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Night Jerks ??

So does anyone else experience the mini-nightmares/mini-dreams/mini-terrors that I described?? I.e. I dose about 2 hrs before sleep. I get these 10-15 mini-dreams, I call them, before finally drifting off to deep sleep. Definitely started when I got on the opioids.
 
roxi- i have had these jerks on and off for years....my ex used to think i was having seizures because i was flopping around like a fish....i chalked it up to anxiety/nerves.....

since i started taking tramadol, they have returned and seem a bit worse....i have noticed that if i take a muscle relaxer and ambien, i do not get them.....
 
The hypnotic jerk is a perfectly normal bodily function that happens to you every night. It is what makes you fall asleep, but it doesn't always work and sometimes you jerk multiple times before you actually pass out. Maybe you notice this jerking more while you're on opiates because they sedate you?
Edit: I'm also thinking that some people have abnormal hypnotic jerk function which could be the cause for some of the problems mentioned in this thread.
 
Yes I get this, not too frequently though anymore. One time I was nodding off in class and I had a massive jerk and kicked the person/desk in front of me and made a loud disruptive sound, it was quite the jerk, thats for sure.
 
hmmm, a few of you mentioned post traumatic stress syndrome and they also have jerks, that's odd because i have Post Traumatic stress syndrome. I wonder if there is anything to that but than again, it only happens to me when I'm opiated. I have had very mild jerks when not opiated but they are very few and far between. On Opiates it happens I'd say almost every night and usually twice a night sometimes even 3. Or one large one and like 5 little ones. The little one's don't bother me at all, it's the mega-jerks that drive me nuts and are painful.

But, i tried Xanax before bed two nights in a row and i didn't have the jerks. So i guess benzo's would be good for someone who has them constantly. For just two a night i don't think would warrant a nightly dose of Xanax though, i don't know--maybe?. But, it was nice not having any jerks. The last two nights i took 1mg of Xanax and didn't jerk at all. I'm going to try it again tonight and see what happens and than I'm going to stop the night dose of Xanax and see if i have any jerks.

RPG
 
Sorry to go off-topic rox, but the words 'Night Terror' remind me of that scene in Wedding Crashers where Chrs Walken is talking to Vaughn while he'd been tied up by his son..But similar to what alicat said, my dad said he's experienced the the same type of deal, and he's always extremely stressed out. So nerves, stress, that type of deal playing a role?
 
i jerk when im OFF opiates it often occurs as a WD symptom for me....never when im high on opiates....
 
RoxiPoppyGirl said:
Cockney:

It sure is annoying and I wish they would stop. I really don't look forward to them because most of them really hurt my body. And sometimes I think "OMG, is this the beginning of a REAL seizure"? Of course it isn't but sometimes it feels like that and it really freaks me out.



RPG
lol, yeah that thought has run through my mind on more than once occasion :-)

I'm sure most of use jump awake regardless but this really is predictable, i give it 15 minutes of getting into bed, i'll just be going off, all warm n nice and it's like a good 240v whack off a socket !
I have an appointment next week for a check up, trams can raise liver emzymns so a blood check is good apparently, i just think their selling my juices really.. i'll ask my dr while he is on the rob !
 
RoxiPoppyGirl said:
Cockney: Yup, i have them on Tramadol more than any other drug/med and more frequently as well on Tramadol. But, all opiates cause them as well. It's just Tramadol causes it way more. I wonder why. Maybe it has something to do with the Tramadol's seizure threshold or something.

It sure is annoying and I wish they would stop. I really don't look forward to them because most of them really hurt my body. And sometimes I think "OMG, is this the beginning of a REAL seizure"? Of course it isn't but sometimes it feels like that and it really freaks me out.

And on that link the other poster gave me, it also said the body does that when it's starting to relax and your body thinks it's dying so it jerks you awake. I've read that theory twice on line and i also heard it on the news once. Very interesting indeed.

So, yea I'm like you Cockney, it happens more so and stronger on Tramadol but also all opiates cause me to have night jerks as well.

I wonder if a muscle relaxer would help with it. ike taking a Soma before bed. I bet it would work, or at least lessen the strength of the massive jerks.

RPG
muscle relaxors dont work for myoclonus well atleast in my case, i was at school high as hell on 1050mg of soma 220`ish mg of oxy 350mg of diphenhydramine 8mg of clonazepam 40mg of cyclobenzaprine and a sample pack of skelaxin i think they were 800? 3 of em or maybe 4 but it was a while ago and 1800mgs of nuerontin my head jerked so hard i thought i was gunna end up snapping my neck so i signed out of school and drove home which was horrible with my head jerking.
 
I get those jerks all the time, all over my body, but particularly when I'm falling asleep. For this, I am given Klonapin. To have them when entering sleep is normal, what I have is 'myoclonic epilepsy' which precludes me from driving or doing any job which involves heavy machinery. I can't work on fork-lift trucks even though I am qualified, I can't hold a baby (might drop them) and a host of other things thr non-afflicted can do.
Klonapin is excellent help. One table dissolved under the tongue stops the jerks in 5 minutes...
Opiates lower seizure threshold so I guess, if you have the underlying condition, it might make it visible...
 
Gldm said:
I've had these for a long time. I've found a zinc supplement tends to ease them, and a small dose of ibuprofen before bed.

If you ever get the one where you wakeup parylized it is important not to panic. The brain is protecting you from flailing around in your sleep and hurtng yourself. The most effective trick I've found for this is to focus on your breathing. Don't TRY to breathe manually, chances are you'll panic and attempt to hyperventilate, which will just cause it to lock you down stronger, just focus on the rhythm and the fact that you're still alive. Usually then it will pass

Wow, i'm glad to hear this happens to other people cuz I thought I was crazy. It happens to me ALOT and I can never help but panic being mostly asleep and not in my right mind. Wish my brain would let me go cuz if i flailed around I could wake my fiance up and she could wake me up and I could stop choking and feeling like i'm suffocating to death. Shit sucks.
 
haribo1 said:
One table dissolved under the tongue stops the jerks in 5 minutes...

God I wish I could get prescribed a whole table of klonopin. =D

~CTdopeLove
 
Yes. Started in 1990 when I took the first Vicodin tablet. As my meds escalated, so did the jerks. If I go a couple of weeks with out pain meds (rarely) the jerks stop. This does not happen every night.

Willie
 
CTdopeLove said:
God I wish I could get prescribed a whole table of klonopin. =D

~CTdopeLove

*word*

I take it for restless leg syndrome. Works likea charm. My friend took a whole bottle of my klonopin once. He had double vison for days. Don't od on klonopin, please.
 
Hypnagogia (type into wikipedia) I can't post the link due to less than 10 posts ???

A hypnic jerk, or hypnogogia is the jerking effect that occurs at the trasition from wakefulness to sleep. I have found that the opiate 'nod' can make one hover around the hypnogogic state and therefore increase jerkiness. I have in the past thrown aa glass across the room, and once even punched myself in the face due to large hypnogogic jerks.
 
Funny thing, I broke my ankle a couple years ago. I needed surgery and it was very very sore for the first 3 weeks. Safe to say that two days after surgery, I had one of those jerks in the broken ankle. Damn did that hurt!
 
CTdopeLove said:
God I wish I could get prescribed a whole table of klonopin. =D

~CTdopeLove

To go with my diazepam TV, methadone sofa & LSD bookslelves...:\
 
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