Please Help Me ....worried about chronic eye twitches

[surfer76]

Please can some learned person out there help me ...

I am 29 yo white male . normally very healthy . Have a very stressful job .

.....

I dont know if this is related but had a sore neck back in October .

Was painfull but on pain scale of 1 to 20 ..was probably only 3.

I developed total numbness on the anterior surace of my thumb ( just the "fingerprint area"  plus pain where the nerve runs "on top" of the elbow.... at the time  my doctor told me was either a pinched nerve or MS.

I looked up MS on the internet and read that it can, in rare cases be fatal quickly. I comletely freaked out thinking the worst.

Anyway ...got an MRI done MS was ruled out but I was found to have "at c5/c6 level a small focal left paracentral disc protrusion - effacing entry zone to the nueral foraman as well as the exiting left c6 nerve root".

Things were fine for a couple of weeks. Looking back , I put myself through a rediculous amount of emotional stress . ie thinking how my wife would cope if I was six feet under etc etc...


Now ( in the last couple of days )I developed a chronic eye twitch in both eyes. I even get twitching on the "bony" part of my nose .

Also had my eyes tested recently as well....optomertrist says I have better than 20 / 20 vision.



Spoke to a doctor ..told me its stress and to go away.

I dont feel super stressed at the moment so how could this be stress ?

Can my neck injury be resonsible for these twitches ? I keep thinking they are a symtom of something worse.

Your help sincerely appreciated .

[boozer775]

A related discussion, under eye twitching was started.

[Anxxing]

It could be sinus related.. Sinus issues can effect the eyes..

[Leese39]

I have eye twitches and am very obese! I ended up havinga tumor behind my left eye on my optic nerve! I am a very stressed person. Don't avoid going to another Dr. for a 2nd opinion!

[tearsfromheaven]

too many people and doctors blame stress for symptoms of other illnesses....I feel that's really wrong...

[CCF-Neuro-M.D.-PW]

Although I cannot give you a formal medical opinion over the internet, its highly unlikely thay your eye twitches are abnormal - they are usually a manifestation of tiredness, fatigue, sometimes related to exercise or exposure to cold, more rarely from some medications or an overactive thyroid gland. I even get them when I am tired!

A pinched nerve root in the neck does not caue twitches in the eyes.

The C6 nerve root does supply sensation to the lateral arm and hand including the thumb - this might mean that the left disc protrusion is very mildly symptomatic, if it gets worse or you develop weaknessin the arm, have it reevaluated with EMG also

Good luck

[PattyLeeH]

I used to have chronic eye twitching.  I had them so long I actually stopped noticing them.  I'm not a doctor but I am guessing it's stress.  I didn't think I was stressed either!  I thought--and others thought--I was a very mellow, relaxed person, not type A at all.   Our minds and bodies all deal with stress differently.  The reason you don't think you're stressed is that your body is absorbing it and it's manifesting itself physiologically.  Other ways this shows up:  TMJ syndrome, irritable bowel, etc.  

Get a massage from someone who will work on your face. Try massaging your jaw around the TMJ area, doing some focused breathing (i.e., meditation). There are other tricks, too. My eye twitching went away with a combination of this and yoga.

YOu might even find that you relieve that numbness in your thumb with some of these tricks.  

I can prove you have at least minimal stress:  you checked an internet forum for a health concern! <grin>
Good luck--Patty