What causes eye twitching?
 

What fixes it?

I can see my right eye lid twitching since maybe yesterday.

Once or twice my left eye as well.

I don't feel like looking for the last thread we had on this.


I'm dehydrated. . . don't drink enough fluids . . . . hard to explain why . . . .too much trouble to go to the rest room when I am out and out of the habit when I am home.

M.

is it your eye brow?
sometimes nerves can cause us to twitch, being anxious
I have had twitching before when I was manic...
low potasium levels can cause cramping, don't know about twitching.
I am not much help...sorry
and Drink more water!!!!!
your body needs water above anything to function properly...
nurse hat off.
((((HUGS))))
bizi

ok
 

Thank you.
I'm eating a bowl of a cup and a half of endamame for a total of 1000 mgs of potassium). :Starvin:


M.

I remember.....
 

.......several years back, my eyelid twitched non-stop and I finally figured out in my case it was too much caffeine and not enuf sleep......

It can really get irritating I know!

Rae
:hug:

Edamame beans also have magnesium in them. That also helps with twitching muscles.

Another high potassium source is V8 juice.

dear Mari

i too have had twitching in the past. i figured it was probably a magnesium thing after caving to a prolonged milk craving - [I]and then realizing hey! it's stopped. and that time it had got much worse than other spells - both eyes, almost all the time, and larger muscles (glut, thigh, i couldn't even sit comfortably sheesh!)

didn't know about the potassium but good to know.

i also get leg cramping in the morning sometimes when it is bad, and magnesium fixes that.

i take effervescent supplemtents of
-- mag + potassium (here given as a rehydration supplement)

having run out of that i now take
-- effervescent mag b1+b2+b6

i will have to look up your beans. the effervescent tabs i mentioned were bought "accidentally" by mom, and have yucky sweeteners in them. i am "finishing them off" before getting better ones because supplements are so expensive.

i hope the twitching stops soon. it is so annoying.

Hi Rrrae!! :hug:

MrsD what lovely snowdrops!

~ waves ~

My bet is on fatigue and/or too much caffeine... I had the eye twitching for a couple of weeks, and my neuro told me not to worry because of that reason.

It is annoying and concerning. I hope it stops quick!

It's kind of scarey. Both of my eyes have twitched from side,to side before. At the same time I felt the back of my neck shaking. BF:hug::hug::hug:

Hi,

I take 2.5 mgs of CALM -- magnesium citrate in water every night w/ my night meds.

No caffeine.

I am surely lacking in sleep . . . .getting close to thought disturbances. I don't know how to fix my intense desire not to sleep.

M.

(((((HUGS)))))
love bizi

It happens to me ALL the time :o

Stress cause that too...

Vitamin B to the rescue !!!! I take GNC capsules (Vit B2, B6 and B12 all in once) and it solve the problem in 2-3 days...
:hug:

eye twitching started in today
 

Hi,

My left eye started twitching today. It is still going.

I am getting plenty of magnesium.

I am not getting enough sleep. Will sleep help?


M

WEll sleep effects everything so my vote is yes.
How is your water intake these days?
sorry about the twitching.
bizi

Bizi,

I have been getting plenty of water.

Maybe I need sleep. Thank you.

Mari

In my experiences with eye twitching it was linked to epilepsy :(

There is a study on PubMed using essential fatty acids for eye twitches.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10754430

Now of course, all the neuros are getting blasted by drug companies to use Botox...which I would avoid at all costs.

If you are low in EFAs then eating some salmon often, or taking
a supplement may help. EFAs stablize nerve membranes.

Zinc and all the B vitamins, physical interventions
 

Dear Mari

Another mineral whose deficiency can cause twitching is Zinc.

B6 is heavily implicated in nervous system function. But the B vits all work in "tandem" and require other vits too... do you take a full B complex, for starters?

Mag won't work on it's own either, btw. The B vits are simply necessary for correct nervous function, period.

stress and sleep deprivation (itself a stressor also) can augment nutrient requirements, for b vits especially. extra zinc is also helpful for periods of extra stress.

CAUTION: avoid megadoses - eg. 1000% RDA, especially of B6[/I] which can damage the nervous system[/B].

Considering you will get some portion of these nutrients from food, supplements that provide 100% RDA of the desired target nutrients might be helpful at best, and safe at worst. you can go up to 150% on the b's comfortably, as they do not accumulate. 15mg (100%) Zinc per day should be fine, even a little more (up 20ish ok). i would not exceed 30 mg so as not to upset copper balance.

==============================

aside from what goes into the body... i would do anything that is doable for you to increase your sleep, and use any other relaxation methods you can.

• i wonder if you could re-try meditating... you've said t-doc wants you to but you can't or don't get yourself to... i also wonder if you have considered doing it lying down - even on the couch - as opposed to adopting a "formal sitting pose."
• even simply doing breath awareness (in any context), and/or daily deep/slow breathing could be helpful.
• could hubby give you a massage - or could you get a professional one? sometimes i massage my own shoulders and neck.
• also stretching can be helpful. can you do the salute to the sun? regular stretching is good... you can create your own stretchies... whatever feels good... work on areas that feel taut.
• eye movement exercises (i have no clue if this will work :o, but it occurs to me you could try it.) my thoughts:
  • slow rotation x5 clockwise, x5 anti-clockwise (alternating directions or all reps in one, then the other, whichever most comfortable)
  • up-down x5;
  • side to side x5.
  might help directly distend the little muscles around the eye.

==============================

i've had eye twitches before. i sympathize. so very uncomfortable. got to the point once where i was purposely keeping my hair in my eyes so that others couldn't see the twitching... i was so self-conscious. it did go away though. i hope you feel better very soon. :hug::hug::hug:

~ waves ~

Hi, Waves,

I take some zinc some days but not the B's except for B12. I will carry some multi vits with me to eat at lunch today. (Almost everyday I take D3, Fish oil, Flax seed oil, and mag citrate)

I started doing the Mountain Breathing in Kabat-Zinn ( . . . be a mountain . . .)
I have done that for ten minutes at a time: close my eyes, put my hands on my Solar Plexus Chakra, and breath like a mountain. I have done that three times recently for 10 mins at a time.

M

Hey Mari !!!

Caffeine makes the twitching worse... so, avoid it completely (in case you are taking any coffe, tea, coke, chocolate, etc...)

Sleep and rest help but seriously, vitamin B always rescue me... :o

Hi, Majoand Waves,,

No coffee ever for me -- I drank it twice in my life. No coke for three years because I could not drink it when I had braces and stayed with the habit of not drinking it after the braces came off.
No chocolate lately ;)
I have tea about twice a week. I had two cups of tea yesterday. Maybe that did not help.

I am taking two or three teaspoons a day of olive oil. I can switch fax seed oil to my regime.

Today I added
~my multi vit that has a bunch of the B vits
~50 mgs zinc
~100 mgs B6

M

that is too much zinc unless you are taking a copper supplement too.
I take optizinc has copper in it too. (no more than 30mg by itself).
bizi

too much Zinc AND too mcuh B6!
 

Please suspend these 2 additional supplements for now:

1. that is too much Zinc and

2. that is too much B6!

Are you sure it is mgs - milligrams - on both those? - as opposed to %RDA or %AI (Adequate Intake).

Assuming they are in fact milligrams, as you have typed.....

=======================
on B6:
=======================

1. B6 additional supplement: The Adequate Intake (AI, formerly RDA) for B6, females 19-50 is 1.3 mg (MILLIGRAMS). did you mean 100% (PERCENT) AI? Very big safety difference. Please check the back of the bottle minutiously, noting whether it says mg or %.

100 mg with your other sources could bring you to a neurotoxic intake level. 100 mg total daily B6 is considered the uppermost tolerable limit. remember you get some in food! :) 1 cup of chick peas already gives you half of what you need in one day (50% AI).

2. Multivitamin supplement: Please check the %RDA or %AI (adequate intake) of the B's contained in your multivitamin. Many multivits provide 100% to what we need, or close. if it already contains ~100% (which is ~ 1.3 mg) or more of B6, that should be plenty, supplement-wise.

A caution on multivits: There are many products that are called B-100, B-50 or similar etc. They are misleading. The labeling intuitively suggests a percentage whereas the '100' actually refers to mass measure. For instance, the B-100's provide 100 mg (in some cases mcg) of each B vit. That is totally unbalanced in terms of requirements. For B6, since 100mg is the tolerability threshold, that amount is also potentially dangerous, depending on the person's diet and other supplements. Hopefully you do not have this kind.

that's percent. not milligrams. i am sorry if i was confusing going back and forth between the units and the percentage RDA.

=======================
on ZINC:
=======================

the RDA/AI is 15mg. you can go up to 30 mg, but NO MORE unless, as Bizi says, you take copper too.

Wondering - does your multivitamin have any minerals in it as well? if so, which? and especially, does it have any Zinc in it? if so you need to consider that amount with any other supplements. does it include copper?

======================================

please be careful. if you want, you can type in what your various supplements have here. just be sure to copy the units correctly. then we can help do the math.

:hug::hug::hug:

~ waves ~

Bizi and Waves,
 

Hi,

I have not taken the multi vit in a long time. The daily recommendation is to take three pills from the bottle. About once a month I take 1 pill (one third of the dose.)
I will get back and type exactly what is on the bottle.

I take the zinc about two times a week.

I am aware of the copper issue. I am also aware that we have some data that too much copper can correlate with bipolar.

M

I take about 60mg of optizinc, which has the copper in it at the right ratio.
Just worried about you.
(((((HUGS)))))
bizi

B6
 

Hi Mari

i'm sorry to be a fusspot but i am really worried too... :o:(

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/im...cons/icon5.gif would you please, please confirm that you will not take that "extra" b6 you mentioned?

then we can take up the details again after you get back with us about the multivits...

:hug::hug::hug: thank you.

~ waves ~

Waves,
Yes. I took only one B6 pill -- that was the other day -- in six or more months. I will not take anymore.

I am taking now magnesium citrate, flax seed oil, fish oil, D3.

I am not taking the multi vit.

I will only start taking the multi vit after I type in the amounts or send you a link to my bottle when I get a chance.

M

Dear Mari
 

Whew!!!

ok. thank you for getting back to me. i feel better now! :) :hug::hug::hug:

~ waves ~

link to the doses
 

Hi,

1 This is a link to my multi-vitamins
http://organicpharmacy.org/products/...am/SKU:RL11102
Notice that the serving size is 6 tablets. I never take that. When I used to take it a few times a week, I took 3 tablets, or even 1 tablet.


2 This is a link to my Vitamin B6 (The amount per tablet is 100 mg)
http://www.maxvite.com/1189/2299/Sol...g/product.html


3 Here is a link to my Zinc
http://www.google.com/products/catal...wAA#ps-sellers

M

the link to the zinc did not give me any info, the label doesn't even say 50mg just "50" that I can read that is. I only know that 30mg is the safe dose with out adding copper for the higher doses.
bizi

My eye lid has twitched at various times in my life. It never lasted to long,and the twitch would just disappear. BF:hug::hug::hug:

Zinc and b6 - both dosages unsafe
 

Mari (& Bizi re: Zinc)

Since the b6 dosage is indeed mg, it is at the tolerability threshold, which, along with your other sources of b6 (food, etc) will put you over. please do not take it, period. do not give it to anyone else either. :o if pharmacies have special places for disposing of medications - throw it away there rather than in the trash.

if you really wanted to go overboard supplementing, you could take 3 or 4 mg (that is already 200-300% requirement!). Consider that b6 deficiency is rare, and you, personally, are not even in a risk group for it - you are not an alcoholic, not a heavy consumer of caffeine, etc. it is ok to take a little to ensure you get the basic amount, but on its own it is useless - better approach would be to take a good overall B complex with complementary vitamins, to make sure your body can utilize the available b6.

------------------

navigating products from the b6 page, i found the zinc product description:

http://www.maxvite.com/851/1109/Solg...0/product.html

you click on ingredients to get the amount. it is indeed 50mg.

so, as bizi and i have both already said, that is also too high. please do not take this. i personally would recommend taking only 15-20mg. added to what you get in food, you'd be getting more than that anyway. one thing you might do to see if you can "use" these pills, is check with a pharmacist as to whether it would be safe to cut the pill in half... 25mg a day would be ok. i would skip it on days you consume foods high in Zinc.

~ waves ~

multivit
 

this is not a balanced supplement but it will work. when you finish it, i would seek out something more balanced.

please do not take more than 3 of these per day, ever. it has ridiculously high doses of some things per "serving" (ie per 6 tablets). the b6 in here is also very high, although within tolerability levels.

unfortunately taking only 3 tablets you only get 10 mg of Zinc.

that's better than nothing.

that also means you might be getting enough, considering food.

you could look into food sources and simply ensure you do get at least another 5mg through your food and you'd be fine.

alternatively, if you wanted to add a zinc supplement, you need to add a low dose. like another 10 mg which might be hard to find.

However you might be able to find a 15 or 20 mg supplement easily. do not go above that or you'll exceed 30mg, added to the multivit. in this case, i think it would be ok to take the multivit every day, and the added zinc every other.

if you decide to take more than that, although i do not see too much sense in it, you would need to take copper. my vote is for the dietary checking, and next choice a low dose of zinc every other day.

------------------

the copper/zinc thing is not a bipolar-specific thing. Zinc and Copper are both stored in the body by binding the same compound. Excessive Zinc will displace the copper and cause copper deficiency symptoms - in all humans.

~ waves ~

p.s.

1. this has a ridiculously high amount of b12 - suspend your b12 supplement while taking this.

2. there is plenty b6 in here, as well as other b vits and complementary vitamins. do not seek out an alternative b6 supplement to add on, (i mentioned taking 3 or 4 mg in the post about suspending your b6... well 3 of these pills will give you 30mg!!!)

3. magnesium is needed too for correct nervous system function, and the multivit doesn't have a lot which is fine since you take that separately.

Waves, :)

I appreciate your analysis of the contents of my vitamin bottles.

M

This twitching seemed to start up again.

Maybe I can organize myself to take one or two of the vitamin pills (of the six called a serving) AND get some sleep sometimes. :confused:

M

It's probably stress related benign fasciculations, Mari.

I haven't caught up with your lack of sleep thread or some of this one either, but lack of sleep is so very, very stressful for the nervous system.

Emotional and physical stress can cause these little eye twitches or fascics. I've had them on and off from time to time. I think most people get them under stressful situations if they're that way inclined. :)

I'll post a thread that I started last year and received some really helpful advice from mrsD and others.

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/th...plements Forum
Fasciculations and muscle cramps

I was in a pretty bad way and the twitches and cramping weren't helping my sleep problems either so was like a never ending circle. I thought there was something really seriously wrong with me at the time.

I figured I needed more magnesium and I was right as it did help although time and rest and a number of other things helped as well.

:hug:

Thank you.
 

Hi,

I take magnesium. I am missing sleep.

Sleeping appropriately would improve my life in so many ways.

M

No nutrient is an island
 

Mari :hug::hug::hug:

taking your supplements wouldn't hurt and might help, even with the originating problem being sleep-deprivation.

sleep deprivation places additional stress on the body in general. accordingly, your b requirement is probably higher than usual. magnesium alone will not work if there is a deficit in a complementary nutrient.

taking supplements (yours provide the b's and other complementary nutrients) should help you during the day and should improve your sleep quality, when you do sleep.

http://www.boxingscene.com/supplements/9649.php
this article focuses on single vits, but remember, the b vist work together and require other vits/minerals as well. so the multivit is a good integrative solution.

preferably, take the supplements during the daytime - say with lunch meal, not shortly before going to bed.

i wish you the ability to sleep more. :circlelove:

~ waves ~

Waves,

Perhaps I got overwhelmed by the vitamin talk.
I have a hard time focusing on the night meds. When I add ANYTHING to my routine (meds or anything else) I have to pay very close attention to the prescribed meds.

It's been a eleven months I think since I saw my internist. She is going to have a cow.

M

i apologize
 

Dear Mari

i am sorry. :(:heartthrob: i won't say anything more about vitamins. :(

~ waves ~

No. That talk is totally 100% ok. I am sorry.

I guess I should make more sense when I type.

I have not figured out a way to incorporate my multi-vit back into my regime.
Perhaps I can take it in the mornings --- far away from the night meds. Some mornings I take 0.25 Klonopin. I will need to eat food with the vitamin and most mornings I do not eat breakfast. . .
I can work out a way to take the vitamin; I have not yet.



M