How Stress Landed Me In The ER

I have been on a hiatus for the last few weeks because I have been in and out of the hospital, I started having unexplained tremors on the 7th of February that results in 2 er visits. During the first visit, the doctors told me they had absolutely no idea what was wrong, suggested I stop taking my medication and go home. During the second visit again the doctors had absolutely NO idea what was causing these episodes and some of these episodes lasted as long as 8 HOURS! After getting no relief from any of the medications I took a 45 drive to the closest large hospital. I saw a neurologist who instantly diagnosed me with stress or anxiety tremors.

Stress or Anxiety Tremors are shaking or involuntary rhythmic muscle movement that I was told by the neurologist can affect any part of the body(he also stated he has had people come in unable to move limbs due to stress or anxiety). He mentioned to me very little is actually known about what causes them and sometimes they require treatment with the use of medications like Lorazepam and sometimes they just simply slow down and stop. Luckily for me, they have slowed down since seeing the neurologist and normally happen when I’m under a great deal of stress or anxiety, I am able to identify when I am about to have an episode and thus I am able to control them by simply taking a moment to relax through methods like meditation.

I am also currently detoxing from Celexa and Wellbutrin because the doctor thought I was starting to display symptoms of Serotonin Syndrome which can also involve tremors. Detoxing from these meds have been DREADFUL I’m constantly battling dizziness and nausea which I’ve been able to control slightly with natural remedies but sometimes it’s still so bad I am bed bound or else I risk falling over and hurting myself. The doctors have told me it could take up to 6 weeks to completely detox from these meds so I have a long road ahead but I am slowly feeling better every single day.

I decided to write this post because I found this experience to me a little frightening and while ANY seizure-like behavior should be checked out by your doctor I am blown away with how common stress and anxiety tremors are, the neurologist actually told me over 50% of his new referrals are for cases very similar to mine.

I want to thank ER MD Matthew Babineau and Justin J. Mowchun for the amazing care I received at Dartmouth.