...I meant tics...

OK, seriously...

my dear friend, NT newsbot found an article today about Brain's reaction to yummy food may predict weight.

click here for the full article

few paragraphs jumped out at me:

I knew about these facts but didn't put them together until today...

what I find interesting is that when I look at a lot of the TSers that are consider *hard twitchers.

They are usually thin or of average weight...I also remember there were few studies done on metabolism on TSers from moderate to severe but I can't remember the results..

in my fainted memory I can recall that a lot of us HARD twitchers seem to eat a lot...but don't seem to gain weight.

logically it is thought that we just ticced it all off....

but there are people whose genes make them bigger and they are in great shape and would exercise and yet, they cannot lose the extra pounds...

when I was younger, I ate all the time and would not get fat...but I twitched a lot harder...

then it slowed down when I was in my 30's...and now, I twitch but not like I used to...I am considered a low moderate twitcher now...and now I do have a small gut...LOL

I am wondering about the dopamine and metabolism connection in the TSers...

we have "dysfunctional" dopamine levels...yet, we are on the more "skinnier" group (not everyone, but when I was at the TS convention, a lot of the TSers have the skinnier built)

the other thing that I am intrigued about is:

why do we tic??

I mean, what is it? When we compare it to an itch...like, for example, let's say you've been bitten by a mosquito and you are not allowed to scratch it for hours, then, finally, you can...then you go at it...

the first sensation is usually..."ahhhhhhhh" (a release...an "ease up" of sorts)

if I have to break my tics down, tic by tic, I am now realizing that it IS a satisfaction...that if I don't tic, I just get edgy...but if I tic, I get a type of "satisfaction"

My question then goes back to, how does this relate to dopamine. Is it the dopamine that make us twitch? or is the dopamine released because the "itch" was there in the first place and we produce the dopamines to make us satisfied...

kinda like which came first, the chicken or the egg? I think the medical community have long believed that the dopamine level is out of whack first and then it created the twitches...but what if it is the opposite?

And how would that be related to Parkinsons, in the other end of the spectrum? I know they have lower levels of dopamine but could there be something underlying to cause the lower level of dopamine vs. just that the dopamine level just went lower and then Parkinson Happens...

what do you guys think???

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

(I gotta run, am heading out of town, but will be back on Sunday...so, if you have input, don't think I'll forget about you... )

Hi!! I found all of that very interesting. I think it's worth looking into considering alot of the research being done is based on what they THINK happens.

My brother with TS would be the healthiest of my brothers, and not fat. He's 52 now.

Something I have wondered about is {probably silly} how they say some TS is gentic and some isn't. Well if that is the case, how come as soon as 2 relatives have it {not just parent and child} they refer to theirs as genetic... what's to say that at least one of them hasn't got the type that isn't? Like with cancer, some types can be passed on, but just because 2 rellies have it , it doesn't mean they're the same. I hope that made sense, but I know what I mean. {someone has to }

Personally I think there is still so much that is unknown, and I think it is what it is.

The dopamiane is a very interesting issue. Love to hear what others think.

Lyn.

interesting thoughts there sir Moi

I am not sure where the research has led recently, but I know I had read also that perhaps it is not just the levels of dopamine that trigger the tics but that the dopamine receptors are hypersensitive in TS so that even a *tiny* change in dopamine levels can bring about an large response ie the increased tics

Lynnie, re your comment on genetics, I personally think it is more the genetic predisposition that is inherited and then that various internal and environmental triggers are what bring the symptoms out.
I am personally still not convinced that the "non genetic" TS exists...with all the evidence on PANDAS & PITANDS and even food allergies, photrosensitivity, pyroluria etc inducing TS-like symptoms, I think many people are mis-diagnosed with TS