BFS Flare-Up Causes

[seventhcandle]

I was wondering if you guys had any ideas what causes your BFS to flare up and spread into new regions of your body as well as intensify existing ones. Perhaps this could help some of us to better identify and avoid potential flare triggers. I've had a very, very rough three months now with the twitching in my legs & calves rapidly spreading to all areas of my body and existing twitches getting more intense, as well as the sleep jerks. I've noticed my main triggers are the following:

*Any food that contains, or has ingredients that could be converted into MSG or glutamic acid (soybean oil, soy products, yeast extract, etc.)
*Flourescent lighting at night
*Perfumes and hair spray (had an awful flare-up after getting my hair cut in a stuffy hair salon)
*Too much sugar, especially processed or refined
*some supplements that cross the blood-brain barrier (like l-theanine)
*processed ingredients that cross the blood-brain barrier (like diacetyl, the active ingredient in movie popcorn flavoring)

Interestingly enough, my BFS doesn't seem to wax or wane with stress and anxiety. I don't develop new twitches if I'm stressed out and the ones I have don't seem to get too much more intense. The only time I seem to develop new twitches is when I ingest the wrong food or put myself in an environment that my brain doesn't handle well.

Is it normal to develop this many sensitivities to food/environment/etc. with bfs?

Also, what are your triggers?

[plainslady]

I would say my biggest, most obvious triggers are

-stress and anxiety (an anxiety attack instantly triggers a flare)
-lack of sleep
-dehydration

Those are the only three things I've noticed a consistent pattern with. Caffeine doesn't seem to trigger mine like it does for so many others, and I have yet to discover a food trigger. I believe mine is directly linked to my anxiety issues, whereas in some people this doesn't seem to be the case.

Frances

[johnnythejet]

- Reading too many threads on aboutbfs.com forum

[Bosley22]

i conquer with Johnny ^

[MarioMangler]

- Reading too many threads on aboutbfs.com forum

[chrissi]

Mine are

-infections ( often just a little cold)
-fluorecent light (that one is funny BUT I have heard thic couple of times)
-stress/anxiety/
-physical activity
-caffeine
-lacl of sleep
-dehydration
-too much sugar

caffeine, flourescent lights, lack of sleep , stress and physical activity only trigger my twitches and tremors
infections, dehydration and too much sugar influence those AND my sensory symptoms and pain/stifness

[Floydian]

I played some music this weekend and now I think I have to pay the price for it.
Burning nerve pain feelings are flaring up again..... Hope it don't last long because it's really frustrating and annoying.

[Seepi27]

My biggest flare-up trigger is reading that Johnnythejet is retiring from the forum board...