The Evil Eye

November 22, 2005 5:00 PM

Weird eye twitch driving me crazy. Help me before I kill again.

Ok, off to the extreme right of my right eye, I'm getting this uncontrollable flutter. I thought it might be on the edge of my eye, but concerted mirror-gazing seems to imply that the contractions are happening at the far right corner of my eyelid.
I've had this happen every now and then for a while; the first time I can recall consciously was over ten years ago (when I was 15 or so). It would happen up to maybe ten times within a 24-hour period, and I put it down to too much caffienne then. After that 24-hour period, it wouldn't happen again for months or years.
About a month ago, it started happening more and more frequently, to the point where it's been about a week now where I've been getting the twitch every couple of hours. I'll get it for 10 second intervals, or so, and then be fine for an hour or two, then it'll hit again.
It's made it incredibly hard to focus on reading or writing for classes, and I've cut out all caffiene over the last month. I've also tried getting more sleep, relaxing my eyes, doing eye exercizes, eating better and staying hydrated, but honestly since it's so unpredictable in its occurance, I feel like everything I've tried has been more superstition than science.
I don't have insurance, and since I can't make it happen (and can go hours without it), I don't necessarily want to go to a doctor. But if someone out there feels that there's a true health risk, I may be persuaded to.

posted by klangklangston to health & fitness (30 comments total)

Try some vitamin B? My sister, the doctor (okay, of injecting AIDS into mouse eyes) once told me that it helped with muscle twitching.
posted by interrobang at 5:05 PM on November 22, 2005

Fasciculation. It's harmless, but I am not a doctor so if it persists see one anyway.
posted by fire&wings at 5:07 PM on November 22, 2005

Sorry, that was a bad link to give. Fasciculation can exist without any "syndrome." See here or here.
posted by fire&wings at 5:11 PM on November 22, 2005

I get that, and have always been told that it's about lack of sleep. Personally, I'm not sure I believe that, but there you go.
posted by pompomtom at 5:22 PM on November 22, 2005

I've gotten that a few times; mostly it happened during periods of great stress, often coinciding with increased caffeine intake and not enough sleep. It's always gone away after I start treating myself better, though. My (extremely uneducated) guess is that worrying about it is causing some sort of psychosomatic reaction which makes it happen more often.
posted by number9dream at 5:28 PM on November 22, 2005

I also have this during stressful times. It usually goes away after the stress is relieved. Good luck.
posted by blackkar at 5:35 PM on November 22, 2005

Stress and/or lack of sleep cause it for me.
posted by fish tick at 5:35 PM on November 22, 2005

Potassium will usually help. Hit some bananas and friends, drink lots of water, make sure you're getting enough sleep.
posted by Lyn Never at 5:37 PM on November 22, 2005

I've had bouts of that twice, and it has been related to high stress and lack of sleep. As soon as I got back to a proper sleeping pattern and my life was relaxed, it went away. Surprise, those periods coincided with high coffee and alcohol intake.

It wouldn't surprise me if thinking about it makes it more likely to happen.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 5:40 PM on November 22, 2005

Yeah, stress has been what's caused it for me.

Like folks have been saying, I'd approach it holistically: sleep, water, meditation, potassium et al, some gentle neck stretches...
posted by Specklet at 5:45 PM on November 22, 2005

Well, no end to stress in sight until the middle of December. But thanks. It's good to know that other people have it happen too...
posted by klangklangston at 5:59 PM on November 22, 2005

This has happened to me all my life, with varying frequency. It definitely occurs more often during my frequent bouts of insomnia. It's annoying, but I've never worried too much about it.
posted by trip and a half at 6:12 PM on November 22, 2005

I get this when stressed out. It's my little signal that I need to make myself relax.
posted by matildaben at 6:35 PM on November 22, 2005

I'll chime in with the anecdotal stress chorus. It's happened to me twice in my life, both times school-related. My solution was to seek education outside of a strictly scholastic environment. For me at least, the twitch was an indicator that things had to change, or my body would revolt and fail my brain. Good luck.
posted by carsonb at 6:44 PM on November 22, 2005

When that was happening all the freaking time to me, my doctor recommended drinking tonic water with quinine.
posted by Ruki at 6:51 PM on November 22, 2005

I'm pretty sure you have eye cancer. But really, when I run into twitches getting a little more potassium and water seems to clear it up and by the way I am a lawyer.
posted by Carbolic at 6:57 PM on November 22, 2005

This is almost certainly 'eyelid myokymia', which is harmless. Stress, caffeine and sleep deprivation can aggravate it. Potassium and quinine help a small subset of folks with it. If it's really frickin' obnoxious, you can go see a neurologist and get it botoxed; that's expensive.

Other things it might be include fasciculations, due to denervation from an unnoticed Bell palsy in the past. "Blepharospasm" is unwanted blinking; since this only affects one eye, it's not blepharospasm.

It doesn't herald worse things to come; it is what it is: common and harmless. Be tranquil and serene in this knowledge. I have it a lot myself, because I abuse caffeine; and while it's mildly annoying it's not a big deal.

By the way, I'm a neurologist, and this is something we learn about during our training, if you care about that sort of thing. I mention it in the hope that it'll make you worry less about this benign thing you've noticed.
posted by ikkyu2 at 7:05 PM on November 22, 2005 [1 favorite]

Yep. In addition to bananas, getting more sleep, and decreasing caffeine/stress, try to stay hydrated too.

But hydration is a good thing all around, anyway.
posted by PurplePorpoise at 7:28 PM on November 22, 2005

Ditto on the stress + caffeine + lack of sleep combination—every time I get eye twitches like that, which occurs maybe once every month or two, it seems to be due to some combination of the above. When I asked my doctor about it about a year and a half ago, she said it was probably due to those factors—so that's likely what a doctor would tell you.

I understand your concern, though—it still freaks me out every time it occurs, and it's distracting as hell, especially when I'm already worn out.
posted by limeonaire at 7:51 PM on November 22, 2005

I'll ditto the stress and lack of sleep shoutouts. Has happened to me several times, and tends to last a long time--daily "attacks" going on for weeks sometimes. Get lots of sleep, eat your veggies, excercise, blah, blah, blah...
posted by zardoz at 8:15 PM on November 22, 2005

Add me to the choir singing the sleep-and-stress song. In my case, it was when I was taking a medication that was a mild stimulant -- so even though I was not tired and was getting the amount of sleep that felt right, when I actually kept a sleep log I realized I'd been getting about two fewer hours a night for some weeks. I went off the medication, my sleep patterns returned to normal, and I stopped twitching.
posted by bac at 8:35 PM on November 22, 2005

okay, yes, as 22 people have already said: stress and exhaustion. When i was a student, and the eye-twitch attacked at exam time, i found heat was the best thing to stop it, since essentially what's happening is your eyelid muscles are spasming. The best cure is getting in a really hot shower and just surrounding yourself with heat and steam (this helps me relax in general, and then the eyelid muscle in particular), or when that's just not practical, fill your bathroom sink with hot tap water and just splash and steam your face with it. Or soak a face-cloth in hot water and drape that over yours eyes for a few minutes.

(In sum: heat helps.)
posted by Kololo at 8:48 PM on November 22, 2005

Get some sleep but if it doesn't stop go see a neurologist. My mom had your problem, had a an MRI that found no tumors and got a prescription for gabapentin, which has fixed the problem.
posted by Sara Anne at 9:25 PM on November 22, 2005

Ha! I was wondering about this today, since it's recurred in me over the past few weeks. Funny thing is, my wife started having it today too, in the same eye. She tells me she caught it from me (kidding).

Thanks for letting me know my head isn't about to explode.
posted by 5MeoCMP at 10:11 PM on November 22, 2005

Thanks, thanks, thanks. I'll go to sleep now.

(Quinine? Why, I have some gin around here somewhere...)
posted by klangklangston at 10:14 PM on November 22, 2005

Word to the wise: as per note above, save the gin until after relaxation has been achieved.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 10:55 PM on November 22, 2005

Another thing that might help—make sure you look away from the computer (or book or whatever you're working on, if it requires you to focus for long hours at a time) at least every 15 minutes or so. (I believe that's the recommendation; could be wrong.) That'll help keep your eyes from getting strained—'cause eyestrain could definitely be what you're experiencing here.

Also, you might want to get your eyes checked (though I don't know how you could do it without incurring some doctors' fees; anyone else know? Perhaps a city or county clinic? Or through school or work?)—if you wear glasses or contacts, your prescription may have changed, especially if you've been doing a lot of reading, using the computer a lot, and/or focusing on classwork for extended periods of time. And even if you never had difficulty seeing near or far before, eyes change with time, so it's certainly possible that yours might've.
posted by limeonaire at 6:23 AM on November 23, 2005

I get this a lot too; one thing I've noticed is that it happens when I don't get my necessary daily dose of caffeine - and from your description, it sounds like the symptoms have gotten worse (or at least continued) while you've been going without the java. Maybe the whole quitting coffee thing has aggravated the issue?
posted by sluggo at 6:49 AM on November 23, 2005

I don't remember where I first heard this, but hops are said to stop twitching. Yes, hops, as in the stuff that beer is made from. Next time you get a twitch, if the timing is appropriate, have a beer and see if that helps. It has always worked for me and my friends.
posted by mandlebrotz at 10:01 AM on November 23, 2005

Quinine's in the tonic water, not the gin :)

Alcohol is the most powerful muscle relaxant that can be taken by mouth. My guess is that the beer stops the twitching due to the alcohol in it, not the hops.
posted by ikkyu2 at 11:12 PM on December 3, 2005