Living with Sleep Disorders

I had an accident last 6Sep2003 which left me deaf and disabled. I think a brain trauma resulted in having to suffer what the doctor in the Philippines termed as Myoclonus where I could not control my right body particularly my right hand. While I could control my left hand, not so much the tips of my fingers that’s why I eat like a pig with my left hand.

I’ve undergone Occupational Therapy in 2 hospitals but I feel it’s not helping me for the Therapist just tells me to relax. I asked myself, is this how you conduct Occupational Therapy to your patients where you just tell them to relax to achieve control? I feel using Psychology to cure something Physiological is inappropriate. What is happening to me is purely Physiological.

That’s why my Father and I researched the Internet often. There’s one drug that my dad researched and the doctor heeded, it’s called Piracetam (generic name Nootropil) It helped a great deal to reduce the shaking, but after a while, its effects weren’t as dramatic. I think my body has developed immunity which I also read holds true. I thought the drug researched by my dad called Sodium Valproate whose side-effect was that it makes you feel drowsy, was what I need for I’m not getting enough sleep. There are times when I couldn’t sleep at all. I’ve read that lack of sleep is not age-related but symptom-related, so most likely it has something to do with my accident. I’ve been taking Clonazepam (which I read was the first drug of choice for Myoclonus) for quite a while but it doesn’t seem to work.

I had a CT scan done in the hospital where I was confined only a few months after the accident and an EEG requested by my current neurologist.

Before when I would attempt to button my blouse my nail bled and my right fingers would hurt. But I think thru constant practice and the right medicine this doesn’t occur anymore.

My succeeding visits to my neurologist seems to go nowhere for he keeps on prescribing anti-depressant drugs when depression is not my main problem. I was prescribed again an Antidepressant with generic name Mitrazepan and brand name Remeron. But it didn’t work, then he prescribed Keppra (generic name Levetiracetam which I suggested based on what I found in magazines). He was cautious because this drug is relatively new (but the reason why I suggested this anti-epileptic drug which I also read is applicable to Myoclonus, is because its side-effect once more is sleepiness).

I received a confirmation from a TBI website that I may indeed be suffering from myoclonus although I failed to mention that I was diagnosed with Lance-Adam’s syndrome, but when I read about it, the symptoms do not appear to coincide with what I’m suffering.