Ok this might seem odd but i came by a crazy youtube video which showed a plate of fresh frogs legs that were then sprinkled with salt which almost instantly caused all the muscles to twitch like mad. Now since i have had this BFS ive never looked into a low soduim / salt free diet...as anyone got any comments or am i barking up the wrong tree here The video link is below but some may find offensive /disturbing so just beware if you chose to watch itBeing as frogs legs are eaten in many places i dontb think its cruelty as the frogs are already dead and skinned
Totally Crazy YouTube Video: Frog Legs!
- Thread starter RainCat
- Start date
Didn't look at the clip but I think the physiological mechanism by which this happens to dead frog muscle doesn't apply to live humans with BFS. You could always try a month on and a month off salt and see if it makes a difference. I have a lot of (non twitchy) patients who advise that their salt intake affects muscle cramps.RegardsSimon
reading thru a few comments .....Yes, this explanation is mostly correct. Once the salt touched the water on the frogs' legs, it was broken up into sodium and chlorine ions. The sodium ions then passed through sodium channels in the axons of the neurons? (nerve cells) , depolarizing the membrane of the neurons. The electrical charge, typically more than 15 millivolts higher than the resting state, will then travel to the muscle fibers. Here they give the message for the muscle fibers to contract, creating the twitch seen herethe nerve endings haven't died yet. so when the salt is poured on the nerves still? react and cause muscles to twitch. The reason this works has something to do with salt dissolving into sodium and chloride ions in the water in the fish or? the frog legs. These ions stimulate the muscles, but since the electrical impulses from the salt are inanimate, you only get random twitching 
A blood test to look at your sodium level is likely to be normal in all but the more extreme of cases of sodium balance problems. Even checking urinary sodium is unlikely to pick anything up in the situation people like us find ourselves in. I think the only way of checking out the sodium issue is to do a month on/ month off trial to see what happens.But salt tastes so good, especially when added to those lovely fish and chips at that chip shop down the road from you in Barnsley!RegardsSimon
MahwahFresh
Well-known member
I am a huge salt lover and I have found that less salt helps my symptoms a lot. strangely not as much with those crampy feelings.
salt/sodium consumption definitely effects my twitching/cramping levels. so much so that I have come to question in my mind weather k channel blockers (popular theory) are to blame in my case or if it is due to some sort of na problem. K supplementation has little or no effect on me personally and I tested negative for the k antibody.take care,Gary
tia,One of the major theories as to why we twitch is due to potassium channel blockers. The theory (very loosely stated) is that some people have an antibody that blocks the potassium channels at the cellular level that leads to an inbalance within the cell of micronutrients. This in turns disrupts the conduction of the nerve signals and causes spontaneous firings of the muscle cells and peripheral nerve hyperexcitability. There was a doctor Hart (he died suddenly), out of England that was researching this. You could google him or search this site for k channel blockers.To answer your question about salt intake, for me, when I lower my salt consumption, my sxs seem to worsen. Not a very good thing for a middle aged man, with slightlty elevated blood pressure.....dang, I guess i've got to go to the gym 
) . Hope this helps.Gary
) . Hope this helps.GaryMysticalGlitchy
Well-known member
Oh my goodness... Dr. Hart died? What happened? He didn't have BFS did he? I'm sorry to hear this news. I've been gone, so if anyone has the details, please post them. Thanks!