Body Jerking

Does anyone else have this problem?
I've been on c-pap 5 months now. I love the machine, but I still don't sleep much. Just as I'm about to drift off to sleep my shoulder, foot, hand, some body part will jerk to keep me awake. I feel like my brain is still trying to keep me awake even though I'm on the machine now.

I experience the same thing....my theory is...if it happens as youre dozing away then I think it is an apnea, only difference is that you are semi aware so you feel the brain rebooting to catch the next breathe. sort of like a rigomortis action. but if it happens throughout the night, well...then I dont know. I usually get those jerks as Im drifting off to sleep...

I have fibromyalgia, and supposedly alpha wave intrusion is common with this. When I had my sleep study, it said that I did have Alpha wave intrusion. What this does is, just as you are falling asleep, your brain yells "WAKE UP!" There is a med out there for this, but it sounds a bit too heavy duty for me to even consider it. (I think its called Xyrem). Not sure this is your problem, but I just wanted to mention it as a possibility.
I wake up 20-45 minutes every night after I fall sleep. Since cpap, its been better and I can fall asleep more easily afterwards.
Also, if you're a female of perimenopause age, sleep problems can get really crazy during this time.

Sound like a Hypnic Jerk:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk

I get them every now and then, usually when I'm really tired and fall asleep very quickly. It's quite the interesting feeling to be falling one second and jolt awake safe in bed!

To Country4ever
Your right on I think. I don't have Fibromyalgia but the brain yelling "wake up", or "don't sleep is why I was diagnosed with sleep apena. The Dr. or the sleep study never mention alphawave intrusion as a reason. My brain just wouldn't let me go to sleep. It's interesting there's a name for it other than CRAZY.
Well my brain isn't yelling now that I'm on c-pap, but I do have this jerking which stops me from going to sleep now. Maybe I have to convince my brain that I'm safe to go to sleep. I love this forum, I thought I was the only one sleeping 3 hrs. a night. Thanks for your answer.

Hi again jazzer,
Another question for you: Is it jerking like we all occasionally experience when starting to fall asleep, like you're falling? some people refer to it as "giving up the ghost").
Are you on any meds? When I started up on sertraline (zoloft), I had some mild uncontrollable muscle jerks. Once I realized that they weren't going to kill me, they didn't scare me so much. Those mostly happened to me when I would lay down to go to sleep. I don't think they would wake me up though. They were wild. Out of the blue, various muscles would twitch big time, and I had absolutely no control over them. The longer I was on the med, the more they went away.

No, it's not like that falling thing sometimes before sleep. I'ts more uncontrollable muscle jerks and yes, I have just started Wellbuterin. It's good to hear It will go away. Thanks I fell much better now that I don't have to add that to my forever list.

Is it twitching? Years ago when I was on Wellbutrin, I had twitching as a side effect. I don't recall details, but I think it was most noticeable in bed. More recently I was on Wellbutrin XL, but I didn't have that side effect.

Yes, both I and my wife have that one last twitch before drifting off sometimes. Not a nightly event that I'm aware of. no drugs or alcohol involved. I'm a cpap, she isn't.

Did you have the twitching before CPAP? It's normal to have a twitch as you're falling asleep, I believe.

I'm pretty sure the twitching that Jazzer is referring to isn't the stuff we sometimes do right before falling asleep.
Sounds like it might be an SSRI/antidepressant type of side-effect. A certain set of muscle groups seem to jump all of a sudden.
Interesting that others of you that have been on antidepressants also experienced this. After I got over being scared of it, I actually found it a bit amusing.....wondering which part of my body would jump next! I can tolerate lots of stuff if I know its not going to kill me!
Mostly it was in my legs, when I would lay down to sleep. I hope it passes quickly for your Jazzer.

I think what's going on is this:

When we go to sleep, we shift from the usage of one brain to another....probably what we call the sub-conscious....the brain that's in charge while we sleep. Our main brain has to "shut down" for repair and re-programming....and another brain has to take on the responsibilities of keeping us alive......while the main brain is "off-line" for maintenance.

The jerking comes at the point where we're shifting from one brain to the other....sort of like when a circuit shifts from normal power station voltage,,,to back-up power generator voltage.

That's just my "common-sense" layman's way of understanding the phenomenon.

I "jerk a lot" just in the "twilight zone of consciousness" for a very short time as I go to sleep.

I suffer from sleep apnea and restless leg syndrone. I take a medication to keep me from jerking around all night. It keeps you from getting into a deep remm sleep. You might look into that.