It was one of those busy days in the office - 2nd month into my newly found job as head of administration at a secondary school. I was busy typing away on my laptop trying to reconcile an account on Excel when a student walked in. Perhaps a little over 10 years, he looked obviously unwell and showed a discomfiture which could indicate that he was about to break a rather weird, or should I say amusing, news to me.
"Good morning sir."
Good morning, I replied.
"Sir, I don't know what's happening. My head is just turning on its own."
I almost broke into a huge laughter. Partly because 'turningonitsown' used to be a popular slang on social media some years back, indicating a state of utter confusion, and also because I genuinely didn't know what to make of the news. Even though he looked obviously unwell, I found it difficult to believe that his head could be turning on its own, meaning that the neck was turning uncontrollably, or rather, involuntarily.
Not until I witness it myself. Initially, I thought he was trying to make it look real that indeed his neck was turning involuntarily, but with time, I realized he was actually saying the truth. I had to assume the position of a physician and started asking him series of questions.
Has this happened to you before?. No.
When did it start? Just some minutes ago
Have you taken any drug to tackle your illness? Yes.
What drug did you take? An antimalaria drug.
Have you eaten this morning? Yes.
After series of questions aimed at getting any form of hint that could point to a possible cause of the involuntary turning of his head, I had to calmly put a call through to his mum for immediate medical attention. While the mum was on her way, I instructed him to just lie down somewhere in the general office of the school. Interestingly, the boy returned to school being his normal self the following day.
Further interaction with him even showed that no special medical attention was sought by the parent except that he continued with the malaria drug he's been on before the involuntary turning of his head occurred. He was taken home, allowed to rest and that's it.
So, what exactly could make human heads turn on their own?
My curious mind couldn't just let it go. Thus, I was to delve into a couple of literature to see the possible causes of involuntary turning of the head. I found some really interesting information, rather surprisingly.
First, I got to know that the involuntary turning of the head is otherwise known as head turning on its own or spontaneous head movement in the medical world. This condition has been found to be attributable to a host of causes, some of which are:
- Vestibular disorders
- Tourette syndrome
- Huntington's disease
- Dystonia
- Seizures
- Size effects of certain medications
- Psychogenic movement disorders
- Brain injury or lesions
- Stress or anxiety
Perhaps there are more, both the above are the ones I was able to come up with from the little research I made.
Vestibular disorders have to do with the vestibular system of the inner ears, which in turn is responsible for maintaining our balance or spatial orientation. Once this system has issues, it could cause the head to be turning on its own.
Tourette Syndrome is a neurological disorder characterized by repetitive, involuntary movements, including head turning or jerking. The exact cause of this condition remains a subject of interest and a couple of practices have been established to manage the condition.
All other factors listed have been well investigated and found to be able to cause the head to turn on its own. For example, medications that can cause spontaneous head movements or other involuntary movements are known as tardive dyskinesia (TD)-inducing medications, and examples include some antidepressants, antipsychotics, antihemetics, etc.
It was really an interesting lesson to know that there are conditions or drugs that could make the humans head to be turning spontaneously. The exact factor that is the case of the boy in my story cannot really be pinpointed, and whatever it is, it went away really quickly.
What do you think?
Resources
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK558926/
- https://www.healthline.com/health/head-twitching
- https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/movement-disorders/symptoms-causes/syc-20363893
- https://www.medicinenet.com/involuntary_head_turning_or_twisting_muscle_twitching_painless_and_stiff_neck/multisymptoms.htm