Is Your Workplace Stress Giving You Blepharospasm?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the phenomenon of eyelid twitching, specifically blepharospasm, and its potential links to workplace stress, fatigue, and lifestyle factors such as caffeine consumption. Participants share personal experiences and workplace environments, exploring the impact of stress on health and well-being.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant describes their eye twitching and attributes it to stress, fatigue, and caffeine, expressing a desire to escape their stressful job.
  • Another suggests incorporating noontime workouts as a stress relief strategy, highlighting the benefits of physical activity.
  • A participant shares their experience working with stressed teens in challenging circumstances, contrasting it with the original poster's workplace stress.
  • Some participants note that eye twitching is a common occurrence, with one suggesting that attributing it to stress or fatigue may be unfalsifiable.
  • Another participant describes their relaxed work environment, indicating that they only experience stress when deadlines approach.
  • One participant mentions their chaotic work environment but claims to have overcome stress by accepting their limitations and focusing on doing their best.
  • Several participants share anecdotes about their workplaces, including humorous and chaotic elements, contributing to the discussion about stress and coping mechanisms.
  • One participant humorously references their experience with theoretical physicists, adding a light-hearted tone to the discussion.
  • Another participant expresses that they do not work due to stress, highlighting the varying experiences of stress in different work environments.
  • Some participants discuss the impact of resource limitations and workload on their stress levels, with one mentioning working long hours and dealing with health issues.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of experiences and opinions regarding workplace stress and its effects on health. There is no consensus on the causes of eyelid twitching or the best methods for managing stress, indicating multiple competing views remain.

Contextual Notes

Some participants mention specific workplace conditions, such as access to fitness facilities and the chaotic nature of their environments, which may influence their stress levels. The discussion reflects a variety of personal circumstances and coping strategies without resolving the complexities of stress and its effects.

Who May Find This Useful

Individuals interested in the relationship between workplace stress and health, particularly those experiencing similar symptoms or seeking stress management strategies.

Evo
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My left eye has started twitching and it's making me crazy. Let's see, Medline says "The most common things that make the muscle in your eyelid twitch are fatigue, stress, and caffeine. Ok, guilty of all three.

The caffeine I can control, I'm doomed on the other two. Would anyone like to adopt me so I can quit my job? :cry: I am the poster child for making the wrong career choice.

I have never worked with a group of more stressed out people. We've discovered we're all taking the same medications for sleep, stress, and high blood pressure. My friend Gwyn at the end of the hall just screamed "OMG, whose coffee am I drinking?!?" She doesn't even remember how it got into her hand. At least I'm not that far gone...yet.

Alrighty, someone has just started a country/reggae sing along. He's just been threatened with our 8 foot long office boa constrictor if he doesn't stop. Yes, a girl in our office has had a boa constrictor loose in her house for 2 weeks now and she can't find it, so someone brought in a fake one and dumped it in her office. We told her when her cat disappears, she'll probably find the snake.

At least I work with fun (albeit crazy) people.

Of course this probably pales in comparison with Moonbear's sheepcapades. Putting little metal caps over the sheep's brains when she removes their skulls. :rolleyes:

What is your workplace like?

Edit: We're now all on hold for a conference call and we're listening to "easy listening accordian music", that is REALLY making my eye twitch.
 
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Not quite like yours! I'd suggest making noontime workouts a regular part of the office routine, preferably for everybody. Nothing relieves stress like a nice long noon hour run! Or a swim, or a bike ride, etc. Does your workplace have showers and a locker room?
 
My world is peopled with stressed out teens who were abused one way or another as kids and now work as prostitutes, strippers, or in porn, and either self medicate with pot and alcohol or are in a twelve step program. They all seem to have severe ADD or have been diagnosed bipolar.
 
berkeman said:
Not quite like yours! I'd suggest making noontime workouts a regular part of the office routine, preferably for everybody. Nothing relieves stress like a nice long noon hour run! Or a swim, or a bike ride, etc. Does your workplace have showers and a locker room?
The main campus has an olympic size pool and health club, professionsl trainers and a doctor's office for employees only. Of course we are a few miles away next to a little lake with teeth gnashing, hissing, blood thirsty geese. If you try to walk through them, you take your life into your own hands.
 
Evo said:
The main campus has an olympic size pool and health club, professionsl trainers and a doctor's office for employees only. Of course we are a few miles away next to a little lake with teeth gnashing, hissing, blood thirsty geese. If you try to walk through them, you take your life into your own hands.
And you're their surrogate dad?
 
zoobyshoe said:
My world is peopled with stressed out teens who were abused one way or another as kids and now work as prostitutes, strippers, or in porn, and either self medicate with pot and alcohol or are in a twelve step program. They all seem to have severe ADD or have been diagnosed bipolar.

Hah - I've worked with theoretical physicists!
 
Evo said:
My left eye has started twitching and it's making me crazy. Let's see, Medline says "The most common things that make the muscle in your eyelid twitch are fatigue, stress, and caffeine. Ok, guilty of all three.
Guilty of none, and it happens to me many times a week. I thought this was a quite common occurrence.

Something minor that has no real known cause seems to often be attributed to fatigue/stress, because it's unfalsifiable, and people that have more fatigue/stress tend to have more health problems, probably also from positive feedback, i.e. if stress or fatigue causes or contributes to say, a headache, the headache will give you more stress or fatigue.
 
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Evo said:
My left eye has started twitching and it's making me crazy. Let's see, Medline says "The most common things that make the muscle in your eyelid twitch are fatigue, stress, and caffeine. Ok, guilty of all three.

The caffeine I can control, I'm doomed on the other two. Would anyone like to adopt me so I can quit my job? :cry: I am the poster child for making the wrong career choice.
Sounds like you need a personal physician.

What is your workplace like?
Me and one other colleague, whom I've know for about 17 years. We'll have new colleague joining us for 3 months before he heads to the west coast with his family.

I'm more or less the defacto office manager, so the dress code is very relaxed, and I go barefoot most of the time.

I only get stressed when a deadline approaches and I'm still waiting on results or input from customers.

As stress relief, we go walking at lunch time or whenever the mood hits us.

We just got a new workstation (Quad processor with 1.5 TB of storage) up and running. That puppy screams. :cool:
 
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My work place transforms from a well ordered area, into what looks like a scrap yard
in a deluge, and back into a well ordered and clean area, with may be 80% of things that are supposed to work not working.

I do not get stressed any more, i used to, but now i know i do the best job i can, and if my efforts are not good enough then my employer can make other arrangements.

Get off them pills as soon as possible Evo they are not good for you.
 
  • #10
I have the same problem in my left eyelid. I'll take stress and fatigue for 200, Alex.
 
  • #11
Evo said:
My left eye has started twitching...

left sided allergies?

it may have something to do with your fall a couple weeks ago, too
 
  • #12
mgb_phys said:
Hah - I've worked with theoretical physicists!
Actually, a few of them are theoretical physicists, their education in physics having come from What The Bleep Do We Know?.
 
  • #13
At least you get stressed at work Evo. I don't work because I'm so stressed
 
  • #14
I can relate to the fatigue. The vacation I took to turbo's was the first real vacation in 3 years. The last two years have been very busy with an ongoing project that will run into next year. Two former colleagues (from the previous company where I worked) joined us during the last year. I've had to deal with resource limitations and failed PCs and network issues. And I just moved offices.

Earlier this year, I two full time projects in parallel so working 7 days/wk 12-16+ hrs was the norm. In March I have to continue working even with walking pneumonia.

Nevertheless, I enjoy what I do. My philosophy is that work should be fun, and most of the time it is.

Managementwise I just try to make sure people have the resources to do what they need to do, and then step back and let them work. I don't care how - just as long as the work gets done on time and on budget and with the best quality possible.
 
  • #15
I bought an accordian once --just to take apart to see how it worked
 
  • #16
Evo said:
Evo said:
The main campus has an olympic size pool and health club, professionsl trainers and a doctor's office for employees only. Of course we are a few miles away next to a little lake with teeth gnashing, hissing, blood thirsty geese. If you try to walk through them, you take your life into your own hands.
And you're their surrogate dad?

Definite sign of stress! You've become too rude to respond to your own questions about your own post.

Plus, how insensitive to suggest our beloved Evo's become the surrogate dad to a bunch of unruly geese!
 
  • #17
BobG said:
Definite sign of stress! You've become too rude to respond to your own questions about your own post.

Plus, how insensitive to suggest our beloved Evo's become the surrogate dad to a bunch of unruly geese!
:smile: :smile: :smile:

I meant to quote zooby's post!

My eye is better today.
 
  • #18
Blepharospasm can also be caused by head injury (did you hit the back of your head when you fell, Evo?) and it can be aggravated by bright light and/or environmental irritants, like cleaning agents, chemicals off-gassing from carpets and furnishings, etc. If the blepharospasms began after you moved to your new place, this is something to look into. It can also be caused by hormone-replacement therapy. The ophthalmologists that I once worked for occasionally used Botox to paralyze some of the muscles controlling the eyelid.

All that aside, if you've got to take sleep medication, please get off that. Once you get reliant on that, it's harder to get to sleep without the drug, and using the drug to avoid sleeplessness and fatigue is a bad form of addiction. The drug companies like to call it "dependence", but that is just a PC word for addiction. It's easier if you can give up coffee, and move to a nice herb tea like chamomile or peppermint - with NO sugar. I have my one big mug of black espresso (no sugar) first thing every morning, but no caffeine all the rest of the day. If I break that rule, I don't sleep well. Caffeine and sugar can put your metabolism on a roller-coaster, and some drugs can enhance the effect. The fewer medications you can take, the better off you'll be (assuming a decent diet and regular exercise). Maybe you can start out the day with a banana smoothie instead of coffee. It's a nice slow-acting source of energy, and you get extra calcium and potassium without vitamin supplements.
 
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  • #19
I've suffered from insomnia since as far back as I can remember, it was pretty bad by the time I started kindergarten. It was a combination of severe allergies and then my grandmother moving into my bedroom and she snored all night. I became a zombie by the age of 3.

I don't have an addictive personality. I can start and stop anything at any time. I only use sleeping pills when it's imperative that I get at least 3 hours of sleep (they wear off in 3 hours).

I'm allergic to bananas.
 
  • #20
I've never heard of anyone allergic to bananas before (until now)-

http://ezinearticles.com/?Help---I-Am-Allergic-To-Banana&id=546615

________________________

maybe you ate something with banana/(chitinase) in it
 
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  • #21
rewebster said:
I've never heard of anyone allergic to bananas before (until now)-

http://ezinearticles.com/?Help---I-Am-Allergic-To-Banana&id=546615

________________________

maybe you ate something with banana/(chitinase) in it
No, it was always eating a banana on an empty stomach, within a couple of minutes I'd be in extreme pain. I'm terrified of them now.
 
  • #22
Sorry to get preachy on you Evo. I worked rotating shifts for 10 years and I watched a lot of co-workers get dependent on drugs and caffeine to get to sleep and wake up, and it's not pretty.

That stinks about being allergic to bananas. They're cheap, and a great source of potassium.
 
  • #23
Evo said:
No, it was always eating a banana on an empty stomach, within a couple of minutes I'd be in extreme pain. I'm terrified of them now.

well, there's a new name for a new movie---(instead of 'killer tomatoes')

________________

it's been made:


http://youtube.com/watch?v=0FVHGWdLrXM
 
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