Shaking

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valeriedl

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A few months ago I ended up in the er because my whole body was shaking uncontrolably. I don't think this was a seizure because I was aware of everything that was going on.

My neuro thought I may be depressed or some other tpye of mental condition so he sent me to a psych who put me on Effexor. The shaking did stop. The psych came to the conclusion that I wasn't depressed so my pcp told me to stop taking the Effexor.

He said to wean myself off of it by taking one pill every other day for a week. I just started doing this and noticed the day that I didn't take the pill my leg or arm would start to shake and stay shaking for about 5 minutes or so.

I took one of the Effexor today and haven't noticed any shaking at all. I've still got more of the week left to go through that he told me to use for weaning myself off of it.

Any ideas what this could be from? As I said, I'm not depressed so the dr said not to take the Effexor.
 
The side effects of withdrawal from Effexor can include "shaking and trembling, particularly in the limbs. The muscles may twitch beneath the skin." So that's may be what's happening for you.
 
Do you have anything other than the shaking that comes with it?

I ask because in March I had my first VEEG. My dr took me off both medications cold turkey. I was on Carbatrol and Keppra. Now within 40 hours of my last dose, I started having seizures. Now thats what the nurses called them. I was completely aware of what was going on, but I had numbness in my hands and feet, and I had jerking, or maybe shaking... more like jerking from what I would say... on my right side of my body. Now my dr told me they were not coming up as epileptic seizures. He told me to go to a psych dr, which I did, but she concluded that she didnt think they were stress related seizures. Now since then, two months later, ive been only on seiuzre medications and its not been back since the dr put me back on at least one of the seizure meds. have you taken any seizure medications or been dx'd with epilepsy?
 
I do have epilepsy and I am taking meds.


It's just weird, sometimes it will be like a muscle clenching and then relaxing that may happen a few times. Other times it's actual shaking. Not big shakes just little movement in either my arms or legs. This may go on for just a few seconds to a few minutes or longer.

I'm almost positive that these aren't any type of seizure. I just can't figure out what they are I was still having some while I was on the effor but they were more or less just little muscle twiches.
 
The only similar thing i've found is that sometimes after a tonic clonic i get really strong bouts of shivering/shaking as though i'm cold. It can last for quite a while and it happens as i'm coming round.

My neuro thinks it's kind of a shock reaction to the seizure. It also happens sometimes if i'm at the dentists and have a load of injections, or if i hurt myself/have a near miss (walking into traffic etc) during a partial.
 
The shaking is probably "brain-related", the main questions is it somehow related to the epilepsy, or is related to the meds. Even if you remain fully aware during the shaking, it can still be a seizure symptom.

You're doing the right thing by keeping track of the shaking episodes -- look for a pattern, or if they get better or worse as you withdraw from the Effexor. If it is the Effexor, it might take some time for your body to re-adjust once you're off it completely.
 
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