Brain MRI okay but still horrible symptoms

[countrygirl]

I had to change my login by adding number 1 after it but still same old countrygirl!
I have posted on and off over past 9 mnths about getting a horrible sensation in my head as I start to fall asleep - it only last a couple of seconds but feels like a lift has just dropped with me in it! I have had 24hr urine test to rule out adrenal tumour - bloods - ecg's and lastly a mri brain scan to check on a benign cyst they found a few years ago - this last one was for my peace of mind ( worried the cyst had got huge:blush:)
The mri showed that the cyst was exactly same no change and everything else was fine.
I can be fine for weeks with no sensations at night but then I will get a few nights where i get the sensation a couple of times before falling asleep then I have two or three nights where the sensations just won't go away and I either sleep only with a sleeping pill or not at all.
I have seen two GP#s over this and one says its anxiety symptom - other wonders if its my hormones as I am perimenopausal.
I tried to listen to a relaxation tape yesterday and as soon as I started to relax even though i was awake I got the sensations in head but not badly and then last night they were terrible when I tried to fall asleep. It wasn't positional as I was listening to the tape sitting upright so it seems to be a problem with relaxing?????

[dodo]

Glad your scan went well :)

I think sometimes the more we focus on things the more they happen. I find that if I have trouble going to sleep I start to dread going to sleep and then of course the problems continue.

Is it like hypgogia? I have had a lot of twitching and falling feelings lately. I think it's the body's way and the muscles way of relaxing and that feels alien if you interupt it somehow?

[nomorepanic]

I will PM you about the login

[countrygirl]

Hi dodo

I am also wondering if its one of the sleep disorders under the hyp whatsit heading:)
I don't physically move at all so its not the hypnic jerk but I think you can get the sensation without the movement.
Strangely I was talking to a friend earlier and she was telling me about having a lipoma removed from her finger and for first time I said well I have got really weird symptom and told her and she said oh I get that exactly as you describe and have had it for ever - she said she gets it badly for about a week every couple of months and she said it stops her sleeping as well but she has had it for so long she just thought it was her and did not worry:yesyes: She described it as like falling into a black hole and has a weird sensation though her whole body at the same time which is exactly what I have, she said she wondered if it was the brain not going from alert to sleep easily.
I feel much better knowing I am not alone but still don't like it!

[mary3]

I have had this symptom a few times but not enough for it to start to disrupt my sleep. I have always classed it as my body falling asleep but my mind still being awake so then my mind suddenly wakes my body up! If that makes sense!

[Mic]

I have had this feeling for years and know alot of people who get that too, I didn't know it was anxiety symptom and it doesn't bother me but can understand anyone with anxiety could be quite worried by this symptom, I think I have had it so many times i don't give it a second thought.:) hope this ma help

[countrygirl]

I had awful night last night - the falling sensation was constant every time I started to dream until about 2am then I was wide awake after the sesations stopped - this is weird if i don't fall asleep during the sensation then when they finally stop I feel wide awake. My husband said that I kept falling asleep and snoring but was waking up every 10-15 mins and saying I can't sleep. I took a sleeping pill at 3am and after an hour thinking it hadn't worked I fell asleep till 8am.

I am back at GPs tomorrow and am going to ask if I can see a sleep specialist if there is such a thing. I tell myself that alot of people expeirence this so it can't be anything serious but its seriously affecting my life and I can't keep taking sleeping pills.

[blueangel]

Hmm, if you snore a lot have you thought about sleep apnoea? It's very common - my ex-husband suffers badly with it and has to wear one of those CPAP machines to keep his airways open in the night. I'll try and find out whether he gets this falling sensation and get back to you.

[macc noodle]

Hey Countrygirl

When I was suffering at my worst with anxiety night-time was a complete and utter nightmare (if you will pardon the pun).

Every time I went to bed - absolutely dog tired but really wound up - just as I was falling asleep I would jerk awake, heart pounding, head whirling and a really weird sensation which I can only describe as a sudden drop (you know like when you are in a plane and they sometime drop altitude quickly) - really scary and very unpleasant.

I think you may be experiencing something similar - I know how scary it can be and I also know how frustrating it can be when you can't find an exact answer to your symptoms.

Great news about the scan being clear though and the cyst unchanged!

:)

[countrygirl]

Thanks blueangel and Jan. I was also wondering about sleep apnea and will ask my GP today if I can sent to a sleep clinic - imagine the wait will be very long as I know there are only a few clnincs in the country the nearest one to me is about 2hrs drive away.

Jan - the Dr has already said he thinks its an anxiety thing and knowing me it probably is! I just can't work out why it seems to come and go and how on nights when it is so bad I could have been happy all day???
What you describe is exactly what I am feeling. Last night i did some experiments:D and laid down on my bed but awake for half an hour and nothing so its not a positional problem then I sat bolt upright in the armchair and tried to sleep as it was late evening and I was tired and sure enough every time I started to drift off wham the feeling hit so tis def a sleep transition problem. Thankfully I fell asleep straight away when I went to bed so maybe I had got the sensations over and donw with in the armchair:yesyes:

Trouble is tonight another night:huh: