Electric/Energy surge to brain when trying to fall asleep.

How about when the alarm clock goes off right after you fall asleep, and you set it ahead 1 hour so you don't have time to eat breakfast at home, but have to get dressed and start driving, stopping along the way for coffee, and stop close to work to get breakfast because you might run in to traffic along the way that would make you late if you ate your breakfast first.  Today I didn't have time for the breakfast, just the coffee, and I bought a lipstick before going to work because I left without putting any on, and that takes less time than buying a breakfast and eating it, so  I was on time for work and had a nice day.  Now I'm wondering how soon I'll fall asleep.  Hoping I won't be awake in the night feeling pains that make me want to scream and having to sit up in bed to stop the pains from what I think would be killing me.  In extreme cases I even get something to eat or get up and log in to my email or something, but that's usually only if I'm not actually sleepy acs well.  Sometimes I want to put my head down on the pillow, but it feels like something is overtaking my consciousness that is not good and I need to be up and moving around for a little while first, instead.  If the pains are in my heart of my feet or my left arm I have gotten the idea that I should go get some dried mulberries and eatoh them because they have the same antioxidant in them as red wine and that will help prevent heart attacks.  I did that quite a few nights in a row last week, and I don't know what is affecting my stomach tonight, if yogurt no longer agrees with me or a piece of lemon cake.  I didn't drink my coffee tonight, because my stomach started to bother me after the first sip, as if I had drunk two cups with nothing in my stomach and no cream.

Mary Jane before I go to sleep gad helped me alot

 From my research, this is an electrical impulse from your brain as is monitors your heart rate. Once your heart rate gets too low, usually below 50 bpm, the brain sends a signal to "wake you" in order to speed it back to a safe speed for vital needs. This may be a sleep apnea issue, which you can do sleep studies to find if you have. It could also possibly be an electrolyte imbalance, which can be helped with mineral supplementation. It is also worsened by fatigue, so you are right that it can be a vicious cycle unless the root cause is remedied. Good luck!

I had similar symptoms for about 6months or so. After the brain zaps, there are what seems like chemical secretions or electrical charges sent to the rest of my body, originating either from my brain or my heart. I am gripped by a sense of irrational fear and unable to fall asleep after that. I also look pale as a ghost when it happens, experience giddiness, tiredness, cold hands and feet, and numbness etc.

Full body check up, bloods tests, MRIs, CT scans etc all showed nothing. No medication was prescribed by doctors. Doctors don't know what's wrong with me. They never heard of brain zap or shocks and can relate only when I use the term panic attack. I wasn't open to taking anti depressants. Taking relaxants made it worse! My counsellor tells me this is a form of panic attacks. 

It was scary and I truly felt like I was going to die. But I am fine now and this was how I overcame it. I hope this helps someone. 

1) I had someone massage my head thoroughly for 30 minutes every day 

2) I took lots off nutritious food 

3) I took TCM herbs - for blood circulation and nourishment 

4)  I removed all possible external triggers for my anxieties. 

5) Throughout the day (before the panic attack strikes), I release my fears, anxieties and worries to God

6) When the panic attack strikes just before I fall asleep, I release the fear to God, I pray out loud in tongues, I close my eyes and imagine a bright colorful rainbow or a beautiful scenery (like heaven - green grass on a hill, ravine, waterfall etc), I get out of bed to drink a hot cup of water instead of curling up in bed allowing myself to be paralyzed by fear, I massage my head, hands and feet for a few minutes. This reduces the symptoms and the fear and the intensity of the recurrence of the brain zaps and also helps me to fall asleep again.

After doing this consistently for a few months, the symptoms wore off and slowly disappeared. 

I didn't experience these until I had a baby and got D-MER, which is a dopamine disorder of the brain. So I agree that it is something to do with serantonin or dopamine levels of the brain.

Mine feel like Shockwaves that start at my brain then move out and down my arms and legs. Then I am very awake and uncomfortable. If my baby is still nursing when this happens, I feel multiple ones, sometimes until she stops and I'm holding back from screaming and running away. It is awful, and I have them every night and have for over a year now. I am also very sleep deprived as a mom of a toddler.

I take L-Tyrosine, which is the precursor to dopamine for the body, and I eat a tablespoon of pure, raw honey within an hour if going to bed. Both seen to help significantly. If she wakes up in the middle of the night and nurses, I sometimes have to get up and eat more honey for it to go away again, but it works every time so far. Hope this helps to share.

Finally, I have found my people. This has been the most dramatic health problem I have ever had.

Im not going to tell the whole story, but I need to get some of it out. My problem started about 2 years ago with a strange feeling right before I fell asleep. I would get a burning in my stomach and just a weird feeling in my head and body. Fast forward a few months and the feeling started to progress intro little "whooshes" every few minutes, as well as the burning throughout my body. Now, for the past 8 months it has been a terrible feeling. Sometimes that happens as I'm laying down to go to sleep, sometimes that happens right after I have fallen asleep. Either way it happens every night. Some nights I will go through upwards of 40 attacks, and some nights I may have just one. Sometimes they are so intense it feels like I've been shot in the head, sometimes it's just a little headrush. For me, it only happens around that zone of awake/asleep. Either right before or right after I fall asleep. The past week they have been so bad that I have considered the emergency room, but I know they won't be able to help.

All this being said, I think we should be strategic in figuring this problem out. There are enough of us to figure this out through trial and error and keeping a journal and logs. The only problem would be that most of the research would have to be completed right here in the discussion due to the forum rules of outside links or emails for collaboration purposes.

Just as a side note, I've noticed on particularly bad nights, if I get up and walk around, drink water, and stretch all my muscles I can lay down and go to sleep afterwards. I've only tried this three times but have had promising results each time.. Also, watching tv before bed usually stops it from happening or lessens the intensity and frequency if I'm super tired and falling asleep while doing it.

Let's strategize! I can't deal with this anymore, it is dramatically affecting my quality of life and quality of sleep. Anybody have any ideas on how to collaborate while still adhering to forum rules?

Wow! I am a fifteen year old Soccer player in MN it relieves me so much to have found this article after searching for possibilities on the Web for 4 hours. It's 2Am and I keep trying to go to sleep but I keep getting the electric shocks when I'm about to fall asleep. I tried drinking orange juice for blood sugar but that didn't help. But as I looked more and more into this. It is based on anxiety, I read that "humans are good at hiding their anxiety but for some it must surface" and for people like us it results in us waking up thinking we are going to die. It's so relieving to have found out that people like you have the same issue as me and are still alive and healthy, I hope that we can all get through this. I also read that meditation can help eliminate this. Thank you for giving me this information, it has saved me a lot of stress

These are adrenaline rushes and are caused by anxiety.

Hello I'm 38 years old.. I went turkey on a family holiday two years ago and hurt my shoulder having a bundle at a beach party my shoulder ached fo a year and I never really botherd with it then last summer I started getting jumping in my eyes and like vertigo couldn't stand up found out my blood vessels to my brain were caught up and not enough blood was getting to my brain two sessions with a osteopath it felt like he was crushing a grape and it stopped . Well a month ago I started getting exactly same symptoms as you.. I went back to osteopath and it stopped again for a couple of weeks now happening again.. Really freaks me out when trying to go asleep .. Found if I stay awake till I can't keep my eyes open on sofa when I dose off will get a shock it wakes me up and go bed and usually straight asleep.

 

Hi mate... well ive had the same symptoms for a few years.. like you im fit (did marathons) not stressed about anything..... some nights were worse than others..

I used to freak out thinking i was having a heart attack or stroke.... anyway i had enough and saw some doctors about it. I finally saw a cardiologist who after a load of tests diagnosed it as Wenchibach block of the heart....(i can explain later.. but in short its the electronic impulses to your heart gets messed up....google it) its more common in people who are fit and their resting heart rate drops so slow that your heart actually stops for a while and JOLTS back in action.. thats the anxious feeling even soreness feeling you can get.

To be sure .... Next time its happening try this... put your finger on ur neck to check your pulse. I bet you will feel quite a fast heart rate then after 30 seconds or so.....nothing.... thats when ur anxious feeling kicks in.... then about 5 seconds later it will jolt back into rhythm....

Dont panic it will subside... the best thing you can do is walk around the bedroom or something. Just to get ur heart to require a faster than resting rate.

I have a million other things to day but im lying in bed typing this and am struggling to keep my eyes open.

Good luck with this.. happy to chat more with anyone that need clarification.. (its taken me years to figure this out!!!!!))

What helps me is water fasting for more than 48 hours.

OMG.. I was just Google searching my symptoms and it brought me to this site..I just got done laying in my bed for about an hour..it seems like I'm so fearful of this happening I now like fixate on my breathing thinking it's some sort of a breathing issue bc as I lay down I take deep breathes then it seems like soon as I'm about to fall asleep it almost feels like I stopped breathing for a quick second I get that weird roller coaster feeling but more in my chest then I jolt like I'm gasping for air then Im finding myself trying to relax bc that just gives me anxiety so then the entire process starts again it's honestly scarey as hell and the docs look at me insanely crazy. This is just the very worst. I'm 29 yr old female sure I have my anxiety issues but I could be relaxed as all helll.in a good mood watching a movie at night then the min i go to try n sleep this is what I deal with.. it's absolutely disturbing to have to live with. I hate it. So I feel your pain if anyone had any suggestions on how to make this go away PLEASE LET THIS GIRL.KNOW