I’m a man in search of a dream, both literally and figuratively.
My dream is to sleep again.
In the solitude of that sleep, I will be able to dream and allow my brain and body to heal and enjoy life the way it’s supposed to be enjoyed.
It sounds simple, doesn’t it? Sleeping. Just close your eyes and drift off into another world and leave your current one behind.
For some of us, it’s the most difficult part of our lives.
I cannot sleep like a normal person because of muscle twitches and jerks at the VERY second I begin to fall asleep.
Every single time I begin slumber, a twitch and jolt from my rebellious body wakes me up.
I’m not alone either. Some call it hypnic jerks, or sleep myoclonus, or sleep starts. I call it torture.
This blog is to bring those of us suffering from this condition together. This is our voice. I’m finished suffering by myself and not knowing how to explain this to doctors or others. Let’s help each other gets our lives back. We don’t have to feel alone and helpless anymore.
The Man Who Cannot Sleep 
I’ve had this issue for 2 months, triggered by couple of months under stress, and after using zyrtec+zantac for a week ( I do think this is another major trigger, it might has something to do with antihistamine messing up with cortisol level/adrenal function). After having a cup of coffee that day ( I rarely drink coffee) I couldn’t sleep for almost whole night. after 2-3 days of severe insomnia the hypnic jerk came in.
After a lot research and reviewing some folk’s comments here, I tried to take phosphatidylserine (jarrow’s formula), and it helped tremendously! after 3 days’ use I think I’m improved by 60-70%. I still wake up 2-3 times at night, but the jerks are much less in terms of frequency and severity. I also take Gaba before bed I think it also helps.
I previously tried a lot magnesium supplements (in various forms, glycinate, etc) , they were of no help.
I recommend folks who had this triggered by stress/anxiety to try Gaba + phosphatidylserine. Hope someone finds this helpful.
just to add that for phosphatidylserine (jarrow’s formula) I bought the white bottle version (soft gel). there’s a black bottle version and the amazon reviews said the soft gel version is more potent
wanted to add an update for my above comment for phosphatidylserine 100: it significantly reduces the severity and frequency of jerks, but I still wake up 1-2 times at night and tend to wake up early in the morning. i recently started taking Seriphos (aims to lower cortisal level and more potent than phosphatidylserine) and it works even better with my sleep. Though I do feel tired (yes, even I sleep a lot better) upon waking up and during the day. I think it has something to do with lowering the cortisol level in general. I’ll keep trying it for sometime and taper off to see the effect
God Bless all of you. I know your pain.
I started getting these jerks horribly about a year and half ago. I had an “event” where i was moments away from death, or so i thought. My Life flashed before my eyes, time slowed to a crawl….. i was sure death was in process….. Anyways, I went five days straight with zero sleep after this “event”. The twitches started about night two.This triggered horrible anxiety. The twitches would not allow me to fall asleep at all after day two! Not even for a few precious minutes! Finally a doc gave me a couple days worth of Xanax. I Slept ok for a couple nights, then another 5 days with zero sleep before i found this site. I told the docs i wanted to try klonopin and after some going back and forth to different things, what do you know, like many others with this issue, the k worked. On bad nights it still is the only thing that softens them enough to fall asleep.
Fast forward about a year. Still on 1mg of clonazepam(klonopin) at night. Up to 1.5 on bad nights. Trying all kinds of supplements with no other help. I have a list of things that makes them worse or better. Such as… Alcohol makes them better, then worse. Antihistamines make them worse. Any kind of stress makes them worse. I think high msg containing food may make them worse(not positive on this yet). Meditation helps. Tons of possible suspects. In actuality the triggers may be a little different for everyone. But the basic problem seems to do with the neurotransmitter gaba and balancing that with glutamate. (https://www.holistichelp.net/blog/how-to-increase-gaba-and-balance-glutamate/) Any kind of brain damage or nerve issues can trigger them. Also i wonder if people can develop a sort of sleep ptsd that triggers them? With this, one would unconsciously link sleep with falling or dying. Has anyone tried hypnosis?
Fast forward another half year, i started taking taurine with those emergency c packets. Recently 3 grams of taurine a day with one of those packets have been helping. Actually having nights where i fall asleep without anything every once in awhile. Have been able to lower my usual dose to about .5mg of k. But i still have those “attack nights” on occasion.
Hey Quantum Force. I like your user name.
I’m with you on the glutamate vs. gaba issue. These jerks are 100% a stress/anxiety reaction. If you are are researcher check out NAC (N-Acetyl Cysteine). NAC works directly on reducing glutamate levels in the brain. It’s been a godsend for me, not only for these jerks but also for general stress and anxiety.
Don’t take my word for it though; a bit of research will turn up a lot of useful information.that you can make your decisions on. When the jerks were bad for me, my dosage was 3600 mg. at night before bed. Mine have disappeared over time, and I haven’t lost any sleep over them in 2 years or so.
I read about cysteine. I probably never thought to try it because its listed as a possible “excitatory substance”. With this i assumed it promoted excess glutamate. Some say L-cysteine may even have some possible dangers. So i think more care is need when using Nac or L-cysteine. Taurine seems safer for an initial trail run. But……
…But i guess there is a distinction between NAC((N-Acetyl Cysteine) and L-cysteine. “Nac is a modified form of the amino acid cysteine that helps synthesize glutathione, an important antioxidant. “(Animal studies at the Medical University of South Carolina have found that N-acetly-cysteine can lower levels of brain glutamate)” !!!
So it seem that this has a reducing effect on glutamate not promoting. Which is a good thing for people lacking enough GABA. Taking drugs such as clonazepam to promote “artificial gaba” is really just a stopgap until we can promote the body to produce its own gaba. Nac is at least worth trying. Once again, i see a Very strong link between low Gaba levels and sleep myoclonus. This might not always be this case with everyone ..(example, someone with a pinched nerve in shoulder) …..but for many, i think it is. I for one will try NAC. But again i think more caution is needed with NAC than with taurine.
Thanks for bringing this up!
it took 3 CoQ10 in Red Box to stop my terrible leg cramps. (see suzy cohen website)
I also take magnesium every day too
Also googole ‘kruse nourish vermont 2016’ and ‘kruse nourish vermont 2017’ for youtube video
I hear ya. It’s just awful getting old
I’ve had hypnic jerks for a few months. I’m currently taking Chinese herb and doing acupuncture 1-2 times a week. The Chinese herb formula has been helping signifantly though at this stage I’m not cured yet. I’ve been doing very well for about a month, then it came back and now I’m continuing to take the Chinese herb formula, which seems to help. I do believe this is a long process to heal from these kind of neurological symptoms.
The doctor/acupunturist’s name is Ted Ray, if you are in Bay Area you should try him to see if any luck. Best regards to all
Hi Sarah
what is the Chinese herb called?
Is it still working for you?
And what type of acupuncture would you recommend?
Yes, please, I would love to hear which Chinese herb you are using and whether it is still effective? Thank you.
Hello The Man Who Cannot Sleep
I would like to ask you a couple questions. How I can contact you ?
Best wishes !
I wanted to provide more info. after tried numerous kinds of vitamin /prescription medicines without much luck.
Thins I tried that did not work :
All kinds of vitamins, fish oil, biotin, magnesium
Prescription : neurotin, (gabapentin)
Lexapro(only 2 days and it made the jerk worse)
I finally tried something, it’s a prescription drug only available in Japan and China(manufactured in Japan) called Seidiel
It’s targeted for anxiety disorder by decreasing cortisol /fight or run reactions. It working for me and according to someone I know online it’s also working for her
The drug I mentioned above is called “Sediel”
Is this drug still currently working for you?
Have you had any improvements? Found the cause? Would love to know if so because myself and others are on the same boat.
I have found one person had success with CBD oil.
Thank you for taking the time to respond. Very much appreciated.
Did the writer of this blog found some relief from this suffering .I am in the same boat for last 3 years .Please update your status
Its been exactly a year when mine have stopped. I have had them for about week. Due to taking one of the drugs (even mentioned on this blog) they stopped when i sopped taking this. Since that i had maybe 2 nights with this but no sleepless fortunately. I still have them sometimes maybe 2-3 and mild. Many people said its releated to stress/anxiety somehow i had them during stresfull moments. I have seen also succes stories. You can find on this blog what helped to people (NAC, GABA, CBD and other things) if mine will come back then i will go to neurologist. I think its verry important to find good neurologist with big experience.
I wish you well.
Hello to anyone who reads this. I started having exaggerated hypnotic twitches seven years ago, resulting from stimulant abuse. I saw a neurologist and was diagnosed, and was then prescribed clonazepam, which is the primary defense against this problem. Over the last seven years I have found that there are triggers for me, and reading what others have said here we are all different. Alcohol, weed, coke, speed…these can all cause the twitches. That said, mine are so random that they can be triggered by nothing; it’s a condition that cycles in and out of my life without reasoning.
Everyone is different, and certain things work for others. For me, benzodiazepines are the only thing that can shut them down.
What did you do for them to go away for a year?
What did you do for them to disappear for 1 year?
SLEEP MYOCLONUS IS ALMOST COMPLETELY GONE.
I had sleep myoclonus for several years. What a terrible affliction… it made me so upset for so long. I had nights of true suffering. Luckily for me, I could take sleep medication nightly that “knocked me out,” and a doctor who had the guts and decency to prescribe it to me ongoing. (Lunesta generic 1mg maintenance , and added from there to 2mg if it got bad, 3mg on nights I was at my wit’s end.)
I saw a new sleep doctor a couple of months ago. I had seen many doctors with little to no clue what I was experiencing, and probably 90% of them thought I was just anxious and a hypochondriac. I thought my condition was triggered by lithium, which could be… and I had comorbid hypothyroidism at the same time… but what I discounted as a separate “female problem,” was the PMDD I began experiencing around the same time. Terrible depression — really bad — a week before my period for 1 day.
When I saw this new doctor, her first question was, “are you anemic?” Now, I’d been asked this before and had my levels tested and they were within the normal range. But on this day, that question struck me because: I was very pale, I had bags under my eyes, I was having daily dizzy headaches in the afternoons, I was tired A LOT (and just thought I was a lazy or tired person bc it was just the status quo). I had been diagnosed with it once by a doctor a couple of years before the myoclonus occurred — he didn’t test my blood… he looked at my nail beds and put me on iron for a month. 65mg per day.
So, because I felt this way… and because I’d just missed my period, which has happened to me many times in my life, I thought hmmm I wonder what would happen if….
I started taking it. My ferritin levels were tested and came back on the low/normal end. I decided to take it anyway, without doctor instructions. I saw that serum ferritin levels of under 75ug/L could cause restless leg syndrome. The doc did mention that low iron caused restless leg in some cases, but could also “cause a whole host of neurological problems… and this wouldn’t be out of the question in terms of causing sleep myoclonus.”
After a few days of taking it with orange juice (important!) I needed less sleep 8-9 hrs instead of 11. And late one night, because I’d been feeling so good, I forgot that I was out of Lunesta. I freaked quite a bit. But I said I’m going to try this tonight and prayed and asked God if it would work and the answer was yes. I was still really scared and doubtful. My dog, sensing my discomfort, got in bed with me and calmed me.
Then I fell asleep without the Lunesta. It wasn’t perfect. I had some myoclonus… but it was different now. The jerks and startles were just not that bad, and I didn’t have that dreadful anxiety wash over me that I wouldn’t sleep st all that night. But I slept on my own. I slept maybe for an hour. I was elated. I knew that if I’d fallen asleep once I could do it again. So I did. I woke up a couple more times probably bc my body was used to taking Lunesta every night for 3 years… but I had a full night’s sleep!!!! I was incredulous. I didn’t know what to think. Maybe because I was happy this had worked? Or was it the iron???
Also, then my PMDD went away completely, and my period came back. I stopped taking the iron when I saw a sleep psychologist who told me it was all in my head. She told me to do light yoga/stretches, progressive muscle relaxation in bed, then reading in bed, and then attempt sleep. I followed her orders. I was still able to sleep without Lunesta but after a few days without consistent iron supplementation, the myoclonus was getting stronger again, I was more tired, i slept too long, I had a craving for red meat and citrus (steak and orange juice!), but that wouldn’t cut it. I missed my period. I started taking the iron again. Boom. Period started, sleep got better, myoclonus almost totally gone, and happiness… my mood is great!! It’s like I joined the human race again, back from being a zombie I didn’t even know I was! I still do the yoga, PMR and reading every night, and don’t engage in anything stimulating close to bed time, because these things do help me get ready and relax. But I can sleep without them now, too. Don’t recommend anything stimulating to anyone before bed though… that could nullify any chances.
Now, I know I need to find a doctor to guide me with the iron… I should call that sleep doc and maybe a hematologist … and I will, but I’m going to keep taking it as long as my body is telling me I need it.
Obviously, everyone is different and there may be different causes and treatments for myoclonus, but I wanted to share what worked for me. I came to this website when the myoclonus started and I despaired bc I didn’t see any success stories. So, I’ve been thinking of you all out there, and I thought maybe…. maybe this can help someone else succeed. Good luck! I wish you the best! I really do.
Sincerely, Made it out of the woods – can’t believe it’s true!
Hi Made it out of the woods
So happy to read your post and glad you are better!
Can you describe the jerks that you were having? Would they happen on the onset of sleep or after you’ve fallen asleep ? And what parts of your body would jerk? would you feel a surge of adrenaline after?
Was it related to your thyroid problem in the end at all?
And did you have restless leg syndrome?
Sorry if you’ve already answered these, just trying to understand if your jerks were the same as mine
Thank in advance
Oh and how much iron were you taking ?
Hi have been suffering from these jerks for over 1 month now. It started very suddenly after years on insomnia. I’m unable to sleep at all, and have been given lorazepam by one neurologist and mirtazepene by another.
I’ve seen 3 neurologists and they’ve all treating this as a psychological problem.
I’ve tried to join the group on Facebook but haven’t been accepted yet. I’ve ordered many supplements etc and I’m seeing what works or doesn’t.
Really struggling to see the light after reading through all the comments on this forum. In a state of despair.
Has anyone cured themselves of this?
I’m sorry you have to deal with this. A lot of people have gotten better. Electrolytes seem to be a big factor in this. Iron and vitamin C seem to have an effect on it.
I tried to apply to the Facebook group 4 times, and they rejected me! I started this site and they won’t even let me on the Facebook group. Can you believe that? It’s ridiculous.
Wow ! Glad to see you themanwhocannotsleep !! How are you ? I hope things going good for you. Best wishes 🙂
I’m doing okay! It’s a long story and I will likely have time now to start posting again. I’m still having sleep issues, but they are better than before. How you are guys doing?
Hi MWCS,
Like others I hsve been reading this with great interest as im exhausted from these hypnic jerks and really struggling to find a viable solution after months of randomly throwing money at potential cures. Do you mind if I ask if you have any update on your regimen to deal with these?
Clonazepam is the knit thing that has worked but im wary of the sides. Any advice would be hugely appreciated!
Kind regards
Stuart
Hi, that is ridiculous and strange.
I will be trying a whole bunch of things in next few weeks. I have been taking 65mg iron, 2000mg vit c, turmeric, garlic, gingko biloba, and 500mg taurine pills for the last 6 days which worked for just a couple of days where I got 4-5 hours of sleep but now I still have the jerks for the last 3 days and haven’t slept much. I’m getting a surge of adrenaline too with no jerks while lying in bed resting which are horrible as I feel my body vibrating for like a minute after, seriphos seems to work for calming this down. I will keep this forum posted if anything works for me.
Good luck !
I’ve also tried to join the facebook group with no success.
Hi , how are you getting in now ? I have only just started with this out of the blue. If I try to go back to sleep after an episode it’s happens again all night no let up also struggling with insomnia fir 2 months won’t be help and the cocktail of tablets I’m on ,,, I went to dr and was prescribed zopiclone this was great the first night however last night it stopped the jolts in my body but I was getting woke up with the falling feeling constantly I also find I wake up in a sweat. How are you managing now do you have medication ? Thsnks
Falling sensation may be also fom tiredness witch tiredness can by caused by your 2 month insomnia. Someone above posted about cbd oil. I would give it a try.
I joined the facebook group with no problem. I am on Klonopin and it has worked and I have also been able to get my dose down. too much wine is a trigger along with chocolate and sweets.
I’m suffering the same what do we do God please heal us
Hows everyone doing? After 3 years im still on clonazepam. Dont like being on it… but without it, i probably not be typing this.
With me they can go from bad to not so bad. So if you are in a bad spell dont panic they will get better. Bless you and know that you are not alone with this.
I heard paracetamol could help.. anyone tried it?
I so understand. Are you suffering now? I have terrible stomach spasms that wake me if I do manage a couple of hours and then that is it for the rest if the night. It is torture when all you want is the natural human thing to sleep.
I am sorry for your sufferings. Have you ever heard of Airway Dentistry? I wonder if it might help. Just a thought.
Need help with hypnic jerks . Waking me up 10 times a night.
Hi,
You might want to check out the website http://www.hypnicjerking.com or our Facebook group Hypnic jerk / sleep myoclonus support page.
Everyone on here who has the hypnic jerks and/or chronic insomnia should have a sleep study. See sleep clinic doctor for help.
The typical way of reading a sleep study will not show the jerks. It might show apnea, however, which is important. Go to http://www.hypnicjerking.com, click on the blog category “research” and see the article that explains how drs need to look at the sleep study data in a different way. Register on the website to receive updates.
Here we are 2021. A million doctors. A million nurses. Billions spent on healthcare and we still haven’t cured shite, we can’t fix things like insomnia, we have no clue what to do about people with autism…this is such a scam. All these people should burn their medical degrees. Disgraceful. WHERE ARE THE DOCTOR HOUSE”S OF THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Same happening here. I noticed the only difference between when this wasn’t happening and what’s happening now, is that I started a medication to help my brain inflamation condition and when I suddenly stopped taking this medication,… These HYPNIC JERKS started happening.
Try to think back when was the last time you slept well and what changed since then?
I’ve had sleep myoclonus for 2 years now. The first time I ever experienced it was when I took the allergy medication Allegra. The muscle spasms and jolts I got from Allegra were so violent that I had to go to the hospital. For a while there, the sleep myoclonus only happened when I took any anti-histamine (which was frustrating for me because I also suffer from hives/allergies). Unfortunately, over time, the sleep myoclonus developed into a nightly thing. I’ve been on clonazapam for almost two years now and it works 100% for me, but I am worried about the recent studies showing that taking benzos longterm can significantly increase the chances of developing Alzheimer’s later down the road. Reading on this page how others have found relief through supplements really gives me hope. I have an appointment with my neurologist soon and will ask about some of the suggestions mentioned here, like phosphatidylserine, GABA, Seriphos, NAC, and Taurine. This page has given me renewed hope! Thank you!
i have constant pins and needles in my clitoris all the time. Tests r negative no therapy or meds work. I’m in hell