Eye Twitching Since 2004

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Fuhrera2012

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Hi , back in around 2004 I came down with flu like symptoms and then suddenly woke up 1 day with a twitch in my eye lid , this would move side to side just like the image shows on Wikipedia for BFS symptoms. At first it didn't bother me much but then after a few days of it carrying on I became rather concerned about it being there 24/7 and if I shut my eyes and then opened them , it would most likely trigger the twitch to start again. A few weeks after that I got twitches in my legs , arms , stomach , lip , nose , feet , fingers and even inside my ear , my doctor didn't seem at all bothered about it all but I did have an MRI and EMG in 2005 after the symptoms carried on for a year , both of which were completely normal and also had a reflex / strength test carried out at the same time , again completely normal. After all that was finished with my Neuro told me that I probably have BFS and I just accepted that and got on with life. I can't remember exactly when or if it even happened but the symptoms seemed to drift away and I never noticed twitching until it suddenly reappeared last April which again started off in my eye for a week or so then spread to legs , arms etc. I certainly didn't notice it as much though so I'm convinced it's just resurfaced again due to another period of high stress / anxiety , has this ever happened to anyone with BFS and is it normal ? This time round I've also noticed tingling on my scalp and an odd ringing sensation in my ear , like 1 minute it's fine then a sudden fullness in 1 ear followed by a high pitched ringing tone which last a matter of seconds then back to normal , mainly in my left ear but have had it in my right as well. I'm feeling quite stressed and have noticed I'm putting pressure on my jaw , I also have like a popping noise sometimes in my ear. I do find my job quite stressful at times an work 10hours a day but wouldn't exactly say I enjoy it , I would also say I have high anxiety when it comes to stuff like this and worry myself that I have something deadly.
 
It sounds like TMJ to me. I have TMJ and have had some of your symptoms with the clicking jaw, eyelid twitch and ringing and feeling of fullness in the ears. Do you tend to clench when you sleep?
 
Yeah , I have noticed I've been clenching my jaw a lot lately over the last few months , I work on a computer and send to tense it a lot while on that , but can never remember clenching my jaw in the past , but when the twitchting started again I have noticed I've been sleeping with my jaw clenched shut and can feel the muscles on my cheek being very tensed. I rarely get any jaw pain , but have had minor ear ache , fullness in the ear , sudden hearing loss followed with high pitched ringing that lasts a matter of seconds. Both times my BFS has started in my eye lid and the spread to the rest of my body a few weeks after , but rarely goes back to the eyelid.
 
Hi,I have some of your symptoms: popping noise in my ears (like a twitch that I could hear), occasional ringing bell (or something like that) + unfortunately for me, constant tinnitus (it started a couple of weeks ago). I didn't go to the doctor because 1) I'm tired to go see them, and 2) I few years ago I have had this same problem (tinnitus) and the otorhinolaryngologist told me back then that my ears were perfectly fine. Before this tinnitus problem started a couple of weeks ago, I also had moments, especially at night in my bed, in which I could hear something like a bell for a few seconds and then it stopped completely. I was hearing it almost every night when I was going to bed. Weird, isn't it?I just hope my tinnitus problem will eventually stop because this kind of stuff is insane.
 
Do you find you clench your jaw Jujulee ? I do think clenching my jaw plays a huge part in why my ears feel full and ring at times. Before feeling all stressed and having high anxiety levels I always slept with my mouth open , but the last few months I've been clenching my jaw while going sleep and waking up with it clenched , it's a habit I'm really trying to kick. I have however completely cutout caffeine and my twitches don't seem as bad and eating plenty of fruit/veg and drinking plenty of water.
 
I don't think I clench my jaw... or maybe I do it without paying attention? I think I sleep with my mouth a little bit open because I've noticed that I was quite thirsty when I was waking up in the middle of he night ( I don't have diabetes nor anything like that).. Do you really think your ear problems are related to your jaw?
 
I believe so yes , I never experienced any ear ringing the 1st time around 6-7 years ago , but I never really researched anything on the net either. However this time round I have researched symptoms online which I don't feel the best route to go at all as Google relates a lot of bad things to twitching etc. This made me more stressed and raised my anxiety through the roof and I felt the ear ringing come on very suddenly , only then did I notice I was sat clenching my jaw a lot when sat at the computer or when sleeping. I can also noticed a clicking noise in my left ear when I open / close my mouth , this rarely happens on the right side but that does "pop" on the very odd occasion , a lot of my ear fullness and sudden ringing does come from my left ear , so I believe that all this is from the stress caused from twitching constantly and the clenching of my jaw. TMJ symptoms to state that ear clicking/popping/fullness and ringing are all symptoms , with pain in the jaw which I have had as well , but nothing that I couldn't cope with.
 
If it's really TMJ that you have, then I guess it could be worse, even though it's still extremely annoying. Maybe you should ask for a good physical exam (+ x-rays if the doc suspects something, etc.). Now that we're talking about TMJ, I've noticed that sometimes, when I was opening my mouth, I could hear something (close to my ears) "crack"… I remember going to the doc a few years ago for that very same problem and he just told me to stop eating chewing gum etc., that's all he said. :confused:
 
I've been the doctors and told them that I had fullness / ear ringing and they checked my ears over but thought there was no need for anything else. Yeah Chewing Gum can make TMJ worse as your constantly chewing. It's not just clenching your jaw that can bring TMJ on , if you look there is plenty of things that can cause it , but ear popping / fullness and tinnitus are all symptoms of it. I certainly believe that my TMJ has been caused from clenching my jaw from stress/anxiety though as it's not constant , lasts a matter of seconds and can come and go for weeks at a time. I can go 5-6 weeks with nothing , then a week where I may get it twice every 3 days or so. A lot of people seem to complain of ear ringing and TMJ on this forum , so it's interesting to read , with people having extremely high levels of anxiety and being stressed from the constant twitching it could be related.
 
You said your twitching reappeared last April ... does it mean your still twitching right now? if so, is your twitching pretty much constant or you can have a break for a day or two (or more) and then it comes back?
 
I had eyelid twitching which was the start of it all back in 2004 , I then got twitching in my arms , legs , fingers , feet , face etc. I had an MRI and EMG a year later while still twitching which showed nothing along with reflex and strength tests etc from the neuro. A few months after all that the twitching seemed to completely stop and I rarely noticed it at all , I may still have been having the odd twitch but it was nothing compared to what it was 1st like. Then last April I got twitching again in my eye and again I noticed twitching all over. I get twitching most days , some days I can have non stop twitching all over and then there's other days where I won't really notice any twitching and think it's gone , only for it to come back and start all over again. I never noticed the ear ringing the 1st time round , but I don't remember putting a lot of tension on my jaw , this 2nd time round I have been stressed with it all and my anxiety has been through the roof at times.
 
Anxiety can, without doubt, aggravate our symptoms... even yelling (like christinasgirl123 says lol) makes my face/scalp twitch like crazy... Anyway, I hope you'll find a way to resolve your ear problem because I know it can be very stressful. It's a good idea to search for older threads that discuss the same problem.. it's not only reassuring; it can provide us useful information too.Good luck.
 

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