Comments on: Involuntary non-movements.

By: Ole Ferme l'Oeil

Ole Ferme l'Oeil — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 15:05:28 +0000

feeling the need to do some movement or other kind of thing like this.
but don’t doing it.
It can be very… I don’t know the best word to use… painful, upsetting or like the untoward lady said, unpleasant.
I think i know how it feels, i don’t like it.

By: ther1

ther1 — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 23:13:09 +0000

Some researchers have actually argued that without words we cannot remember what happened to us, saying that babies have very poor memory because they can’t speak yet. Words define reality to these people-“without language,” they say, “babies cannot logically create a sequence of events in their mind.”

After reading this blog I find that view to be downright stupid. Just play with a baby animal, and you will see and touch the evidence that words are not needed for an understanding of sequence.

By: Marcie

Marcie — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 04:23:36 +0000

I’ve often noticed that when I get visualizations, like a visualization of banging my head into something, it likes my emotions are trying to send me a signal that I’m over-whelmed. I don’t know if this relates to what you’ve been experiencing or not.

By: makoto

makoto — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 11:53:04 +0000

I was just listening to a podcast of a lecture on neurology.

There’s a part where phantom limb pain is talked about. Apparently people can have paralyzed or non-paralyzed phantom limbs. The explanation for the feeling of moving a phantom limb was explained as due to motor commands in the brain being CC’ed (as in “carbon copied”) to some non-motor part of the brain. I didn’t catch the names of the parts, though (only on the first listen so far).

There’s also a part about synesthesia.

Anyway, thought it might be of interest:

“What Neurology can tell us about human nature”
Princeton University
V. S. Ramachandran
October 15, 2009

I downloaded it via iTunes; I’m not sure if it’s available other ways or not.

By: ballastexistenz

ballastexistenz — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 23:43:59 +0000

The Untoward Lady: That actually makes some sense, as the movement disorder I have that appears to be why these movements happen less these days (it used to only affect more purely voluntary movements), resembles (probably involves similar brain functions) the same things that happen to people on the kind of medication most commonly used for tics.

By: Liz Ditz

Liz Ditz — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 23:05:04 +0000

Hmmmn.

I don’t know anything about the subject, but what you are describing sounds like it could be related to “phantom limb” sensations that amputees experience.

By: The Untoward Lady

The Untoward Lady — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 22:06:12 +0000

I think I can relate to that. I have tics and part of those tics is that I am aware of the sensation of moving and that sometimes that sensation happens a split second before I actually do move. Anyway, when I was placed on medication to control my tics they helped control the actual expression of the tics but they didn’t remove the feeling that I was “ticcing inside.”

It was a wholly unpleasant experience.

Physiologically speaking this phenomenon isn’t that hard to explain. What happens when you execute a complex task is that your brain first prototypes the movement by activating motor circuitry in advance of the actual movement and then disinhibiting said circuits which allows them to execute their function.

Anyway, hearing that you have tics too I’m going to have to do some research on autism and tics. My tics have always been treated as a completely separate issue which might be because the neurologist who handles my movement issues believes that because I can communicate verbally I’m not autistic. To the research!

By: SoSayWeAll

SoSayWeAll — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 15:45:22 +0000

I realize this is not the same…but I do understand what you mean by involuntary non-movements. I don’t know if I am on the spectrum though I do think it’s quite obvious I fit the “broad autistic phenotype,” but I have a few self-harming bad habits (though on occasion I’ve wondered if it was more like a stim). And there have been times when, as I am drifting off to sleep and going still, I can “feel” myself involuntarily engage in said habits, even though I am not physically carrying out the motion. Sometimes it’s upsetting to me, because I don’t want to be doing this thing, and even in my head I can’t seem to stop.

Oh…and I don’t understand how it is that doctor wouldn’t be interested in others’ experiences. I may be wrong, but I think it speaks to a certain lack of humility for him not to accept that others’ experiences are worth something.