Blinking

[Guest_342]

Hello,

Does anyone else have issues with excessive and awkward blinking/winking and/or compulsively popping your ears?

I find I do it more in stressful situations - e.g. when concentrating on busy traffic or when talking face to face with someone who will notice me doing it.

occasionally I do other things like clenching my teeth or clashing my front teeth together.

If I don't do it, it feels uncomfortable.

What has worked for you to reduce or stop it?

[smallwolf]

hi and welcome to the forum. Sorry about the delay in responding - it is not intentional.

you mentioned blinking and clenching teeth. It sounds from your post these might be the coping mechanisms? My uncle would grind teeth (or clench) a fair bit. My scalp gets itchy in stressful situations. I also feel the need to sigh a lot more than perhaps normal.

Perhaps on the positive side you have recognized a couple of situations when this occurs. Since you know that part, what is it able these situations that are stressful. For me, when I am overwhelmed with too much to do, or thinking that. And then work out what can I do to make that "less stressful".

we may all have different strategies for coping with stress - yoga, meditations, etc. There are also threads on the forum on grounding and mindfulness that might be helpful to you. Or reading threads and books on how others cope with stress. Unfortunately there is no magic solution. I sometimes wish there was.

Again, sorry it took sooo long to respond, and I hope you will come back and share some more of your story.

Tim

[Guest_342]

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts, Tim.

[Helarctus]

Hello Gelati,

Welcome and yes, stressors can trigger responses as you have described. Being aware of the response is the first step in managing them.

You may find some success in converting or transferring the stress response from facial 'ticks' to something like snapping a hairband on your wrist or even a Beyond Blue wristband 😉 (or one of the many other non-profit org colourful wrist bands) . Consciously snapping it when you notice the blinking or popping and refocusing to do a count of say three or five snaps. Then when you are snapping instead of blinking work on reducing the number of snaps.

In that way you are still acknowledging the stress is occurring, but in a way that you can control (counting snaps instead of trying to count blinks)

You may also want to talk to your GP about other options for stress management and your dentist about managing the grinding with a mouthguard etc. for sleep.

Regards,

Helarctus.

[Guest_342]

Thank you, Helarctus.

I will definitely try your suggestion about the wrist band.

Much appreciate your time and thoughtfulness.

Gelati

[geoff]

Hello Gelati, to have 'excessive and awkward blinking/winking and/or compulsively popping your ears', may begin by having a physical problem but could possibly lead to being an obsession or a compulsion which happens when someone has OCD.

There is an online test for OCD but more importantly, you should have this diagnosed by your doctor to understand the reason why.

Best wishes.

Geoff.