I don't know if many people are sitting in the same boat as me, but along with this disease i also have a stutter which becomes a lot worse with the disease. I am on Mexiletine and it works wonders, unless i become active. One moment i have no stiffness and little stutter, i play a sport where i'm getting my blood pumping and it feels like i missed my doses for 2 days. I have learned my own limits, which in the end restricts me from doing what i want to do and say.

The question behind all of this is does anybody have any advice or stories to share, because it's hard knowing that this disease affects every aspect of my life. Also, how do you go about telling friends that you've known for awhile and should you?

Type of Myotonia: Thomsen

Country: Canada

Chris,

Stuttering is worsened by a magnesium deficiency and so is myotonia. Magnesium is depleted by exercise so it's possible that's why you're seeing a correlation between the two.

I would suggest buying some magnesium citrate powder at the health food store. Start with a small dose twice a day and see if that helps. Too much will cause loose stools so you have to increase it to your tolerance level gradually.

Another sign of magnesium deficiency is hiccups :-)

Jan

Type of Myotonia: Thomsen's

Country: US

I'll try it out when i can and will let you know how it works.Thanks for the advice.

Type of Myotonia: Thomsen

Country: Canada

Chris:

I don't have a stutter but sometimes the MC causes me to trip my words up, or slows me down when speaking and so I don't always pull off the smoothest word delivery. This can make me seem more "nerdy" than I actually am, or less confident than I actually am, which can be frustrating, so I can relate.

I saw a device on a documentary once for people with severe stutters. It fed back what the person was saying, into their ear, which distracted their brain, causing them to speak a little slower but without the stutter.

On another note, I used to have a handy man who had a severe stutter, and still insisted on every other word being a four letter one. He had a lot of perseverance :-)

Type of Myotonia: Becker

Country: USA