> .from where is the tm coming? like a cold/flu virus you can
> get from touching shopping cart handle. where do you get tm? how do you
> get
> it? can you do anything to "not get it"?
> i had Bells Palsy and was paralyzed on half my face....or did i have tm,
too?
>
> now i am really wondering about too many things.
> THANX for the article! Ya'll remain in my thoughts and prayers! Renae
Renae,
Well, those are some of the big questions, with no clear, irrefutable answers
just yet. TM is usually thought to be caused by either a virus or an auto-
immune reaction. I don't think they know yet whether there is a specific virus
that causes TM or if it is from any virus that just happens to travel to the
spine. I did not realize that could happen until recent years, when my step-
father was exposed to chicken pox and the virus settled in his eye and his
retina detatched. I just read an article about a girl who had a virus that
traveled to her hip and caused her a number of problems, but I don't remember
the specifics. I have wondered about the auto-immune possibility. Someone told
me recently that the auto-immune response is only at the onset of TM and not a
constant thing. I guess if it is auto-immunity, that would be the case, else
we'd all be having multiple or constant attacks (maybe that is one difference
between TM and MS?) But it seems that if your immune system could act up and
attack your own body one time, it would be likely, or at least possible, to do
it again. The "usual" case of TM that comes in, does its damage, and leaves
again sounds more like a virus to me, though I am not at all a health
professional.
I believe Bell's palsy is a different thing from
TM, though they both affect nerves which affect muscles.
Barbara H.