Recovering from Benign Essential Blepharospasm. A patient experience

I’m Jim from Australia, & I love my life, even in my darkest hour I still thought I was the luckiest bloke in the world! :). Initially my blepharospasm was triggered by drug dealers/ice manufacturers moving in next door back in my old home town. It wasn’t so much what they did, but my anxiety & paranoia was rampant. I saw things happening in my mind that pushed me to the brink. I felt something switch inside my brain, & from that moment on I progressively got worse until I was falling over things, bumping into people, hitting walls at home & all the rest of it that goes with it. Couldnt work out what it was, then I refined my googling (its super rare in Oz) until I finally came up with what it was. I researched the living suitcase out of it until I had a thick file, took it to my optamologist & said, ‘this is what I’ve got, give me the botox pl’. It worked initially & I was rapt. From there on it was downhill, & I swapped my Opthalmologist for a Neurologist once I had determined my issues came from the brain. She was ultra interested in my situation & spent a lot of time  interviewing & examining me. Her first injections of botox were great too, but like the last lot, didn’t take long to fade out also. This was about the time I heard Doug’s the architects video clip on the internet about Dr Farias, so I was on it quick smart.

As the botox around the face/eyes was giving me little, I ceased this, but continued injections of botox into my neck muscles as I’ve had neck issues for forty years or so. I had commenced studying with Dr Farias’  & team in Feb this year (Feb 1), so I’m just completing nine months. It has been an incredible ride. And will continue to do so for awhile yet. I had sat for an exam, yet couldn’t upload a pic of myself, as it kept coming back, ‘open your eyes’. This was the first issue I had, as I had to pass it to stay in my financial planning business. Ultimately I had to sit it three times, the first time this has happened in forty odd years of business. But I was determined to get through, even though I couldn’t keep my eyes open for any longer than 10 to 15 seconds at a time. I had indeed been diagnosed as ‘functionally blind’. I felt all those emotions we all feel, frustration personified! But rarely did it get me down, I just kept working with it & through it, when I nearly fell in our pool many times, I would laugh at myself, & many other ‘Charlie Chaplin moments.’ The only thing that really angered me was when we went out, & someone accused me of being drunk, that would fire me up!

Anyway, I commenced Dr. Farias program about four & a half years into my blepharosasm, & just did what the program said to do. I found it a bit of a drag on my time initially, but then started to work with it, then ultimately can’t wait to get on the computer & start my day with it. Indeed I’d be lost without it nine months up the track.

Sometimes it’s good when I have bad moments or sections of a day, because it makes you realise just how far you’ve come. When I think back to the bloke nearly falling into the pool, bumping into walls & banging into my partner, it seems like a different person, from a different age….Probably the first thing I noticed was the sun wasn’t as bright when I went outside, bright lights weren’t almost blinding me. I’m still a little that way, but it only takes a few seconds to acclimatize to the Australian sun. The second thing I noticed was those bloody ear-worms had ceased. After having them for forty years, they’d ceased pretty much. I don’t miss them, in fact I’d never heard the term until I heard Kim’s oratory on the matter.

I had really bad dry eyes for years, we found many different drops to no avail, until I found lacritec, a plant based capsule that fixed that issue pretty well after six weeks. I continued to take them for maybe three years, I’d run out sometimes, & the dry eyes would return in a flash. I ran out six weeks ago & haven’t needed them at all since. There’s a saving of $1 a day! Then the five second intervals between spasms started to stretch out to ten seconds. Ultimately I was able to watch a little TV which I’d missed. Other screens didn’t seem too bad, but TV was just no go. As the good doctor says, ‘you have good days & bad days’, my days now don’t fluctuate so much, but as I walk a lot, the wind can get a hold of me, or I lose my focus & the spasms start again until I can re focus. Alcohol I find knocks my eyes for six as well, it can close them completely. I would say I’m somewhere between 60 & 70% better, & if that can become 90 or 100% after the next year or so, fantastic, but as the good doctor says, ‘don’t put time limits on yourself, be patient’. I bookend my days with eye exercises, the start & finish. I’ll kick off with Dr Farias eye exercises, finish off with Advanced eye tracking, & in middle of day usually peripheral vision or brain balance. I’ll usually intersperse another of the exercises in there also over the day. Ill also do about a dozen eyelid exercises three times over the day. Sensory Stimulation is also a must for me each day. I do the 3 major breathing exercises for half hr also, plus one breathing exercise as well. Further I listen to Dr Farias classes one a day, I also listen to Bonnie’s nutrition class which I find interesting & informative. I’ve always been a skinny bloke trying to break out of a fat man’s body, & I’m having success in that area also. Ill finish off the day with 3  therapeutic music numbers, allowing for the 7 minutes after each. When I get up in the night, I put a song on again which usually helps me nod off again. I’ll also fit in a meditation or a hypnosis. These are my mandatory go to’s each day, but if Kim releases a new one, or patient experience, I’ll jump on those straight away, they dont take long, & Kim’s bubbly personality & enthusiasm certainly gives my day a spark! Just another massive positive. A couple of months ago I fell over, as I know how important it is to get out amongst nature, but my eyes lock down when walking. I asked & Kim said, ‘focus on something’. I now focus all the time, usually beautiful bottle brushes this time of the year (it’s spring), or another vivid colour. (Aussie spelling) Traffic lights are another thing I lock onto, & I find I can focus from up to a km away. I have brought that focussing into the home, it works, this is why now & again you’ve been staring at something & lost with your thoughts, then realised you had no blepharospasm for that few minutes. As a result, for October I’ve been walking for the black dog institute (suicide prevention) . I have walked 200 km & raised over $2,110 with 2 days to go! This has done plenty for the cause, but an enormous amount for me. This is a huge stone I’ve been able to roll out of the way thanks to the program. Indeed for the first time in years I’ve been able to drive 60 km twice in the last week. That was enough as this point, but I know nothing is beyond me if I follow the plan & let it happen slowly. My days are totally different now & I’m a different man. I noticed I got to the first level & seemed to stay there for months, then all of a sudden a whole new level was attained, & its been solid, not much variance down on ‘bad days’. Cant wait for the rest of it to unfold, however I’d have to say if this was the best I ever got, its not bad! Although I long for the day when Im back on my motorbike,  & that’ll be the day I take a video of me getting on my bike & heading off down the road, but between now & then, I’m enjoying each & every day, & giving the program every chance to work for me. And its paying me back in spades. Every single day I am so glad I saw Dougs video & subscribed to Dr Farias’ program, its given me back my life. And more to come! 🙂