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

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GD10
GD10

Hi guys, I'm new to the site but glad I found somewhere to share my symptoms.

I'm getting a sort of electrical shock when trying to fall asleep. This electrical shock seems to be described on other sites as 'jumps' or 'zaps' or 'surges of energy'. It happens not when I'm sleeping but the moment I am about to fall asleep. Its like a sort of butterflies feeling in the stomach and then a rush/surge of energy to the brain which gives you a 'jump' and electrical feeling in the head and sometimes upper body. The more extreme they are sometimes produce a twitch in maybe the arm or leg. Its not painful but I guess is quite scary when it happens. These can happen numerous times a night.

Many friends/family I have spoken to say this is normal and they are familiar with the symptoms (I understand what they mean as it can be quite similar to when you suddenly wake from a bad dream) but mine seem to be a lot more often and extreme. I know my symptoms don't seem to be normal.

I've been having these for about 5-6 weeks now (some nights are worse than others) but generally its been more or less every night. This has turned into a vicious cycle because when you actually close your eyes at night to go to sleep you are actually waiting for the 'shock' to happen instead of trying to sleep. Obviously the less sleep you have, the less functional you are the next day and so on and so on. You then get sleep deprived which I believe also may trigger this.

The only other thing I can add to my symptoms is sometimes during the day I get a spaced out/empty/dizzy/cloudy feeling in the head (hard to explain). Sometimes this can turn into a sort of brain/head sensation where you feel you need to kind of 'shake it off'. Again, its hard to explain, something like if you have restless feet and you need to kick out of it but its in the head so you need to give yourself a shake to snap out of it.

I have read quite a bit about anxiety/stress and these symptoms may fall into this category but the issue I have with this, is that I have nothing to be anxious/stressful about! All is OK with job, money, house, relationship etc so I'm not sure how this all started. Could I be anxious about this illness? Again, a vicious cycle?

About me - I'm a fit and healthy 35 year old guy. I actually exercise quite a lot (go to gym/swim 4 times a week and have run numerous marathons over the past year). Although this fitness regime has stopped since I have started having these symptoms as I am feeling quite weak/tired due to not getting much sleep due to it. I have no major prior illnesses and I am not on any medication. I don't want to get in the habit of taking sleep medication.

I have been to the hospital and spent the night where they performed numerous blood tests/Heart ECG/X Rays/Urine and all came back OK. The only issue I had was slightly high blood pressure (but not high enough to be put on any medication). I have also been for an MRI scan and EEG epilepsy test. I will find the results with these in about 5 weeks time.

Anyway, that's my symptoms and hopefully someone might feel at ease that they are going through something similar.

Reading similar posts on the internet I don't think anyone has come to the conclusion on what in fact is causing these problems, even though a lot of the people actually been for tests and seen doctors. Has anyone experienced these issues?

Thanks guys, feel free to get in touch smile

27 likes, 695 replies

695 Replies

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  • jeff67780
    jeff67780 GD10

    Posted

    Wow !   This is Deep...I would not dought any of this.  But I really can’t remember what I did yesterday let alone about what I had done or did 15 years ago .. when mine started at round  45 yrs old ..now 61 , I do have a high Level Of Stress almost All my life but I always channeled it or pushed it off ..,

    Until  3 years ago I had my first panic or  anxiety  ... Those Shocks are So So Weird    I Probably had 3 last night alone.   What’s weird I can feel them build and almost  predict them when I rollover to sleep go to sleep   When on my back, I don’t feel them Build... but then sleeping later in night BAM ... ha  ha.  So Unpredictable ... 

  • GD10
    GD10

    Posted

    Wow, almost 5 years ago I wrote this original post.

    Thanks to everyone who has messaged me - too many out there to respond to everyone individually.

    As mentioned in my reply to my original post - DO NOT WORRY (I know its hard).  I have not experienced any of these symptoms since I first encountered them all those years ago.

    Its been absolutely fascinating reading all these stories and I know a lot of you seem to have had it a lot longer than I did.  Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones but I don't take it for granted.  Who knows if it will ever come back?  I still don't know what brought it on!!

    Again, what worked for me which I mentioned were some basic lifestyle changes (diet, exercise and started to relax through some really basic meditation/breathing exercises) - I did not take any medication to get rid of the symptoms and medication did not bring on the symptoms.

    I wish you all the best.

    • jeff67780
      jeff67780 GD10

      Posted

      I agree with you gd10.  Don’t worry about Stress, diet, exercise ,  ... how old are u .. male or female ??? 
    • adrian58359
      adrian58359 GD10

      Posted

      Hi GD10. Glad to hear that u are OK now. Trough those life style changes that u made is there anything else significant that u did like moving out of your home to a different location in all these 5 years?
  • emma92137
    emma92137 GD10

    Posted

    Hi GD10, thanks for returning. Glad to know u r still doing well! I followed your advice and am also rid of them smile mine were also due to stress. Thanks again! 
  • MC5555
    MC5555 GD10

    Posted

    GD10, you are like a legend.  You described an issue that I have had and apparently a lot of other people have had to a tee.  It’s a random weird sensation.  I am so glad that you are not experiencing this now ... it gives me hope.  (I am 44 years old this month, and a male, for anyone that is curious).   I wonder if it’s a mid life thing? 
    • jeff67780
      jeff67780 MC5555

      Posted

      So,  In Some conclusion or  prognosis ... Less Stress , Good or Great diet , More  Exercise , it’s Not Life  threatening , so this is me,   Have had starting 20 yrs ago now , 61. Stressed Male, overweight by 30lbs,   Terrible diet, but Super Active ... and hyper and  I think there may be a Little Disorder in the Nerivous System ... (of course )  ...thanks 
  • Kim0706
    Kim0706 GD10

    Posted

    Hi GD10, Glad to hear from you. Your recovery give me HOPE! Wish that others will share too when they recover. 

    God bless and take care!

    Female from Singapore. 

  • thomas50664
    thomas50664 GD10

    Posted

    Hello everyone. Maybe these symptoms are caused by lymes disease or some other bacteria, or maybe they're not. I wonder, has anyone experiencing these symptoms asked their family members if they have experienced anything similar? If we can link these symptoms as genetic maybe we can limit the possibility of an outside cause and hone in on what's really happening. I find it incredible that we all have such similar descriptions of the symptoms. It was only because I was having the symptoms last night that I gave up on sleep, at around 3am, and finally decided to research a little which lead me to this forum. Also, are there any other threads on this subject out there? I'd honestly hate to lose this thread since it's such a relief to know other people have this same issue, so if you do end up finding out a family member has had these symptoms before please email me at

    Moderator comment: I have removed the email address as we do not publish these in the forums. If users wish to exchange contact details please use the Private Message service.

  • SirIzzy
    SirIzzy GD10

    Posted

    My names David. I made this account specifically to talk about what I am going through, bc I found myself here reading all of these posts about this brain shock. I've had chronic lymes disease for 4 years. In this year alone 2018 I've spent the majority of it in the hospital ekgs, stress tests, ct w and w/o contrast, ultrasounds, mris, and so much more and it's already may. My bp is 140/90 pulse 45-50.. I get random moment's of extreme fatigue, and when I lay down I get a jolt to my head and chest.. I've currently been experiencing seizures and sleep paralysis.. in December of last year they thought I was having a stroke and my bp spiked 190/115 pulse same 50. I've stopped breathing, and my heart stopped, I was in the icu for 3 days.. they never found what's physically wrong with me and they are still searching.. but I went to a sleep study more recently a couple weeks ago, a jumpstart to the brain is very accurate way to put it.. he belives that the brain shutsdown piece by peice till full sleep or rem sleep and the jolt may be because a section of your brain refuses to sleep witch could be because of external light sources loud noises anything that can keep the brain active even to over thinking I hope that helps you out a bit.. I'm 26 by the way

    • jeff67780
      jeff67780 SirIzzy

      Posted

      So want Your  prognosis on the lime disease can you ever get rid of it ?     Again I’ve had mine over 20 years I’ve spent all my life in the woods.  about 5 to 7 years ago I think I had a bag of tick bite hunting in Texas ..  I did go to hospital and get medical attention  for it ..  that was not diagnosed as lime disease ... But maybe 20 years ago I had been bitten And did not Do anything about .. Again I’m 61, it started at 40ish .. poor diet, over weight by 25 lbs plus,  And very Stressed Like Most People    ... again I think,  great diet, high  exercise, less Stres.. ,  mine Starts low left side and In bed at night (I can feel it Build) and BAM... its like a elelectric Shock shoots upward ... i had probably 5 -6  in One night about a week ago .. wierd huh? ., sometimes I try To to make and see if I can Make them happen And I can ... seems like nite-quil can make them come on More than not (like a 1/2 shot). It’s  definitely  Neurological ... but Why ?  ??? 20 years and (still gone 
  • myrt62
    myrt62 GD10

    Posted

    Hi,I’m new year and so glad I came across this thread,I have not been able to find any dr that can give me answers and they look at me like I’m crazy.my zaps started 3 months after sinus surgery,started out light and I would put movie in laptop and would finally drift off to sleep then they got worse even would feel like I was hit with fist from inside of middle of chest,have electric shock run down inside of arms.It is so bad that I have had to get in sleep medicine and this all started in 2007 so I have been dealing with it for way too long.I have had mri,ct and ecg and dr’s say they don’t know what is going on because all test are normal..I hope and pray we can all get some answers and cures one day because it is hard living with this,I am tired all the time.
  • gemma24450
    gemma24450 GD10

    Posted

    Hi I  would be so interested to know if you ever got a diagnosis or any answers. I have POTS and temporal lobe epilepsy partial seizures.  I get this often...a cold feeling in my chest and surges of energy from my stomach like someone made me jump but lasts longer it spreads to my whole body an makes me feel like I will explode I get nauseated disorientated have upset stomach and feel terrified. At the end I will shiver and shake with teeth chattering because I ffeelso cold and scared ffromit. Its usually when falling asleep but I've had them in the day. I dont know if its POTS/dysautonomia adrenalin surges or my partial seizures.  Please let me know  you found out what this was. Thank you

    • ESTin76
      ESTin76 gemma24450

      Posted

      My apologies Gemma for not keeping up on my Mail.(i just read this May 25 2018) I'm not that familiar with medical diagnosis possibly related to this; please allow me few hrs to give u background so u see why my Message was Urgent concern and why it was abandoned for so long. Sincerely, ESTin HAPPY! happy, JOY! joy.

      😴😬😨👻💀👿👤👼👼😰😌😲😵😞😷😶😯😎 😜j/k my word😉😀

    • Leo69
      Leo69 gemma24450

      Posted

      I feel your pain. It is a scary feeling, especially cause even though there's someone around you...it's hard to explain that feeling. I remember my teeth chattering because of the intense feeling and so loud in the head or brain.

      Have you taken a vacation trip yet? It might help? This might be caused by something in your area or home or city where you live? If you have not yet taken that vacation trip far from home, I would. try it to see if there's any changes with what your experiencing. If you do or you have then let me know the results. Thank you

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