Did you know that several research sources say that up to 70% of emergency room visits have some stress and anxiety related component? It speaks loudly to the mind-body connection, rather than the ‘mind over matter’ dismissal of mysterious maladies.

Often a consulting physician will default to a gaggle of diagnoses that become the ‘catch-all’ of those pesky symptoms that defy concrete definition. Historically, hysteria was one. More recently, chronic fatigue syndrome and irritable bowel syndrome fall into the “mystery� symptoms bucket. “Stress-related causation�, too, becomes a ‘safe’ and face-saving way to say, “I don’t know what the F is wrong with you.�

So you go to the doctor to seek sage advice on the new symptom. The whole head spasm. Jerking, in seeming involuntary fashion, from left to right. Back and forth, back and forth. Sometimes a good slap to the head will offer up some valuable information as to just how involuntary this phenomenon is.

THWACK. If nothing else, this will bring attention to the action, and the increase awareness on the part of the patient that a tic-like process is occurring. A sort or corporal biofeedback, if you will.

The good doctor has gone through a complete analysis of the symptoms, and determines that there is no ‘outstanding’ physical reason the whole head spasm. A history has been taken, and it is determined that because the patient has recently started school, this has caused stress and stress has caused the tic-like activity.

Ok. Hmmm…

Before fully embracing this notion, a second opinion is not a bad idea. A second opinion, though, is often a luxury that many simply are unable to indulge.

The reason stress could be a component, even the primary component, is that emotional duress often does express through the vehicle of the body. The body is quite the communicator. Books have been written on the wisdom of the body. Body language, and all. Read them, I implore.

If school, for instance, has become an anxiety-provoking event, then it may not hurt to look into said patients’ thoughts and feelings about returning to a no-doubt fine academic experience. Sometimes, a simple chat such as that will dissipate much of the ‘fear’ that has been generated for whatever reason.

Stress could lead to a tic or a whole head spasm by virtue of the ‘fight or flight’ response in action. When we fear, our bodies react. Stress toxins kick in, mobilizing us for action to deal with the perceived threat. One action, by the way, is a full release of urine or fece. This readies the body for the fight or flight. Have you ever had to pee a lot before some stressful event?

Also, and more relevantly, tense muscles are a part of the preparation for fight or flight. We humans, with our perhaps over-rated ability to be cognitive and abstract, sustain elevated stress levels way beyond what any threat may actually merit. While we should find relief and relaxation after attending to the threat, we often carry our angst for hours, days, weeks, months, years, with little or no perceived relief.

Given such an unfortunate scenario, the body will express itself in sometimes funny, sometimes tragic ways.

Or maybe the whole head spasm is a mere habit that has been developed, and a bit of biofeedback-like THWACKING will resolve the issue.

deorre