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I’m so happy for you that you’ve finally named this problem and had the courage to face it head on. Something I need to work on. I get restless leg syndrome occasionally. It feels like something crawling under my skin and makes me want to crawl out of my skin. My dad gets it really bad and so does my sister. I’ve often wondered if it’s genetic, which probably doesn’t matter when you’re just trying to get it to calm down so you can get some rest. I’m really glad you’re figuring things out!
Thank you guys for the kind comments and suggestions! It’s nice to know that I’m not alone. The lurches (adrenaline rushes) aren’t quite as bad at the moment for me. They seem to ebb and flow. I suspect they have a lot to do with my level of arousal at any given time but still make me feel a little deflated when they fire up after not showing up for a while. I think the sleep window helps and so does keeping a book with strategies in case I panic in the middle of the night and can’t remember what to do when I have them (or just get worked up because I can’t sleep). So far I haven’t had to open that book and hopefully, with practice, I can keep my head on and just remember what to do when I’m in a total kerfuffle at 3AM. I love the balloon analogy! I need to visualize that one and keep it in a special place in my mind for when I need it.
I don’t think I’m having hypnic jerks, although I have experienced them in the past. Usually when I start to act out a motion in a dream. This is more of a conscious thought that wakes me up when I’m falling asleep. The thought says “ Oh, you’re falling asleep!” and I wake up with a mighty shot of adrenaline. This puts me in a terrible state of arousal and anxiety and I have to start to calm down all over again. I think you’re absolutely right about my brain just trying to protect and prepare me for the night ahead. My desire for sleep makes me hyper aware of the onset of sleep. When I’m in a period of fairly good sleep, these jerks just fade away. I’m not thinking about sleep so sleep just happens. In my experience being gentle with myself and my wired brain has been the best strategy. These episodes usually happen multiple times in a row so I spend a lot of time trying to soothe myself but it’s better than beating myself up (which I’ve also done) and getting angry on top of being anxious. That road leads nowhere I want to go in the middle of the night.
That must be very frustrating. I can’t claim that I’ve experienced this but sometimes when I go through a lot of sleep disturbances my legs start to twitch and jerk. It happens when I’m really tired and feeling very depleted. I really hope you get an answer about this soon. Kudos to you for having the stamina to walk it off. I’d love to hear how it goes for you!
