If you half smile, do your lips twitch a bit?

I’ve had Bell’s palsy three times. It can be something serious. If you can, get a second opinion.

It’s not Bell’s palsy – I went to an ophthalmologist and two doctors. All said stress. Now I’m wondering about a tremor when I smile. Wondering if it’s normal or now I’m creating spasm!

I did not say it was, I’m sorry my previous post was not clear. When I had Bell’s palsy (at least the last 2 times) it started with the twitching eye/lips. It was stress related, and it was not immediate. I’ve had a number of stress related illnesses over the last 17 years, so whenever I see something that is not working out well (twitching eye/hand tremor/lazy muscles), I visit my neurologist.

Oh I see – thank you. Seeing neurologist – have to pay for it out of pocket as dr and ophthalmologist don’t think it’s necessary.

When I have smile, I do need to use some muscle control or else they might tremble a bit.

When I’ve been very stressed or distressed, I have had trembling in my body and other sensations outside my control that were pretty distressing. In that case it was about depression, stress, and needing to clear out “normal” (especially in modern Western culture) emotional issues due to typical adult drift from authentic self etc, nothing really physical except inasmuch as being miserable and in self-denial about it often leads to physical effects indirectly.

Yeah I“m thinking I might need to go on anti depressants actually – this is beyond a joke and I think a normal person wouldn’t really even notice it – or just say ‘it will pass’ – not google and obsess like I am.

No.

Either.

Not even a little bit? I think mine did it actually because I’ve been eating ice blocks, sucking them and i think I stressed out my cheeks! ha ha… I need prozac and lots of it.

No.

You don’t have ALS, you’re too young. Plus, you don’t have the symptoms of ALS. Forget that horrible disease.

Have they done an MRI yet? Is the twitching on both sides of your face?

Sorry for three posts. If you’re eating ice you really must get your iron checked if they haven’t checked it already.

Did you mention that to your doctor?

Have you been tired? Is your tongue very pale?

I know that when I intentionally try to smile for a photo (especially a selfie, wherein I can actually see my face) the subtle nerve and muscle action around my mouth feel a little off. Rather than having some kind of disease, I suspect your issue is simply how your face reacts to any concerted effort of smiling.

I also suspect the eye twitching is only the result of stress and an unrelated tic. It’s easy and not abnormal for one’s mind to conflate several unrelated physical issues—which may be annoying but probably minor and easily treatable—- into one dire medical cause. I know. I often do it myself. :-(

All that said, I’m no doctor.

Not that i’ve noticed, weirdly though, my penis does.

@tan253, if you have to have the recommendation of your doctor or ophthalmologist to see a neurologist (and have the visit covered), could you ask one of them to recommend the visit to you anyway? Maybe if you explain to them that while they might not think it’s strictly necessary, it would provide you some peace of mind to have a neurologist take a look. Maybe it’s subsided by now, I don’t know. Just had the thought.

Do you drink coffee, how much water are you drinking? I can relate, I have been a hypochondriac and I don’t have the best explanation for how I came out of it either. I can say that it was intense suffering so I feel for you. I have had such twitches and it was stress/anxiety, caffeine and dehydration related.

I drink coffee and I do’nt drink enough water. Yes hypocondria is deblitating – today my eye has hardly twitched, I gather if it were ALS it would twitch and not get better?
I have muscle spasms in my arms and legs as well but they come and go, and i know there are many neurological disorders in the world not just ALS, I think I get stuck on the ones that you can’t do anything about as that’s my biggest fear.
I’ve got st johns wort and high dose magensium from the chemist today – they ahve told me it will take a couple of weeks to get it all to kick in so fingers crossed. I’ve always had shaking and muscle spasm but I suffer from anxiety so they go hand in hand….. I’ve also noticed I clench my jaw and fist a lot too… so that could be why my mouth twitched the other day as well – it hasn’t done it again.

A half smile? Like a smirk??

yes you smile then stop then half smile… caused my mouth to go into a huge spasm.
I“m still freaking out about ALS but I need to stop googling, I just want this eye twitch gone. I feel like my whole body is twitching now!

You need to go to a neurologist to calm yourself. You can’t keep wondering like this.

They can do an MRI and some muscle tests to see how the electrical impulses are traveling through your body. Don’t do anything extreme like a spinal tap at this point.

Then, if everything is normal, then maybe you will be more inclined to try the easier things like the glasses you need, quit caffeine (not fun) and address any vitamin or mineral deficiencies like vitamin D or iron.

You must get your iron checked. Iron deficiency can cause hair loss, rapid heart beat (which can feel like anxiety) craving ice, muscle cramps, and I’ve even read it can slow down your thyroid. My guess is your doctor did order an iron check and CBC if you had blood drawn, because I can’t imagine not checking this on a woman, but be sure. If not, the neurologist can do it.

Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor.

@tan253 IMHO you need a neurologist to make the diagnosis.

Hey everyone, yes I’m much calmer today, I think,whilst yes, I will go see the neurologist I think what may be better for me is a psychologist. I’m starting to realise my ALS fear is a bit extreme and highly unlikely given I just have an eye twitch, my mouth hasnt’ twitched since that day I panicked and tried smiling in the mirror and saw my mouth twitch which was probably due to tense muscles.
My Dad has eye twitches and muscle twitches and sometimes they last for months he’s just told me and this can be hereditary.
I’ve had all my bloods done only a month ago – iron was great, CRP was very low, everything was fine.
I need to go to the beach and breathe in some fresh air and stop f$ck#ng worrying… I’ve read about 100 blogs from people that have had an ongoing eye twitch, in fact, one woman had it for 9 months and then it just disappeared!
I’m sorry for my ongoing rant and neurotic banter!

We are here for your rants. :)

It’s important to have a place to express these concerns, it is no fun keeping those thoughts to yourself!

Thanks Guys, I’m taking high dose magnesium and that seems to be doing the trick, though I think I may be taking too much…. ;)
I’m still going to the neurologist just to get some advice about how to deal with high anxiety and brain issues, though i realise now that my eye twitch is probably just…. an eye twitch.

If you get the runs… too much magnesium.

ok another rant – so for two days the twitch was gone, I was so elated – and now it’s back with a vengeance! So now my ALS fears are going wild, I can’t cope and crying my eyes out… grrrrrr anxiety really sucks guys.

Also my body twitches at night and now I think my lip is twitching. I need help.

Go get ALS ruled out. You can’t go on like this. Let them do a nerve conduction test or something. Don’t do anything like a spinal tap! Nothing so invasive with such risks. Not now, not unless there is all sorts of other data pointing towards needing one.

I have a bunch of ALS symptoms too! But it’s been over ten years of it and vitamin D makes a huge difference in relieving the symptoms. ALS gets really bad fast. Within three years of diagnosis people usually are becoming severely disabled. I don’t have twitching, but I have terrible muscle fatigue and cramping in all my body. I used to shake after using a muscle group repetitively, I literally could not hold a glass for fear of dropping it my hand would get so weak and shaky. Probably, if I went to enough doctors one would have diagnosed me with ALS, one diagnosed me with fibromyalgia, which still makes no sense to me. Luckily, my endocrinologist diagnosed me with severe vitamin D deficiency, or I think I would have become crippled.

Typically, ALS doesn’t begin until after age 40, but there are rare cases of younger people. Most people start becoming clutzy, practically tripping over themselves, falling down, dropping things, difficulty speaking, just twitching doesn’t add up to ALS. Plus, you said your dad has twitches, so the most likely explanation is a genetic tendency for twitching.

Twitching in your body at night, do you mean a few jerks at night as you begin to fall into slumber land? That’s common and normal. Is that just starting now, you’ve never experienced that before?

Did you do anything differently those two days? Less caffeine? You were worrying less? When the twitching started back up did you have more caffeine than usual? Something made you very anxious again?