Hello,

Best wishes for 2005 and good luck with anything you will have to deal with!

What are they like?
Here's a typical story: "In the morning, I get these 'jumps.' My arms fly up
for a second, and I often spill my coffee or drop what I'm holding. Now and
then my mouth may shut for a split second. Sometimes I get a few jumps in a
row. Once I've been up for a few hours, the jumps stop."

How long do they last?
They're very brief jerks. Usually they don't last more than a second or two.
There can be just one, but sometimes many will occur within a short time.

Tell me more
Myoclonic (MY-o-KLON-ik) seizures are brief, shock-like jerks of a muscle or
a group of muscles. "Myo" means muscle and "clonus" (KLOH-nus) means rapidly
alternating contraction and relaxation-jerking or twitching-of a muscle.

Even people without epilepsy can experience myoclonus in hiccups or in a
sudden jerk that may wake you up as you're just falling asleep. These things
are normal.

In epilepsy, myoclonic seizures usually cause abnormal movements on both
sides of the body at the same time. They occur in a variety of epilepsy
syndromes that have different characteristics:

Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy: The seizures usually involve the neck,
shoulders, and upper arms. In many patients the seizures most often occur
soon after waking up. They usually begin around puberty or sometimes in
early adulthood in people with a normal range of intelligence. In most
cases, these seizures can be well controlled with medication but it must be
continued throughout life.
Lennox-Gastaut syndrome: This is an uncommon syndrome that usually includes
other types of seizures as well. It begins in early childhood. The myoclonic
seizures usually involve the neck, shoulders, upper arms, and often the
face. They may be quite strong and are difficult to control.
Progressive myoclonic epilepsy: The rare syndromes in this category feature
a combination of myoclonic seizures and tonic-clonic seizures. Treatment is
usually not successful for very long, as the patient deteriorates over time.

Who gets them?
The epileptic syndromes that most commonly include myoclonic seizures
usually begin in childhood, but the seizures can occur at any age. Other
characteristics depend on the specific syndrome.

What's the outlook?
The outlook for patients with the various syndromes that include myoclonic
seizures varies widely. See the specific syndromes for more information.

What else could it be?
As mentioned, some episodes of myoclonus are normal. Some myoclonic seizures
occur in reflex epilepsies, triggered by flashing lights or other things in
the environment.

How is the diagnosis made?
The seizures themselves are easy to identify. The syndromes usually can be
diagnosed on the basis of the medical history and often EEG patterns.

It is true that doctors, neurologists and specialists do not really like you
to look at the Net or ask questions in this newsgroup because sometimes you
get a complete different answer then their diagnoses. It may give them an
harder time to explain what "they think" your condition might be and
sometimes explain that you do not have something that might look like the
same but from medical point of view, it is not. However and on the contrary,
it is your body, it is you that has to deal with the sympoms and nowadays,
patients are better informed so doctors, neurologists and specialists need
to change their role and need to improve their communication skills. It is
not you that need to change when you are searching on the Internet and want
to discuss this with your doctor. They should be there to help you and
inform you what they found in the tests they performed.