Your Diet and BFS

[marieclare]

I know there are certain foods/substances that trigger flare ups of twitching. The obvious are alcohol, sugar and caffeine. I was wondering if anyone notices other substances that affect twitching. I read somewhere that preservatives in red wine, aged cheese and dried fruits are triggers for twitching. What else is there? I have cut back on so many things my diet is boring!!! I think it helps though.....
marieclare

[garym]

Check my post on poultry. By the way, did you take any antibiotics such as Cipro or Levaquin prior to onset?

[marieclare]

I am a vegetarian so poultru is not a problem--Keep us posted on how eliminating it helps--Sometimes i think that being a vegetarian is part of my problem!!
marieclare

[Jenn311]

Wow Marie...

ALmost everyone I know from Colorado is a vegetarian. I think it's against the law to be one here in Texas (j/k...kinda....)

Jen

[Ben]

I find monosodium glutamate or anything with hydrolized protein as an ingredient to be potent activators of fascics. Also the xanthine in higher quality chocolate. Yes and red wine more that other alchohol. The more tannic the more the response. I don't think its the preservative though, maybe the tyrosine.

[marieclare]

Jenn--I have been a vegetarian since I was 10 years old living overseas and i saw all the disgusting meats hanging in the meat markets--with flies everywhere......now do YOU want to be one!!!

Ben--I ordered my Chinese food last night with NO MSG--I think i felt a little better after eating it--I mean less twitchng--hard to say!!

marieclare

[Arron]

marieclare, ever see flies, worms and bugs in the vegetable garden? Rabbits, Coons, birds, cats, bugs and just about everything else that walks, crawls or flies eat, pee and *beep* on the plants. I think I've found and eaten more "bugs" in my vegetables than I ever have in any meat.

"most" vegetables have harsh pesticides on them that don't wash off very well. I have several relatives that are vegetarians and they are all under weight and undernourished and are always sick and having to take all kinds of multi vitamins, suppliments and eat stuff like brewer's yeast, soy milk (blah!) and all of that other "health food" stuff, that by the way, isn't "natural" at all, and why? because their bodies are lacking the needed meat protiens to sustain a healthy body. If suppliments and processed foods such as soy milk, brewer's yeast, and all that other stuff was "natural", how did past generations survive on "natural living" then without suppliments and processed food products when they didn;t have stuff like that back then? They ate meat, that's why. No thanks, gimme a big thick juicy steak and a Twinkie for desert anyday or chicken! I love chicken. Here chicky, chicky, chicky!

Don't get me worng, I'm not trying to bash you or anything for being a vegetarian, I'm just making some conversation is all and saying most of this with tongue in cheek. If you like being a vegetarian, that's great Besides, I like my veggies too but meat protien isn't as bad as most vegetarians make it out to be, and just about all mammals living on this planet depend on meat protien (of some sort or another) to sustain a healthy body, human mammals included. To each his own though. It's all good if it works for you I still like my meat and heavily processed foods. When I croak, they won;t have to embalm me, because I'll alrady have enough preservatives in my body to do the job all by itself "Healthy eating" didn't help Yuell Gibbon's or Linda Mc Cartney very well... Gimme a Spam and Velveeta sandwich on Wonder Bread with lots of Miracle Whip, an ice cold Coke and a frozen Ding Dong or two for desert, and I'm a happy guy

[marieclare]

HEE HEE HEE!! I am still laughing over your post Aaron--My husband is a major carnivore and he thinks of me as a cheap date at a great steak house--I am a vegetarain mostly becasue i do not LIKE meat--eating something that was alive once is not appealing to ME however i do not mind if anyone else eats it!! I have seen flies and bugs in veggies and that also is nauseating--I wash my veggies very well!!! I am NOT undernourished--in fact i am in fantastic shape--you should see me--HAHA!! I have LOW cholesteral no body fat healthy hear tetc etc....i just TWITCH all the time and for a fitness/heath nut it drives me crazy that I can't control it...next week i have a neuro appointment--a follow up to see how the supplements she prescribed worked--they did not work -i still twitch--SO----i am going to go against all my natural principles and TRY a low dose of neurontin and see if it helps--if i have any side effect i will abondon it.....This BFS is the most frustrating thing I have dealt with in my life....I HATE it when I get so upset I can't sleep---Ok--bye for now--i'll let you know what I think of the neurontin next week. I am off to get a snack of carrots and dip!!
marieclare

[Arron]

Marieclare, glad you found my post amusing. It was suppossed to be funny

No body fat on you? Girl? You need to eat a few Twinkies! That'll put some meat on yer bones for sure! Like mama always said, if there's ever a shortage of food, all the skinny people will wither away and die first and leave all the rest for us people with some meat on our bones!

Keep us posted on your neuro visits, OK? Good luck!

[marieclare]

Ok! Arrron, I really admire you and wish you were my neighbor or maybe a friend from my Yoga class!!! I am throwing myself into this dahn Yoga--has anyone heard of it? it is a mind/body/spirit yoga--I am thinking it will calm my mind and in turn my body---I know that sounds very earthy and typical vegetarian from Colorado--BUt I have tried MANY natural things and this Dahn yoga is a way of life...and there are many MEN in the classes!! they have some centers for this yoga in Calif even!!

I keep forgetting to mention this other interesting tidbit...when this BGFS first started for me SIX years ago, one of the three neuros I went to (overseas) told me that He had had BFS for a while too....OF COURSE I asked how he got rid of it thinking that he must have taken the meds he prescribed me (Xanax)...He said that after he "hooked himself to the emg machine and realized it was a stress symptom, he threw himself into his work and totally ignored the fasciculations. Eventually they went away---i of course was so freaked out that I was positive I had ALS --i could not "throw myself into my life and work"....UNTIL i found this very supportive and reassuring forum--exactly six years after this all started...so anyway enough for now!!! I'll keep you posted on the Yoga and MAYBE if i try the neurontin next week...i wish more people would post on their experiences with it...maybe I'll post a request.....!!
bye
marieclare

[Arron]

marieclare, you spelled the dahm yoga thing wrong. It's "darn yoga"

If I even tried moving my old twinkie fed body like that, you know what I'd be saying the next day while I was in sheer pain? Exactly... Darn Yoga!

[marieclare]

arron, you are TOO funny!! it is DAHN yoga---anyway--it is really NOt yoga--it is stretching, tai Chi and meditation...I tried other yogas and this is a new korean concept that has been in the US just 10 years...MILLIONS of koreans (SOUTH KOREA!!) practice it and I bet there are not any people on this forum from Korea!!HA!! I just read in the newspaper this morning that Michael J Fox practices this yoga and it has helped him tremendously with the stress of his Parkinsons....i wonder how someone with parkinsons gets to sleep anyway... You don't do ANY of those weird poses in DAHN yoga--I can't do them anyway as I broke my wrist last year (running and slipped on ice!) and I have no strength in my wrist--Ok More info than you probably wanted...you SHOULD look into DAHN yoga--haha
marieclare