Upper Lip Twitching: Everything About Top Lip Spams or Quivering

Lips are nothing but a structure that covers the mouth and protects the teeth. As far as the disorders are concerned, upper lip twitching refers to abnormal involuntary contractions occurring all of a sudden. It might be caused due to irritation or a direct stimulant. While different individuals can experience many symptoms, tremors are felt around the upper lip or along the jaws.

Causes of Upper Lip Twitching

There are many reasons why the upper lip may twitch. It could either be due to excessive consumption of coffee, withdrawal from smoking, or an imbalance of electrolytes.

Moreover, the disorder may be a result of terrible stress, herpes infection or an imbalance of electrolytes. Basically, apart from muscle cramps, the condition can also occur due to a decrease in potassium present in the bloodstream.

More Causes

Bell’s Palsy which is characterized by temporary weakness or paralysis. You may suffer from insensitivity around the face, an inability to close your eyes, or something uncommon like drooling of saliva.

Hypoparathyrodism which refers to low level of parathyroid hormone because of insufficient calcium present in the bones. Well, apart from the usual symptoms, you may have to deal with weakness and burning sensation around the limbs.

Parkinson’s Disease – This is nothing but a disease that affects the nervous system substantially. Not only do the individuals find it tough to communicate but also a sudden change in the behavior and instability in the posture.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis – This yet another neurological disease that happens due to dead motor neurons and the spinal cord. While the speech becomes incoherent and muscles tend to weaken, the progressive ailment can ultimately lead to death.

Check Also: Everything You Should Know About Bottom Lip Twitching

Treatment for Top Lip Twitching

Depending on what the reason might be, you may undergo a different treatment for upper lip twitching. While there isn’t any natural remedy, the condition can be demoted by consuming calcium-rich supplements.

Not just that, you can take medicines which are prescribed for conditions like Hemifacial spasm, Tourette’s syndrome or a synonymous ailment.

If the condition lasts for more than a couple of days, then you should be serious. Without further delay, you should visit the doctor and seek professional help. Take steps once you have understood the causes after a thorough examination and fetch knowledge about what might minimize the effect.

In some situations, upper lip twitching may be caused due mental imbalance or a physiological condition. So, to get some relief, you should opt for psychotherapy or fix an appointment with a psychiatrist.  The professional would help to find out solutions to problems and help you out with effective ways for dealing with triggers.

We will go on to list some of the known treatments for upper lip twitching below:

1. Injection of botulinum toxin or anticonvulsants

 In cases where the upper lip twitching is caused by a form of neurological breakdown or disorder, then the use of a local injection of botulinum toxin or anticonvulsant medications is a form of treatment.

How this works is that this injected medication helps to calm down the nerves that are responsible for movements in the affected area which in this case, are the upper lips. However, this is not a common method of treatment as only a few persons have twitching resulting from neurological conditions or disorders.

2. Steroids and physical therapy

 This method of treatment is solely for the type of upper lip twitching that is caused by Bell’s palsy. Although doctors do not exactly know the direct cause of Bell’s palsy, it is however believed to be related to the oral herpes virus, hence, the treatment method of using steroids and physical therapy is administered to counter the herpes virus that causes the condition.

3. Medical marijuana

 The usage of medical marijuana to treat twitching of the upper lip is a rare type of treatment. This is because it is administered to patients whose doctors have traced the cause of their lip twitching to Parkinson’s disease which is a type of brain disorder that causes slow movements and tremors in the chin, legs, hands, and lips.

In this treatment, doctors administer substances that can replenish the dopamine in the brain which include the use of medical marijuana. However, in rare cases, a surgical process is conducted.

4. Calcium and Vitamin D supplements

 Calcium and Vitamin D supplements are used to treat a right upper lip twitching that is caused as a result of hormonal imbalance that results due to age or certain conditions like hypoparathyroidism which may then result in the twitching of your lip.

People who suffer from hypoparathyroidism have a low production of parathyroid hormone which substances like Vitamin D and Calcium supplements help replenish.

5. Muscle-relaxing drugs

 Muscle relaxing drugs are sometimes used to control some cases of lip twitching. However, this treatment procedure has been known to cause certain side effects in patients.

So, people who fit the criteria of this treatment at least have to undergo several tests before the treatment is administered, and when it is, these patients are closely and carefully monitored to prevent any adverse side effects.

6. Riluzole (Rilutek) and Edaravone (Radicava)

 Some severe cases of upper lip twitching have been known to be caused by ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. This disease affects the nerves and spinal cord of its victim, resulting in lip twitching, slurred speech, and more.

However, drugs like Riluzole and Edaravone are used to treat this condition and prevent further degeneration.

7. Potassium supplements

Potassium is a substance or mineral element that is needed by the body to properly carry nerve signals around to the various organs, tissues, and cells.

However, some cases of lip twitching and other muscle spasms have been proven to be caused by a deficiency in potassium, and taking potassium supplements have been a known treatment to counter these uncomfortable conditions.

Upper Lip Twitching Superstitions

In general, upper lip twitching is closely associated with superstitions. The belief is that the twitching signifies some sort of secret sign that people start following.  In case you feel the irritation around the upper lip, the individuals think that someone is going to kiss the person or receive good news.

Something pleasant might occur when the right side twitches while it’s just the opposite with the left side of the upper lip. However, whichever it might be, read on to find out more!

To begin with, superstition is a belief that an event or occurrence is solely dependent on an extraordinary power, event, or fact which may be related to religion, astrology, or sometimes, prophecies. These factors are what people, in turn, tend to believe, hence, the term superstition.

Superstitions vary from place to place, based on what people do and do not believe. They are present in a lot of things or events, take for instance, in this context; upper lip twitching.  There are some fascinating superstitious beliefs around the twitching of the upper lips, and we shall be showing them to you extensively in this section of this article.

Truthfully, whenever your lips twitch, it can be somewhat annoying, irritating, or sometimes, even shameful to you as a person. If it happens when you are in front of someone, then it could be interpreted to have a meaning which is regarded as being complex.

Upper lip twitching is divided into two parts – the left upper lip twitch, and the right upper lip twitch. According to a lot of people, the twitching of the lips is backed by a strong superstitious belief, whether it is the right upper lip, the left upper lip, or even the lower lip. But for this section of this article, we shall be focusing solely on the first two (right and left upper lip twitching.)

The main superstition behind the left upper lip twitch is that it is believed to indicate the loss of a friend. Sometimes, it could happen before, but most times, it happens after. In this case, it is believed that you might most likely get into a fight or a wild argument with a very close friend, work buddy, close neighbor, or coursemate) family relatives, or even your lover.

When this happens, all indications and assumptions might point to the fact that you may not necessarily be the cause of the issue or brawl but your resulting anger will play a difference in escalating the situation of things. At this point, to avoid the imminent loss of a friend, you will need to be as calm and level-headed as possible to tone down the raging nerves of both of you.

The superstition behind the twitching of the right upper lip is that it is a pointer or indicator that you might soon receive money or other related gifts. For this superstition, it is believed that you might enter into a very healthy love relationship with a partner, which would result in a lot of benefits, and sometimes, cash gifts.

It could also just be interpreted that you will be getting a lot of benefit from your opposite sex. In this case, it is also believed that as a result of the new gain, favor, cash gifts and benefits which you will be receiving, a lot of people will be jealous of you, but overly, your relationship with your family members will get better, and you will even receive gifts from them too!

Also, to many people, the twitching of the left upper lip is believed to be a sign that good news is on the way. If you have previously applied for, say, a job and your upper left lip begins to twitch, you can get excited because it would mean that you will get the job!

It could also have a sort of sexual or romantic indication; because some people believe that when the upper left lip twitches, it could mean that you would be kissing someone soon.

However, it is not exactly certain how long it would take before you kiss that ‘someone’, but if you are in any sort of romantic relationship, then you have a greater chance of kissing someone compared to someone who isn’t in any romantic relationship.

More so, some people believe that you do not necessarily need to be in a romantic relationship before you will kiss someone. Based on this superstition it is believed that the person you will kiss might end up being just a ‘mere friend’.

Moving on, another interpretation of the twitching of the upper lip is that you will be experiencing an influx of new acquaintances or friends in your life. These friends could be from your workplace, casual hangouts, or past friends from high school, or the university who would be looking to connect with you.

The bonding will happen easily for the new friends, and for the ones you’ve had before, the friendship would be better.

Also, in some places, there is the superstitious belief that when your upper lip begins to twitch, then your words hold a sort of magical power, authority, or sweetness (the actual context varies based on the situation the person finds his or herself).

What this means is that a person whose upper lips begin to twitch can get things done easily or obtain favor by just speaking to another person; consider it a charm of words.

However, there is a certain variation to this particular superstition and that is the fact that the sweet mouth effect works only for those of the opposite sex. Another further variation to this superstition is that it works only for a woman, that is, when the upper lip of a woman starts twitching, then she has a sweet mouth and can easily gain favor from men or boys by just asking, and she doesn’t necessarily need to be in any form of a romantic relationship with them, as it can work on a total stranger.

While the twitching of the upper lips is a superstitious belief, it is also a medically-justifiable condition that requires attention from experienced medical personnel in this field of practice.

Finally, you must not hit the panic button once the upper lip twitches. As many people deal with the condition, measures should be taken before anything becomes worse. Psychotherapy can benefit the person if the diagnosis reveals some other causes.