How Can I Stop An Eye Twitch?
Calm a tic with herbs, a cool compress, and other holistic remedies.
Optometrist
While an eye twitch can be annoying,
it's rarely noticeable to other people
and will usually resolve itself by the
end of the day. To help relieve the tic,
apply a cool compress. Take a clean
washcloth or towel, soak it in cold
water, wring it out, and fold it to a
comfortable size. Lie down and place
the compress over your eyes for about
20 minutes. The cold constricts your
blood vessels, drawing blood away
from the muscles around the eye and
easing the twitch. Don't use a warm
compress-heat will bring more blood
to the muscles, which will aggravate
the problem. If the twitching continues
for several days, you feel numbness
in the skin on your face, or you notice
that your pupils aren't the same size,
see your primary care physician or eye
doctor as soon as possible to check for
more serious conditions.
-Cristina Schnider, O.D., director of
medical affairs for Vistakon, the
makers of Acuvue contact lenses
Twitching is sometimes an indirect way to release stress. A tic that affects your eyes could be the result of repressing or not acknowledging something you've seen, for example. The first step in addressing a twitch is to pay attention to what triggers it. What situations calm or aggravate the tic? Does it get worse at work? At home? What makes you feel anxious? Once you're more mindful of what causes your twitching, you can start thinking about why you react the way you do-and what you can do to break those patterns. One way to get more in touch with your thoughts is to practice breathing exercises or mindfulness meditation for ten minutes in the morning and ten minutes at night. It's all about discovering the forces in your life that affect you subconsciously and learning to deal with tension.
-Marc Sholes, L.C.S.W., a psychotherapist in private practice in New York City Acupuncturist
A liver-gall bladder imbalance can bring wind into the body, which can cause a tic. To prevent twitching, get plenty of rest and stay hydrated (this helps keep your liver healthy), avoid eating before bed (so your liver isn't working while you sleep), and cut down on alcohol and caffeine. To treat an eye twitch, acupuncture needles are usually applied to the Du- 20 point on the top of the head-this helps balance yin and yang. Needles may also be placed between the big toes and adjacent toes (the Liver 3 point); between the pointer fingers and thumbs (the Large Intestine 4); and on the elbows (the Heart 3). If the tic is chronic, I suggest taking Gastrobia Uncaria-9 grams a day in pill or granule form for ten days. It can be combined with Relaxed Wanderer, another herbal formula for liver imbalance.
-Amelia Hirota, D.Ac., Dipl. C.H., an acupuncturist, herbalist, and clinician at the Center of Balance in East Greenwich, R.I.
