Welcome Back! Updates On Health & Twitches

[hCapitalize]

For all the old timers who remember me, I have not dropped off the edge of the earth yet.I was rushed into hospital recently with a suspected heart attack, that turned out to be a false alarm. I am now on beta blockers.It occurs to me this is a good opportunity to see if the beta blocker (propanolol) has any effect on my twitches, it has already had an effect in steadying my right hand it's magical not a trace of tremor.Apart from that I am going for another brain scan. I don't actually want one, but it is the ENT who has ordered it this time, he failed to trigger my vertigo by tipping me up. (I think either that he wasn't using the right manoever for my vertigo, or that beta blockers are good for this too)I am being given a new licence to worry about brain tumours now, well I suspect the scan will go looking for acoustic neuroma amongst other things, but I am pretty sure nothing is there, (apart from my brain that is, though they may have concluded that I have mislaid it somewhere)

 

[simonw00]

Hi PlayfulPantsGlad to hear your heart scare was a false alarm and I am sure your scan will also be fine - I guess the ENT surgeon is just dotting the I's and crossing the T's. Also good to know that, in terms of your twitching, it is a case of 'same old same old' and that you haven't 'fallen off the edge of the planet' just yet!RegardsSimon

 

[GolferGalaxy]

How ironic that you posted this. I actually saw my Neuro last week, it has been over a year since I've seen him. My symptoms have not changed and I remain as frustrated as ever. Anyway, he gave me a very quick clinical which was normal and then prescribed me propranolol. He suggested that my body may be secreting too much adrenaline. I think, so far, it may have reduced some of the internal buzzing/humming that I am feeling and maybe some of the twitches. These symptoms are certainly not gone but maybe a little less pronounced. I still have the muscle fatigue, rubbery legs sensation after mild exertion, etc.2 years 4 months for me!CDC

 

[suegirl]

I have been on Propranol for 2 1/2 years for migraines. I started it about 6 months after the twitching started. It has done nothing for my twitching. It did help my tremors though.Sue

 

[hCapitalize]

Well I think each of us builds our own pseudo scientific theries as to the origin of our twitches.I don't think my notions are unique to me, in terms of considering finely tuned nerves with the "gain turned up" only yesterday the ENT Dr described my tinnitus in those terms, he said that with hearing loss in certain frequencies, the brain expects to hear that frequency, and when it can't find it turns up the gain to listen for it, amplifying all the mush in the meantime. Well it makes surface sense if you compare the nervous system to a radio set with an amplifier, if the nerves are the antenna and the brain the amplifier.Strangely enough a Dr attempted to describe my visual snow in similar terms, but I think in retrospect given the fact that descriptions phenomena like visual snow are as rare as unicorns in the medical literature, he was guessing the same as me.My thery is that twitches are the same phenomenon. So now the real Dr's can come down on me and say this is "folk science" and bunk.How does this relate to beta blockers? Well I theorize again that part of the anxiety response which is damped by beta blockers the fight or flight response is to fine tune the muscles into a state of readiness, which exacerbates any tendency towards false firing, especially if one has the fast twitching fibres of the sprinter.I suppose however if the twitches don't disapear, then at least beta blockers sort out a twitch from a tremor and the beta blockers have already eliminated my hand tremor.

 

[hCapitalize]

Well if beta blockers are good for migraines, they have done nothing to suppress my auras. The visual snow is the same as ever and I have experienced another types of aura since starting. Mind you my migraine experience is not typical anyway because I only get the auras, they don't develop into anything else.

 

[LivelyCheer]

I too believe that our systems have been ramped up and were not allowed to calm down like they should... Like running a fever when sick. The body responds like it should when sick but then returns to normal when the infection is gone. BFS along with all its secondary symptoms are, I believe, secondary to a ramped up sympathetic system in which the body as set a new level (or "normal" bar).B-bockers work very well to dampen the sympathetic system effects on the body... tremors, vibrations, rapid heart rate etc. I don't think that they do much for the twitches. If you respond to B-blockers, a lot of your symptoms may be caused by anxiety. Just my own thoughts. I have noted that if you get out of your own head, and into the world, the anxiety along with the secondary effects will decrease....or you can take a b-blocker (I have in the past especially before public speeking).Chip

 

[Haileyside]

Just don't forget that Beta-blockers can have side effects like fatal heart arrythmias. They should be used carefully.Carlos

 

[endersians]

For some people betablockers work partially well. Some of the betablockers slow down the heart beats. The heart rate sould not be less than 50-55 per minute. Heart rate less than 50 can cause faints.