PolkMoms.com

Just recently, my son (who is 12) started having spasms in his eyes. I called his pediatrician, and was told since he wore glasses to call his eye doctor, which I did; they saw him that afternoon. The eye doctor examined him, and told me he was having "sudden onset of severe blythrospasm" which I had only heard of doing research online. However, she saw no reason for this to be going on, and referred us to an ophthalmologist, who saw him the next morning. Well, his eyes had calmed down a bit, but were still having spasms. After a through exam, the doctor said that his eyes were in great condition, and that this was somewhat common in kids, especially in adolescence, but to follow up with his pediatrician. Okay, so I call them and set up an appointment for the next day. His doctor examined him, and we spoke about what was going on. He told me that my son was having nervous twitches (or tics) and explained them to me a bit, but also said they were common in adolescence, especially if the child has a type A personality (which my son does). He also said that the best thing at this point was to ignore them, and that the more emphasis you put on them, the worse they will get. It has been about 4 weeks now, and the spasms have actually stopped, but now his eyes just sort of roll off to one side every now and then. I've read all kinds of information online, and learned that this is just another type of tic. I've also read that this could be going on due to all of the hormonal changes going on in his body right now. He hasn't had any stressful changes in his life recently, he doesn't drink caffeine, and he gets adequate sleep. We also have great communication, and we talk daily about what is going on at school, etc.

I guess I'm sharing because I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this, and if so, how was it handled???? Any information would be greatly appreciated!!

Jessica

My Sister had this when she was a kid too. Her eye would twitch when she didnt get enough sleep, if she was studying for too long or if she was nervous about a big test coming up. As long as his eyes arent drooping I wouldnt worry too much about it.

My son tends to have strange habits. He recently started opening his eyes really wide and sort of rolling them a little. I asked the eye doc about this, and he said little kids do this sometimes because it feels different. My son has sensory issues, so it made sense, but I wish I could help him lose all these little twitches. He has a throat clearing twitch, which will go away only to be replaced by a snorting noise, then a sniffle, a gasp...it will go away for months at a time, but then come back as something else. He is also a hand flapper and toe walker...and still rocks and head bangs to sleep sometimes. We are waiting to see which ones he outgrows before we panic about it. I still toe walk. My daughter started head banging in her crib really bad at 12 months...still does it at 2 yrs. My son is in OT 2x a week, and I am hoping that will help with his sensory issues and decrease these habits.