My left eye once twitched, in a very annoying manner, for almost two weeks. At first I wrote it off to stress, but I eventually started to get worried. I imagined living with this awful tick forever. I read up on various conditions that might cause a persistent twitch, and I feared such terrible-sounding maladies as Blepharospasm, Hemifacial Spams, and Myokymia.
Looking in to things further, I realized that every medical reference to eye twitching began like this: "...the eye twitch could either be caused by [insert terrible disease here], or cases of stress, fatigue, or malnutrition." Well... the "or" scenario sums up my life rather well, so I started taking vitamin supplements and cutting back on the coffee. Or at least I try to. After a few days of taking extra potassium, my left eye settled down.
Fast forward to last week, nearly a month after the first incident, when my right eye began to dance. It's not as bad as the first case, because (unlike my left-eye twitch) I can't see it myself. But, unlike the left-twitch, the right-twitch is clearly visible to others. I find myself half-way through a conversation to find the other person staring at the right side of my face. Oblivious to whatever probably-unimportant-anyway thing I was saying, they will interrupt with, "Did you know that your eye is twitching?"
Well, I'm drinking less coffee, and taking vitamins, so the only course less is to reduce stress. Well, that or admit that it might be something more sinister... but I'm not willing to go down that road just yet. The stress scenario makes perfect sense. The company where I hold my day-job was just acquired, and while I am still employed things are tumultuous. And my night job (writing award-winning-but-poor-selling books) takes up a lot of time, but it certainly isn't a financial safety net. On top of that, my travel schedule and an irksome cold have kept me out of the dojo for over a week, stunting one of my favorite stress-relievers.
In ann effort to reduce stress, I've starting getting up and into the office earlier each day. Since monday, I've been able to get out more-or-less on time as a result. The twitch is still there, but it's mild enough now that people dont comment on it much anymore, and I imagine that as soon as the cold clears up and I get to start kicking people in the head again, I'll be good as new.
Because I know how concerned you all are about the fortitude of my lids ;-)