flashes or electric shocks when moving eyes or neck

[kipp4458]

Hi, I'm 54 years old and have these strange flashes or shocks that happen when I move my eyes or neck. They run from my eyes or neck to my chest area. They started about a week ago and they do happen frequently but not always. Sometimes they are pretty intense and other times not so bad. I see my doc in a few days but after reading the posts I am beginning to wonder how she will respond. I hope I'm describing this right but it is hard to describe. I notice when I move my eyes left or right it's like a sensation behind the eyes that moves to me chest. Shock or flash I'm not sure. When I move my neck left or right it seems to run from the neck to the chest. I'm at a loss and hope my doc has some answers.

[kipp4458]

no I do not have MS. I was tested for it back in 2002 and they said I was severly depressed.  Maybe my description wasnt right. They are not sound bursts and my vision is ok. I do wear glasses. It is a shock or flash and I noticed it lightening up yesterday. I saw a nuerologist 2 years ago due to the inability to turn a magazine page with my right hand and that led to me being diagnosed with OCD. Yeah I know, doesn't make sense. I am on no meds for this. I do get muscle twitches frequently in my neck and legs. I dont know what this is but it is annoying. See what the doc says tomorrow.

[Nancy T]

So weird! Like Deb, I used to get bursts of sound (in my left ear) when moving my eyes sideways, sometimes upward. Hearing certain noises would also cause this "burst," along with a "whump" feeling in my head, or it would just happen spontaneously when I was very sleepy or had some other kind of sleep disturbance.

That's so strange that it moves from your eyes (or neck) to your chest. There must be some serious crossed wires (nerves).

Doctors never even tried to explain why I got this (I had numerous other strange symptoms, including dizziness and sudden hearing loss). There is something called gaze-evoked tinnitus that seems similar, which occurs in people who've had a benign inner-ear tumor removed, but yours obviously is not tinnitus.

However, I wonder if some similar mechanism is involved. The nerve circuits involving eye movement somehow got crossed with sensory nerves going to your neck and chest? Just a guess.

Don't be surprised if you doctor has no answer. But if you haven't had an MRI, you really should have one, I'd think.

Do you have MS? I don't (so I'm told), but I was never offered any explanation for the eye, ear, and numerous other symptoms.

[Deb61]

I get sound bursts when I move my eyes due to the demyelination of the optic nerve.  The auditory nerve is close to it, so the "wires cross" and I have this weird phenomenom when moving my eyes.  I don't think this answers your question, but weird things happen like this with MS.  

Do you have MS?  If you don't, it may also be worth your time to see an opthalmologist (can't spell this word to save my life).  I have gotten flashing lights when I had optic neuritis (with pain, color wash-out, and blurry vision).

The shock sensation may be possibly something seperate . . . Some people get what's called Lhermitte's sign when bending the neck forward which brings on a shock sensation.  But hey, maybe it's related somehow, I'm not the brightest person on this forum--I can only speak from my own experience having MS.  All I know is neurological diseases and problems are weird, and things like this can occur when something is amiss with a nerve or nervous system.