how to tell between a tic, blepharospasm or need of vitamins


Posted by melissal ® , Apr 18,2002,14:27   Archive
I work for an asian company and I have seen it in 2 or 3 out of about maybe 15 chinese men that have worked here. They all come from Taiwan, so I was thinking maybe is the food, (lack of some nutrient, vitamin or mineral) or excess of.
Personally I have had it on and off since I was very young, and it comes and goes, some times more severe and some times very mild, but it aggravates under stress or when I'm the center of attention, (i.e. when I'm being filmed).

I was very nearsighted since I was about 8 or 9, and recently had laser surgery. It worked beautifully, but the spasm have not gone away. My eye doctor says everything is excellent with my eyes, that is just a tic. (since before I was 10?).he is very good and has been in charge of my eyes all my life.

Anyway, sorry for the rambling, I wanted to mention I lived in FLA for a year and when I arrived I had it, but it went away after a week and didn't return during the whole year. Maybe it was the weather change, since where I am is very humid, and there it wasn't.

Sorry this is so long, but I think this is all very curious.
Any comments?

Bye.




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Re:tics, beb. or vitamins?

Re : how to tell between a tic, blepharospasm or need of vitamins --- melissal
Posted by Kathy in Atlanta ® (kathy,Kathy in Atlanta), Apr 18,2002,15:09 Top of Thread Archive
I don't think facial tics cause pain. My severe blepharospasm does. It's interesting the correlation you are noticing in a specific population group, which might indeed point to a dietary thing. I know people who have had facial tics go away with the addition of a B-vitamin supplement taken on a regular basis. B-vitamins are water soluble, the excess is eliminated in the urine, and are one of the vitamins that are wiped out due to stress, etc. It's almost impossible to overdose on these, one must just be sensible in the dosage.
I'm sure tics are annoying as hell, however.

--modified by Kathy in Atlanta at Thu, Apr 18, 2002, 15:10:16




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Re: tic, blepharospasm or need of vitamins?

Re : how to tell between a tic, blepharospasm or need of vitamins --- melissal
Posted by Shirley-Arkansas-USA ® , Apr 18,2002,15:22 Top of Thread Archive
Melissal, I've copied a brief portion of the BEBRF Main Page that you can find by going to the top of the bulletin board page and clicking on it. It is below:

What is Blepharospasm?
Blepharo means "eyelid". Spasm means "uncontrolled muscle contraction". The term blepharospasm ['blef-a-ro-spaz-m] can be applied to any abnormal blinking or eyelid tic or twitch resulting from any cause, ranging from dry eyes to Tourette's syndrome to tardive dyskinesia. The blepharospasm referred to here is officially called benign essential blepharospasm (BEB) to distinguish it from the less serious secondary blinking disorders. "Benign" indicates the condition is not life threatening, and "essential" is a medical term meaning "of unknown cause". It is both a cranial and a focal dystonia. Cranial refers to the head and focal indicates confinement to one part. The word dystonia describes abnormal involuntary sustained muscle contractions and spasms. Patients with blepharospasm have normal eyes. The visual disturbance is due solely to the forced closure of the eyelids.


I think that if you have not already done so that you should contact a physician who is very familiar with treating blepharospasm patients and see if you can get another opinion. You may have a "tic" like your eye doctor is telling you or you may have BEB. You may need to do a little more reading on the subject to see if your symptoms match those of people with Benign Essential Blepharospasm.

Having had eye tics myself in the past, I can tell you that my eye tics are totally different from BEB symptoms. Tics are quite annoying and like you describe, mine would come and go with stress making them worse. I also had them as a young girl.

Shirley in Arkansas with BEB/Apraxia




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Re: tic, blepharospasm or need of vitamins?

Re : Re: tic, blepharospasm or need of vitamins? --- Shirley-Arkansas-USA
Posted by melissal ® , Apr 18,2002,15:34 Top of Thread Archive
I also have a mild mitral valve prolapse that has caused me arrythmia. It was diagnosed when I was 24, I am now 32.
For what I have read, this also has something to do with the nervous system.
After reading about all of this I made an appointment with a nerurologist for Tuesday. Is my first time going to a neurologist. I will have to wait and see what comes of it.

Thank you for your help.

Bye




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