I noticed tonight when I was trying to lay down and go to sleep, my body is certain parts started to jerk really bad. It would happen a couple minutes a part, then there was once were my entire body jerked really hard. When I'm walking around or sitting, it doesn't happen though. Any ideas how to get it to stop?

I do several things to deal with this. The most important is to take at least 1000 mg of magnesium a day as advised by neuro. Then, stretching everything is important, legs low back, and strengthening them too. Klonopin helps some but I'd have to take a knock out dose to really get results with this.

The "Jerk" is a regular bed fellow for me.

Like Mariel said, stretching and exercise is really improtant and that helps a lot; especially doing some stretching of the legs before bed.

More than 500mg of oral magnesium bothers my GI, but I take tepid/slightly warm Epsom salt baths (4 cups/bath), before bed in addition to 500 mg of magnesium when I've had a lot of spacticity during the day; which usually means I'm in for a tough night. The bath allows for some additional absorption of magnesium through the skin and that does seem to help with the spasticity and the jerks.

I also take 20-40 mg of Baclofen before bed and sometimes another 20 mg during the night when the jerks or spasms are severe.

making sure that you are well hydrated also has a positive effect.

With love, Erika

Mrs D has recommended the Slow Mag at Walmart, it's a good price. She's spoken of a magnesium lotion, but I'm not sure what it's called. I've done the Epsom salt bath, but then you have the hot water to deal with (if hot is a trigger for you).

I may try this. When I am rest, I have "spasms" on one side of my body only. Tests show nothing wrong. Sleep is hard. Dr gave me something to help sleep, but looks like I may be having side effects. Waiting, and waiting for a call back.

I get these too and, like Erika, I take a warm (not hot as heat exacerbates my symptoms) Epsom salt bath. It works wonders for me and relaxes the nerves and muscles so I can get a better night sleep. I also take gabapentin before bed and if I seem to be having more jerks and/or restless legs, I'll take lorazepam.

BTW - If you can't get in the tub, soaking your feet in Epsom salt will help as well. You absorb the magnesium through your skin, which for me is an added bonus since I have tummy troubles.

I still get an occasional jerk-like movement. To me, it's like, if
someone kicks you in the back of your knee and your body loses
control for awhile. What makes me mad, is when it happens,
my foot usually jerks up and hits the coffee table.....OUCHY!

I think that's pretty much the reason that Willy the dog doesn't sleep on the bed with me. He snuggles for a while but as I drift off, he gets down and onto his own bed. Must have given him the "kick" in the night somewhere along the line . He steers pretty clear of my feet and legs when I'm up and around or sitting as well.
Smart doggie .

With love, Erika

I too get these problems - have been for a month and a half straight. Consult a doctor as I am not one, but trazadone has helped me get to sleep, but not with the twitching/jerks.

It is most likely something related to myclonic jerking. Myclonic jerking is normal in most people, although as I have experienced it can get very bad to the point of causing sleep deprivation. The worst part is the catch 22 of the jerks - they get worse when you sleep less, which in turn makes you jerk more, and so on and so forth. One thing I am pursuing is a special version of them called hygonic jerks. Same jerks as before, but happen EXACTLY the moment you begin to fall asleep.

Not sure how severe your problem is but two posts that explain a bit:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...ht=sleep+jerks

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...ht=sleep+jerks

Lastly, depending on where in your body it is coming from you may be able to help with a couple of different meds:

DISCLOSURE: do a sleep study and talk to doctor to figure out exact underlying problem and best course of action BUT -

pramiprexole and/or requip are used often to treat Restless leg syndrome. Restless leg syndrome can occure anywhere in the body, even your abdomine trunk, and torso. Pramiprexole is an anti-parkensen's med and requip is anti-seizure. THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU HAVE PARKENSEN'S OR SEIZURE DISORDER but they do help some.

Also, I know many have had success with klonopen, although it can cause dependency and lose it's effectiveness over time. Lastly, another med, not exactly sure how it works is Keppra. I believe it is an anti-seizure as well.

In any case, talk to your general practitioner, and consider a sleep study to see if you have restless leg syndrome or another disorder that is similar called periodic limb momvement. Again, with periodic limb movement you may have symptoms in abs, trunk, neck, or head/ combo of them all.

One other thing (SORRY LONG POST), if these things do not help or if you don't want the $$, time, and worry of a sleep study a simple vitamin deficency may be to blame. Simple blood test would tell.

Best of luck, and let me know if I can help answer more questions.

I'm up at 3 AM because I didn't take all my magnesium with dinner. I didn't have water at the table with me when I ate at Whole Foods, so I didn't take all the capsules. So now I'm up, took the capsule, and am waiting to be able to go back to bed and stop jerking for a few hours.
I tried the anti-Parkinson's drug. Did not help and had side effects.
Klonopin does help but my neuro 25plus years ago agreed I should get most of my help with magnesium.
I have to take 1000 mg a day or jerk all night, as well as twist. The twist is a new version of the disordered movements. It does affect my low back and actually affects my whole body if I get a strong jerk.
One fear of going to the ER is that they would not give me magnesium there if I were admitted. That happened once, two years ago, and I jerked all night and never slept.