Flickering vision, Eye tightness

[rumpled]

Over the weekend, I experienced some flashing in my vision - something like flickering of the vision like an old movie, just in one eye. I am having as well some muscle spasms - but not in my eye lid, but below my eye which I can feel in under my eye and my cheek and now above my eye in my brow. I have sort of a sensation that the back of my eye is tight. I can still see pretty well but I am very tired.

I have had ocular migraines for years and know this is nothing like what I have had before as far as that goes - in fact I had a really bad episode recently in the same eye but since I know what it is, I just let it pass. I know it is not floaters as well as the ones I have are clear.

I have been under evaluation for a neuro-muscular condition but to date, it has not been diagnosed but the twitching started off and on a year ago and now happens more often, longer, and stronger.

Any ideas of what this could be?

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

This flickering sounds like migraine.  If the flicker only last a few seconds it is ocular in origin.  If it lasts 20 minutes or so it is in the brain.

The other periocular ach might be due to stress--greater occiptal neuralgia. It can occur from the tightness of the back of you neck.

[rumpled]

The flickering was only for a few seconds.
The muscle spasms around the eye keeps happening.
Thank you for your response. I am trying to get in to see my eye doctor today.

[rumpled]

The doctor (a neuro-opthomologist) examined my eyes. Ironically, the retina in my left eye was fine, but my right eye had had a tear in the past and now has lattice thinning. He thinks the flickering was a migraine as you said.

However, the spasms around my eye continue to happen. I get a muscle going in the bottom of the pouch under the eye (where it is darker). That has been happening for a year. Now I feel like someone is tapping on my eyeball, and finally saw that I was getting a spasm not in my eyelid, but in the fold over the eye lid. I sometimes feel the spasm all over my face down to my mouth.

When these spasms happen, it coincides with poor swallowing and coordination. I am trying to set up esophagus tests for that. Have you heard of muscle issues with the eye and face acting like that? Thank you.