Blinking your Eyes

[Poety]

Aside of Tourettes or some motor tic, what can cause people to blink a lot? Like incessantly - where its noticeable, and what would be the chances of meeting more than one person that does this in a day?

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[MDgonnabe]

Aside of Tourettes or some motor tic, what can cause people to blink a lot? Like incessantly - where its noticeable, and what would be the chances of meeting more than one person that does this in a day?

aberrant regeneration of the facial nerve after some sort of trauma or surgery could cause an eye to twitch whenever another branch of the facial nerve is activated.

also an irritant in their eyes? or perhaps dry eyes for whatever the reason.

an electrolyte imbalance would really be stretching it i suppose.

caffeine gets me really jittery. i don't see why this or any other stimulant wouldn't be a theoretical possibility.

and knowing where i am, malingering is always on my list too.

 

[Poety]

thanks mdgonna - it looked like motor tic movement - it wasn't twitching at all, it was definitely blinking.

 

[NR117]

Aside of Tourettes or some motor tic, what can cause people to blink a lot? Like incessantly - where its noticeable, and what would be the chances of meeting more than one person that does this in a day?

Essential blepharospasm (bilateral)
Hemifacial spasm (unilateral)
Any kind of ocular irritation causing photophobia, foreign body sensation or irritation (e.g. keratitis, iritis, giant papillary conjunctivitis, etc.) -unilateral or bilateral

The chances of meeting more than one person that does this? Depends where you are - definitely higher in a Movement Disorders or Neuro-ophthalmology clinic than general practice!

 

[MDgonnabe]

i'm too lazy to edit my post for the 100th time so:

i can't help but wonder if patients with ocd may sometimes blink on compulsions. like "you can't just blink once!... or twice!..." etc...

i'd just ask the patient if they're even aware that it's going on. assuming they could reply, that in and of itself could be telling.

 

[Poety]

thanks so much you guys! these were professionals (i.e. not patients) that were blinking like that so I wouldn't want to ask them - I was just wondering if say a blinking tic was really common when under stress, or is common in general

 

[MDgonnabe]

thanks so much you guys! these were professionals (i.e. not patients) that were blinking like that so I wouldn't want to ask them - I was just wondering if say a blinking tic was really common when under stress, or is common in general

sure, many people develop mild tics or other repetitive movements when under stress.

 

[Poety]

Would that be a form of Tourettes then? I thought that for tics, they were in childhood, and they can't last more than a year?

 

[MDgonnabe]

Would that be a form of Tourettes then? I thought that for tics, they were in childhood, and they can't last more than a year?

i should defer this one to a movement disorder expert. have you cross posted this to the neuro board? but yeah, i've seen many patients who're nervous to be in the dr's office and they start doing odd, stereotyped things (like head rubbing) that they apparently don't do at home. nearly everyone has very slight things they do subconsciously out of nervousness, so i doubt it's pathologic.

 

[manc]

Hey Poety, I'm not so knowledgeable about movement disorders, but sounds more like a stereotypy than a tic. I had a discussion with a psych-savy child neurologist about various movement disorders. He said the sterotypies, unlike tics, can be more or less suppressed without the person feeling like their going to explode or something (autistics might be a different story).

 

[MDgonnabe]

Hey Poety, I'm not so knowledgeable about movement disorders, but sounds more like a stereotypy than a tic. I had a discussion with a psych-savy child neurologist about various movement disorders. He said the sterotypies, unlike tics, can be more or less suppressed without the person feeling like their going to explode or something (autistics might be a different story).

interesting. the patients i saw who kept head rubbing were in the teen clinic.

 

[Poety]

Hey Poety, I'm not so knowledgeable about movement disorders, but sounds more like a stereotypy than a tic. I had a discussion with a psych-savy child neurologist about various movement disorders. He said the sterotypies, unlike tics, can be more or less suppressed without the person feeling like their going to explode or something (autistics might be a different story).

OFCOURSE!! I forgot about sterotypies Thanks Manc!