Your eyes twitch uncontrollably as if it has a mind of its own. You feel the world spinning when you rise from sleep one morning. You suffer from leg cramps in the middle of the night. Are these harmless bodily quirks or signs of something serious?
Eye twitching
You could be suffering from stress and fatigue, and need to rest your eyes. Eye twitching is generally a benign condition and in some cases, it goes away on its own. Computer users and TV addicts are the ones usually affected by this condition.’Sometimes, when you’re so immersed in your work or what you’re watching, you forget to blink as often as needed, and your eyes feel dry after a while. The body’s natural mechanism is to protect your eyes by trying to keep it close to replace the tears and allow the eyes to rest, hence the twitching.
In benign cases, the remedy is simply to rest your eyes. You can also put a warm compress over your eyes in order to relax the muscles. Avoid excessive caffeine or beer intake, which likewise causes eye twitching.
When the muscle spasm involves other parts of the face, there may be an underlying neurological disorder—e. g. Bell’s Palsy (facial paralysis) or Tourette Syndrome (characterized by involuntary facial, motor or vocal tics). When to see a doctor: If the twitching persists continuously for a week or so, and has other accompanying symptoms like inflammation, pain and sensitivity to light.
Dizzy spells
When it’s not a simple motion sickness, your dizzy spell can possibly be attributed to vertigo, which may be caused by a recurrent infection affecting the inner ear (the balance center of the body). Dizziness can also be a manifestation of hypertension, brain tumor, an impending stroke, or aneurysm, thus, it’s one symptom we should never ignore.
Nosebleed
For many, nosebleed (or epistaxis) may be a normal occurrence, especially to those who’s had it since childhood. Some elderly folks easily dismiss it as caused by hot weather or exhaustion, but according to Dr. Espaldon, it’s also an alarm sign. The nose is a vascular organ (it’s rich in blood vessels) and the arteries there tend to break easily, such that in some individuals, even cough and cold cause friction in the nose, which lead to bleeding. One who experiences nosebleed must pinch her nose, stoop down, and be brought to the nearest hospital.
Among middle-aged individuals, nosebleed can be a symptom of uncontrolled hypertension.
Jaw-popping
Some disregard or even make fun of the popping sound that our jaw makes. Dr. Espaldon warns that this is an early sign of TMJ (temporomandibular joint) dysfunction. Although the popping is not pathological (or caused by a disease), the misuse and overuse of the jaw joint can later on lead to arthritis.
One should seek medical attention if the jaw-popping is recurrent. ‘There are cases when the joint becomes dislocated, and it may be necessary to put a cast on the jaw or immobilize it for a few days.’ If the jaw-popping happens only every once in a while, then it’s not alarming.
Pins and needles
This usually happens when we lean or lie awkwardly on a limb and should go away once we change position and the blood supply is restored. If the numbness occurs in one particular part of the body, or when there’s hand-in-glove distribution (say, both hands or both feet become numb), this is a manifestation of a neurologic disease.
Loss of sensation also happens when a nerve supply is cut. This typically happens among people with carpal tunnel syndrome .Sometimes, it starts as pain, eventually leading to loss of sensation.
Numbness is even more alarming if it affects both the upper and lower extremities of one side of the body. If that happens, it could be stroke or peripheral neuropathy.
Leg cramps
Leg cramps are usually attributed to fatigue. Runners or those who use the treadmill without doing warm-up exercises (to stretch the muscles) will automatically suffer from leg cramps. If the cramp is caused by a vigorous activity, the remedy is to simply rest and take a muscle relaxant.
Sometimes, an electrolyte imbalance, which is usually associated to fatigue and stress, and lack of calcium, also causes hardening of the muscles. In some cases it can be symptom of dehydration, low blood magnesium and potassium levels. Some older adults experience night cramps (commonly called nocturnal cramps). This can be painful, disruptive of sleep and can recur frequently. Sometimes, such cramps are initiated by making a movement that shortens the muscle. An example is pointing the toe down while lying in bed, which shortens the calf muscle, a common site of muscle cramps.