Myoclonic Jerks Several Times a Night??

[TexasLady42]

I am hoping for some advice. For the past year I have been having problems sleeping as when I start to relax and am about to sleep my body jerks. Sometimes it is my upper torso area or it will be my whole body. It startles me awake and causes alot of anxiety. It can happen several times a night and I worry that it is seizure related or something is wrong with me.

I have been to a Neurologist, and they did an MRI of the brain and spine..all was normal. My doctor never really gave me a diagnosis? He gave me a prescription for Baclofen to relax my muscles.

Can you tell me if I should be worried? It is scary me..plus I do suffer from anxiety and I also am in my early 40's and was wondering if this could be hormone related?

I have read about sleep starts..but mine can occur 5 or 6 times before I can sleep..is that normal?

Thank you very much for your time, I truly appreciate it.

Worried wart here!

[Dr Vinod]

Myoclonic  seizures are brief, shock-like jerks of a muscle or a group of muscles. "Myo" means muscle and "clonus"  means rapidly alternating contraction and relaxation—jerking or twitching—of a muscle.

A jerk is an involuntary myoclonic twitch which occurs just as the subject is beginning to fall asleep. Physically, resemble the "jump" made when a person is startled.
Jerks are usually felt once or twice per night.
When a subject is deprived of sleep and is trying to fight sleep,  jerks can occur more often. This normally happens to subjects who have deprived themselves of sleep for longer than 24 hours, or to those who have recently awakened after insufficient sleep.

You have to go for an EEG and corelate your symptoms.
Some episodes of myoclonus are normal. Some myoclonic seizures occur in reflex epilepsies.
I think your case nothing much to worry as neurologist thinks it is mild.
Take care!

[Red931]

This has been happening to me lately as I have not slept well for over two weeks. I have sleep apnea and my mask was leaking but replacing the mask has only solved part of the problem.

I was taken to the ER this past Monday with palpitations and they saud they were most likely caused because of my lack of sleep also as it has never happened before and all tests came back normal.

I guess I had better find a way to get some sleep. This post was very informative for me. I hoped it helped you as well Texaslady.

[Red931]

This just happened to me again 10 minutes ago. I was just falling asleep with my CPAP on and I jerked up from the pillow to the point that i was just about sitting up. I had not slept well the night before and have been overtired all day.

I guess I need to be checked out for this condition.

[Lisacj]

Mine started when I was in my late 20's.  They originally thought I had Restless Leg Syndrom (syndrome) because it was only in my legs.  When the medications for that did not work, they did many tests and tried many different medications.  They finally came to the conclusion that I have Myoclonic Eplipsy.

Almost 15 years later, my siezures have changed from when they first started.  Now I get them in all different parts of my body (including vocal  seizures sometimes).  There is no rhyme or reason to when I will get them, or what part of the body they will hit.

I can go months without one.  I did go through a period of time about 6 years ago, that I had to be hospitilized because they were all night and out of control.

I have heard that the way to tell if you are having plain myoclonic jerks or you have epileptic myoclonis, is if you feel the 'aura'.  From what I have read, all epilepsy comes with an 'aura'.  I do have the aura.  It's hard to explain, but I know when I'm going to have seizures and what part of the body they will be in.  The only way to know for sure is to consult a neurologist and have an EEG.

If you do have myoclonic eplipsy, don't worry.  I can be controlled with medication.  These seizures are nothing to be afraid of, just extremely annoying.

Best Wishes!
love,
Lisa