Looking for shared experiences with stress-related tics
Hi, I’m 16 and I wanted to ask if anyone here has experienced something similar with stress-related tics and what they can do to calm themselves down or stop them.
Since around November last year, I’ve occasionally had episodes where, when I get overwhelmed or stressed, my head starts moving uncontrollably (like tilting upward or nodding), and I really couldn’t really stop it for a short period of time. It usually comes with a heavy/cloudy feeling in my head pain and sometimes neck stiffness afterward.
At first it only happened a few times, but during a student exchange trip to France this year, it became much more frequent and intense, especially in loud or crowded environments. Sometimes it lasted a long time before I could calm down (34 min was the longest time), and afterward I felt exhausted, tense, and uncomfortable. Since coming home (Germany) it’s less frequent again, but it still happens when I’m overwhelmed or stressed.
I’m not looking for a diagnosis I know nobody here can tell me exactly what it is. I mainly wanted to ask
- Has anyone experienced stress or overwhelm triggering movements/tics like this?
- Did anything help you calm down during those time?
- How severe must it be for me to visit the doctor?
I’d really appreciate hearing other people’s experiences because this has been stressing me out a lot lately.