Do You Shake?

[becvan]

After having a bit of a discussion on shaking, Willing brought up an interesting point. Complex PTSD or DESNOS includes the shaking as a symptom. Well, I want to find out if that is a symptom most members have not just a complex PTSD thing!

So please tick off the boxes and give a quick explanation as to what makes you shake!

Thanks,
bec

[becvan]

There is mine. I have both and I have Complex PTSD.

I'm using the terms loosely for this poll.

Remember you can do mulitple voting in this one!

bec

Thanks Evie! Added in not shaking as I never thought of that!

[batgirl]

Well I just voted. I shake internally only, and I don't have complex PTSD. My diagnosis is severe chronic. The only time I shake externally is when I'm cold or ill.

[batgirl]

Oops now I can't vote for the "no shakes", since I already voted, but anyways I do shake internally so it doesn't matter. :)

This post was kind of pointless actually. :p

[becvan]

LMAO, sorry I'm posting and editing on top of you! Too quick on it for the moment.. I guess I should enjoy it while it lasts.. heheh:dont-know

bec

[Jim]

Voted for "shake externally" as I do this occasionally when very upset. Don't have PTSD though.

Jim.

[becvan]

Hmm, that's interesting Jim.

So basically that says that external shaking can be a normal response to stress and "upset" emotions!

Interesting.... *hmmms*

bec

[Jim]

Believe it's normal, yes. Clarification though - when I say upset, I mean angry not scared. Shake when I'm very angry. Scared - I instinctively take up a defensive position, related to my military training no doubt. Does not include shakes.

Jim.

[Kathy]

I agree with my husband, and I know from my work that shaking is a normal human response. Perhaps what is "abnormal" (hate to use that word) about it in people with PTSD is the cause of the shakes, their frequency and severity. But at the core, shakes are as normal as say, the startle response. Everyone has the startle response, people with PTSD just have it more often and more severely. In any event, I voted yes to both kinds of shakes, I have had them occasionally when frightened, angry, and very sad as well.

[Lisa]

I voted internal and external. external is related to fear of physical threat first and foremost, but I think it happens at other times. The internal shakes... little more complex to me. I am inclined to agree with kathy, as with most things - it is not the "event" or "action", but the impact and cause. Kathy also points out that intensity is an important factor.... most people experience a range of emotions and reactions to those. How extreme and frequent can say something quite different.

Kinda cool, this. I like hearing everyone's views.

[cookie]

i think the external shakes are the worst, especially when you can see my skirt shaking with them. people notice, and it is embarrassing. i have shaken so hard sometimes, my teeth chatter like i'm cold. seems that everyone shakes some time or other, just wish it wasn't most of the time, lol

[Miander]

Hi all - I was glad to see this poll! I have had varied levels of external shakes over the years and they in themselves were triggers for me because I was in a walk in refridgerator during the robbery I was in. It was like a vicious cycle, I would have a panic attack about something that happend and then the shaking would remind me of when I was in the fridge, and then I would have flash backs! Hopefully now, having read this post/poll, I won't be triggered.

[piglet]

I get the shakes quite often. It can be when I wake up in the morning, maybe due to energetic nightmares? It really difficult to get my hot chocolate powder from the jar to the mug without spilling any!!!

I also get the shakes when I am angry, or when I have been exercising. The funniest time is when I go cycling - I can't stand up on the pedals, as my legs shake so much I fear I might fall off!!! I also have difficulties with clutch control if I'm in a line of traffic. Apparently is called a "postural tremor".

I also get the shakes when I'm just sitting - I tend to be tense a lot of the time, and my legs kinda do their own thing!

Anyway, after much rambling, I shake.

[anthony]

I tidied the questions to this poll... incase anyone notices the changes.

I was obviously the first to select "I don't shake" as I don't. I used too when my PTSD was uncontrolled, but I haven't shaken in years. I am just... pretty normal nowadays.

[veiled]

I clicked both PTSDs and both types of shaking. I know that quiver inside. I don't tremble as hard as I used to, but over 10 years ago I shook bad enough all the time my boss would come up to my desk and grab my hands as I typed and say "Stop shaking". Drove him nuts but I was actually used to it back then. But back then I did it without my nerves hitting so hard, now it is when I am in a high strung mode it hits the worst. I think the internal kind is harder on me as it is like a shake that will not come out.

[Lisa]

Veiled... I like that description - that it is like a shake that will not come out and that's why it's harder.

that actually describes partly why I hate the internal shakes so much, so thank you!!

[Marlene]

Just in this past week I've been having external tremors. They seem to have a mind of their own as to stopping and starting. Putting on my eye make-up is a real treat!

At first I thought it was because my blood sugar was dropping (trembling is one of my cues that it's time to do something before I bottom out). But after making sure my blood sugar was ok, the trembling hasn't stopped.

I feel like I'm on that TV show 'Trading Spaces'...but with a new title-'Trading Symptoms'. Every time one goes away, a new one pops up. They say variety is the spice of life...but this is ridiculous!

[Grama-Herc]

I took to the poll and short as it was,still was happy to help. I tremble inside with my panic/anxiety attacks. Sometimes I tremble so hard inside I swear I think people can see. When the tremors come it is very unnerving and then I begin to break out in a severe cold sweat till I am wringing wet. Isn't it fun to share all of these lovely symptoms with eachother? At least we understand them. My mother thinks I am having hot flashes LOL HERC

[Lisa]

LOL Oh herc..... which would you prefer?!

[pandora]

i was prescribed atenolol (it is a beta blocker used for people with heart problems) it helped my shaking a lot, when this first started happening. I haven't used it in a while but it does help. I also have a cousin with PTSD and she shakes too, she finds acupuncture helpful. The shaking made me feel so totally out of control.
I think i would rather have hot flashes, my mother just says get on with your life..stop feeling sorry for yourself..Ya I love this life. Sorry, i am having a HUGE poor me day, well week.
Take care everyone.

[Grama-Herc]

Pandora
We all need our own little private pity parties once in a while. Nothing wrong with that. AND it drives me nuts when people assume we are just feeling sorry for ourselves or when they tell us to just get over it! ! ! ! Makes me want to scream. Sometimes I do scream---into my pillow so I don't freak out the neighbors ya know. Anyway, let's here it for hot flashes. May they rest in peace, please LOL HERC

[reallydown]

i shake...quite a bit...when scared or angry mainly...as stuff come sback to me (i guess that qualifies as scared...)

[Jet]

I shake internally almost all of the time, sometimes it is better, sometimes worse but it is always there. If I am shaking externally it is usually going to be when I am in or close to being in panic mode.

Growing up showing any kind of emotion was a weakness, it made you a target. I have always figured that the internal shaking had to do with that. A "physical" reaction that was not visable. A way for the body to react and work off excess adrenalin or something.

[responsiblek9]

When tired or stressed I shake visibly externally. But I also have a TBI from a child abuse injury when I was age 3 also that impacts the neuro system too.
So that has to be taken into account also.

[batgirl]

Well I just voted. I shake internally only, and I don't have complex PTSD. My diagnosis is severe chronic. The only time I shake externally is when I'm cold or ill.

Hmm well I need to modify my original response, last night I was having nightmares and when I woke up/half woke up I was shaking externally, more than once in the night actually. I don't recall that ever happening to me before, but it was quite pronounced last night.

[kers]

I shake, externally, usually after a very upsetting memory and often during the entirety of my counselling sessions. I keep hoping that part will let up but there's no end in sight.

Can someone explain the concept of "shaking internally"?

[veiled]

I described it above as a shake that won't come out. You feel it in you and your body feels it, but no showing... Hard to explain if you have not felt it.

[batgirl]

Ugh well I've been having a LOT of shaking lately. Ever since my uncle went to Borden for a week. Now when I wake up from nightmares I am frequently shaking, it lasts a long time, and sometimes the shaking is so severe that it almost physically hurts. I've not sure why this occurring now, and not previously. Unless I just wasn't aware of my shaking before? But that seems kind of odd.

[Jim]

I've not sure why this occurring now, and not previously.

I beg to differ my dear. Believe you do know why it is occurring now and not previous. Remember what we discussed yesterday evening? Think about it.

Uncle Jim.

[Shinigami_Shimai]

I get both depending on the situation and if I can control it enough. When I'm in a crowd I tend to shake internally to not attract attention, but when I'm allone or with someone I trust I shake externally and sometimes it is so bad that I can't even draw. I hate when I get into that state because I want so badly to draw something, but my hands would not stop shaking. In the end I actually incorperated shaking into my style of art, oddly enough. *shrugs*

jaa ne

Kat

[Lisa]

Yeah I describe internal shaking as when everything feels like shaking jelly inside. Its like all my bones and organs are rattling, but it's not quite making the visible thing yet. I think it's more of a psychological thing? So it sure feels physical at the time. Eventually with me, I have noticed it eventually becomes external shaking.