The Benign and the Mean

[furballfury]

You and me BOTH zEarthyRanger...(no, not YOUR girlfriend...gulp, and NO, not US...sheesh, let me start again...)

MY WIFE jerks like a madwoman when she is drifting off to sleep. Thing is, even with my BFS, she NEVER thinks about it, and is just fine. Interestingly enough, now that he's invaded our bed now and again, my 4 year old son does the same thing...and I'm sure he's OK.

Those are as benign and meaningless as your arm or leg falling asleep at night. No worries, be happy...

JG

 

[PinkNinja25]

Martin,
The jerks are harmless....what you are experiencing is a probably a bit of startle reflex reaction too (that's when you are consciously awaitring the jerk movements). Try not to think about it, and don't worry about when the next jerk will happen...if I am really nervous and thinking about them I get more, so don't dwell on it.
Amy

 

[sarahjane]

Yep, I had this happen to me too - right when I was at the height of my anxiety over all this. I would jerk even with my whole stomach muscles where I would jerk like a clam shell! Very weird! But as soon as I calmed down about it, it has basically gone away. But have become aware that my husband does it a lot! Fortunately, it doesn't seem to wake him up at all!

 

[darric1]

headcase/zEarthyRanger,

My wife does the same thing and she doesn't have BFS. I think she does it to try to get me out of the bed.

I also get this with my hands and my legs.

Many other people on this board complain of the same thing.

 

[ZombieMartyr]

Thanks you all!

However, I just had another sleepless night!. I had almost no twitches but everytime I was falling asleep, I would jerk. (Probably more than 40 times last night).

Tonight I'm taking a pill!

Martin

 

[darric1]

Martin,
My last post was supposed to be addressed to you also. Sorry!

 

[TrisTrip]

Yeah, I’ve had this symptom when I was at my worst. I’d just about fall asleep and then wake up in a seizure – happened a lot.

It doesn’t happen to me anymore, you may just have to wait it out as part of the process. I’m fairly certain that my seizure like jerking was virus related, as I believe my BFS to be of the post viral nature.

On a lighter note: Having a “sleep over” with your girlfriend, or a wife, should eliminate all of the most common pre-slumber jerking. )

Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

- Jeff

 

[ytewestGo99]

That's when mine seem to be the worst. I've read that it's quite common even for people who don't have BFS. My wife gets a lot of twitching and jerking when she sleeps but it never seems to phase her ... It bothers me though

 

[LisaQ.]

Marty,
I had a very bad period of myoclonic jerks and sleep starts in the beginning of my bfs adventure. I know the jerking is normal in the general population, but it is also common (and seems more frequent) with bfs.

As for insomnia, my doctor said once the sleep cycle is disturbed, you really only need a day or two of good, refreshing sleep to get back to normal. A sleep remedy may do the trick.

In my case, I was afraid of falling asleep, because the sleep starts I was having made me feel like I was dying, so I actually had to get my husband to promise to stay awake and watch me fall asleep (a big sacrifice for him, lol) and, in fact, he did. I finally got some sleep that night after being awake for weeks. My doctor had threatened to hospitalize me if I didn't get some rest.

Sleep deprivation really isn't good for you, so do whatever you can to correct this, even if it means taking some help from your friendly neighborhood pharmacist. I don't care much for medication, but a couple nights of taking ambien or some other sleeping pill and you should be fine.

Blessings,
Sue