Appreciative of Kind Words

Thank you so much. I will read your letter often as it's so true!!!

Thanks again you guys! I feel better now. Ava, nice to hear from you and know you are doing well!

I have two littl egirls and my twitching subsided a great deal the two times I was pregnant. In fact, it is what had clued me in to consider hormones and the effect they have on this disorder. When you are pregnant there is a flood of progesterone, and estrogen too of course. However, I think that progeseterone dominates the estrogen when you are pregnant and progesterone has a calming effect on the nervous system. Estrogen has a stimulatory effect, and can be worse for certain people with disorders like seizures. My youngest just turned one and I have been on the mini pill (progesterone only) ever since I have had her and knock on wood, my symptoms have stayed pretty minimal.

In my last pregnancy my twictching was horrid for the first 7 weeks. Well I had some spotting start and my ob gyn tested my progesterone because low levels can cause a misscarraige and low and behold my levels were low. He started me on Prometrium (progesterone) and my twicthing improved immediately.

This is all speculation of course, but if feasible, it might not hurt to try a birth control option after you have your baby that has a stronger progestin in it. I think Mircette and Yasmin are two that have a pretty strong progestin in them.

This is an interesting thread...as I was trying to trace when my symptoms began back from a few months ago when I was finally diagnosed with BFCS. The muscle spasm and twitches started about a month or so after I went off birth control. My husband and I had our first baby in May 2004 and trying to avoid back to back pregnancies...I took oral contraceptives for about 7-8 months......we then thought we were ready to try for our second child but I began having problems with my health. (almost a year later those issues were all attributed to BCFS.....fatigue, muscle pain and sometimes spasms, constant twitching, etc) I having difficulty planning/thinking about a second child when physically caring for one is exhausting for me especially due to BCFS, not to mentioned my reduced libido from being in pain. I have a consult with my neuro in a few weeks and we are going to discuss what treatment is available. I've already used several anti-seizure drugs with limited success. I'm going to ask him how birth control impacts this condition and also talk to him about my desire to have another child....many of the anti-seizure drugs cause havoc with estrogen levels....causing spotting between cycle or short cycles not to mention I wouldn't take them if/when I become pregnant. I was hoping to have the symptoms under control before trying to concieve. Maybe that is just a dream??? Just curious if there is a link....I'll keep you posted.

I mentioned this to my neurologist at my last appointment - the fact that certain types of hormones seem to help me, namely progesterone. And I told him that I have felt good enough while being on the mini pill to not need any other type of medication. He just blew it off and said "Whatever Works". He did not confirm if there is a link between hormones or not and I was kind of dissapointed. Personally, I think there are different triggers for everyone. But I feel 100% certain that hormones have an effect on the severity of my symptoms.

What birth control pill were you on when this all started?

When all my symptoms started, one of my visits was to my OBGYN. She told me that hormonal imbalances, particularly in "our perimenopausal years", can trigger twitching, etc. When I googled perimenopause, it had indicated this as well. I started on Yasmin just after that and noticed a difference with several of my perimenopausal symptoms, not just the twitching.