After starting Doxy for recent Lyme, Babesia, Ehrlichia diagnosis, I started getting these violent whole body jerks just as I am about to fall asleep.
This goes on throughout the night as I am about to fall asleep.
Anyone know what causes this and is it common? Could this be seizure activity or just neuro. problem from Lyme/co's.?
Posted by randibear (Member # 11290) on :
oh yes, i get those. sometimes i think i'm going to break something, i jerk so hard.
hmmm, haven't had them much lately, but just once in a while....
Best, Karen
Posted by paulieinct (Member # 17514) on :
Do you mean repetitive jerking that looks like a seizure? Or single jerks? I have had both. Worst was in the middle of the night, in bed, woke up, both arms paralyzed and numb, jerking violently like in a seizure, altho I was awake. Lasted less than minute. Yes, this is Lyme!!!!
Posted by Dawnee (Member # 15089) on :
I have that also. Got worse when I started abx treatment but I've had it for awhile.
Posted by carl (Member # 16126) on :
Usually just a single strong jerk at a time. Doesn't hurt or anything, just weird and annoying.
Thanks for replies!
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
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Myoclonus, as mentioned above. Magnesium to bowel tolerance and B-6 should help. Fish oil, too.
And liver support to get the toxins out is good.
This is very common with lyme. The toxins create an excitatory reaction to nerve cells / brain.
Be sure your diet is totally free of diet products with artificial sweetners, even a trace in gum or mints can be toxic if from aspartame/Nutrasweet/Equal.
MSG in all its many names, is also toxic and will contribute to the exicitotoxins.
Now, yes, it can be seizure activity. Perhaps, myoclonic seizures. But there is an wide spectrum of what can be called seizure.
If you give ANYONE enough toxins, seizures can be a result. Lyme is very toxic. The liver is really working overtime and needs support.
Unless you've had a recent blow to the head or a history of this before lyme exposure, I'd see if increasing your magnesium will help.
If not, as I've dealt with a full spectrum of myoclonic seizures for about 10 years, I'll be glad to share what has helped me.
Be sure to get to bed by 11 pm - sleep is very important.
And - is bedtime the ONLY time this happens?
Are you getting treatment with a LLMD? It sounds like it. Be sure to tell him/her.
Seizures: A Nutritional Approach- -By Ward Dean, MD
Seizures can be attributed to a number of causes including metabolic abnormalities, infections, nutritional deficiencies, or trauma. Emotional stress also increases the frequency of seizures. But most seizures occur due to unknown reasons.
. . .
In summary, for seizure disorders I recommend using a nutritional ``shotgun'' therapy, which includes: . . Magnesium: 500-1,000 mg/day . Selenium: 100-200 mcg/day
- Full article and medical references at link above.
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Posted by carl (Member # 16126) on :
Thanks Keebler,
I will let my LLMD know when I go back to him Sat.
I have not had a recent blow to the head and I do drink plenty of water.
I usually do get to bed by 10 or 11 but I awake often and early every day.
It does only happen as I am falling asleep.
My liver has become abnormal looking and large over the past year or two, so I know that it has become affected by lyme/co's and I'm sure it is taxed and working overtime.
Posted by troutscout (Member # 3121) on :
This is caused by the disruption of the signal that goes down thru the Vagal nerve just as we doze off into la, la land.....and yes....it is also called a myoclonic jerk.
Basically your lymbic system and the vagus nerve are very infected...it should pass with time....not always though.
I would suggest visiting an Atlas Orthogonal Chiropractor as they have SPECIFIC training in that area of the nervous system...it was THE thing for me to get thru that.
If you cna't find one......look up Midwest Chiropractic in Blain, Nebraska and ask Dr Mark Blair...for infoemation.
tell him Kent sent you.....
Posted by lymecaregiverNY (Member # 13287) on :
Sounds like Bartonella Like Organism (BLO).
My wife suffered the very same type of whole body spasms each and every night just before bedtime last year.
I had to stand next to the bed to keep her from falling off during the wild body jerks because if she did fall off, there was no way for me to lift her back onto the bed.
Valium and magnesium helped for the short term, but 2 1/2 months of Levaquin did the trick for that particular tick borne symptom.
The Levaquin was difficult to tolerate for such a long period of time but we managed to get through it.
She no longer has those symptoms but she still suffers from many other tick borne symptoms.
She was initally infected with Borrelia, Erlichia, Mycoplasma, Babesia, and BLO.
Godspeed.
Posted by Jill E. (Member # 9121) on :
I've had this for over two years, consider it my weirdest symptom (not most painful, but just upsetting). For me, it seemed to coincide with the Bartonella symptoms becoming more pronounced. The myoclonus got worse on Bart treatment, then after many months of Bart treatment, lessened, but have never gone away.
Yes, worse when trying to fall asleep, sound asleep, waking up, or at rest.
I agree with TroutScout that mine, at least, seem to involve the vagus nerve at the same time as other parts of the body have weird movements.
Jill
Posted by adamm (Member # 11910) on :
Went away with bart txment.
Posted by Michael_Venice (Member # 17254) on :
Did anyone here experience this jerking along with a rollercoaster-heart-drop-sort-of-electric shock feeling?
That might sound strange, but that's how I get it--that feeling is in my torso. It's come and gone in clusters. And I seem to get it much more if I fall asleep during the day. Another strange part of it is that it almost feels like I'm "passing out"....strange, because I'm going to sleep.
When it first happened, I thought "geez, I'm having a heart attack or something". After 20 times, I realized it probably wasn't a heart attack.
But it scares me.
Posted by laura j (Member # 14257) on :
Michael,
Yes, I did also get this the way you describe along with the passing out/blacking out feeling when falling asleep. Very scary!
Posted by tamra (Member # 17769) on :
I have lyme and co-infections and get the pain and jerking at night when I try to sleep. My husband would always jerk just as he was going to sleep and would last about first 15 minutes of sleep, I did some research on it and found it could be myoclonus (spelling) and he had a sleep study done and found he has sleep apnea. Please do not let this go if you feel your heart is affected, I have had two friends in their 40's that never woke up in the morning and that is what was found on autopsy. This can be very serious, please don't put everything off as lyme.
Posted by troutscout (Member # 3121) on :
I will say......that it was most intent when first on Leva....later went away with bart tx
Posted by designt1 (Member # 16568) on :
I get this every once in a while as I'm drifting off to sleep. What's funny is that I used to ride skateboards a lot when I was a teen and it always seems to happen if I start dreaming about skateboarding or something active. Posted by on :
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)