anything stop eye twitch?

v-ness · 02-18-2010, 12:44 PM

hi everyone-

my left eye started twitching around the same time i got my last chemo (TCH) on january 21 and it shows no signs of stopping. it even twitched all during my week's vacation in peaceful, lovely souther utah where i worked with cats in a sanctuary. if purring doesn't soothe something stress-related, i don't know what will. so i don't think it's stress.

i am starting to go stark, raving mad.

my oncologist is at a loss. she referred me to a dermatologist who can't see me for 6 weeks. even then she'd have to submit medical documentation to my insurance company so they could determine if they'd even cover a botox injection to my eyelid. so i calculate that even that possible relief could be at least 2+ months away.

i know some of you have had this too. did anyone ever get relief from it without just 'waiting it out'? i have to work and it's maddening to do so with this incessant twitch. i got an appointment for tomorrow with an eye doc to see if i need different glasses, eye drops, something. anything.

any solutions would be welcomed with gratitude. valerie

StephN · 02-18-2010, 01:05 PM

Hi Valerie -
Yes, eye twitching is one of the things that can happen with taking taxanes. This class of drug harms your nerve sheaths and this can bring on all sorts of twitches and cramps.

I don't think either a dermatologist or a botox injection is the answer. I took B6 and L-glutomine to help my nerves.

My right eyelid fluttered intermittently for most of my treatments and then got better when I went off the drugs. It was worse when I was bothered by pollens from seasonal allergies. I hope this is all it is with you.

michka · 02-18-2010, 02:11 PM

Yes Valerie. I had the same problem with one eyelid but not as bad as what you describe. It stopped a month after I finished chemo. One day I realized it wasn't bothering me anymore. I hope it will be the same for you. Michka

Barbara2 · 02-18-2010, 04:24 PM

This happens to me, every once in a while (for many years now), but it eventually (a week or so, usually) goes away on its own. I always think people can see it jumping if I am in a conversation with someone, but it probably isn't that noticeable. To the "victim" is seems quite exaggerated and definitely annoying.

I hope it goes away for you soon.

Jackie07 · 02-18-2010, 04:39 PM

Valerie,

Are you seeing an optician or ophthalmologist? Be sure to tell the eye doctor about your chemo and that the side effects include damage to the nerve endings. He/she might have something that can help relax the eye muscle.

I really don't think you want to mess with botox type of stuff. Have you tried using a warm towel cover your eyelids several times a day?

v-ness · 02-18-2010, 06:04 PM

thanks, everyone. jackie, i am seeing an opthamologist tomorrow. i mentioned my recent chemo and the resulting eye watering and twitch in my call, which is how i got a next-day appointment. yay for the chemo card.

i would happily forgo a needle in the eyelid if he has alternatives and i will definitely mention the nerve sheath problems from taxanes. i will look up B6 and i have been taking some magnesium, because i heard that sometimes a shortage of that is the culprit.... but i am starting radiation on monday and i know there are supplements i am supposed to stay away from. i don't even know which, the radiation setup and tattooing appointments were such a whirlwind. i also have worse chemo brain now than when i was on chemo, so i seriously need to remember to bring a notepad.

curiously enough, i found on the web that klonopin can help a twitch, so i took some then flushed my eyes with eye drops. i have less twitching tonight. i can't even begin to count how many times it occurs in one day. i lucked out doing so well during chemo, i guess i spoke to soon.

sorry to be so bitchy, it's just that i only left utah a week ago today and almost forgot about cancer for a week while there (even with the twitching and tearing). i come home and am up to my neck in work and then have 4 cancer related appointments in one week. if the twitch didn't happen the whole time i was away too, i would assume it was stress related even if i wasn't the least bit nervous over the radiation bit and the echo. gotta find a happy medium with klonopin! i crashed big-time the minute i got home from work and only just woke up.

i just have so little patience for annoying things. the funny thing is, my week in utah cured my last bad problem - the incessant nosebleeds!

valerie

ElaineM · 02-18-2010, 09:04 PM

Would an opthamologist be able to help?

SoCalGal · 02-19-2010, 12:57 AM

I'm twitching and typing...my eye will twitch when I am stressed out and tired. I take Ativan for everything. Seems to help the eye twitch. Mine usually passes in a few days, if I get some rest and deal with the stress. If the only one to help you is the dermatologist, I would call and ask for the doc to call you back. Explain over the phone what is going on and ask the doctor to see you in less than 2 months. Tell the doc that you are freaking out, trying to recover from CANCER, etc. That usually works. The only benefit of having had cancer is "playing the cancer card". Do it!

juanita · 02-19-2010, 10:45 AM

had the eye twitch too and it went away after treatments were done. give it a few weeks and see what happens. might just be from the treatments.

ElaineM · 02-19-2010, 11:32 AM

Yes. Eye problems are on the possible side effect lists of both Carboplatin and all the taxanes. I like your style Flori. We have to be aggressive and proactive with doctors to get things done sooner rather than later.

v-ness · 02-19-2010, 04:52 PM

used the Cancer Card to get an appt today with the eye doc. a close look at both eyes told him my right eye is twitching too but less so than my left (i am partly blind in my right eye so that could also be why that side doesn't bother me as much). he is getting me in with another doc ASAP for a botox shot or two to the lids and will provide insurance co with 'medical reasons' to pay. botox makes complete sense since it paralyzes the muscle(s), thus stopping a twitch. wasn't the first time my eye doc had seen it and he was familiar with my chemo drugs, so that was comforting. if by miracle the twitching stops (it's all day every day) before the botox appt then i will cancel, of course. but working with a computer 8 hrs a day makes good working eyes an absolute necessity. today the twitch had me feeling like i should hire myself out as a hitwoman for the mob, that's how ready to kill i was, and i know the agitation must just exacerbate the situation. but a nice reiki session after the eye doc has me all zen again. but, alas, still twitchy. happier, though, to have a possible solution in sight!

valerie

Jackie07 · 02-19-2010, 10:06 PM

Valerie,

Are you sure you are not 'twiching' on purpose [perhaps unconsciously?] so you can get botox to make you look younger?

Thanks for the update. Glad the problem is going to be solved soon. [Be sure to send us the 'before' and 'after' picture. ]

v-ness · 02-19-2010, 11:33 PM

i think they must needle stick you in your crow's feet for the de-wrinkled look.... i am sure i will get not beauty bennies from needle sticks to the eyelid. my squinting in the desert sun days have done far too much damage anyway.

Jackie07 · 02-20-2010, 12:23 AM

I looked 10 years younger after my first brain tumor surgery - gained 18 lbs and my face turned round and smooth. The two full cycles of chemo for breast cancer in 2003 and 2007 further 'bleached' my face. Yes, every time I had a medical procedure done, I got a younger look.

Just checked with hubby. He said I don't have any 'crow's feet'.

[Proof of the effectiveness of more expensive procedures mentioned above: $100,000.00 (1990) + $20,000 (2001) + $60,000 (2003) + $150,000.00 (2007)]

Maybe the nurses/technician needle-sticked me while I was 'out'...

harrie · 02-21-2010, 12:03 AM

Fatigue and stress can be significant contributors to eye twitching.

v-ness · 02-21-2010, 08:25 AM

hi harrie- i guess that is why it relented a lot this weekend after reiki friday night and a lot of sleep. then re-started after i got into a fender-bender in the walmart parking lot yesterday.

just what i needed. i think it was a no-fault accident, we backed out simultaneously and bang, but his car has a dent and my jeep doesn't, so i imagine i'll get blamed and hit with a higher insurance cost. it's hard enough paying for cancer on my own right now. since it is stressful and fatiguing in and of itself to work full-time and run up to the hospital daily for radiation, i don't know what to do. klonopin didn't stop it at all. anyway, at this point i feel like a baby complaining about it after the news about madubois and all she went through. on the other hand, stress is a recurrence factor, isn't it, so i have to figure out some way to stomp mine down into the ground and just keep on keeping on like i have the previous 5 months of this B.S.

appreciate everyone's advice and support very much. valerie

MJo · 02-21-2010, 08:51 AM

My right eye twitched during chemo. I thought it was stress. I had troubles with a nervous tic before cancer and it went away on its own, so i didn't worry too much about the eye twitch. I waited it out and it stopped. Very interesting to learn that there is a physical reason for the twitch when you take taxanes. I think I'm glad I didn't know! Do what you need to do to take care of yourself.

My dear friend Barbara lost her husband to a rare cancer two years after her diagnosis with Stage 3 Her2pos. He was her rock, and his rare gall bladder cancer took him 4 months after his diagnosis. I must say that challenged my faith that there is a positive, benevolent order in our universe.

StephN · 03-04-2010, 07:48 PM

Valerie -
Did you find something to get that eye twitching under control??
Did the eye doc help?

Fender benders are just the pits! A guy bumped into the back of my car at a gas pump and then backed up and drove off. I have 2 dents in my hatch and the bumper of his truck probably only has a bit of my paint. People can be so annoying. Hope you did not have too many consequences after your bump.

v-ness · 03-05-2010, 08:36 AM

hi - thanks for asking, that was nice of you. sad to say, i am still twitching. the eye doctor confirmed that even my right eye was twitching but only the left is important to me since it's the eye i see out of. he sent me to an ENT who does botox (a pompous little man who reminded me of FDR) who told me he could only botox crow's feet. so i wasted $50 in those 2 co-pays. the eye doctor called me this week, though, after i left a message for him to never refer anyone to that ENT for a twitch again. he told me his partner could do it, but that there is some risk of the needle hitting the muscle below the one that twitches. in that case, the botox would cause my lid to droop. i'm not willing to take that chance so i am back to square one, which is to wait it out.

well at least it's on record here in the Archives that there's nothing to do for a twitch for the next twitcher who comes along! i just wish i had my fifty bucks back.

valerie