[Blue2989]

Today i kinda had a muscle spasm. Not the first time it happened, i mean, its been happening for as long as i can remember, but it was the first time i tried to figure out what it was or if there was a name for it. You see, i was sitting down when something on tv caused me to have a flashback or something. I was stuck in it for a moment and everything felt really real until i jerked out of it. My feet kicked and my arms went up to block myself and everything and then i was out of the memory. Kinda felt like i'd jerked myself out of it. I googled this and found something called "unwinding" that has to do with muscle memory. All the sources said that it normally had something todo with ptsd.
Seeing that connection made me remember the time that i told my friend about how i couldn't really remember anything that happened before 5th grade except for a few bits and pieces. Like a few of my teachers faces, and some embarrassing things that stuck with me. My friend had told me that i might be blocking something out, but i didn't take her too seriously at the time. Today, i asked a few of my friends how much of their childhood they could recall and i found out that all of them could remember from around 5 years old and up. At this point i started seriously trying to remember my childhood. I came up with about ten things that i could remember..all little moments, but i noticed that i was starting to feel really feverish and that my hands were getting sweaty and that my chest was starting to tighten up. Those are usually the signs that i get right before an anxiety attack, so i stopped trying to recall things.
Now i'm kinda just...very curious about what's going on. Does anyone think i might actually be repressing something? Or is it just that my memory is rather terrible?

[SkyWhite]

Welcome to PC Blue 2989. It sounds like you're having a rough time. I can't diagnose you but I would suggest you find a good therapist and talk to him/her about what you're going through.

[Open Eyes]

Hi Blue2989, welcome to PC.

Well, experiencing a muscle spasm can take place without having PTSD. Also, a person can experience anxiety or panic and not have PTSD or a trauma. While many say they remember their earlier childhood, typically they only remember small portions here and there and most of those years the day to day stuff is not remembered.

It could be that whatever you were watching was upsetting somehow and your mind/body was stressed by it and you experienced a bout of anxiety. Also, it is not unusual for a person to just "zone out" or even "day dream" and then suddenly become aware they are not paying attention.

I don't want to encourage you into thinking something bad happened to you and stress about it somehow.

How old are you?

[amandalouise]

Blue---
PTSD is not about feeling feverish, kicking out of legs and arms to cover oneself nor does it have to do with muscle spasms....

PTSD stands for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder..

it is a cover all labeling for a group of symptoms...having panic attacks (which is a group of symptoms together of having trouble breathing, heart racing, extreme fear, ) flashbacks (literally reliving a traumatic event as if you are still going through that trauma) nightmares about the traumatic event, intrusive thoughts and memories about the traumatic event, intense or prolonged distress about the trauma....

the new Diagnostic criteria for PTSD is that in order to be diagnosed with PTSD and its related symptoms/problems in the USA

Criterion A

the person must be able to remember being in direct exposure to the trauma, or remember they were in direct exposure by a witness to a traumatic event, or indirectly by being affected by someone else that has been through a trauma, or have been through trauma indirectly or directly through being a professional ie police, fire fighter,therapist.....

criterion B

Recurrent, involuntary, and intrusive memories. Note: Children older than six may express this symptom in repetitive play.
Traumatic nightmares. Note: Children may have frightening dreams without content related to the trauma(s).
Dissociative reactions (e.g., flashbacks) which may occur on a continuum from brief episodes to complete loss of consciousness. Note: Children may reenact the event in play.
Intense or prolonged distress after exposure to traumatic reminders.
Marked physiologic reactivity after exposure to trauma-related stimuli.

Criterion C
avoiding thoughts, feelings, people, places, things associated to the traumatic event.

there's alot more that goes into this...here is a link where you can read the full wording and diagnostic criteria for having PTSD.

though with some people they do have repression problems (repressing a memory) they know they have been through a trauma and can remember parts of that trauma ie what happened before the trauma happened and what happened after and bits and pieces in between when the trauma was not as intense as other parts of the trauma...

here is what PTSD looks like with in me....

I was abused as a child in a mine shaft. I could remember being in the mine shaft, remember the smell of being in the shaft, remember being afraid of the dark....what I could not remember was the actual abuse. I knew something bad had happened but not what. after the abuse I remember being in great pain and avoiding the mine shaft, my abusers, I avoided the booze isle in the store, refused to wear the same color and clothing that I had worn during the abuse even though those clothing had been laundered, I couldnt even fold those those off the line because it would trigger me to have a panic attack. at night I had trouble sleeping due to nightmares, I would go out of my way to stay awake so that I would not dream about being in the mineshaft being abused.

when hurricane Sandy happened and for months afterwards I would have panic attacks, nightmares and flashbacks every time a storm would come. didnt matter that it was just a normal rain storm in my mind we were going through the hurricane all over again. fear of losing my home and all...

Muscle spasms and feeling feverish are physical symptoms of things like having a cold, flu, other physical illness or a neurological disease like I have multiple Sclerosis (a physical health condition where the covering on my nerve cells are degenerating/failing) this causes me to have all kinds of physical symptoms and sometimes mental too.

fevers and feeling feverish is usually the body's way of fighting some sort of infection/virus...

my suggestion if this continues to bother you contact your medical doctor and a mental health treatment provider who can do some tests to evaluate why you are getting muscle spasms and fevers/feeling feverish and other symptoms you posted about.

[Teacake]

You can run a fever because of emotional distress. Central nervous system arousal is heating. his is why we use expressions like "hot for someone" (sexual attraction ) or "hot under the collar" (anger prone). Early in PTSD one of the symptoms loved ones noticed is that I suddenly became very warm. Later I developed fevers that could not be medically explained.

Conversely, because fever may accompany trauma, fever may trigger traumatic symptoms. So if you warmed up under traumatic conditions you migbt take a chill and experience fever as very threatening or
threatening or saddening without knowing why.

Medical questions are best addressed to your doctor. My best guess is she will not diagnose you with PTSD. You are always welcome to come here and discuss PTSD anyway.

[amandalouise]

just a bit of information....running a temperature (having a fever) and being sexually aroused/hot under the collar angry are different things....

being so angry that a person gets a hot feeling or being sexually aroused does not raise a persons physical temperature. being so angry will raise a persons blood pressure (the rate and how hard a persons heart pumps their blood through their body) but not temp. temp for humans under stressor not remains between 95 and 100 degrees with a general average of 98.6 unless there is something physically wrong in the body...a virus, an infection.

in some situations women can tell when they are ovulating by their normal temp fluctuating up or down by a degree but not to the point of a fever level temperature. Sexual arousal does sometimes cause a person to feel hot or sexy but again its a state of mind and heightened ...blood pressure... not heightened temperature (fever) No not a medical doctor just basic first aid and psych 101 classes not to mention I run fevers an d muscle spasms frequently due to my Multiple Sclerosis and other physical health problems, also my doctor explained all this to me when my wife and I were preparing for pregnancy via IVF process.

if you google the words muscle spasms, and fever you will come up with millions upon millions of physical health problems not PTSD ie

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourcei...0spams%20fever

Fever and Muscle cramps or spasms (painful): Common Related Medical Conditions

now we cant tell you what this problem is (make a diagnosis) only your treatment providers can do that....

[ChipperMonkey]

People can have flashbacks outside of having PTSD. That is, just having flashbacks doesn't mean you have PTSD. There are a number of symptoms that you must have in order to be diagnosed with the full disorder. This is the time when google is not your friend. I could probably diagnose myself with 20 things if I listened to google!

[Detia]

It can be hard to know.

It's also important to ask why you want to know if you have PTSD or not? Will knowing your diagnosis help you to better cope with the stress that you experience, do you hope to recover the memories, etc.

I have chunks of memory missing but I can remember my parent's domestic abuse of each other. I'm guessing this is my traumatic experience. I was diagnosed with this while I was in the hospital and I still don't fully accept the diagnosis. It doesn't make much sense to me and as far as I'm concerned I'm missing some of the necessary symptoms of the diagnosis.

However in wanting to know 'do I have' I personally find it necessary to ask yourself why you want to know.