or if someone approaches me in the wrong way I'll duck away from them. I'd always classed them as different things though. Like, the door-hitting-object-throwing-sauce-cup-punching clumsiness,and PTSD flinches. Can they be related?

 

[Neverthesame]

Wow. You all have given me quite a bit to think about. I had never put this together with ptsd. Thinking back on it, I don't remember this happening before I got it.

@FridayJones I hear you there. I drop everything. Broken a phone once dropping it. Got a new one, then within 5 minutes of pulling a brand new one out of it's box. Sent it end over end down a flight of stairs. lol oops. The sleep-jerk thing was almost really bad once. Woke up mid dream of trying to slide something heavy across a table, to seeing my hand flying towards my ex's head sleeping on my chest. I missed. Thank goodness.

@Santa_Laurie Ouch. Hope that heals up quickly for you. I will have to remember to try and pay attention to whether or not it happens more often during my unpleasant time of year.

 

[shimmerz]

One of the first things I started to notice when diagnosed with PTSD is my 'dropping' things. My muscles don't spasm but instead lose their ability to hold things. If I dropped something it was a clue that I was dropping into something (most likely dissociation) that I had best attend to.