Scolova

Finally! Anyone have these and notice if they got worse or eased up after quitting alcohol?

I am grateful to be sleeping in my bed again, three times in a row now. When I could not drink away my anxiety of falling (*Stage 1 sleep) I would sleep on the floor (I cannot fall off the floor, right? lol) and most of my 28 days sober have ended with sleeping on a blanket or on the mattress set on the floor. I used a webcam to record myself sleeping last night and sure enough, about an hour after I laid down I had one. These hypnic jerks are not like the ones from my early days, they feel more like waking up in the middle of a stroke... i.e. parts of the brain remain asleep for a bit longer than they use to, I have been reading up on these 'jerks' and they seem to have no serious effects to mental health so I will probably just have to make the best of the situation until (or if) they ease up a bit in the future.

I began to realise I drank alcohol for just a few main reasons:
Past the time... :-(
Help with the pain of hangover\withdrawl (continuing the cycle).
To drink myself (and 'the voice') to sleep every night.
Thankfully I am now able to see these for what they are, symptoms of Alcoholism and Insomnia.

*"Stage 1 sleep is light sleep. You experience a drifting in and out of sleep. You can be easily woken up. Your eye movement and body movements slow down. You may experience sudden jerky movement of your legs or other muscles. These are known as hypnic myoclonia or myoclonic jerks. These “sleep starts” can give a sensation of falling. They are caused by the motor areas of the brain being spontaneously stimulated."


(Wasn't sure whether to post this in the Alcoholism or Mental Health forum.. move if needed.)

MemphisBlues

I had muscle spasms and jerks for a solid six months into sobriety. They do go away, slowly. I believe my situation was compounded be the amount of benzos I was on.

I remember the first month of detox, I could watch a spasm in my calf -- like an alien being poking through the muscles trying to get out -- and it would shoot through my abdomen and strike my shoulder like a lightening bolt.

Falling to sleep was the hardest, as my entire left side of my body would jerk. My partner says I still do this in my sleep. Gratefully, I do sleep a solid eight hours or more at a crack.

It does get better, though I see no reason not to consult a doctor. I would be very wary of taking a benzo for this.

I was prescribed Klonopin, which was first prescribed as an anti-seizure medication for epileptics, until it was more commonly prescribed for anxiety to millions of folks.

Time heals. Time of sobriety, that is.

laurie6781

As we really cannot give medical advice per the 'rules and regulations' this is something you should probably speak with your doctor about.

Muscle spasms, or 'tics' in early recovery while awake and asleep are common among some of us, but it is best to discuss this with your doctor. Alcohol does an awful lot of damage to our bodies, more than we are aware of.

Love and hugs,

Scolova

Thank you - thank you, I'm just putting this out here to see how it's been for others, I'll be busy for the next few weeks, but planning on seeing a doctor in November probably for blood tests first.

I'm going to try taking a nap tonight (need to reset my mind clock for next week) and see what happens. All in all, I am getting better at controlling or dealing with it and waking up in a bed sure feels a whole lot better than the floor.

MemphisBlues.. Thankfully I don't have the muscle jerks all the time, I'd be going crazy.
It's been forever since I've slept in the same bed with someone else and most of them never want to go through that again... this webcam sure doesn't lie, I move around a bunch in my sleep.

slimjim30

I had very weird jerks for the first few weeks of sobriety. They were different to the falling sensation. Much more mental than physical. I'd wake up scared with my heart beating so fast. I thought i was going crazy.

LotusBlossom

I had these a lot when I was actively drinking and when I first became sober. After the first two months or so they went away (I am 9 months sober). Because of a recent diagnosis (the illness has been going on a while, it has taken us forever to figure out the diagnosis), I am now on benzos/anti-epileptic meds and the jerks are back. There is nothing I can do about them, but personally, I'd much rather be on these meds than have the constant excruciating pain/agony I was in 18/7 (18 hours a day 7 days a week) in my face.

So, drinking related yes. Benzo related in my opinion: yes. Need to go to your doctor: only if they continue past a couple of months in my opinion, but I am no doctor and I cannot give medical advice, only my personal experience. . Good luck.

BullDog777

i had nocturnal myoclonus from the time i was 15 until i quit everything almost 2 years ago.

i've been to sleep studies, the whole 9 yards. at one time they told me it was not only nocturnal myoclonus(which i had in my back) but plmd (periodic limb movement in my arms and legs) along with rls (restless leg syndrome) all at the same time.

after years of searching, and dr consulting, i found out what was terrorizing me. smoking gave me myoclonus, plmd and rls.

so i drank to combat the myoclonus, plmd and rls.

and then i got hooked on benzos because i was drinking almost a half a gallon of the hard stuff a night to sleep and it was killing me. benzos were the only alternative the neurologists knew of that could stop the movement disorders. so.....

in the end, i had to stop all 3 because all 3 either directly caused it or withdrawing from it caused it. it took me a month for the jerks to go away.

for the first time since i was 15 i slept without any foreign substance in my body.

it (natural sleep) was nothing short of amazing. your body will adjust itself, but it will take some time.

like i said, it took a solid month for all of my sleep disorders to go completely away.

good luck...drop me a pm if you ever need to talk about this stuff. for me, it was horribly lonely when i was going through it all by myself because it's not all that common to hear about.

Scolova

Thank you all for the replies, I gonna try to document a bunch about this so I can really explain it to a doctor. and I'm glad I never used benzos as well.
I've just reached 30 days sober and had another bad night, had to get the dog out of the bed 'cause I thought I might hurt him. Although, I was able to get to sleep relatively quick on the floor... again.