I have been following the symptom that I’ve named “carbonation grimace”. It’s an aversion to carbonated drinks that is popularly known to be a side effect of migraine medicine Topiramate. But some people, like me, are just born with it: we can’t drink soda. I’m increasingly finding evidence that this is more than a “tidbit of the tongue” and rather a real indicator for our brains.
Now, in relation to schizophrenia, I’d like to propose a test. I can’t drink soda, but my test for you isn’t so simple as asking that. Here are the steps.
Touch the tops of your cheekbones and find the “zygotmaticus minor” muscle there.
Flex that muscle, and everything above it in the face.
Hold that position, and loosen everything in the lower half of your face. You can loosen the zygomaticus minor muscle now.
Sip a soda, or have soda dropped into your mouth with a straw.
I am interested to hear if schizophrenics experience a grimacing aversion to the soda that is “invoked” by this simple facial exercise, when non-schizophrenics won’t.
You don’t need to do a facial exercise to experience carbonation grimace? That’s super interesting, it’s much like myself.
Do you experience typical schizophrenia symptoms like hallucinations? You don’t have coprolalia do you? I have coprolalia but no hallucinations.
I feel like I am informed about your brain just by knowing you have the grimace. But I am super interested in finding “classic” schizophrenics who only experience the grimace with facial exercises.