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Re: Mexiletine Overdose

Dong, one of the reasons it's important to know about the type is because strenuous exercise can cause muscle damage over time with the sodium channel myotonias. You might want to ask your doctor if he can order a CPK test to do a few hours after you exercise and see how much muscle breakdown you're getting.

If your brother had the testing done many years ago they may not have had the DNA tests available for sodium channel myotonia. But if his was positive for two myotonia congenita related mutations (the same or two different ones) then you can be pretty sure you have Becker's MC.

Have you taken any medications for cholesterol? Statin drugs can make myotonia much worse and even cause permanent muscle damage for us.

I would definitely give the taurine a try (1-2 grams a day). It will also help with liver function.

Jan

Type of Myotonia: Thomsen's

Country: USA

Re: Mexiletine Overdose

Hi Jan,

My brother was tested recently (in the last few years) but cannot locate the paperwork with the results. When I was first diagnosed over 10 years ago the doctor said he was pretty sure it was a chloride channel dysfunction. I will definitely find out exactly in the next few weeks.

Regarding cholesterol I only take fish oil:)

I tried Taurine over a few days and it did nothing. I took 1000mg (2 500mg) pills and then on another day I bumped it up to (2000mg). I read the max intake is 3000mg. I will update you on the other supplements you recommended on a later date after thorough testing:)

Thanks!

Type of Myotonia: Unsure

Re: Mexiletine Overdose

If the taurine didn't help, then you probably wouldn't see any improvement with carbamazepine (Tegretol) or other anti-epilepsy drugs.

If the licorice root helps (and don't exceed the label recommendation) then possibly acetazolamide (Diamox) would be a medication that would work.

Even though fish oil is very helpful in lowering triglycerides and increasing insulin sensitivity, that increased sensitivity can sometimes make myotonia worse. I would rather have stiffness than diabetes or heart disease, but you may be able to experiment with the fish oil and see if a lower dose would still have the beneficial effects without increasing myotonia. If you use fish oil, you have to be much more careful about sugar in your diet. There are two books that are especially helpful in planning a low glycemic index diet: The Zone and The South Beach Diet. A sports nutritionist can also give you guidelines.

Jan

Type of Myotonia: Thomsen's

Country: USA

Re: Mexiletine Overdose

Thank you Jan:) I will keep your suggestions in mind.

Btw, after doing some more reading and research I'm pretty sure I don't have Becker's because I don't suffer from muscle weakness at all. Its just stiffness.

Type of Myotonia: Unsure

Re: Mexiletine Overdose

Since I have taken almost everything out there before getting to a good medication... I would recommend acetazolamide. Your phsyician may know it as Diamox. Very cheap, and the side effect is that it will make you have to use the bathroom a lot more for about 2-3 days before you kidneys get used to it. That is the down side of a diuretic, but the only one. Since your system reacted that same way to Mexiletine mine did, only speculating that it will react the same to Acetazolamide. It works really well for me. It gives me between 75%-85% restoration of function, no aches, pains, or anything else. You will need to drink about 16 oz more water a day to compensate, but I doubt that is going to be too much a hassle. There is one weird side effect too for the first few days... wobbly legs, as though you have had 100 restoration of motion and you body does not know how to compensate yet.

For a while I thought it was giving me kidney stones, but that was just me be genetically prone to them. If it works really well you may have the newer myotonia, which I am still trying to figure out how accurate or real it is. But, there are a few articles out there on acetazolamide reactive myotonia - which for me just leaves a big question mark.

Just a thought. Hope you find something that works well for you.

Type of Myotonia: Acetazolamide Reactive (Testing)

Country: US