Help i can't sleep - hypnic jerks

[roggmanny]

I had these as well. I actually started getting them as my other anxieties started winding down. It seemed as those as soon as I got use to one of the physical symptoms of anxiety another one would appear.

I still get these jerks occasionally. I don't know anything about your diet, but I noticed mine were worse when I had too many stimulants durning the day - sugar, caffeine, nicotine etc. Or if I am really tired. Now I avoid these almost entirely and the jerks really only kick up on bad days. Now, when I do have one I can usually point to something I ate or drank that day as the culprit. I also take Xanax occasionally before bed if I've been in a "high anxiety" mode.

[mariedenla]

Hello..... I would like to suggest to stop the Tramadol, I was given this medication for nightly pain in my feet, which I was taking each night, but it gave me terrible nightmares, and awful body jerking, which I never experienced before. So I knew right away, that Tramadol was the reason. I did not take them anymore, and the nightmares and jerking stop.....
I wonder if your husband, who was on Tramadol,gave him all these side effects? Worth trying to stop taking them
I now take two Tylenol 3, for chronic pain in my feet, each night, and it works, with no side effects.
Wish you and your husband well .

[pb]

This has just happened to me but I was asleep having an afternoon nap and my head jerked and I woke up.
Scared now that something has popped in my head but I feel ok.
Has anyone had this while asleep and not as they fall asleep.

[courierdude]

sleeping with a mobile phone next to your bed can cause this.

[SJB]

I've had this problem for the last couple of months - continually woken up by jerks, can't sleep, get major anxiety before bed.

The key is destressing before bed. Not lieing awake thinking about how the jerks are going to wake you up. I believe it is really in the mind.

My strong advice - download a sleep well app, which is a kind of hypnosis, and use that to go to sleep, completely calms me, took about 20mins before bed, had best night's sleep in ages.

It's free, no medication, easy to use - give it a go and let me know!

[Praveen]

Hello..
But how long this sleeping pills can be taken to avoid jerks. Isn't it bad on a long run?

[zacman777]

Do your limbs actually jerk around or is it just a feeling as if you have fallen without any movement???

When I am very anxious, invariably about a health issue and getting panicky then I find that every few minutes as I lay down and try to get to sleep I get a weird sensations rushing up my body into my head - its like the bed has tipped up and I have slid down and my heart races afterward and I can hear it booming in my ears. This can do on for an hour before I eventually fall asleep.

I once had this every night for months and was convinced I was about to ahve a stroke but was assured it was caused by adrenalin rushes due to anxiety.

I get this too! mine kind of feels like a dizzy, almost vertigo like feeling that lasts for 1-2 seconds and is accompanied by an adrenaline rush, thought the rush seems to come microseconds after the dizzy feeling but who knows I may be half awake when it happens, and then it definitely feels scarier at night.