This is a really strange phenomenon, and I'm not sure what to make of it, but the collective knowledge and expertise of the people on this forum is quite remarkable so I thought I'd see if any of you have any insights.

Whenever I have a really bad day, very weak most of the day, and feeling hungry at dinnertime: every time we go out for pizza and wings when I'm like this, my symptoms go away after eating buffalo wings with ranch dip and diet coke. (Before the pizza arrives.) I'm going to try to link to a video of the dramatic improvement:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0pGkwL0miA

I can't figure out what is giving the benefit. Other salty foods, fatty foods, spicy foods, vinegary foods, don't do it. Chicken for dinner at home doesn't do it. Diet coke or ranch dressing independent of the wings don't do it. The only other thing that has had this kind of consistent effect was crab puffs with some kind of soy-based dipping sauce from PickUp Stix. It didn't work if I didn't use the dipping sauce, but soy sauce by itself doesn't do the trick. Any thoughts? (Other than, "Geode is a nutcase!" or "now I understand why she's so big!" LOL)

Thanks,
Tatia

Wow, that is really interesting. For what it's worth, I don't think you're nuts at all. I love the way you have documented this. You seem like a person I would like to know.

I see from your previous posts that you know about hypo- and hyperkalemic periodic paralysis. Even those, though, are made worse by high-carb, greasy meals, and not better.

Only one thought here: you say eating these foods, and other salty foods, at home doesn't have the same effect. I think that restaurant foods are WAY saltier than anything you'd make at home even if you were trying to cook with a lot of salt. Greasier, too. They say that we couldn't cook that "unhealthy" if we tried.

I wish you the best of luck in figuring this out. What an incredible mystery. Please let us know if you get any new clues!

Abby

Monosodium glutamate?

Ooh, that's a good thought, the MSG! You can actually buy it at a large grocery store, for home experimenting.

Yes, it is called Accent.

We avoid this like the plague on PN board. I'll look around and
see what it does if anything for MG.

This article says MG has low glutamic acid !
http://www.ehow.com/about_5885736_te...amic-acid.html

MSG is really difficult...so I would be careful with it.
Here is a website with glutamic acid listed contents of some foods, including fast foods:
http://nutritiondata.self.com/foods-...000000000.html

Consuming glutamic acid may be safer than MSG... but I would think MSG would be in all fast foods to some extent.

Tatia, you are not a "psych" case -- LOL!!

Here is a link to a thread by Annie that might explain what is going on:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread80534.html

In case you don't want to OR can't look at this thread, caffeine (Diet Coke) and nightshades act like Mestinon (peppers are in the nightshade family -- cayenne pepper is an ingredient of Buffalo Wings). So, you are, in effect, medicating with food.

Get an ingredient list from both foods (beg and insist if need be) and first see if there are common ingredients (like all the spices on the chicken and whatever is in the dipping sauce). Try everything in common serially. If there is nothing in common, try everything on both lists to see if you can find two substances which work. (If it's MSG, that would be nice, but if it isn't, go through everything.)

Very impressive. I would try and eat each ingredient on its own (the chicken wing sauce, the chicken wings without the sauce and the ranch dip) to first see if its one of them or a combination. Also, try seeing if you have the same effect when its a takeaway at home (maybe something else in the restaurant is doing it and just being there for 10 minutes is what does the trick?). Also, try eating those things during lunch instead of dinner. Also try another sauce for the chicken wings. eat home-made chicken with the sauce from the restaurant etc.

Here's a list of foods highest in glutamic acid (per 200 calories):

http://nutritiondata.self.com/foods-...000000000.html

Abby