Blinking

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This is a kind of odd question to ask here. I'll do it anyway.
Do you find that you don't blink as much as you should?
I can go a whole minute without blinking, even more if I don't try to time myself. The most I blink in one minute might be three times.
My eyes always seem to be more wide open than they should be.
Granted I have had Todd's paralysis, migraines and right now my left eye is burning and going completely dry.
Lately it's felt like I'm not blinking automatically when I do blink, I just force it.
Even before all this paralysis an optometrist told me my eye muscles were strained.

Anyone relate? I know it's not an AS/autism thing. But I would really like to find someone who relates.

Yes I don't blink nearly enough and it gives me dry eyes as well as tired muscles which can cause double-vision. I seem to do it more now as my reading focus is going with age.

I try and make myself blink more and now use Systane eye drops which lubricate sufficiently to last all day.

I do not know if it is an AS/ autism thing, but the following podcast may be of some interest:

"Blink"
http://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiolab- ... /05/blink/

I remember thinking when I was younger that I didn't feel the natural urge to blink and that I had to force myself. Now though, I have blinking tics which cause the opposite and even more discomfort

i don't have any issues with blinking but do with breathing. it's almost as if i get so deep into thought that i forget to breath sometimes and end up taking a dramatic deep breath. similar but different!

Yes! I don't blink as often as NT's . Sometimes when i'm out, people look at me funny because I don't blink as frequently as I should. I googled slow blink rate and I found that it is caused by damage to the Basal Ganglia.

I can relate to this too.

I'm the opposite. I blink more often than I should.

Congratulations, pensieve, no Weeping Angel could harm you

But seriously, I'd say I blink less often that most people. I can't estimate how much exactly, but it seems that my staring at people and things sometimes is related to the fact that I look at them for a long time without blinking. My eyes are very dry and drops don't help much, too.

Thanks for the link. That's very interesting.
I've also noticed when I do blink it when someone has finished speaking or I'm at the end of a thought. I tried to blink while thinking and it's impossible. It's almost as if blinking is like a comma or full stop. One of the comments on that page said something about people who could take in more information or think faster also blinked less, and maybe that is what is happening to me. I'll have to see what I'm like on the weekends because that's when I take a break from medication. The medication could be the reason for my lack of blinking.
I've always thought I didn't blink much. I even won in that game I played as a kid 'first one to blink loses.'

Also interesting in the podcast was the experiment they did with people watching Mr Bean. Maybe blinking is like a mirror neuron thing like yawning and laughing.

I hope I can find more information on this. It's very interesting.



I have actually tried that while watching the show. Thing is when I'm trying to control blinking or time it I get the urge to blink more.

I'm going to try some teabags on my eye tonight. They are still hurting. Not even sunglasses help.

I can relate to this, its horrible when it happens, even if it is for a short time. it sometimes feels like I've gone over a minute without doing so. Not exactly sure what it was/is I'm doing at the time to cause it though.



I can also relate to this one also, during bad times in school years ago I was labelled the winkaboy....lol... apparently I was always blinking. Light too bright maybe because I don't do it so much inside at all.

It's a shame really that I didn't know what I do today regarding autism/aspergers, I could have got a ball rolling for a DX sooner. So many things from the past that make me think...eh! why wasn't I noticed with these behaviours in my younger years. Though I did keep myself to myself an awful lot.

It could be perhaps that you are taking in a lot of visual information all the time, or some other source of information, or something could be happening to put you in an anxiety state.

When you are in an anxiety state, or taking in too much info, some of the most primitive, brainstem activities such as breathing, blinking etc can be effected. I think in the case of not blinking, it can be that your brain processes information faster than your eyes can, and then it all freezes up as one part of you is going very fast and another can't cope with it, so the primitive body functions dont happen as much as they should. The brain perceives an emergency situation and decides that running or fighting is more important than lubricating the eye and cleaning it.

Same here. For several years as a child I could never figure out if I was blinking too often or forcing my eyes open. I just couldn't let my body take over and blink without my being aware of it.

Same thing with breathing and swallowing saliva. I guess over time these issues worked themselves out. I had actually forgotten about all of that until now.

Actually I did that too, with same results


I've tried almost everything to alleviate eye dryness and the only thing that works for me is drinking lots of water.
Subjective sensation of thirst is not relevant in this case, you just keep on drinking, say, a glass of water per hour. Works very quickly and effectively, albeit for a short time.