Hypnic Jerks

[shamrock]

I have been treated at CCF for hypnic jerks for about 4 years now.  After about 8 years with this condition I have done extensive research and can never seem to find out the cause.  Any new discoveries about this and why?  

Thank you.

Shamrock

[slothman]

Hi Lele and Shamrock,

Lele,
Thank you for sharing  your results.
I

[Lele Bug]

Hello Lou and Shamrock,

I have some news. I am hoping that I am on the verge of an answer. Here it is.

I went to see a Neurologist. I was having some headaches and other symptoms along with the sleep problem . He ordered an MRI of the spine and the brain.

In the meantime I had found something interesting on the web. Here it is:

Propriospinal Myoclonus of Sleep Onset

What is it?

These are sudden, rapid, shock-like muscle contractions. They occur with variable regularity and in a changing pattern. These sudden muscle jerks occur when you are relaxed and close to falling asleep.

The muscle jerks are only rarely triggered by noise or external sources. They disappear as soon as you fall asleep or become mentally alert. Only rarely do they occur when you are awake during the night or in the morning.

Movements tend to occur in the chest and abdomen. They then spread along the spine to the arms, legs and neck. The intensity of the muscle jerks may vary. They may come and go. They may also occur in clusters separated by long gaps of time. You do not normally make any vocal sounds when they occur.

This disorder can make it very hard for you to fall asleep. This results in symptoms of insomnia. Injury to oneself or to a bed partner has been known to occur.

It is sometimes confused with normal

[shamrock]

Hi Lou....Sorry to hear they're back.  But I must say I'm not surprised because from my own experience this is pretty typical.  

I'm also sorry to hear about the twitching during the day.  I used to have twitching in my calves during the day and evening whenever I relaxed, kind of in the fetal position when I would lay on the sofa and watch TV.  I got these the same time in my life when the hypnic jerks started at night.  The twitching in my calves is still with me but not constantly.  Sometimes it will bother me but I think I've just learned to live with it over the years.

I had an ultrasound, an EEG and a MRI.  All proved nothing.  Even the two sleep studies I had just said I moved around alot.  I eventually found a doctor that listened very intently to me as I described the jerks and knew what I was talking about.  I was prescibed medication which helped immensely.

I would suggest you find a good neurologist that specializes in sleep disorders.  That's what I did.  Do you have a renown facility near where you live?  I drive almost 4 hours to see my neurologist and it is worth it. Just a suggestion.  
Good luck...Shamrock

[slothman]

Hi All,

Well, here I am again.
It is getting worse. I have had two nights in one week without sleeping at all.
It's mainly twitching in my hands,lower arms and chest. It's happening as soon as I relax a bit rather than just as I'm about to sleep. Every five minutes or so , all night long. I'm getting a few large jerks a swell. I have a constant twitch in my right forearm during the day. I have tried ice packs which make it go away temporarily.
Over the counter sleeping pills have not helped. I took one last night and was still up the entire night.

My family doctor suggested I see a Neurologist. he said it sounds like something is pushing on a nerve. However, I have no pain in back or anywhere.
My only symptoms are the twitching.No headaches, muscle weakness, slurred speach.

I'm wondering what I might expect to have done when I visit the Nerologist.
I am without insurance. Can anyone give me an idea of which tests might be done from your own experiences?

Is an MRI a first step or a last one?

lou

[MammaZuk]

I have read this and past forums recently. Thanks to all that made postings it sure helped me understand what I was experiencing.  I am 54 year young female that started with the sleep starts that jerked me back from sleep just as I was drifting off about 2 1/2 years ago.  This gradually led to mild muscle tics then do pronounced jerks that would wake me up in the night. I also take HRT and have taken medication for adult ADD for 11 years.  The onset seemed to be when I switched from the Ritalin for my ADD to Straterra, a newer non-stimulant drug for ADD.  I experienced a change in my sleep in that I seemed to spend the whole night in active dreaming and I was aware of this as I slept.  Prior to this I rarely was aware that I was dreaming although I'm sure I did.  To complicate the problem, it was right about around this time that I stopped my period so I'm not clear if the change in sleep was due to the medication change or the hormonal change.  I do know that even after I switched back to Ritalin, the symptoms didn't go away.  I finally stopped taking any ADD medication at all for a few months and went to my doctor with the symptoms.  The reason I stopped the ADD meds was because I wanted to rule that out as the problem.  He gave a preliminary diagnosis of Restless Leg Syndrome and send me for a sleep study.  The study confirmed that I was spending a disproportionate amount of time in sleep stages 1 & 2 and not enough in 3 & 4.  This explained why I was so tired and exhausted all the time.  He prescribed Requip and I have been taking it for about 2 months.  I looked up Restless Leg Syndrome and didn't feel that was the correct diagnosis so did more research and after reading these postings am sure that I have Hypnic Jerks and possibly PLMS.  The thing is that I experience the muscle jerks primarily in my shoulder area although sometimes in other areas.  The Requip seems to help and I am sleeping better but I am noticing it is inconsistent and that there is a cycle to this.  I still feel symptoms of ovulation every month and it seems that when this happens I
suddenly get super charged with energy and am still wired at night when I want to go to bed.  I will often lay awake for several hours.  As the month goes on this gradually lessens until I am sleeping okay but then I start to experience tiredness earlier and earlier in the evening.  As I said it seems to be cyclical but it has only been two months so I will have to evaluate it more.  I don't think that my symptoms are affected by stress.  I'm thinking that my sleep level is the problem since most people seem to have these jerks.  I can't believe how many I have told this to who say that occasionally have hypnic jerks.  They only become a problem for me because I believe my sleep isn't deep enough.  Whether this is caused my hormones, aging (sigh), or ADD I don't know.  I was wondering if anyone else with ADD saw any patterns like this or if the onset of menopause changed things.  For now at least I am getting some sleep so I am not going to stress out about it too much since it seems there isn't much I can do about it at this point.  Seems like there are lots of different reasons that people experience this but I personally know how it can affect the quality of life.  Good luck to those of you that are still trying to find what works.

[shamrock]

Lou....Good for you.  Congratulations!  Enjoy your sleep...Shamrock