Non-stop hypnic jerks/startle/twitching as falling asleep—-doesn’t stop all night! :(

I have this terrible problem as well, but taking 300mg Gabapentin at night has mostly eliminated it.

I've been having this issue for almost 8 months. As I'm dozing off my stomach, shoulders, everything flinches. Sometimes its accompanied by a forceful exhale.

It doesn't feel like the normal "falling" sensation that causes you to kick sometimes. It's deep within my torso, like my stomach/lungs tense up. Sometimes I'll get a weird twinge in my head too, like neurons are misfiring. I've tried cutting caffeine, having a consistent sleep schedule, and wearing anti blue light glasses.

My doctor has described them as parasomnias.

I was binge drinking alcohol before it, not addicted, was just trying to change my sleep schedule and would drink malt liquor to try and force myself to sleep early.

When I stopped, that's when the issue became apparent because I was trying to fall asleep naturally.

I also bite down very hard in my sleep to the point where I need to use a bite guard to protect my jaw.

My doctor prescribed me Lunesta which prevents it from happening. Lunesta takes about 45 min to start peaking. If I start falling asleep before that, it still happens! I have to wait for Lunesta to hit me.

My sleep is still fragmented severely, waking up every 30-45 min, but it does prevent the initial jerks.

I have a consult on Aug 11 with a neuro sleep specialist for an in-lab sleep study. Anyone here get a study done yet? They say they do a polysomnygram (spellcheck?) where they monitor your brain waves as you sleep.

Will be interesting to hear what a neuro specialist says. If it's simply anxiety, I don't know how it can possibly be fixed. I would have thought anxiety caused insomnia. This seems involuntary and out of my conscious control.

Edit: I also get muscle twitches a lot. I see people here have been prescribed seizure medication, and I've read sudden depleted GABA can cause seizures. Maybe mine wasn't that bad, but perhaps drinking alcohol regularly did lower my GABA levels. I'll talk to the neuro sleep specialist about this as well.

Sounds like my symptoms exactly down to the muscle tics. Mine started after a period of bad anxiety after which I took klonopin to sleep for 3-4 weeks. When I stopped I had severe anxiety for 3 weeks. About 1 month later after more stress the symptoms started. Very scary. Primary and neurologist said the thought it was stress related and nothing serious. It has been 8 months and although I have improved a lot I still feel them a little. Best thing is to tell yourself it is nothing serious and almost laugh at them. It is hard, I know, but it takes time.

I meant to say after stopping klonopin I had severe insomnia for 3 weeks.

Met with the nuero sleep specialist today. He said it may be overlapping conditions. Narcolepsy/irregular sleep cycle in the brain, sleep apnea, and anxiety all combined. I will be tested for sleep apnea and narcolepsy in a sleep lab.

ive had something like that happen to me ..i felt sick shortly after eating some bbq take out one day and was throwing up repeatedly ...after it stopped i went to to my bed to sleep and just as i was about to fall asleep i jerked awake ..so i assumed that i should stay up since this has never happened before and it startled me but i immediately started passing out again.. so i jumped in the air to stay awake but after a few seconds again it felt like i was drifting asleep, so i ran into my door to stay awake and after a few more of these cycles and a little panic attack i ended up in the shower just staying awake in the tub..my mind finally stopped trying to sleep and so i went back to my room with a snack and watched an hr or 2 of tv until i drifted to sleep ..that was a few months ago and was the only time that has happened and i decided if it does happens again ill just let myself sleep

Thanks for posting. this is the only thing I've found so far that talks about multiple, excessive hypnic jerks. I've had the hypnic jerks my entire life and never worried about them because theyd usually happen once or twice a night. i never even knew they had a name. Recently they've been coming in very high numbers. last night, for example i had over 50 of them in about an hours time. i think the only reason I got to sleep was by taking Tylenol PM which contains a sleep medication and kept doing relaxation protocols. Additionally, theyve started happening during waking hours as well. Mine are full body jerks accompanied by a vocal response. ( something like Ugh or Ooh) Both the jerks and the vocal response are non- voluntary. It's worth noting that that waking time tics come in the evenings as things are winding down and are less in both severity and number, occurring only a couple of times until i actually go to bed. If anyone has any info on should I see a doctor and what kind please post. Everything i read just says they're normal and not dangerous. Is having this many still normal? I think that if i didn't take the sleep meds it could have gone upwards of 100 tics.

Hi all, I've been having hypnic jerks for a few nights now, following a couple of sleepless nights. I've been getting jerks anywhere from my feet up to my shoulders, had a lot last night don't think I slept much.

I'm extremely anxious from reading online how long people have had this for and wonder how you can cope with a lack of sleep each day - is it something you can adapt to? I went to see my GP on Monday but they refused to prescribe Zopiclone (which I had for a week last April) and when I mentioned the jerks they said that's just part of my insomnia. Should I go back to my GP or wait and see what happens next?

i have had same problem, constant hypnic jerks as falling asleep, leading to total insomnia (hundreds per night). mine started after a sepsis and reoccur when i have a high fever or infection. i did not sleep for five days in a row. Doctors had never heard of it before, gave me all sorts of heavy duty sleep meds none of which worked. i read that hypnic jerks may be related to histamine levels, so i tried benadryl antihistamine and that was the only thing that worked. Nothing in the medical literature about this so it would make a good research thesis for someone.