tics

[loborojo]

As a teacher I have been under severe stress lately, to accomodate myself and having to live wiht 4 other teachers under the same roof, people I haven't actually chosen to live with. When I am under stress, my body reacts with tich, my muscles or nerves in my face start playing up, and now for 2 weeks my left eyelid is constantly twiching. It annoys me thorughout my sleep and waking up it is the first thing that happnes. It used to be my nostril or cheek or arm a year ago. how can I stop this???

[ruth]

Ignore it, I think. Think of it as unimportant, insignificant. That works for me when I have a worrisome tic.
What we resist persists.

[Sophist]

As a teacher I have been under severe stress lately, to accomodate myself and having to live wiht 4 other teachers under the same roof, people I haven't actually chosen to live with. When I am under stress, my body reacts with tich, my muscles or nerves in my face start playing up, and now for 2 weeks my left eyelid is constantly twiching. It annoys me thorughout my sleep and waking up it is the first thing that happnes. It used to be my nostril or cheek or arm a year ago. how can I stop this???

lobo, have you ever had an EEG? By the way you describe them, these would not be considered "tics" in the sense of a tic associated with Tourette's Syndrome. Those would actually be muscular contractions or jerks.

Everybody has had these. However, these can also be a symptom of seizures. And because at least about 30% of autistics develop seizures, you may want to consider getting these checked out.

Changes in brain waves can often trigger seizure activity, such as while getting drowsy or when waking up. Ways in which you can help quell these motor jerks (medication aside) would be:

* Try and reduce your anxiety level throughout the day, such as via meditation, listening to soothing music, etc., because anxiety directly increases risk of these occurring more;

* Keep a balanced diet; missing nutrients necessary for aspects of cellular metabolism only adds stress on your entire system, keeping it from functioning at its peak;

* Whenever your eyelid starts twitching, I would recommend trying to wake yourself up more quickly. Get up, do something like jog in place. The faster you get out of that drowsy state, the sooner those may stop. Also, the less time you let them go on, the less chance they will have to get ingrained. If they are simple partial seizures, then you must realize that the brain doesn't know the difference between regular "learning" and a seizure. It will treat both the same, in that the more you activate a synaptic connection (in this case, motor neurons which cause the eyelid muscles to contract), the stronger that connection will become and the more easily it will be triggered. So in essence, try to distract yourself, because your brain is able to inhibit seizure activity that isn't too ingrained. Doing other motor activities, trying to wake yourself up, and things like music would all probably help the motor jerks stop.

I don't know how much you know about seizures. But I just want to assure you that this isn't something to totally freak out about, as though you're going to end up having grand mal seizures and losing consciousness or something, seizing on the floor. Seizures come in all shapes and forms, and many are very mild. It is even likely that epilepsy is a lot more common in people than is thought, but it is just the more severe forms which end up getting dxed.

I have very mild temporal lobe seizures, undxed and unmedicated. But I have used some of the above techniques to quell the severity and frequency of my seizures to much success. I would, however, recommend getting an EEG done for yourself; if these are seizures, it's always good at least to get them dxed. You can decide what you would personally prefer when it comes to medications.

I would recommend keeping an eye on them, continuing to take note of when they occur, how long they occur, and whether they are increasing or decreasing with frequency. Also, if they tend to go through any cycles of frequency or the length of time they occur. In addition, notice if any other things you try have an effect on reducing them; you may be able to invent some personal techniques yourself.

Btw, if you decide to get an EEG done, I would recommend requesting to have a 48-hour portable EEG test, rather than going into an office and having a brief EEG. If you don't have a continual abnormal EEG read, then they will need to catch a seizure in action, and if you don't usually have these when you're wide awake but usually just after waking, then they're not going to catch you having one in an office. It sounds like, if these are seizures and not just normal motor jerks that everyone has once in awhile, they may be centered around your right temporal lobe. In which case, the typical "strobe light" effect neurologists frequently use to produce seizure activity probably won't work on TLE. (For myself, my seizure triggers are actually auditory, not visual.)

Anyways, hope some of that might help, lobo.

[loborojo]

Thanks a lot Sophist, I appreciate your elaborate explanations, and will see what I can do, though I am on limited cash and have no medical insurance and in a foreign country...

[Sophist]

Thanks a lot Sophist, I appreciate your elaborate explanations, and will see what I can do, though I am on limited cash and have no medical insurance and in a foreign country...

Just make sure to observe them, see if anything helps improve them, keep stress as low as possible (meditation is great, but also don't forget just to have fun and enjoy yourself since that rush is a natural anxiolytic in itself), and make sure they don't get any worse.

If you do notice new symptoms as time goes on, just make note of them. If these get to a point where your life is actually being inhibited by them, then it would be good to try and find some form of treatment for them if at all possible. But if they are seizures, while they are so mild they are probably very controllable and nothing more than a minor irritation.

I have noticed for my own TLE seizures, it's more difficult to distract myself from motor jerk seizures-- in general I think they're more difficult to inhibit. But other types of seizures that involve auditory sensations, etc., are easier to distract myself from. I can often relieve auditory seizures just by listening to music, since the brain seems to be incapable of focusing attention on two different auditory sources, so providing the music is the stronger stimulation, it wins and ends up inhibiting the activity of the auditory seizure.

If you can, try not to concentrate on the motor jerks, since focusing attention can actually make them worse. Ignore them as best as possible.

[renaeden]

I have had eye twitches due to stress (throughout my uni course it was every day) and once the stress is over, the twitching stops.

Tics are different to twitches in my experience.

[Sophist]

I have had eye twitches due to stress (throughout my uni course it was every day) and once the stress is over, the twitching stops.

Tics are different to twitches in my experience.

Yeah, tics feel more under one's control (although still can be very difficult to control). Like the difference between completely involuntary and then somewhat voluntary.

[loborojo]

I think I have both. There are the repetitive tics like in my arm or face which are visible adn the twitchings which I feel and annoy me thorughout the day but are invisible.

[Sophist]

Yeah, both tics (semi-voluntary) and seizures (muscular seizures are called myoclonic seizures) are both more common in autism.

[renaeden]

I got tics mixed up with stims before. But the difference between twitches and tics seem very clear to me. Like Sophist said, twitches are completely involuntary.

Tics you can put off and the urge to do them builds up and up to overwhelming point and then tics abound!

[loborojo]

I got tics mixed up with stims before. But the difference between twitches and tics seem very clear to me. Like Sophist said, twitches are completely involuntary.

Tics you can put off and the urge to do them builds up and up to overwhelming point and then tics abound!

I don't understand this...are you saying that someone who is constantly blinking his eye(s) or raising eyebrows, that he can actually stop or increase it if he wants to??

[spirited]

First of all... Thank You sophist!!!!!! I had the VERY SAME thing, the left eye tic, blicking and twice the rate of my right eye. I will take your advice. I have enough symptoms to warrent the DX of tourettes disorder, except, i don't meet criteria C, present before age 18. This happened as a direct result of taking adderall XR. I did, however, have accupuncture on my eye, which resolved my left eye blinking thing, but the tics change location on my face, body and I now have phonic tics, with caporalia. My current vocal tics are sh** f***, and this weird hissing noise that sounds like it came from a scarey movie. I have some shoulder shrugging and a complex facial tic an the right side of my cheek. I am at risk of losing my job, i have applied for disability and waiting for answer, have had the psych exam--again. oh, lob, by the way, since a pharmie did this to me, I chose to not take pills unless I already know how they act on my body. I do take a calcium, magnesium zinc suppliment which I discovered on accident does help ease my tics quite a bit. My dose varies, I started at a low dose, and I take more as needed. (the results are almost immediate for me, but the tics are still present)
My new question: I go to a free health clinic for poor people and to see any dr at all I have to get a referral. They do these, but how do I motivate them to order these? They already know about the tourettes sh**, I have reported tons of neurological symptoms, but It is hard to get them to do this sh** when you have no insurance. Any ideas, aside from making a big scene?

[spirited]

Also, I have found that nutrasweet, aspertame, and pheylalinine and any artifical sweetener aggrivates the symptoms. Also any alcoholic beverage. Maybe some preservatives too.

[renaeden]

I got tics mixed up with stims before. But the difference between twitches and tics seem very clear to me. Like Sophist said, twitches are completely involuntary.

Tics you can put off and the urge to do them builds up and up to overwhelming point and then tics abound!

I don't understand this...are you saying that someone who is constantly blinking his eye(s) or raising eyebrows, that he can actually stop or increase it if he wants to??

Yes you can, but never for very long! The urge gets stronger and then overwhelming and the tic happens.

You could try not ticcing (blinking eyes, raising eyebrows) but it is really difficult and requires conscious thought about the tics. I am not expert but you could give this a try.

[spirited]

The eye tic I had I could not suppress. the body tics I am somewhat able to suppress, I do have a preminatory urge so I can turn my face away, the vocal tics are hard to suppress. The accupuncture removed the eye tic, I have a weird facial tic, though, that is pretty creepy.