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

Hi I am 21. And I have exactly the same problem. It's been almost a month I been having this mini attacks while I am about to fall asleep. Hopefully we can get some updates about how to get ride off this.

Don't know if this will help you but there is a neurological condition called "Exploding Head Syndrome".   Bizarre name but since I have got it it is the best name to call it.  After lots of tests, MRI and CT scans my neurologist found this. Unfortunately there is no cure but apparently it is harmless even though it feels awful and scary.   I was prescribed Clonazepam which has helped me enormously so maybe you should get yourself a referral to a neurologist and take it from there.  Also google Exploding Head Syndrome which may give you some answers.   Hope this helps.  Good luck.

Hi there GD10.

I know this a relatively old post but I wanted to share my expriences with you.

First of all the condition is nothing to be frightened of. I have been experiencing it for many years. Just at the point of falling asleep you feel a falling sensation, a sudden panic in the pit of your stomach as if you are on a roller coaster.

This is accompanied by a crackling/fizzing on either side of your inner ear (but it feels as though it is the sides of your brain!) The sensation is accompanied by an intense and uncomfortable ringing/roaring sound in the inner ear also and it feels like the only way to prevent from "slipping into it" is to kick your legs or sit up and fidget etc.

The changes occuring in your brain each night are the mechanism by which your brain shuts off its motor control during sleep. Those of us unlucky enough not to have this in place will retain motor control in sleep and (you guessed it) will sleep walk

For most people this happens during unconsciousness. For you and I it's happening whilst we're still aware of it, which can be terrifying!

There are many reasons which cause it. But the basic principal is a stimulated nervous system (caffeine, antidepressants) or the sudden removal of a nervous system depressant (alcohol, cannabis, cocodamol).

This combined with an exhausted body provides the recipe for the condition. You have to take a look at your own habits during the day to figure out why your mind is staying awake as your body falls asleep.

Interestingly though, the state we find ourselves in is one yearned for by many cultures, from South American Shamans, Indian Yogis and Buddhists. You can either follow the advice above and analyse your daily routine to look for a cause behind the symptoms, or....

Next time it happens, dont shake it away. Focus on the roaring and crackling vibrations without being afraid of them. They will grow in intensity until you feel an almighty "pop"! You will then find yourself floating in your bedroom looking down at yourself sleeping.

#LucidDreams

Hi. I have no answers, sorry. But, I am curious as to whether or not anyone has had a sleep apnea test?

Omg so I've had this happening over two years 30 m ...It's actually good to know I'm not going crazy, my x told me I'm tripping....I literally can lay there on nights it's happening and let it keep happening when it starts almost like going into it when I'm in that zombie like state...

I also experience quiet a bit of sleep paralysis... Waking up but my body doesn't yet.,.... I've literally thought I woke up and rolled into floor trying to get up so hard and trying to scream help so hard... Then I wake up in bed moaning like screams with mouth closed.. Awful feelings but the electric shock seems to be unheard of till today

Hi. I believe this is referred to as hypnic jerk. Found this article which I hope helps:

Hypnic jerk is not a disease and does not lead to other nervous system disorders. But it is more common than you think. Firstly, you are not mad, secondly you’re not the only one going through it; thirdly, they are not encoded dreams. Don’t lose sleep over hypnic jerks. We bring you the hows and whys of this sleep peculiarity.

So what is a hypnic jerk? You are ready to sleep, you are slowly getting into the REM stage of sleep or deeper sleep, but you feel like you are falling or losing balance and wake up with a jerk or a jump. Your heart’s beating rapidly and you realise that you are still in bed. It can be described as falling, electric shock surging through your body or sudden feeling of loss of balance.

What causes hypnic jerks? Fatigue, sleep deprivation, anxiety, discomfort are some of the causes but the exact reasons behind the mystery of the hypnic jerks remain elusive.

What really happens is that your brain is confused. It misinterprets the relaxing of the muscles. As you fall asleep, thereby relaxing physically, your brain remains active. Experts believe that this creates an impression or sensation of falling and therefore your brain tells your body to react.

The jolts could be a result of calcium, magnesium or iron deficiency. Also, avoid exercises just before bed time. Smokes and drinks will keep you sleep deprived too. Listen to soothing music and take off your thinking cap before going to bed. There are pills that the doctor will prescribe but don’t worry hypnic jerks ease out as you feel more relaxed and comfortable with times.

This is spot on what i have and i hate it. So uncomfortable. And when i close my eyes its like the worlds spinning its horrible....how was the mri??

Hi and good morning. I have been experiencing these same exact symptoms over the last month. I'm 38 and excersise often but these jolts that almost feel like getting tasered are really scary. It keeps me up for another hour or so because I'm thinking about all the things that can be wrong with me which is ill advised. I'm curious to know how your MRI went if you don't mind me prying. I appreciate you writing your experience and sharing. It helps me to not feel entirely alone on the matter because it's hard to explain to loved ones.

Hi there, I had those exact symptoms about 8 years ago. When I started to have shocks that felt like....bzzzzzt in my head...these electrical shocks , I would always be in the dozing off state. It got to the point that I would fear falling asleep because the zap in your brain felt like nails on a chalkboard to me. It was horrible. It definitely began to hurt my sleep schedule and habits because you wanted to prevent it from happening again. Of course you can't win versus sleep so you eventually just have to give in. I went to my doctor and he basically dismissed me and since I was around 20 at the time he had told my mom that I was probably just trying to get attention. When I heard that I was mortified and scared because if a doctor had never heard about this I must have something rare. I dealt with it for a year or so off and on and they slowly began tapering off. Then about five years later I started to have them again but not while falling asleep but during the middle of the day and in the evenings before bed. On one night while my kids were in bed, I took a shower before I headed to bed. While in the shower I had a bzzzzzt in my brain which startled me but I just pretended to ignore it. I got dressed and laid down in bed next to my husband ready for bed. That's the last thing I remember.

According to my husband and few seconds after I laid down my head, my body flew backwards as if by some unnatural force and I hit my bedside table and fell to the ground. He rushed over to me thinking he would find my rubbing my head saying oww, but instead he found me laying slumped over unconscious with my jaw hyper extended. A few seconds later he said I began shaking violently and withing the second he tried to grab me I had already lodged my body under the bed. He pulled me out and watched as my eyes were completely rolled back in my head and I was foaming at the mouth. He said I was gritting down on my teeth so hard. Then moments later I stopped breathing. He called 911 as him and the operator did cpr. I suddenlu came too with my husband over me with tears in his eyes. I did not understand why I was on the ground and why he was over me. He immediately screamed at me to be still and still trying to process what he said, 3 seconds later several ems workers ran into my bedroom screaming at me to be still. I argued with them saying "why do I have to be still! I don't understand! Let me get up!" I just remember them being mean but I had no idea what had just happened. I still tried to get up despite their warnings and one of the ems workers said look at all the blood beside your head on the carpet. I immediately looked and there was a puddle of blood next to me where I had bitten through my tongue. I still had not realized anything about my tongue but after seeing the blood I decided to listen to the paramedics. They began to explain to me that I just had suffered a severe seizure.

They began by asking me what day it was and I legitimately thought it was a Tuesday rather than a Thursday. I immediately started screaming about my two daughters.

I said, "I left them at school...omg! I started crying and tried to get up but my husband said, "no they are here and they are asleep in their beds upstairs. He said it's Thursday not tuesday and that I had picked them up from school today like every other day. I was so confused. They ran some other tests while I was laying on the floor but I can't remember those. Because during that time the body pain of everything hit me hard. My neck was swollen and in severe pain from where I flew backwards and hit my head against my bedside table, from shaking violently every muscle in my body screamed from pain and exhaustion, and my tongue was so sore from biting right threw it with my teeth. My husbands father was a neurologist so he had called him to come over rather than I leave with the paramedics and go to the hospital. Since I was completely incompetent to make any type of decisions, looking back in wish I had gone to the hospital.

That entire night felt like hell. I was in so much pain I thought I would die. Every muscle in my body was screaming.

The next morning my husband took me to get a brain scan and to have my brain waves checked. Every test came back normal. My neurologist had told me that I showed no signs of having epilepsy and that he allows every healthy adult one good seizure to have in their lifetime. If the patient has more than one then there would lie the problem. I didn't know what to think because the next day my brain felt like oatmeal. I had problems remembering the normal everyday things like brushing my hair and remembering where things were. This was especially bad for the first few weeks. It slowly began to get better over several months but I still could not remember certain memories around the few years before my seizure had happened. Those were gone. I asked my primary care physician about that and he said it takes about 5 yrs for your brain to heal from having a severe seizure.

It's now been exactly 5 years now and those memories never came back and I still have issues with my short term memory today. I don't like to think about what happened very often because it scares me. Though a month ago I had a bzzzzzt in my head and that scared me so badly. It hasn't happened again yet but if it does I'm running straight to a doctor for help.

Hopefully you can find answers for your situation from my experience with the zaps of electricity in my head. If your still continuing to have them, you may be leading up to having a seizure like mine. When I tell doctors even todau about what I felt in my brain they say they have never heard of that type of zapping before. So I would find a doctor who believes you and wants to help. I wish my doctor had believed me in the beginning instead of saying I was just doing this for attention because if I were on some type of medication, hopefully that would have prevented my seizure.

I wish you the best of luck!

Hallo everybody,

I#m not gonna start talking about my experience becouse i wanna get straight to the point. I'm not surprised that a lot of young people who are actually in a good shape are suffering from those symptoms. It is not an illnes but a symptom af an ilness. I'll give you 3 deseases who combine eachother and according TO MY EXPERIENCE lead to this symptom.

1. - SBS - Sick Building Syndrom

2. - MCS (Multiple Chemichal Sensitivity) and the final one results from the first 2 and it's called

3. - Elektrosensitivity.

I suffer under those but i only came to this conclusion by my self becouse the reaction of the doctors is to follow what they've studied and i can't blame them for that but somethimes they should see out of the box becouse times are changing...and quite fast.. But....they are overwelmed. These deseases are environmental deseases. Not everyone from this Forum suffers from that ...there are some who have definetely other problems or probably a combination of deseases wo lead to those symptoms.

What i#m trying to say is that the world we are living in today is a trap which we created in order to live more confortable, drive fancie cars, have the last model of smarthphone and the list goes on and on..but u got my point.

 This Topic is so big that it would take probably a week to cover everything i know about and share with you. But u should inform yourselves. I gave you the hints. I leave in Germany and i bumpt into this forum becouse i searced in german everything but no one found a couse to this. FOR ME are the following factors contributing to these symptoms:

 - Formaldehyd (u find it in furniture and a lot of stuff), exhaust gases, Paint, varnish, fein dust particles, mold (this one is really bad), Pesticydes, Elektricity, Wlan, Microwaves, GSM, 3G, 4G.....

All the obove mentioned are playing a role into this. I observed that those feelings fade away since i don't sleep on my IKEA couch anymore ...for example.. I experienced Symptoms a lot worse than that and i'm not gonna relate upon them but now i'm doing fine and those symptoms are the remains from what i've been experience. But People.......wake up...almost each and aeveryone one of you are carrying your smartphons right next to your organs, are sleping  with them next to your heads, u are having wlan in your homes, offices, wireless telephones (DECT Technology), you are inhalating all the exhaust gases that is possible on a dayly basis...this is brain poisoning (Hirnvegiftung).. Don#t just wounder why happens that to me? Take action. It changed my life but only becouse i refused to accept that i'm psyhicaly ill and did't take any pills.....and i'm thankfull that today i only have these symptoms once in a while but only when i'm expose...so...it is all ENVIRONMENTAL. I cannot explain though what's going on in the brain.....probabl has something to do with Melatonin which is a neurotransmiter who regulates the rythm from sleep-wake bt again....trough avoidance i accomplished / gain back a better quality life.

U should check the Theory of Doctor Martin Pall at the Universityof Michigan for scientifical point of view....it's about oxidativ Stress, neurosativer Stress and the Zyklus NO-OH.NOO. There is one more guy William Rea also a profesor but in dallas and they now better what's going on. So....i could talk forever here i just hope that the admin will be kind enogh to post my add.

Take good care of you!

Adrian from Romania now living in Germany

Hi GD10 - thanks for your post - I have a very similar problem and have had it for some years now - has got alittle better over time -- it started after an acute illness when I became severly sleep deprived  and seems to be more prevalent if I;m over tired - its good to find out that I;m not alone - trying to explain the feelings/symptoms has been tricky but you nailed it completely