Mon, Aug-25-03, 12:49
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Forum Founder
Posts: 37,294
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Plan: LC, GF
Stats: 241/185/140
BF:
Progress: 55%
Location: Eastern ON, Canada
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hi Tracy,
You are not alone. I'm sporting a gigantic bruise on my thigh from banging into the corner of the dresser .. and I don't own a complete set of dishes or glassware for having dropped at least one or two pieces from each set  My "favourite" trick is to poke myself in the eye when I'm aiming to scratch my cheek, or I'll ram a forkful of food into my chin instead of my mouth.
There is a reason for it ... we're not crazy. In her book, Fibromyalgia & Chronic Myofascial Pain Syndrome: a survival manual, Dr. Devin Starlanyl (who has fibro)
states:
Quote:
... When small groups of muscles randomly fire, you may experience what are called fasciculations. One person on the Internet calls them "butterfly kisses." These are small twitches that usually start by being fairly imperceptible, and they do not involve joint movement. They start with rapid firing randomly located neurons. When enough muscle fibers are involved, a twitch results. Jerks and spasms of the body often indicate that the muscles are not getting sufficient oxygen, and these symptoms can increase before flare.
In addition, you may experience one or more of the following symptoms:
• Your muscle strength may become unreliable, and you may drop things more often than usual. You may also be aware of weakness during certain movements, such as when pouring liquids, turning a doorknob, or opening a can of pet food. This occurs because the muscle involved has learned to limit the the force of its contraction to below the pain threshold; as a result, it starts compensating and restricting certain movements.
• An involved extremity may feel cold compared with the other one, due to constriction of the blood vessels.
• You may feel frequent dizziness when you change your posture. This could be restricted to when you get up after lying down, or it could happen every time you move your head. Some people cannot walk without feeling that they are falling forward.
• Another symptom is spatial disorientation. You can no longer tell where you are relation to the world around you. You bump into walls and fall over curbs. It isn't unusual to come out of this with a sprain, strain, or even a broken bone. You may find it necessary to restrict yourself to one floor level.
Along with or instead of this, you may have disturbed weight-perception. It may be hard for you to judge the weight of objects you pick up. This can result in apparently throwing objects around.
• It may be increasingly difficult to feed yourself without spilling food. You may need to use straws to get liquid to your mouth.
• Fibrofog - the inability to think clearly - may become extreme. The fog may creep up and get so thick that you are unaware even of the fact that you are in flare.
• Depression due to chronic pain may worsen, as may the pain itself.
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As far as low-carbing goes in relation to Fibro-flares ... I believe that hypoglycemia can worsen any of the symptoms, especially the brain fog. Eating smaller meals more frequently will help, and always have protein with every meal and snack. Don't eat carbs alone, even if it's a "low-carb" thing.
And I try to have quick to grab and eat protein things handy, like small cans of tuna, cheese and h/b eggs. When you're in a big flare, the last thing you feel like is cooking, and then standing in front of the sink afterward doing dishes (and dropping things  )
Doreen
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You also helped me to understand a couple of other things I was wondering about, that were mentioned in your post. I read and read about FMS, and still I am surprised at how much I Don't know about it. 
Neither can the experts, and there is still some disagreement as to whether it's even a bona fide phenomenon, or if it's yet another thing that's all in our heads 
Linear Mode
