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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 13 of 13. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by shadows721 on November 21, 2003, at 21:03:07
Last night, I was in the middle of a dream and felt my entire body jolt for a few seconds. It woke me up. The previous night, I awoke in a half dream state and felt my shoulder and leg move for no reason. After the scare last night, I went on-line to research seizure in REM sleep. One article I read stated seizures can occur in any part of the sleep stages. With this in mind, I called my doctor and spoke to the doc on call. He said it may or may not have been a seizure, so what did he want me to do. I said, I think that I could increase my neurontin from 2x/day to 3X/day. He said that would be fine and follow up Monday with my MD. I have been on Wellbutrin XL for 1/2 weeks, Lexapro for 6 weeks, neuronting several months. I told the doc that on my 1st week of Lexapro I felt my leg violently jerk at night. He said that's benign. So, what was that scare last night? I have never had any thing like it and I hope that if it was a seizure that the neurontin will prevent another one. I am limited to these meds. I have tried the gambit. What do you think?
Posted by EnEuro on November 21, 2003, at 23:15:14
In reply to WAS THAT A SEIZURE?, posted by shadows721 on November 21, 2003, at 21:03:07
my girlfriend "twitches" as she is falling asleep sometimes. it FREAKED me out the furst few nights LOL!!! it happens some night and not others. latly is has not been happening at all. i have also done it myself but rarely. its like someone tenses up ur muscles for a sec... a whole body twitch. not a bad feeling in the sence of being sore after but it is startaling. i asked my phycologist about it and she said that it has to do with stress.
as for the numb thing you probably just cut off circulation to that part of your body. i sleep in a very odd position sometimes and my arm shoulder down is numb when i wake up for about 2 min untill the blood starts moving again.
im not a doctor but im just talkin from experiance.
Posted by crazychickuk on November 22, 2003, at 7:15:45
In reply to Re: WAS THAT A SEIZURE?, posted by EnEuro on November 21, 2003, at 23:15:14
Wow you are brave it would really freak me out, talk to your doctor monday about it.. i do get twitches alot, and i jolt in my sleep but i know is my body relaxing..
take care
Posted by theo on November 22, 2003, at 8:50:12
In reply to WAS THAT A SEIZURE?, posted by shadows721 on November 21, 2003, at 21:03:07
What dose of Wellbutrin XL are you taking?
Posted by shadows721 on November 22, 2003, at 12:40:43
In reply to Re: WAS THAT A SEIZURE? » shadows721, posted by theo on November 22, 2003, at 8:50:12
I am on 150 mg of Wellbutrin XL. I have had jolts in the sleep, but not like this. It was an all over shaking of my body and I couldn't see anything. Weird!
Posted by stjames on November 22, 2003, at 21:03:23
In reply to WAS THAT A SEIZURE?, posted by shadows721 on November 21, 2003, at 21:03:07
Last night, I was in the middle of a dream and felt my entire body jolt for a few seconds.
I call them sleep twitches, I get them, and they can be quite intense. Never bothered me. Generally
once you get to the point of a seizure one has no memory of it, the nervous system to firing to madly at that point.
Posted by shadows721 on November 23, 2003, at 14:05:32
In reply to was it a seizure ?, posted by stjames on November 22, 2003, at 21:03:23
That makes me feel better. I was hoping it wasn't a seizure, because I want to stay on my medication. But, I have to tell you that was the most intense jolt. I felt like it went thru my brain and all thru my body. But, I did remember it. I bet the medication is having some odd effect on my sleep. I had tremors last night, but nothing that felt like it went thru my brain and body. Wow, it was a scary experience. Thanks for your reply.:)
Posted by T_R_D on November 24, 2003, at 17:12:25
In reply to Re: was it a seizure ?, posted by shadows721 on November 23, 2003, at 14:05:32
> That makes me feel better. I was hoping it wasn't a seizure, because I want to stay on my medication. But, I have to tell you that was the most intense jolt. I felt like it went thru my brain and all thru my body. But, I did remember it. I bet the medication is having some odd effect on my sleep. I had tremors last night, but nothing that felt like it went thru my brain and body. Wow, it was a scary experience. Thanks for your reply.:)
Hi shadows721...what you might have experienced is something called "myoclonus"...it's generally not harmful and just about everyone experiences it to some degree when they are just drifting off to sleep. It can still happen during sleep...it did with me a lot when I was on Effexor. It also used to happen to me when I was awake too.
There is also something called Restless Leg Syndrome that you might want to check out...although it's usually just a leg thing...still, all related to our brains and these drugs.
I used to have what were believed to be seizures on Effexor with significant alcohol abuse...the big thing as mentioned here earlier is the lack of memory. With me, the big indicator was my loss of bladder control (not always prevalent but a pretty sure sign of seizure.) I also woke up with a concussion before...I probably seized, fell and that was that!
These drugs do have an affect on our sleep...big time. Kudos to you for being aware and responsible enough for checking it all out.
Oh yes, Wellbutrin can lower the seizure threshold but you're on a pretty low dose (same as me) so it shouldn't be an issue--that is unless you and I both had eating disorders and/or we already suffered from epilepsy ;)
My money's on the myoclonus...not dangerous , just strange...although if it increases or becomes bothersome it might signal a medication change in your future. Check it out with your regular doc and see what he/she thinks.
Good luck and take care,
Karen
Posted by shadows721 on November 24, 2003, at 21:42:42
In reply to Re: was it a seizure ?, posted by T_R_D on November 24, 2003, at 17:12:25
Thanks TRD. I never heard of a myoclonus. I have been having a lot of trembling in my sleep with Wellbutrin. During the day, I have strange things happen. My shoulder will jump for no reason. My foot jumps too. Seems like I am jumping all over at random. Also, I am experiencing more anxiety on this drug too. Hope this all passes.
Posted by Waterlily on November 25, 2003, at 8:28:22
In reply to WAS THAT A SEIZURE?, posted by shadows721 on November 21, 2003, at 21:03:07
I don't know if what you had was a hypnic jerk - sounds kind of more serious than that. At any rate, check out this site for more info:
http://www.discovery.com/area/skinnyon/skinnyon971114/skinnyon.html
Posted by T_R_D on November 25, 2003, at 9:46:17
In reply to Re: was it a seizure ?, posted by shadows721 on November 24, 2003, at 21:42:42
I'm almost positive its myoclonus...sounds exactly like what I was going through except it was with my legs while awake...shoulders etc...when asleep...it varied.
I didn't find that it went away...I just learned to live with it. If it's really bothersome though, maybe this drug isn't the right one for you. I've found that it has followed me to a slight degree with other drugs...not sure but my Tegretol might be settling it down now.
Good luck!
Karen
Posted by cookie0876 on November 25, 2003, at 23:04:40
In reply to Re: was it a seizure ?, posted by T_R_D on November 25, 2003, at 9:46:17
Have you done drugs in the past? The reason I ask is that I used to do speed. A lot of people I know who did speed, too, had this happen to them in their sleep. It would start in your head and chest, vibrate all through your body and then you could almost hear a roaring in your head. I found out it is called sleep paralysis. Some people actually induce this on purpose because they think it helps in out of body experiences. It is supposedly harmless. The thing is that I now have these same types of eurythmic vibrations during the day. I finally saw an MD instead of a shrink recently and he did actually suggest partial complex seizures. I am scheduled for an EKG, and maybe you should have one as well. Find out a little more about sleep paralysis, too. I used to have the occassional twitch when I fell asleep too quickly, and I know this seizure feeling in the brain is much scarier and far different. i was very freaked out about mine as well. Hope this helped.
Posted by T_R_D on November 26, 2003, at 9:51:58
In reply to Re: was it a seizure ?, posted by cookie0876 on November 25, 2003, at 23:04:40
Hmmm...that's interesting...I seized when on Effexor but also suffered from sleep paralysis a lot...could have been seizures of different type?
This is the end of the thread.
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