1. Sign our petition calling on Cochrane to withdraw their review of Exercise Therapy for CFS here.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Guest, the 'News in Brief' for the week beginning 18th March 2024 is here.
    Dismiss Notice
  3. Welcome! To read the Core Purpose and Values of our forum, click here.
    Dismiss Notice

What are these second-long 'surges' I'm having before sleep when crashing

Discussion in 'Neurological/cognitive/vision' started by InitialConditions, Mar 24, 2021.

  1. InitialConditions

    InitialConditions Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    1,580
    Location:
    North-West England
    Another very hard to describe phenomenon. I get this when I'm crashing. Perhaps half-a-dozen times a year. It only happens in bed when I'm led waiting to fall asleep. I get this bizzare second-long surge that I can feel in my head (possibly traveling up to head from torso). I'm sure it's not an adrenaline rush as it's not triggered by anything and there's no panic/anxiety or raised heart beat, though my heart can beat a little harder. It might happen once, or it might repeat a few times (spaced out by 10 minutes or so) before I get to sleep. It really freaks me out and I'd love to know what's going on. It feels like a chemical or hormonal release.

    Anyone experienced this, or anything similar?
     
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2021
    MEMarge, Ravn, alktipping and 7 others like this.
  2. Forbin

    Forbin Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    1,581
    Location:
    USA
    Might be what's called a "hypnic jerk." It's fairly common. I've experienced it a few times and it is pretty weird.

     
  3. Wonko

    Wonko Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    6,674
    Location:
    UK
  4. Arnie Pye

    Arnie Pye Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    6,048
    Location:
    UK
    I used to get hypnic jerks. I also had Exploding Head Syndrome.

    Thankfully I appear to have aged out of both these conditions, although I think that improving both these conditions may have been speeded along by improving my nutrient levels, something I did by myself without the aid of doctors.

    Edit : Fixed my link, which didn't work.
     
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2021
  5. Arnie Pye

    Arnie Pye Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    6,048
    Location:
    UK
    Just as a suggestion... I've read that many people with ME have proven low cortisol. I don't know the biochemical connection between cortisol and adrenaline, other than they are both produced by the adrenal glands and are both stress hormones. But perhaps if you have a low level of either of them one or both may occasionally rise just for a few seconds, and if you are used to a low level and it rises then it may be interpreted as a kind of rush? I think adrenaline may be produced when necessary, but cortisol is produced in a circadian rhythm, so it rises at certain times of day without an obvious trigger.

    In healthy people I think the trigger for maintaining the circadian rhythm is sunlight, but if you spend a lot of time in the dark perhaps your circadian rhythm is disturbed.
     
  6. Ravn

    Ravn Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    2,042
    Location:
    Aotearoa New Zealand
    Your real problem is that you're trying to not fall out of a tree in your sleep :emoji_evergreen_tree::zzz:o_O Wikipedia says so, so it must be true. Plus I like that explanation better than the usual - equally unproven - suspects of anxiety and stress.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk

    I don't get jerks but quite often just at the point of going to sleep I get a weird sensation of an "awakeness hormone" being flushed through my body for just a second. Then I feel awake for a little while until becoming drowsy again and either going to sleep or repeating the experience. It's a quite pleasant, relaxed sort of alertness, not at all wired and tired, and during the day it would be welcome, just not when I want to sleep.

    I've always assumed it's an odd, non-jerking version of hypnic jerk but that's just a guess that suits me because while hypnic jerks are annoying at least they're harmless.
     
    MEMarge, Invisible Woman and Trish like this.
  7. NelliePledge

    NelliePledge Moderator Staff Member

    Messages:
    13,142
    Location:
    UK West Midlands
    I have something when tired but wired when the electric buzzing uncomfortable feeling in my body wears off. it is like a wave of something flowing through my body for a few seconds and the bad feeling goes and I can sleep. This only happens (or is noticeable) when the wired feeling is there not with more routine insomnia.
     
  8. InitialConditions

    InitialConditions Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    1,580
    Location:
    North-West England
    Thanks for your comments. It's not a hypnic jerk - I do experience these and it's very different. These surges are totally within my body, and feel like a release of a hormone or chemical(?) @NelliePledge 's experience is the most similar to what I'm describing.
     

Share This Page