Nervous tic on the eyelid. What to do if your eye has been twitching for several days? Video: The easiest way to stop nervous eye tics


Hello, the best and kindest doctor in the world. This is my second time. I don't know if this is possible. This is the first time you have answered me, thank you very much for that! And now I have one more question.
I was very nervous. And now my eye is twitching. It's been a whole month now. I do not know what to do. I was told it was teak. I take Novo-Passit, but it doesn’t help. What can you recommend. Please excuse me if I'm stating something wrong. And thanks in advance.

- Elena Viktorovna

Hello, Elena Viktorovna!
Always ready to help in getting rid of ailments and accompanying troubles.
Eyelid twitching is a common occurrence. Twitching or myokymia of the eyelids (most often the lower eyelid of one of the eyes twitches) is repeated contractions of the orbicularis oculi muscle, located in the thickness of the eyelids. An attack that begins suddenly, as a rule, passes just as quickly, but can last up to several weeks, causing extremely unpleasant sensations. Twitching of the eyelid may, as in your case, be a reaction to stress, especially if it is accompanied by significant visual load.

How to get rid of eyelid twitching: recipes

I recommend to you some of the “folk” remedies that help with tics, Tourette’s syndrome, and obsessive movement syndrome (before using, you must coordinate their use with the doctor who is treating you):

  1. Flower pollen (pharmaceutical preparation) 1/3 teaspoon 2-3 times a day strictly 1 hour before meals.
  2. For a weak and shattered nervous system, tics, constant anxiety, agitation, obsessive movements, experienced old neurologists and healers advised and advise to use this remedy for: 1 time every two weeks, put on yourself before going to bed, soaked in salted (or sea water) ) water and a well-wrung out shirt. Then pour yourself over with warm, clean water, put on a clean, dry shirt and go to bed. During this procedure (as healers believe), harmful substances are released from the body. This remedy is very good and works great for nervous diseases. In addition to this procedure, daily dousing with cold water is mandatory for patients.
  3. Pour the pulp of 10 lemons with peel (remove the seeds) into 1 liter of cold boiled water and leave in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator for 36 hours, shaking the contents every 4-5 hours. Then add 500 g of honey (read the article:) and mix the contents thoroughly. Leave in the refrigerator again for 36 hours, stirring occasionally. Take 10 ml 3 times a day 40 minutes before meals. The course is 4 weeks, the break is 4 weeks and the course again is 4 weeks. So - 2 years.
  4. In a pillowcase - dried herbs (sold in boxes in pharmacies): hop cones, lemon balm. Place it next to your pillow and you will be in a healthy state and have a good night's sleep. The herbs in the pillowcase should be changed every 3 weeks.
  5. You should spend as much time as possible outdoors. Avoid overwork – both physical and mental. You should douse yourself with water at a temperature of 34-35 degrees Celsius every morning and evening. And be sure to douse yourself once a week with a decoction of Bogorodskaya herb, cooled to a temperature of 35-36 degrees.
  6. The food you need is pumpkin pulp (in the form of porridge) and the more the better, garlic (1 clove per day), horseradish, dill, wild garlic, parsley, carrots (grated with sunflower oil - daily for two months), 1-2 apples per day, tomatoes (2-3 per day). Avoid eating animal fats, fatty meats, and skin from chickens. Eat fish more often, preferably cod. You need to drink less coffee. Every day you need to eat a bowl of onion soup, prepared according to the recipe of the famous Belgian doctor Rudolf Breuss. Here's how this soup is prepared: finely chop an onion the size of a lemon along with the outer brown skin, fry in vegetable fat or oil (until the onion turns golden brown), then add 1/2 liter of cold water and cook until the onion will not boil properly. Add some vegetable broth and mix everything well. Strain. Use only clear soup (after removing the cooked onions)!

Now you know, how to get rid of eyelid twitching! You just need to show patience and perseverance, not giving up treatment halfway. Use these recipes yourself and share them with your loved ones. With wishes for a speedy recovery to you, Elena Viktorovna!

When the eye twitches, a person experiences significant discomfort - if this condition lasts for several days, it is better to find out what to do in such a situation, since the problem may simply not solve itself. As a rule, this condition does not pose any threat to the patient, but it spoils the mood and makes it difficult to concentrate on important matters.

Description

Eyelid twitching, tics, spasms are quite common phenomena. They are repeated involuntary contractions of the orbicularis oculi muscle. Usually only the lower eyelid of one eye is involved in this process, but the upper eyelid may also twitch. In most cases, this is not noticeable to others.

The attack begins unexpectedly and ends just as quickly. However, in some cases it can last for several weeks or even months, causing discomfort. Unfortunately, when the eye twitches, simple willpower cannot stop the twitching.

If your eyelid twitches, it is almost always benign. That is, the condition is not serious or a sign of a medical problem.

There are three types of dangerous spasms:

  • blepharospasm;
  • hemifacial spasm;
  • nervous tic.

Blepharospasm

Blepharospasm begins gradually, with excessive blinking or irritation of the eyes. In the early stages, the symptom occurs only against a background of stress, fatigue and emotional exhaustion. The frequency of muscle contractions and spasms may increase, causing the eyelids to completely close.

Women suffer from blepharospasm three times more often than men. The symptom usually appears between the ages of 50 and 60 years. Its incidence is 5 cases per 100,000 people.

Spasms are almost always bilateral, usually begin with mild twitching, and over time can develop into contractures and spasms of the muscles of the upper part of the face. In severe cases, the disease can progress until the patient becomes virtually blind. Provoking factors are stress, bright light, and visual stress.

Differential diagnosis is carried out with hemifacial spasm; MRI or MRI angiography is required to clarify the diagnosis. Trigeminal neuralgia, extrapyramidal diseases (encephalitis, multiple sclerosis), psychogenic conditions may be accompanied by blepharospasm. Differentiate from reflex blepharospasm that occurs when stimulating the branches of the trigeminal nerve (corneal ulcer, foreign body in the cornea, iridocyclitis).

Hemifacial spasm

Hemifacial spasm is a condition characterized by painless, involuntary clonic or tonic contractions of the facial muscles innervated by the ipsilateral facial nerve on one side of the face, usually the left. People have no control over these spasms, which can continue even during sleep. Hemifacial spasm is usually painless and considered harmless.

Important! They are more common in middle-aged women and Asians. This rare condition affects approximately 11 in 100,000 people.

Hemifacial spasm is different from other nerve and muscle conditions affecting the face because it tends to affect only one side of the face. However, there are differences between the symptoms typical of hemifacial spasm and other forms of the disease.

Hemifacial spasm is caused by irritation of the seventh cranial nerve. This nerve is known as the facial nerve and controls the muscles of the face. It also conveys information about the sense of taste from the tongue and sensations in the ear. The most common source of irritation is a small artery that pinches the facial nerve near the brain stem. Other potential causes include:

  • a benign tumor or lesion compressing a nerve;
  • congenital abnormal blood vessel clusters;
  • nerve damage.

In some cases, hemifacial spasm is the first symptom of multiple sclerosis.

Interesting to know! The first sign of spasm is usually twitching of the left eyelid muscles. These spasms can be severe enough to cause the eyes to close and watery eyes.

If the condition is left untreated, hemifacial spasm symptoms may become more severe and affect more and more facial muscles.

The spasm can affect the muscles of the mouth and pull them to one side. Some people may develop spasms on both sides of the face. Pain and “clicking” in the ear and hearing loss may be symptoms of this condition. Sometimes hearing loss also occurs.

Nervous tic

A nervous tic of the eye can occur at any age; it often begins to appear in children 5-7 years old. At this time, the child’s mental health is developing, and any experiences or stress lead to involuntary muscle twitching.

If the child is emotional and active, then twitching of different muscle groups is normal for him and can occur periodically until adolescence.

Treatment for nervous eye tics may not be required; once the unfavorable provoking stimuli are eliminated, it generally goes away without consequences. The causes of this unpleasant phenomenon in adults are somewhat different, and without a complete examination of the body, the nature of their origin cannot be reliably established.

Important! Nervous, uncontrolled contraction of the area around the eye is caused by malfunctions of the central nervous system; this may be a symptom of a disease or overstrain in the body.

A tic itself is not a disease, but usually occurs as a symptom of disorders in the nervous system. Sometimes a nervous tic of the eye is confused with reflex blinking in ophthalmic diseases, but these are completely different actions and have different development mechanisms.

Causes

If this is not the first time you have noticed that your eyelid is twitching, then you have probably noticed exactly when this happens and what becomes the provoking factor.

Important! In most cases, involuntary and uncontrollable contraction of muscles in the eye area occurs due to severe overstrain, psycho-emotional or physical.

Therefore, if the muscle under your eye often twitches, the first thing you should do is take a day off, sleep and relax, but only without TV, computer and mobile gadgets.

But everything is not always explained and resolved so simply. If eyelid trembling bothers you for several days in a row and stubbornly does not go away, despite good sleep and the absence of any stress, the cause may be some disease.

  1. Visual fatigue
    The most common reason that causes eyelid twitching is eye fatigue. Spending a long time doing exciting and necessary work at the computer, reading in a vehicle, poor night's rest - all this overstrains the muscles around the eyelids.
  2. Nervous overstrain
    The eyelid may begin to twitch with a slight nervous overload, when the psychological side is “under tension” for a long time, resulting in stress.
  3. Neurosis
    The reason why the upper or lower eyelid begins to twitch may be due to neurosis. Having analyzed the cause of a nervous breakdown, draw the right conclusion, eliminate the stress factor, so that in the near future everything will not happen unexpectedly and again. Be sure to relax, calm down and give your body a rest.
  4. Conjunctivitis
    Doctors often associate eyelid twitching with the fact that the mucous membrane of the eye is inflamed and irritated. When your vision is under prolonged strain, you get the feeling that sand has been poured into your eyes; you always want to blink or squint to relieve the discomfort.
  5. Eye diseases
    If the conjunctiva is normal, there is no itching under the eyelids, the mucous membrane is pink, but the vision is blurry, especially in the evening, then you should definitely go to see an ophthalmologist so that he can identify the cause that strains and makes the eyes twitch and impairs vision.
  6. Hereditary factor
    It happens that twitching of the upper or lower eyelids is a hereditary factor passed on from parents. You may experience a nervous tic or twitching of the eyelid if you have a weakened immune system, or if you have recently suffered from an infectious disease or acute respiratory viral infection.
  7. Nervous disorders
    Twitching of the eyelid causes a disorder of the nervous system. This may also indicate poor circulation in the brain and increased blood pressure. In this case, you should definitely consult a neurologist and go for an MRI.
  8. Chronic neuroses
    In this case, the twitching is compared to a psychotraumatic situation; the person is subjected to severe nervous strain. You should definitely remove the factor that is traumatic to the psyche, and then start taking sedatives. If the situation has not gone too far, then it is quite possible to get by with herbs to treat the nervous system: mint, lemon balm, motherwort, valerian.
  9. Medicines
    Some medications can cause twitching of the eyelids. These are mainly psychotropic medications taken for epilepsy and to treat psychosis.
  10. Caffeine and alcohol
    Many experts believe that drinking large amounts of caffeine (caffeine-containing drinks such as coffee, tea, soda) and alcohol can cause eye twitching.
  11. Dry eyes
    Violation of the process of moistening the cornea with tear fluid. It often occurs due to the fact that, for various reasons, the lacrimal glands do not produce enough tears to moisten the eyes. Most older people experience dry eyes as a result of aging. Working at a computer for long periods of time, taking a number of medications, wearing contact lenses, consuming large amounts of alcohol and caffeine, and being stressed can all contribute to the occurrence of this phenomenon in young people. As practice shows, the eyelid may twitch due to dry eye syndrome.
  12. Unbalanced diet
    A lack of magnesium in the diet can cause muscle spasms and eye twitching.
  13. Allergy
    People with allergies often experience itching, swelling, and watery eyes. When you rub your itchy eyes, a significant amount of histamine is released. At the same time, it enters the tissues of the eyelid and tear fluid. And histamine is a substance that can cause muscle spasms. To compensate for this problem and help patients with eyelid twitching, some eye doctors recommend antihistamine eye drops or tablets.

Treatment

The basis of treatment for eyelid twitching is gymnastics and normalization of lifestyle. In addition, there are a number of recommendations for getting rid of this condition:

  1. If twitching of the eyelid begins to bother you quite often and remains for a long time, then this may be a sign of increased intraocular pressure. In this case, consultation with an ophthalmologist is mandatory, since the doctor will prescribe special medications to eliminate this problem.
  2. If the patient has a history of serious diseases associated with brain dysfunction, you should visit a neurologist and report any symptoms of nervous tics in the eyes. The specialist will conduct the necessary examinations and prescribe medications that can eliminate the cause.
  3. If the patient has not previously had traumatic brain injuries or brain diseases, then it is likely that the cause of prolonged involuntary twitching of the eyelids lies in chronic fatigue and the possible development of a nervous disease. You should definitely seek advice from a neurologist to exclude the progression of hyperkinesis and its spread to other muscle groups.

Gymnastics

These exercises soothe and fill tired eyes with the necessary fluid, relax and strengthen muscles. If you already have vision problems, you will experience noticeable improvement after a few months of daily training.

  1. Sit up straight in a comfortable position. Slowly move your eyes up and down without moving your head or neck. Let your eyes see as far down as possible without feeling strained. Repeat 10 times. Close your eyes and relax.
  2. Move your eyes slowly from side to side, as close to eye level as possible. Repeat 10 times. Over time, you will be able to move your eyes further and further without effort. Close your eyes and relax.
  3. Keep your head straight, look at the top left corner, and then move your eyes to the bottom right corner, then move them to the top right corner, and then across and down to the bottom left. Then move your eyes back to the top left corner. Repeat five times. Close your eyes and relax.
  4. Look at the point between your eyebrows. Hold for a few seconds and then move your gaze down towards your nose. Repeat five times.
  5. Move your eyes slowly and effortlessly in a circle, alternating clockwise and counterclockwise movements. Repeat five times. Close your eyes and relax.
  6. Hold your finger under the tip of your nose. Then begin moving it away from you, without lifting it, until it is at the closest distance where you can see it clearly. Then raise your eyes a little and look at a distant point on the horizon. Repeat five times. Close your eyes and relax.
  7. Close your eyes as tightly as possible. Hold this contraction for three seconds and then quickly release. This exercise causes deep relaxation of the eye muscles, and is especially useful after minor eye strain caused by the exercises.
  8. Close your eyes five times. Rub your palms together and place them gently over your closed eyes. Imagine the blackness getting darker and darker.
  9. Rest for a few minutes. This is an ideal way to complete a set of eye exercises that also has a relaxing effect on the nervous system.

Folk recipes

You can also try some alternative medicine recipes to combat this unpleasant condition.

  1. Ruta
    Grind plantain leaves and aromatic rue. Take 3 tbsp plantain, 1 tbsp aromatic rue, 1 tbsp anise seeds. Pour 500 ml of boiling water over this mass, add chopped lemon along with zest, and cook the contents for 10 minutes. Take the decoction three times a day, 20 minutes before meals, 3 tbsp. The treatment course lasts a month.
  2. Mint
    Mix mint, motherwort 30 g each, valerian root, hop cones 20 g each. Take 10 g of the mixture, add boiling water and heat in a water bath for 15 minutes, then cool and strain. Drink half a glass of the decoction three times a day, 15 minutes before meals.
  3. centaury
    Centaury is also a wonderful remedy for nervous eye tics. Pour boiling water over centaury (2 tbsp) – 2 cups. Leave the mixture to infuse overnight. Then divide the portion into four parts and take half an hour before meals.

Most often, the eyes begin to twitch after an emotional shock and stress, so the only way to prevent it is to limit yourself from unnecessary worries.

What to do if your eye starts to twitch:

  1. Do a mini exercise for your eyes. To do this, you need to time two or three minutes and try to blink your eyes during this time, as quickly and often as possible.
  2. Drink something calming. You should not rely on medications, as you will quickly get used to them. Mint tea or a decoction of herbs such as sage, lemon balm, and mint are excellent for calming.
  3. Give your eyes a rest. If you work at a computer or with papers, then you need to take a short break of 5-10 minutes every hour just to recuperate with your eyes closed.
  4. Eliminate caffeine. If you have a twitching eye, you need to stop drinking drinks that contain caffeine, these include: tea, coffee, and alcoholic drinks.
  5. Wearing sunglasses will protect your retina from ultraviolet radiation.
  6. Get at least 8 hours of sleep. You and your eyes need to get enough sleep, and for this you need to go to bed at ten in the evening and wake up at 6 in the morning.
  7. Close your eyes, take a deep breath and exhale fully, open your eyes and then repeat the exercise again. Five times will be enough.
  8. Surround yourself with calming colors. For example, blue and green shades have calming properties. Place some blue figurine on your desktop and look at it the moment your eye starts to twitch.
  9. Go to the doctor. If you have tried to fix this problem yourself, but after a few days your eye still twitches, then a trip to a specialist is inevitable.
  10. Apply cotton swabs soaked in ice water to your eyes three times a day. The second recipe for lotions: pour a glass of boiling water over a tablespoon of anise seeds, cover and steam for one hour. Steamed seeds are applied to the eyelids for 15 minutes. The remaining broth can be taken with honey before meals. This is also good for the nerves.
  11. Include nuts, cereals, whole grain bread, pumpkin seeds in your diet - foods containing large amounts of magnesium, since sometimes a deficiency of this substance causes eye twitching.
  12. It is important to replenish the supply of vitamins and minerals in the body to protect yourself from cramps, magnesium, calcium and glycine are especially important.

The causes of this condition may be:

Stress accompanied by significant visual load;

Overwork with lack of sleep;

Excessive visual strain if you do not use glasses when they are needed or when glasses no longer provide clear vision. The computer creates a huge visual load;

Dry eyes, especially in older people. At a young age, the development of this condition is usually associated with prolonged work with a computer, use, and taking certain medications (antidepressants, medications). Dry eyes in women over 50 are often associated with a period of hormonal changes in the body;

Drinking caffeinated drinks and alcohol;

Poor nutrition, causing a deficiency of magnesium intake from food;

Allergic reactions when friction releases a certain amount of histamine, which, when released into the tear fluid, causes muscle spasms.

If half of the face or both eyelids twitch, which leads to their closure, one may suspect neurological disorders that require contacting a neurologist.

Treatment

Numerous causes of eyelid twitching suggest that it is useless to fight this phenomenon. But this is not true at all! A few simple recommendations will help you easily cope with this scourge.

Provide yourself with healthy sleep: experts believe that 6-8 hours of deep sleep every day can provide adequate rest for an adult. And don't expect that a week's sleep loss can be covered over the weekend;

Taking sedatives (infusion of valerian roots, motherwort, mint leaves) will help cope with stress, ensuring healthy sleep;

Avoiding or limiting drinks with high caffeine or alcohol content. Drink tea and coffee with milk - it can neutralize some of the caffeine. Look for herbal teas that do not contain caffeine;

Switch to a healthy diet, eating whole grain products (grain bread, buckwheat porridge, oatmeal) daily - they are rich in magnesium, as well as B vitamins, which are so necessary for the good functioning of the nervous system;

Be sure to consult an ophthalmologist; perhaps it’s time to stop working at the computer, treat allergies or dry eyes;

Sometimes it happens that the eyelid continues to twitch, stubbornly not responding to all the measures taken. But this is not a disaster; injections in such a situation will help get rid of prolonged muscle spasms.

As already mentioned, the cause of eyelid twitching can be various eye diseases that require the participation of an ophthalmologist in the treatment. In this case, it is important to choose an eye clinic where they will really help you, and not “brush off” or “pull” money without solving the problem. Below is a rating of specialized ophthalmological institutions where you can undergo examination and treatment.

The phenomenon in which the eyelid twitches slightly is not uncommon. More often this happens with the lower eyelid. The twitching begins suddenly and stops just as suddenly. However, often this unpleasant symptom does not leave the patient for several weeks.

Many people equate a nervous tic with the phenomenon of eyelid twitching. However, in this case we are talking about different pathological processes. In the first case, a serious neurological illness is diagnosed, which is noticeable to others. In the second, only the patient himself knows about the existing pathology.

Causes

The pathological process is a polyetiological disease due to the presence of a huge number of factors that could provoke the development of pathology. Often there are clinical cases with a combination of several factors at the same time:

  • serious stressful situations;
  • prolonged mental stress (chronic stress);
  • general body fatigue combined with lack of sleep;
  • significant load on the organ of vision in the absence of glasses with reduced visual acuity;
  • excessive consumption of caffeinated and alcoholic drinks;
  • lack of magnesium in the diet, which leads to muscle cramps not only of the eyelids, but also of the lower extremities;
  • activities associated with prolonged work at the computer;
  • violation of the rules of wearing and hygiene of lenses;
  • reduced hydration of the eye membrane in older people;
  • the body's reaction to certain medications for depression;
  • allergic manifestations caused by a reaction to the release of histamine.

Symptoms

This disease is considered a movement, although in fact it is not one. A person experiences a contraction of private muscle fibers, but since the process is disjointed, the result of the process is not full movement.

Twitching of the anatomical structure occurs due to a disruption in the background level of excitability of the spinal cord neurons, which send the signal itself to the muscle groups of the body.

Twitching of the eyelid in most cases is not noticeable to others, and only the patient feels discomfort. Usually the deviation is localized in one eye (less often in both), it manifests itself unexpectedly and can last from a couple of seconds to several days.

In the absence of treatment, the disease can develop into a more obvious form, when involuntary movements of the eyelids become noticeable to others, and there is a risk of decreased visual acuity.

More than half of cases of deviation are a consequence of emotional-volitional disorder and are accompanied by the following accompanying symptoms:

  • decreased body tone;
  • blurred eyes;
  • eye itching;
  • slight redness of the whites of the eyes;
  • drowsiness;
  • headache in the evening;
  • increased fatigue;
  • muscle cramps.

Diagnostics

In traditional cases, the following medical procedures are performed as part of the diagnosis of pathology:

  • biomicroscopy of the organ of vision (using a slit lamp);
  • bacteriological analysis of discharge from the eye;
  • checking visual acuity (correction with glasses if abnormalities are diagnosed);
  • neurological examinations;
  • X-ray of the skull to exclude local neoplasms.

Diseases

As a result of the diagnostic measures carried out, the patient may be diagnosed with one of the following forms of pathology:

  1. Primary. We are talking about pathology caused by overwork, stress, drinking alcoholic beverages, allergies, etc.
  2. Secondary. The pathology is based on dysfunction of the brain, vascular system or neurological disruptions.

Treatment

Myokymia of the eyelids is treated comprehensively. To gradually reduce the frequency of symptoms and subsequently get rid of the unpleasant phenomenon, you should adhere to the following medical recommendations:

  • Massage your eyelids regularly with clean hands. Since the skin in this area is very sensitive, all manipulations should be carried out carefully, without strong impact. You can stroke your eyelids, make circular movements, lightly press on your eyeballs;
  • make compresses with strong tea (green or black). For these purposes, an infusion of chamomile, lemon balm or a decoction of black currant leaves is also suitable;
  • if the cause of twitching is increased intraocular pressure, treat with medications prescribed by a specialist. In addition, you should eat blueberries regularly: its components strengthen the muscle fibers of the eyelid;
  • when twitching of the eyelid becomes a consequence of the development of a nervous disease due to stress, overwork, normalize sleep, take walks in the fresh air, avoid stressful situations;
  • normalize your diet (enrich your diet with B vitamins, magnesium), give up coffee and alcoholic beverages.

Sometimes eyelid twitching can be caused by the use of anti-allergenic drugs or inflammation of the organ of vision. In such cases, you should immediately contact a specialist.

Thus, the eyelid can twitch due to constant stress, fatigue, an allergic reaction, neurological disorders, alcohol abuse, etc. Diagnosis of the disease is complex. In most cases, the primary form of the disease is identified, which responds well to treatment.