Nerve Twitches / Tics

A tiny movement you did not choose. The eyelid flickers. The corner of the mouth twitches. A shoulder jerks upward, a finger snaps, a small muscle in the cheek area pulses for seconds in its own rhythm. You did not want this. Nobody sees it as clearly as you yourself — and for exactly that reason it feels as if a small part of your body has begun to exist without you.

Medicine speaks of involuntary muscle contractions, of brief overexcitation in the nervous system, of magnesium deficiency, stress, fatigue. In children, tics often appear in phases, disappear, return. In adults they often become unwelcome companions, especially in moments of inner tension. All of that is true — on the physical level.