Jump/falling feeling...

[Ryan]

This is NOT the typical case of when you are trying to fall asleep! But it does really only happen when I'm tired... like I've pulled an all nighter.

It's very strange, I suddenly feel very worried and like im falling, I usually grab onto something close by... But I know im NOT falling...

One thing I noticed is that, if Im watching something whilst tired like a move and something happens in the movie like it shows the main character about to fall off of a great hight for example... I instantly get this jumpy feeling and have to grab something as if It's me about to fall.

Not sure if I should go to the doctor, would rather NOT honestly... but it makes me feel a bit mental! lol.


I also get light headed quite often... And I know this is probably totally typical but I'm always worried I have a brain tumour or anurism(sp?)... Or somethings wrong with my heart.

[Sax]

Hi Ryan,
A horrid feeling for sure and a very real feeling when experiencing it.
Are you taking any medications?
I believe some medications can affect you in this way although if not taking any then maybe the bodies reaction to stress!
Just some thoughts. :unsure:

[Ryan]

No I'm not on any medication at all...

Bar the odd cod liver oil when I remember! =)

[RLR]

Your symptoms are due to a hypnogogic response. This type of reaction does not require the presence of the "jerk" reflex commonly experienced by the patient. It usually occurs in instances where a person is particularly exhausted or sleep-deprived and is the consequence of the waking experience of the reticular activating system in the brain inducing the body into the initial sleep stages. You need not be trying to fall asleep for the response to occur. If the body is tired and in need of sleep, it is produced regardless for some patients.

It is not the consequence of a space-occupying mass like a brain tumor or vascular abnormality like an aneurism.

You'll be fine. Get plenty of rest and do your best to go to bed when you are tired rather than remain in a recliner or on the couch. This also tends to increase the tendency for the sensation to occur because you are unintentionally drifting off to sleep rather than doing so intentionally.

Best regards,

Rutheford Rane, MD (ret.)

[Ryan]

Thankyou for your responce! That was very informitive.

However just to cear up, when I get this I'm not usually drifting in and out of sleep or anything like that... I'm wide awake, although mostly happens when I am feeling very tired.

Should something i see on a TV screen really effect it? Like a roller coaster, or a large drop or space... things that usually wouldnt freak me out... But suddenly when I see it I feel like I'm falling/need to grab onto something.

[RLR]

Well, I'm afraid it doesn't clear things up very much. I'm having difficulty with the statement that you are wide awake but feeling very tired. These two factors are unavoidably on rather opposite ends of the spectrum.

Aside from hypnogogic responses, however, the oculovestibular network can respond to mere visual stimuli such as a spinning wheel or optical illusion which can subsequently induce vertigo or the sensation of falling. Certain persons who take long sea voyages can subcumb to a phenomenon known as DisEmbarquement Syndrome, which is essentially a subsequent prolongation of the motion experienced on the seas after debarking from the voyage, sometimes lasting for several months in duration. It can follow, then, that such disturbances can be produced by other forms of stimuli which affect the oculovestibular network.

I was, however, a physician and specialist for more than 40 years and I'll have to state here that my impression is that your symptoms are likely the result of hypnogogic responses. Persons who are extremely tired do in fact experience the phenomenon and the fact that they are contrastly in the awakened state is what produces the effect.

Best regards,

Rutheford Rane, MD (ret.)

[SmartyPants]

Great info RLR, thanks for that.

..and Ryan I know exactly what you get as I have had the same on and off for a while now. It even happens on the computer sometimes when you scroll down a page (the movement of it), can you relate to that?

[Andromeda]

i get that ALL the time smartypants ! - the computer thing :weep:

[Ryan]

Great info RLR, thanks for that.

..and Ryan I know exactly what you get as I have had the same on and off for a while now. It even happens on the computer sometimes when you scroll down a page (the movement of it), can you relate to that?

Not so much with computers. But if I see something like, say, a movie where a man runs to the edge of a building and wobbles about almost falling off... Suddenly I feel almost like its me and I suddenly feel like I'm about to fall myself and usually have to grab onto my chair or something close by.

I remember I really needed to sleep, but a friend asked me to go and watch clover feild with him at the cinema... needless to say, I almost died of panic. There was one point in a helicopter where I almost had to leave the cinema because I kept feeling like I was falling.