MetaChat - Ask MeCha:

MetaChat is an informal place for MeFites to touch base and post, discuss and chatter about topics that may not belong on MetaFilter. Questions? Check the FAQ. Please note: This is important.

28 November 2008

Ask MeCha: Medical Edition: Why do my eyes sometimes move/shake back and forth, involuntarily?→[More:]

I never really thought of this as something out of the ordinary until just now. Shortly after working myself into an almost-panic-attack (talked myself down before it got into it), I realized my eyes were going left and right about four times every second (left right left right every second).

This is not something new, its happened to me for years. I'm not terribly certain of the first time I noticed it. Something associated with sleep and/or anxiety? I think it first happened during or after a fever dream? Nightmare, more like it. I recall it happening once when I was sick they'd move back and forth and back and forth and it made me even more nauseous.

Right now, and most of the time, I can snap out of it by shaking my head (like you might after snapping yourself out of daydreaming) and moving my eyes. When it happens, I get a sense of almost vertigo, I get sort of dizzy. It makes everything very slightly dance back and forth.

Is there a name for this? Is it something I should be concerned about? You are not doctors, and if you are you are not my doctor, yes I know. But now I'm just curious.

post by: CitrusFreak12 at: 01:04 | 10 comments

Is it kind of like a twitchy sensation? If so, it happens to me when I'm particularly stressed and/or not getting enough sleep. It usually only happens in one eye at a time though.

posted by loiseau 28 November | 01:10

No, not twitchy. I don't actually even really feel it in my eyes at all, I just notice that my vision is shifting slightly left and right over and over. And then that dizzy sensation follows.
And to clarify, the movements are so very slight and subtle, and happen with such rapidity, that I cannot actually make my eyes do it. I'm trying to gauge the distance they move, but it seems to have stopped now.

posted by CitrusFreak12 28 November | 01:12

This actually used to happen to me every now and then, not often but several times in my life, from about the time I was 11 or 12 until, hmm, maybe mid-20s?

I have no clue what it is, but I know exactly what you are talking about. I always chalked it up to some kind of nervous twitch or muscle spasm, and ignored it. (But I don't get dizzy easily, and this never made me dizzy, so it never seemed alarming to me.) I would close my eyes and hold my hands on my face for a few seconds until it stopped.

I'd say don't worry about it. I literally haven't thought about it in 10 or 15 years, and it hasn't happened to me in that length of time, so it's probably just one of those little weird things our body does, like growing pains.

posted by BoringPostcards 28 November | 01:45

I've experienced this with a rapid movement of both eyes left to right. jigglejigglejiggle. It happens when I'm especially tired. Sometimes the eyes have a strain. There are tons of little muscles around the eyes that need rest sometimes. I liken it to the little bones in my ear fluttering when I'm tired after a lot of noise. Like BP suggested, don't worry about it. I suggest you just enjoy the ride.

posted by MonkeyButter 28 November | 01:59

This happens to me when I'm particularly tired and/or stressed. The best way to avoid it is to get more sleep and stress less. Easy, huh?

posted by dg 28 November | 03:28

I can move my eyes voluntarily in a rapid back-and-forth trembly kind of way similar to your description: it's an ability that has, so far, proven of no use to me whatsoever.

posted by misteraitch 28 November | 03:58

I think these movements are called 'saccades' (involuntary, in your case, but they can also be voluntary, like when you read a book and jump from the end of one line to the beginning of the next), if that helps at all in your research. Don't know what causes the involuntary form though.

posted by altolinguistic 28 November | 04:59

You may have nystagmus. Actor Pruitt Taylor Vince has it. Unfortunately I can't find a clip of him on Youtube that shows his eye movement, but it sounds similar.

posted by Orange Swan 28 November | 10:36

misteraitch, I can do it as well, though the speed with which I do it is much faster than when it happens on its own. I'm not sure if the distance is the same. Maybe.

Since so many people here say they've had it when tired or stressed, I'm going to assume that it's probably the same for me, only if I replace stress with anxiety. This satisfies my curiosity for now. Thanks guys! $0.01 to the person who can find the name and matching definition of what this is called though.

posted by CitrusFreak12 28 November | 12:56

*stops moving laser pointer back and forth in front of CF12*

posted by qvantamon 28 November | 17:34

← My cat is limping. Tell me not to freak out, please. || Can you help me find this cell phone charger I saw today? →

HOME || REGISTER || LOGIN