Eyelid Twitch experiences?

[EliJ90]

Hi
I went to the GP yesterday for a persistent eyelid twitch i’ve had for a month. It feels like a spasm.
I’m a real panicker and was wondering if anyone has experienced similar?
I used to get this maybe twice per year and it would be gone in a day. This has been happening multiple times per day for a few seconds, usually my right top eyelid.
I’ve gradually noticed that it happens everytime I yawn enough to scrunch my eyes (the really big yawns!) and if I purposely scrunch my eyes and open them it happens then too.
On days when I’m really panicky it happens more frequently but tbh, even when I don’t think about it it will still happen at least once.
Always relatively stressed but nothing more than usual and been getting decent sleep the last week or so. No sign of it going :(
If anyone has any experience of this or can relate to any of the above I’d be so grateful.

It’s stress related and I fixed mine by taking magnesium daily which also helps you sleep

It’s stress related and I fixed mine by taking magnesium daily which also helps you sleep

Sorry don’t know why that went twice!

Have you tried anything to allieviate it? Warm eye pads and some good sleep normally sorts it out. You are right to see a GP though if it persists.

I had this in January/February, more frequent twitching and lasting longer than I’ve ever had it in the past. Like you I could also trigger it by scrunching up my eyes.

I was getting to the point of worrying but it has completely gone now.

I made an effort to look away from screens more often and tried to avoid squinting or reading in poor light. I think it’s also stress related for me.

I also had new glasses at the start of the year so I was confident my eyes had recently been checked, so I didn’t see an optician - but it’s a good idea if you are due a checkup.

Hope it goes soon.

One thing that can be immediately very soothing when it happens is rubbing your palms together so they get warm, then placing them gently on your eyes.

I get this if I'm very overtired or stressed. After a close bereavement some years ago, it went on for about a year (I did consult an optician who was very reassuring). It happened when I yawned too, and when I touched my eye particularly (eg while washing my face).

Stress.
Had it myself for weeks in an awful time which led to what was then called a nervous breakdown.

I get this ALL the time. Just stress/exhaustion/eye strain in my case. It's very common.

Go to the optician too.

I had a twitch in my upper eyelid for 6 weeks. Not the whole time! It would go through phases of being every 5 mins/ every 20 mins, twitching for a couple of mins at a time. It wasn’t so noticeable that anyone else could see it. I know it says to go to GP if it lasts longer than 2 weeks but I hadn’t yet gone.

It randomly stopped happening (after peaking in an awful drive home). And then exactly one week after that I had a retinal tear (in that eye). And thankfully that time I did do the right thing and went straight to the opticians, and it was able to be fixed.

The eye doctor didn’t comment really when I asked if it was linked. But it was too much of a coincidence. I think it was my eye under strain. I am very shortsighted so the retinal tear is literally from my retina being under the strain of my eyeball being the wrong shape (or some technical term), ie it wasn’t due to a one off injury.

Mine started like this. However it was diagnosed as a hemifacial spasm. The twitches extended a little below the eye as well. Caused by a facial nerve being irritated by an artery. Treatment is Botox around the eye which I went for ( sadly the consultant wouldn’t do the other eye for cosmetic purposes!)
alternatively there s an operation they can do.

I’ve given up the Botox and the op is in effect brain surgery so I’ve chosen not to go down that path and just live with my wretched twitch.
good luck on your journey - whatever the diagnosis

@GloiredeDijon
I was hospitalised with a Nervous Breakdown in my early 20s, many years ago.
I'm so glad they no longer use that term
anymore. People were really stigmatised for having one and the received knowledge was once you had had one you never recovered, that you were never the same person again. I'm so glad attitudes to mental health have moved on from then, even if they still have sone way to go.

I also periodicaly get a twitching eyelid OP but put it down to stress

Yes I've had this in the past. I think I had 3 or 4 weeks of daily eyelid twitching (not constant, but for a few mins at a time and a few times a day...and always when I got out of the shower for some reason)

It went away randomly on its own but I suppose I will have similar in the future as it's happened a few years ago on occasion too.

I had this when my marriage was breaking down. It went away eventually so I think it's stress related.

@GreenMarigold thanks for sharing- i’m relieved to know that someone else has had that same feeling of actually being able to bring it on with an eye scrunch or a yawn. It feels so weird.
I too had an eye test in Jan and all was fine, so I’m hoping that’s still the same!

@Younginside i’m sorry to hear about your bereavement. Really glad that this eye twitch resolved for you after some time. It’s such an odd sensation. Hoping mine will go soon but I do find it tough not to fixate on it!

I get these on and off. But once had it for 3 months! Then of course the more worried I got about it the longer it lasted. It just went away and now when it comes back I don't worry about it and it eventually goes away.

I had this about 10 years ago, increased to every day, it stopped when I changed job. I think it was a combination of stress and strip lighting.

I agree that stress can trigger it, it’s happened to me a few times. One time I managed to get rid of it by cutting out caffeine.

Always stress or fatigue for me- usually stress related. Goes when the stress wears off.

I've also had this for a really prolonged period of time- it was work related stress that triggered it. The eye doctor asked if I'd had a bereavement so that must he a common trigger too. He botoxed it. I only needed the botox a few times, once I'd solved the work situation it went away.

Thanks so much for all of your responses!
I got my blood results back yesterday and have ‘absent iron stores’.
I’m now on iron tablets. GP says this can absolutely cause an eyelid twitch. Worth getting tested if you’re having similar symptoms to me! X