Posted by: Rita Molnar ®
02/22/2003, 23:37:01
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Hi Jacqui...Stress and anxiety always triggers my symptoms...so anything that can help me to relieve anxiety is good. I find that meditation, self-hypnosis, relaxation tapes do help, but the help is only short-term for me. Soon after I've relaxed with the tapes, the symptoms return again. Maybe I need to do them more often to feel any long-term effects, but I'm too impatient, and I lack the discipline. Haven't tried acupuncture. But before I was diagnosed, I did a lot of research into behavior modification--convinced I could get my mind to make me stop the blinking, etc. My attempts were unsuccessful...only made me feel worst--because I wasn't able to will myself to control the spasms, no matter what I tried. Exercise seems to be helpful--I don't know why. Hope you find some answers... Rita in New Jersey
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Posted by: June in Toronto ®
02/23/2003, 10:44:12
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I do yoga and meditate most days, Jacqui - not in particular for the help they might give me with beb, but for stress and the mind/body in general. I haven't found that the beb is any less but I think I cope with it better if I continue to meditate using breathing into the affected areas of whatever parts of the body cause problems. I thought about trying acupuncture but haven't come up with any studies or people references that suggest that it could help. Let us know if you find something that helps you.June in Toronto (8 years beb/meige)
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Posted by: denise mckew ®
02/23/2003, 10:49:23
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Jacqui,I find that acupuncture helps temporarily, as does massage, yoga etc. I find that being more relaxed helps my symptoms. Take care
Denise
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Posted by: Lynn Yarbrough ®
02/23/2003, 11:58:54
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Hi, Jacqui,Two things that I have found helpful: 1) Stress reduction/management: stress does not cause BEB, but it surely agravates it. Any technique you have to reduce stress will be helpful. But yoga, etc. are not cures, merely helpful. 2) Adrenalin in moderate amounts is capable of popping your eyes open for a short time. This has prevented most of us from killing ourselves and our neighbors by driving. But it's not reliable -- just when you think everything is under control, you find it's not. Accupuncture has been demonstrated, I would say, to NOT work. Unless you follow the advice of one of our doctors and dip the needles in Botox first :-) There are several negative studies in the literature, none positive that I have seen. --- Lynn
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Posted by: denise mckew ®
02/24/2003, 09:09:05
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Lynn,Can you direct me to the studies on acupuncture and BEB? I have had acupuncture several times, with the intent of decreasing spasms. I would hate to think I was doing something to aggrevate the BEB without realizing it. When I had it, the immediate result was increased spasming, but once it settled, I had a couple of good days. Thanks,
Denise
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Posted by: Lynn Yarbrough ®
02/24/2003, 15:00:42
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The only paper on accupuncture that I have at hand is Accupuncture in the treatment of Blepharospasm: A preliminary Report", by A couple of Taiwanese Doctors, published in "Blepharospasm and Related Disorders" and available from the BEBRF. It is somewhat favorable in its conclusions, but the statistical sample it is based on (19 patients) is very small and biased toward male patients (14-5) although we know the disease is partial to women by 4:1. Add to that the fact that the doctors are biased toward accupuncture and it becomes dubious. I have seen other papers that I don't have copies of, and their conclusions are quite different.--- Lynn
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Posted by: Barbara Molnar ®
02/23/2003, 12:41:40
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Jacqui,I've found that self-hypnosis does help me to a certain extent but I'm planning to go to a hypnotist for him to do it and see if that works any better. Will let you know the results, I go on Wednesday. Barbara in New Jersey
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