Hypnic Jerks / RLS

[elizabeth10]

Has anyone experienced severe hypnic jerks? My arms cross or straighten and stiffen. My head can turn to the right. My right arm can fly across my body. My hands can tremor. These movements are involuntary.

I have been diagnosed with hypnic jerks and restless legs & arms. I am taking gabapentin which works for my legs, but not my arms. The leg movements can be voluntary, but the arm movements are not.

A few weeks ago, my head turned to the right, both arms stiffened & straightened, then I experienced a painful jolt. All of my muscles were contracted. Next thing I know I am out. When I woke up the next morning, I was off balance and my coordination was off. My right leg and arm were affected.

A few weeks later while on medicine both arms tremored.  I think it happened about 5 times. When I woke up in the morning, my coordination was off again.  Much like someone who has had too much to drink.  I was also very, very fatigued.

We have ruled out seizures and other disorders, but I can't make sense of the "morning after" effects. I am a pro at meditating and ignoring these movements so I can get to sleep, but it just seems severe to me.

The onset of these symtoms occurred when I was about 6 months post partum. I believe I have always had a sleep disorder, but this got out of control when my sleep cycle was disrupted.

My neurologist listens to what I have to say, so I feel pretty good about that. We increased the gabapentin and have added klonopin.

I was just curious if what I have described is typical for anyone with RLS or Hypnic Jerks.  

Thank You,

[CeciliaGiray]

I have this problem where I'm scared to go to sleep because every time I wake up it's painful and terrifying and I feel the need to jerk my arms/legs. It feels horrible.

[seventhcandle]

I can relate to this post.  Finally, someone who experiences similar issues to what I have.  I do not have RLS to the best of my knowledge, but ever since taking a single ambien pill a few weeks ago, I've been experiencing many of the same symptoms as you (jerking of random limbs (even face or ears popping)) when trying to fall asleep and I too can only manage 0-3 hrs of sleep most nights with it even if I lay in bed for a full 10 hours or more.  It's very frustrating and doctors don't seem to know much about it.  And mine developed suddenly after taking one ambien pill.  Ironically, I also developed muscle twitching all over my body too which incidentally started with a unisom pill I took over the summer that I had a bad reaction too.  I am wondering if anything you've done since this post has helped you.  Please let me know.