Vibrating/trembling On The Inside?

[daisy]

I mentioned this in another post about low blood pressure but it happened again this morning so I thought I'd start a new one. Does anyone else experience vibrating on the inside while waking up? It is very uncomfortable. I feel like my insides are just vibrating and shaking like a cell phone. I sat up and looked at my hands, expecting them to be shaking, but they were steady. It's all on the inside. Checked my pulse during the episode - normal. It subsides in a couple of minutes....

This is a new symptom for me - just wondering if many of you experience it too and if anyone can shed some light.

Thanks!

[Maxine]

Hi daisy---

I get this quite a bit----usally when I try to do too much. I'll get this when I cook, do chores, or try to stand up too long. Shopping does it to me too. My time with that is very limited in all of these.

It's a vibrating sensation in a rhythmic fashion-------mmmm----mmmmm----mmmmm. Your're right, it feels like a vibrating cell phone, but on a much bigger scale. It's very uncomfortable, and when it first started it used to scare me, no I just attribute it to another weird symptom of ANS dysfunction, EDS, and spine instability----------not sure which is causing it.

Maxine :0)

[potsgirl]

Absolutely. Although I usually have the most trouble with it when I first get out of bed. I tremble internally but also my legs are so shaky when I'm first coming down the stairs that I can hardly walk. Sometimes I scooch down the stairs on my behind.

[ethansmom]

I get this too. It does feel like you should be visibly shaking, but you're not! Mine happens when I overexert myself and if I eat something with caffeine or sugar- and sometimes if I get startled awake it will happen, as though my nervous system is attempting to adjust but it can't.

[pat57]

Symptoms presumed to be related to autonomic overactivity include the following:**

Palpitations 75% (Grubb, 2000)

Tremulousness 37.5% (Low, Opffer-Gehrking, Textor, Benarroch, Shen, Schondorf, Suarez & Rummans, 1995)

Shortness of breath 27.6 % (Grubb, 2000)

Chest discomfort and/or pain 24.3 % (Grubb, 2000)

from the dinet page

[erik]

I wake with this daily now. It feels a bit different in the AM compared to other times... whole body is fully relaxed, no symptoms of "excitement" anywhere as from sympathetic overactivity, then there is this mysterious hum rather isolated and unprovoked.

If the muscles are vibrating slightly it could help by keeping some musculoskeletal pump action going (assisting blood return to heart) to make up for lack of overt muscle movements. That angle would make it an adaptation along the lines of other key POTS symptoms (except spanning more than just circumstances of orthostatic challenge).

Chemically, there are likely more than a few things peaking or troughing in the AM in preparation for awakeness... I've heart cortisol should be coming up strongly and in reading of LDN (low dose naltrexalone) happened to notice a statement that endogenous opioids are peaking just before waking (which matches the timing of this for me perfectly).

I've tried to guess a "frequency" or pitch to it as well, since sometimes that gives a neurological clue, but it is hard to tell. I've also looked in to "muscle fibrillation" (not heart kind), which perhaps coincidentally fits "how this feels" for me perfectly. The latter tends to relate to neuropathy or muscle atrophy. I don't personally have an overall atrophy, but there might be a low grade cycle of it... particularly if things like post-exertional muscle growth were perturbed. That happens to involve complex processes of angiogenesis... blood vessel adjustment & formation... which involve things that could be problematic in POTS folks like intentional stages of "leakiness" in vascular bed (during growth), localized vasodilation facilitating extra supply & clearance, significant release of localized messengers that we may mis-react to, etc.

If disturbance in or related to those low level things were going on, it could time with a few things like both post-exertion & nightly growth phases (it is when the body focuses on these things)... anyway, existing or new little nervies could be either goofed, or perhaps just naturally helping by subtly stimulating some extra circulation. Also, if there is turnover in muscle tissue (which is said to be a natural cycle especially after exertion), new fibers might be expected to fibrillate (just like denerved ones) as a normal course of development (or exacerbated by slower nerve regen if that is the case).

[daisy]

Thanks for the replies - it's always nice to know that I'm not the only one with these wacky symptoms.

Erik, I found your info very interesting - thanks for taking the time to write all of that. Like you, my "inside shakiness" only occurs upon waking up. Each time I have been waking up from a dream - not a stressful dream though...just a regular dream. It's like my body is having trouble going from the sleep stage to the reality stage. A bit concerning....all of my neurological symptoms seem to be progressing so I hope it's not a sign of anything worsening....hoping this won't be an every morning occurence it's a bit disorienting!

[erik]

Yeah, I also wondered at first if it was from a bad dream or other sleep disturbance, because I have had times waking up in agitated state (body panic)... however this vibrating thing is more subtle and just there in the background amid an otherwise calm body & mind (for me at least)!

Not sure if it was just a coincidence or not, but I kind of transitioned from a period of frequent myoclonic jerks (a harmless seizure thing) into a phase of this mini-tremble & hum thing. So it also makes me curious if some fine tuning of "action potentials" in the neurons is at work too (like ion concentrations and the like)... since it's kind of like a low idle of an engine warming up... in contrast to my prior mis-firing of the myoclonus. Like my body adjusted things as best it could but was left with this slight artifact (inability to fully shut off muscle stimulation noise at times). Just more conjecture, of course! This thing has intrigued me since it's different than the tremor and wobble that I get while attempting to stand up & still... as the sympathetic system comes rushing in to compensate for inadequate natural orthostatic response.

[Brye]

Hate that feeling as well! Not sure the cause. Worse at night for me and for sure if I'm awakened by something before it's time to get up!!

Brue

[Griffin]

Went through a phase of vibration on waking, but my hands would be visibly shaking too. It was atrributed to medication. But I have the sensation of internal vibration pretty often at all times. Other people can feel it if they hold me which always freaks me a bit.

[extern14]

I have this throughout the day as well. I, too, notice it when I have done too much or drank too much caffeine or if there has been an incident. It usually goes away after awhile. I meditate and it will go away after that. If you just close your eyes and take some deep breaths and just calm your mind and body, this will sometimes help it. I attribute it to POTS and just another one of the wonderful symptoms that POTS brings! Hope you feel better!