Question about Bush's new facial tick

[burythehatchet]

I guess I noticed starting about a month ago. Intermittently, during speech he shifts his lower jaw from side to side three times. Has anyone else noticed it. Its a new one to me and I wonder if anyone can opine about what chemical or toxin might cause that.

[Hekate]

1. Psychoactive prescription drugs?

I'm sure someone here will tell us!

Hekate

[elf]

2. I noticed it very early

nobody can answer my question


I asked my husband:did you notice.................

he didn't

I'm glad you mention it, because it's so clear to notice, why don't people talk about it??

Is it about:You never criticize a president at war (this old fashioned rule/)

[napi21]

3. Yes, I noticed it happen quite often during the 2nd debate.

I think it's a replacement reaction to the sneer, smirk, and scowl that he was told not to do!

[Skarbrowe]

5. I can't believe I just noticed that tonight for the first time.

I might have replied to the wrong person. heh This is for the main poster.


I was watching a news clip and before I could find the remote, he finished saying something ridiculous and I saw his bottom jaw jerk to the left about three times.

Sorry, I have no idea what would cause this except twitches in motor control that can come from age, medications, nervousness, any number of things. But, I'm not a doctor, I'm just guessing. It was very noticeable. Very strange looking. Something's going on.

Skarbrowe

[JI7]

4. that quivering mouth thing is pretty disgusting

[burythehatchet]

6. its kinda scary

makes him look like a frickin psycho.....oh wait...never mind

[soothsayer]

7. unhinging his jaw like the reptilian he is? n/t

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

40. Is this what you mean?

[cliss]

8. Oh, I thought you meant he had a new tick stuck on his face.

Just kidding! Seriously though, I thought I saw sheer terror on Bush's face as he sat in his chair last night.

Bush was sitting down, and Kerry was towering above him. I saw: fear, squirming, terror. His little beady eyes twirled around in their sockets. He was trying to figure out what to say next.

If his little jaw rattles, I think it's because of fear. Bush is GETTING IT BETWEEN THE EYES, and it hurts. He's not used to this kind of candidness.

[LeftyMom]

9. withdrawl maybe?

I've been to a lot if NA meetings (I'm not in recovery but a family member is.) Usually there's a guy sitting back by the coffee machine who has somewhere between a few hours and three days clean. Bush's demeanor in the debates reminds me a great deal of the the scruffy guy in the back. He'll twitch and grind his teeth, shift position constantly, make faces and have outbursts, too. Unlike Charlie Gibson, the old timers at a meeting have no problem telling the new guy to sit down and STFU.

I think his problem may have been that they adjusted his meds down after that first debate for lucidity reasons and what they got was edgy, twitchy, angry W.

[bayby]

10. So it's not Cocaine after all ?

[ilovenicepeople]

25. HOWDY bayby

Welcome to DU :hi: I think Bush's tick or twitch or dweeb or tweak is a result of the "Cremation of Care" ceremony that he and others partake in at the Bohemian Grove is starting to wear off and a little bit of compassion is trying to enter whats left of his soul. or it's the coke?

[Wapsie B]

11. The problem is,

they're s-o-l no matter what they do with his meds. If meds are reduced you get these outbursts. If they are increased he looks like a zombie.
It's too many years of hard living catching up with him.


Welcome to DU LeftyMom!

[liberalcanuck]

16. You're post had me literally laughing out loud!

Unlike Charlie Gibson, the old timers at a meeting have no problem telling the new guy to sit down and STFU.

Now that's funny!

Welcome to DU!


:toast:

[Starlight]

12. Does he have epilepsy?

I've been thinking that ever since he was supposedly almost killed by a pretzel.

A partial list of symptoms of Epilepsy:
Muscle spasms
Strange sensations
Strange emotions
Strange behavior
Sudden behavior changes
Aggression
Anger
Agitation
Localized muscle spasm
Twitches
Tics
Hallucinations

[Lexingtonian]

13. quite probable

One of the two medications mentioned by Bob Woodward in his book- he supposedly doesn't know their identities- that Dubya is on was mentioned here as matching the prescribed standard regimen for Topamax.

In threads a couple of months ago there was a long discussion that basically summarized to a pretty good fit of Dubya's symptoms to either epilepsy (undermedicated) or overmedicating on e.g. an anticonvulsant.

One symptom you don't mention is 'absence seizures', which is mostly a feature of temporal lobe epilepsy, where the person having the seizure just looks blankly into space and seems unconscious of things around him, then snaps back into consciousness- and these folks often have hundreds of them a day. Seem familiar...?

[indigobusiness]

14. That's how he triggers the transceiver

to deliver the next message.

Must be a molar implant, or something.

[Obamarama]

15. Probably a new Rovian-Pavlovian conditioning technique....

Perhaps they have planted electrodes in his mouth. If it looks like he's about to scowl, maybe they zap him with a tiny burst of electricity?

[datasuspect]

17. yep

he's freebasing cocaine

[rohit]

18. sinus & bad teeth

he probably has a few top bad teeth going up to his sinus, when they leak he needs to shift his jaws a little to let the rotten liquid flow down!!!!!

[burythehatchet]

20. gawd that's nasty!!

and welcome to DU

:hi:

[newyawker99]

23. Hi rohit!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[DemonFighterLives]

19. The more we discuss this the closer we get

I'm now wondering if it was from hypnosis. It seemed like his smirk was gone and the tic was there as a replacement. Tic=smirk.
W is a guinea pig for the new mind control experiments of his daddys gang.

[burythehatchet]

22. It makes my skin crawl to think about the cocktail of chemicals that are

coarsing through his badly battered blood stream.

[masshole]

21. more proof he wears an earpiece

Having something stuck in your ear canal can be uncomfortable. Moving your jaw can help relieve the pressure, similiar to how you might "pop" your ears to relieve the pressure during a flight.

[TeeYiYi]

26. That actually sounds plausible. nt

TYY

[GliderGuider]

41. The earpiece sounds most likely to me

My bet is that he's using a deeply implanted earpiece, and it's causing pressure problems in his inner ear - what we're seeing may be a modified Valsalva maneuver like that used by divers to open the eustachian tube and ease the discomfort. I do the same thing when descending from cruise altitude in an airliner.

Though no doubt the problem is exacerbated by tension - running headlong into a brick wall of congitive dissonance would give me a twitch too!

Edited for clarity

[Psst_Im_Not_Here]

24. It's got to be "coke jaw"

EOM

[barbaraann]

27. I Googled for "sideways jaw movement cocaine"

It used to be thought that the cause of bruxism was an off-kilter bite. That concept is being revisited. It is now believed that clenching and grinding are in large part lifestyle reflexes—reactions to stress and anxiety, "and are classified as a sleep disturbance," says Noshir Mehta, DMD, MS, director of the Craniofacial Pain Center and chair of general dentistry at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in Boston. Teeth-grinding (sideways movements of the jaws with the teeth just touching) typically occurs during sleep— though it is also a not-uncommon 24/7 side effect among those taking medications for depression, developmental disorders, and schizophrenia, and those taking recreational drugs like ecstasy and cocaine.

http://www.ohwhatbeautifulteeth.com/Article1.cfm?ID=49

[Th1onein]

28. I've seen enough of this "jaw action" to know EXACTLY what it is!

It's coke jaw, my friend. I've seen a lot of crack cocaine addicts; too many to count. And Bush is on coke. No doubt, whatsoever, it is cocaine use that's causing this new tic.

[Paxdora]

30. Absolutely...

and if it ain't coke, its METH (speed)! I've seen too much of that activity in my life, but I am wiser (and still alive) today. Oddly enough, Bush may experience a "paradoxical" reaction, whereby the stuff actually calms him down, so that he doesn't suffer a nervous breakdown onstage and start blubbering like a terrified child!

Paxdora

[DemonFighterLives]

31. Wait till he does the fish face thing

Then we know for sure. ;)

[burythehatchet]

32. IF that is true, the implications are mind-blowing, no pun intended

[Th1onein]

42. It's true. My husband is an ex-cocaine addict and I've seen it before.

He's "fallen off the wagon" of coke addiction enough times for me to be able to spot it easily.

Bush is on coke. No doubt about it. I've seen it enough times to know what the signs are.

Probably free-basing. And for those of you who think that his handlers won't let him do it, remember Ronnie Reagan, who the Republicans put up for re-election KNOWING that he had Alzheimer's. It became pretty obvious to the rest of us, a year into his second term, that something major was wrong with him, but I am sure that it was obvious to his "handlers" before he ran for a second term.

They just knew that they could WIN with him and didn't give a shit about the American people. They were happy enough to use him to further their aims.

A puppet is so much easier to manipulate than a real person, like Clinton.

Maybe that's why they hated him so much?

[ArnoldLayne]

29. I've noticed that

also.:dem:

[mainer]

33. Tardive dyskinesia

"What is Tardive Dyskinesia?


Tardive Dyskinesia, or TD, is one of the muscular side effects of anti-psychotic drugs, especially the older generation like haloperidol. TD does not occur until after many months or years of taking antipsychotic drugs, unlike akathisia (restlessness), dystonia (sudden and painful muscle stiffness) and Parkinsonism (tremors and slowing down of all body muscles), which can occur within hours to days of taking an antipsychotic drug. TD is primarily characterized by random movements in the tongue, lips or jaw as well as facial grimacing, movements of arms, legs, fingers and toes, or even swaying movements of the trunk or hips. TD can be quite embarrassing to the affected patient when in public. The movements disappear during sleep. They can be mild, moderate or severe.

How does an individual get TD?

Essentially, prolonged exposure to antipsychotic treatment (which is necessary for many persons who have chronic schizophrenia) is the major reason that TD occurs in an individual. Some persons get it sooner than others. The risk factors that increase the chances of developing TD are a) duration of exposure to antipsychotics (especially the older generation), b) older age, c) post-menopausal females, d) alcoholism and substance abuse, e) mental retardation and f) experiencing a lot of EPS in the acute stage of antipsychotic therapy."

[burythehatchet]

36. Outstanding research. I believe we have a winner.

Now, should he not be forced to take a physical before election day?

[demgrrrll]

37. I wonder if he is receiving pump medications for spasticity. I am not

sure but I think there are pump medications available to control spastic movements. hmmm. He did refuse to take his physical.

[TahitiNut]

43. Yup. That's it.

The guy's been medicated for years to keep him from freaking. We saw a near break when he quashed Gibson's moderation and angrily plowed back into his stump lines. It's NPD for sure, secondarily APD.

[dogpatch]

34. Definitely a drug of some sort

I noticed on Friday and again yesterday, totally looks like coke or ecstacy jaw grinding. Given his widely reported personality disorder/paranoia/rages he could also be on some sort of medication. My guess is that they adjusted his meds between the first debate (too sleepy) and the second (too tweaky).

Also he is postponing his physical exam until after the election, so he's hiding something.

[bamacrat]

35. DRUGS

i guess hes decide to choose coke in the national taste test. or hell hes probably grinding his teethe like some monkeys do

[ogradda]

38. yeah noticed he's been clenching his jaw

maybe he's trying to keep something stupid from jumping out his mouth. must be hard work.

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

39. He looks like he has Tourette syndrome.

I recognized the way he acted in that DNC video. My neck and eyes twitch the exact same way, especially when I'm nervous.

And considering that Tourette syndrome is often accompanied by obsessive-compulsive disorder and/or ADD, I think it's a likely diagnosis for Bush.