# I'm starting to get somewhat concerned about this eyetwitch thing . . . **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 21, 2003, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-get-somewhat-concerned-about-this-eyetwitch-thing/169942 "2003-04-21T00:04:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-get-somewhat-concerned-about-this-eyetwitch-thing/169942/1 "2003-04-21T00:04:58Z")
Yea verily, about two weeks ago, I was beboppin’ down the office hallway. A stack of file folders in my hand and a happy whistlin’ tune on my smile, out of nowhere my eye starts to twitch. And I don’t mean a little “tic”, I mean full on _vibrate_. I stopped for a second, felt my eyelid, and thought “Whoa! That was weird. . .” Particularly, it’s the muscle just below my right eyelid, where my cheek meets the eyelid. It’s not an eyelid twitch, but that uppermost cheek muscle that seems to just go absolutely _nuts_ whenever it wants to. At that particular point in time, I’m thinking to myself (in my usual frame of philosophy), “Jeezus, that was freakyweird. Hope _that_ goes away. . .” Fast forward a fortnight. It’s been going on. Whenever it wants to. Sometimes on the order of sevreal minutes. I’ll be in a meeting with one or two people and it’ll just freakin’ start going nuts. Half the time I can say, “Oh shoot! Pardon me, something just got caught in my eye! I’ll be right back. . .” and I can excuse myself to more private environs. But the other half, I can see someone near me look at it (yeah, it’s that noticable) and stare. Once, one of my bosses commented on it in good company, and I squinted my left eye and looked at him with my twitching right and I said, “YOU BETTER NOT DRINK THE PABST, THEN!!” [sub]Hilarity ensued. Trust me, you had to be there. . .[/sub] In any case, this is starting to freak me out. I have no idea why it started, or when it’s coming. I could be in the middle of a speech and it’ll start jumping around. Ladies, you _wish_ you had something that would vibrate like this. As for me, I really really want it to stop. Like, now. . . What the hell am I supposed to do? Is this some freak occurence like I’m thinking, or is it something I can do something about (like cut back on the caffiene)? Tripler I swear, it makes me look legitimately crazy or something. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-get-somewhat-concerned-about-this-eyetwitch-thing/169942/2 "2003-04-21T00:41:44Z")
Go get it checked out, but don’t get too worried, until they give you a genuine reason to be worried. I had a similar thing happen and it was a kind of neuralgia. A nerve in my scalp would suddenly flip out and start dancing the funky chicken. There are other kind of conditions like HFS (hemifacial spasm) that tend to be more or less nuisances but aren’t painful. My neuralgia hurt like a sonuvabitch when that nerve went off. HFS is similar in that a nerve is going zappity-zap-zap for no particular reason and the related muscles start to twitch. (That one does tend to start around the eye.) Sometimes it just goes away on its own and is just a temporary thing. (HFS can be triggered by recent dental work, for example). Other times it can stick around for long periods of time (or be permanent). There are various treaments to tell the nerve to “knock it off already!” or paralyse the little muscle so it ignores the nerve zappies. I was given medication for the neuralgia, but when I read the info on it (it is primarily used as a heart medication) I got freaked out, so I just put up with the nasty jolt every few minutes – went away after two days. (Ow!) Persistent HFS (if it doesn’t knock it off on it’s own) can be treated with medication or botox so that the muscle stops twitching everytime the nerves starts it’s little happy zappings. But you should get it checked out just in case it’s Something Scary that is triggering the nerve/muscle. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-get-somewhat-concerned-about-this-eyetwitch-thing/169942/3 "2003-04-21T00:53:10Z")
Not to get too personal but you have you had herpes or some related viral illness? If so some [involuntary facial tics and palsies](http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/bells_palsy.html) can result from these conditions. The good news is most go away after a few months. ---
**Author:** ![LolaCocaCola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7cd45c/32.png) [@LolaCocaCola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaCocaCola)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-get-somewhat-concerned-about-this-eyetwitch-thing/169942/4 "2003-04-21T00:59:31Z")
> [@](#): > > **Why does my eyelid occasionally twitch uncontrollably?** > > Sometimes part of your eyelid may twitch for several minutes or hours. An involuntary twitching of a muscle is called Myokymia. Nlyokymia of the eyelid can occur with stress, lack of sleep or too much caffeine. Occasional twitching of an eyelid usually disappears by itself and does not indicate a serious problem unless it persists or extends to other parts of the face. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-get-somewhat-concerned-about-this-eyetwitch-thing/169942/5 "2003-04-21T01:10:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astro \* > \*\*Not to get too personal but you have you had herpes or some related viral illness? If so some [involuntary facial tics and palsies](http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/bells_palsy.html) can result from these conditions. The good news is most go away after a few months. \*\* **astro** , I thank you, but personally I doubt this diagnosis, seeing as how I haven’t gotten laid in over two years. [sub]Of course, that could be the problem to begin with.[/sub] I’m starting to agree with **LolaCocaCola** ,except that this isn’t my eyelid. It’s my uppermost cheek muscle. It’s weird. Dammit! There it goes again!!! **Eats\_Crayons** , you may be right. It doesn’t hurt, but I can feel it and it’s just a freakin’ nuisance. It just about starts and stops whenever it wants to. Wierd thing is that I can almost tell when the muscle bunches up and gets ready to “dance”. I can see in my peripheral vision the bottom half of my eyelid dance around, but it isn’t my eyelid itself. It’s the muscle in my cheek pushing my eyelid around. . . Freakyweird. Tripler Now, how can I exploit this “crazy guy” look? ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-get-somewhat-concerned-about-this-eyetwitch-thing/169942/6 "2003-04-21T01:26:52Z")
I’ve had that, **Tripler** , and it ultimately resolved on its own. I didn’t treat for it so I don’t know what the hell it was but I totally understand your annoyance. I think there may be a connection to stress. When it happens, you may just want to say “sorry, the nice men in the white jackets haven’t given me my meds yet” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-get-somewhat-concerned-about-this-eyetwitch-thing/169942/7 "2003-04-21T01:37:44Z")
**Tripler** there are _heaps_ of nerves around the face and it’s not at all uncommon for nerves to decide to go disco for a while. IIRC (and may be mistaken) it’s often a vascular issue – a blood vessel ends up pressing on a nerve, nerve goes “wheeeeeeee! shake your groove thang! shake it! shake it!” Sometimes it _can_ be a symptom of Something Scary, like a tumour – eek! – so visit a doctor. He/she might send you off to a neurologist for a second opinion. If either one is nervous, they might send you for an MRI. For my neuralgia, they just said “take these pills for a week and see if it goes away.” I didn’t take the pills, but it did go away. Coincidentally a few years after my little neuralgia episode, my mom got it in her back. Pissed her off mightily. They also said “here, try these pills and see if it goes away.” She took the pills, it went away. The kind of neuralgia we had triggers “sensory nerves” – so we didn’t get dancing muscles as much as little zaps of _really_ annoying pain. At work, I sat at my desk going: “ow!.. ow!.. ow!.. dammit!.. ow!” or I’d grab my head like Spike on Buffy when his chip was malfunctioning with more of a “gurgh!@$%#&!!!” ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-get-somewhat-concerned-about-this-eyetwitch-thing/169942/8 "2003-04-21T03:07:25Z")
I’m voting for the “haven’t gotten laid in over two years” explanation. It’s only been a couple of months for me, and I’m twitching like a mofo!😉 ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-get-somewhat-concerned-about-this-eyetwitch-thing/169942/9 "2003-04-21T03:13:23Z")
**Astroboy** – Whoa! Careful where you point that thing! ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-get-somewhat-concerned-about-this-eyetwitch-thing/169942/10 "2003-04-21T03:17:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eats\_Crayons \* > \*\ ***Astroboy** – Whoa! Careful where you point that thing! \*\* Hehe… I’m trying, but things have gotten so bad that it’s kinda pointing itself, if you know what I mean. ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-get-somewhat-concerned-about-this-eyetwitch-thing/169942/11 "2003-04-21T03:44:51Z")
Hijack: A friend has the eye twitchy thing but it has existed since I’ve known her. Different cause? ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-get-somewhat-concerned-about-this-eyetwitch-thing/169942/12 "2003-04-21T03:50:39Z")
**Cyberhwk** hard to tell – we still don’t know why Tripler’s face is dancing. But, HFS _can_ be a life-long condition. So it could be that. But there are probably all sorts of longterm conditions. Ever ask her about it, or are you concerned with offending? ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-get-somewhat-concerned-about-this-eyetwitch-thing/169942/13 "2003-04-21T04:01:57Z")
To be honest, I think it may _really_ be stress related (it’s been a hell of a winter for me). But, I don’t want this thing to be permanent. I mean, it’s funny and all, but it is something that hasn’t gone away. Would the fact that I’ve kinda/sorta had headaches lately be a clue? Tripler Yeah, I didn’t put two and two together until now. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-get-somewhat-concerned-about-this-eyetwitch-thing/169942/14 "2003-04-21T04:17:49Z")
Some migraines are caused by vascular weirdo stuff too. Blood vessels dilate or contract causing headaches and other assorted ailments. (That’s why sometimes headaches can feel like “ants crawling under your scalp” or throbs to the beat of your heart.) So if you’re blood vessels are particularly chubby, one might be leaning on a nerve. Drink less coffee and ask a doctor about it. It may resolve itself in time, but there might be a medication that will give it a nudge in the right direction, so it goes away sooner. I’m not doctor, I’m just going by what I’ve been told when I had my short waltz with neuralgia (I get migraines on the very rare occasion too). You just want to be sure there isn’t something serious going on. If you’ve been under stress it might just be a culmination of it all. The body does weird things when it decides you’ve been under duress for too long. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-get-somewhat-concerned-about-this-eyetwitch-thing/169942/15 "2003-04-21T04:48:00Z")
Eye twitch? Early sign that you are turning into a dirty old man. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-get-somewhat-concerned-about-this-eyetwitch-thing/169942/16 "2003-04-21T05:57:39Z")
I had a slight temporary eye twitch once, and some muddle-headed New Age type told me there must be some problem I was refusing to confront, some issue I was afraid to “look at” – something I didn’t want to “see” – That’s one of those occasions where, years later, you wish you had said “get bent” to that person. I so regret being polite to her. Anyway, could that be your problem? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-get-somewhat-concerned-about-this-eyetwitch-thing/169942/17 "2003-04-21T07:02:56Z")
I vote for the stress-related explanation as well. I’ve had a slight twitch like that at times when I have been behind the computer too long. My eyes and related facial muscles then seem to be tensed up, which causes twitches. My cure has been to try eye/facial muscle exercises, looking in the distance to have the muscles relax. Don’t know if that would work for others. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-get-somewhat-concerned-about-this-eyetwitch-thing/169942/18 "2003-04-21T07:14:03Z")
I get eye twitch exactly three times a year- around finals time. It’s like clockwork. And it actually _is_ a good way to tell if I’m stressing over something I’m not confronting. A lot of times it’ll start happening and that’ll wake me up to how much stress I’m actually under. I was always kind of embarrased about it, and would hide it from my family. Then one day my uncle walked up to me and said “You know, sometimes when I’m really stressed, my eye starts twitching”. So it isn’t all that unusual… ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-get-somewhat-concerned-about-this-eyetwitch-thing/169942/19 "2003-04-21T08:20:15Z")
A former classmate of mine could make his eyes twitch and wiggle in their sockets \*\* voluntarily! \*\* It was awesome 🙂 And you should’ve seen everyone else trying to replicate what he did, boy did we look stupid. Anyway, \*\* Tripler, \*\* I wouldn’t worry too much, it has happened to me as well, and if I can remember properly, it was during exam time. ---
**Author:** ![big\_alex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e56c9b/32.png) [@big\_alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/big_alex)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-get-somewhat-concerned-about-this-eyetwitch-thing/169942/20 "2003-04-21T14:09:56Z")
Yep, I agree with the stress. My eye sometimes twitches when I’m mega stressed. Happened during my GCSEs so I figured it must be that.