Yes, it's very normal to have little flare-ups. I would often
fear another attack was coming on during the first year or two, but in my case,
it never got quite to the extent the first attack reached. I was seeing my neuro
often the first several months and he would assure me that it was just a
flare-up. He said that the TM affects the nervous system in such a way that it's
like it is oversensitive to stimuli, so even things like not getting enough
sleep or having a cold or having stress (even "good" stress, like getting ready
for company to come) could make symptoms flare up a bit. But some times there
was no reason that I knew of -- things would just get worse for a while. Even
now, almost 11 years later, though I've kind of reached a plateau, there will be
some days when I'll wonder what in the world is going on with me. I kind of
think of it as riding the waves (though I'm not surfer and can't even swim :-) )
-- but I try to tell myself, "This is just a flare-up -- just ride it out for a
while and things will be normal again." Of course, after TM hits, "normal" is
different from what it was before anyway. :-)
That said, though, don't hesitate to call your dr. if things
are flaring up to the point where it is scaring you. And ask about different
medications -- Kathryn mentioned Baclofen. That didn't do much for me, but it
helps a lot of people. I was on Tegretol for a while -- my neuro said it was
used for epilepsy patients but had a "quieting effect" on the nervous system in
general, so was sometimes used for TM patients. It really did help, but they
have to check your liver functions often when you're on it. I decided to get off
of it because I was afraid of long-tern liver damage (though that may be
unfounded, I don't know). But I wouldn't hesitate to try it again if I felt I
needed it. We all have different body chemistries and different things, or
different combinations of things, will be helpful to different
people.
Barbara H.
In a message dated 8/7/2006 11:16:36 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
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