I have had a bad habit of clenching my eyes really tight almost everytime I blink but now I'm clenching them a lot tighter. It just always feels like I have to contract and expand my eye muscles.
has anyone had this problem?
I think you have exactly what you have said.....a bad habit which has become worse. Are you a nervous sort of person? Or do you suffer from OCD?
Try this.......take a few minutes to deliberately blink and then open your eyes wide, ,but stop yourself from clenching your eyes. Do this a few times,taking it slowly. Increase the number of times you blink,doing it slowly all the time. Over a few days try to reach ten blinks without clenching. Keep it up for as many days as you can and you may surprise yourself that you have stopped the clenching without the exercise. This should re train your habit mechanism. Your brain thinks it has to 'clench' as well as blink,so you have to teach it that its not necessary. If you find that it is impossible to stop the clenching you may need some professional therapy,but good luck
Thank you Marina! I may have to try those exercises. This is something I've done since I was a child. I'm not a nervous type of person I just think that it's really a bad habit. Plus I have dry eye which doesn't help it either. I'm gonna try your suggestion! Thank you!
Are you using anything for your dry eyes? That could be adding to your problem if you are not using enough lubricant.
Yes I do use artificial tears eye drops a few times a day. They really don't seem to help. I do have an eye appointment with an opthamologist on September 1st. Hopefully he'll be able to help me
You may need something more than artificial tears. I have dry eyes and use Boots Lubricating eye ointment at night which is great and lasts through the day usually. I usually have Simple eye ointment which can go on prescription and which is identical but there is a licensing problem at the moment and not expected to be back before January 2016. Also use Celluvisc eye drops 1% during the day....usually in the Winter when the central heating dries up my eyes. Do mention this when you have your appointment. I'm assuming you are in UK?
Actually I'm in the US. I will ask my doctor about stronger eyes drops because the regular eye drops aren't really working. I might have to buy some of those lubricating eye drops. I think I had them before but I remember all they did was make my vision blurry. But it's worth another try. I'm trying so hard to do that eye exercise you told me about and it does seem to make me more aware of the eye clenching. It just feels funny keeping them wide open.
You could ask your consultant about punctal plugs which are tiny plugs which are inserted into your tear ducts on the lower lids near your nose. I had these fitted and felt the difference immediately. They stop any tears you produce from draining away too quickly. Fitted in a second . Just some local anaesthetic on your lids and then they are in. You dont feel them and they are permanent.
Do you still have to use the eyedrops as well?
I have a chronic inherited condition ..Thygersons Keratitis,which causes lesions on the cornea,as well as general dry eye,so I am particularly careful not to let my eyes get dry or i can suffer with tiny ulcers which are excruciating. My regime is eye ointment only at night,put under the upper eyelid. In my opinion this gives a very good cover without blurring and then I only use the drops if I feel any dryness or irritation starting. I tried Lacrilube eye ointment but this did not clear very well and I struggled to see,which gave me headaches.
Thank you for all of the information. I wrote down some questions to ask my eye doctor about the eye drops and lubricating eye drops and maybe about the plugs. Hopefully he'll be able to clear this up for me.
Did you ever figure this out? I do exactly the same thing and I’m also not a nervous person but I cannot stop myself from clenching my eyes and blinking non stop. I never thought to Google it before until now as it’s starting to give me quite bad headaches. Also have done it since I was a child.