How I was able to convince Hypnic Jerks Sufferers to not take Clonazepam

In all of the stress of helping my wife get off of this poison, today I was overjoyed to learn that I was able to help another person decide against taking clonazepam for their hypnic jerks. Hypnic Jerks are these jerks that occur at night and tend to wake you up out of sleep.  This is the condition that caused my wife to be prescribed Clonazepam.... Why?  Because it is the primary treatment for this condition and the generally accepted treatment option from the Medical community. 

 

So last week, this woman reached out to me on Facebook. She contacted me because she saw me as one of the people in the Hypnic Jerks Facebook group who is vocally against Clonazepam, against the grain of several members who are vocally in favor of using Clonazepam for treating Hypnic Jerks and who troll me whenever I object to their recommendations of using clonazepam to anyone who joins the group trying to understand how to treat the condition. This woman told me her doctor put her on Keppra and that he is now recommending Clonazepam to her to treat the hypnic jerks and her lack of sleep.  She told me she is deathly afraid of her lack of sleep and how it could possibly kill her. She hadn't slept for 3 nights and was seriously considering taking the clonazapem offered to her by her doctor.

 

So I told her all of the things that I've learned about how to help address Hypnic Jerks without taking a dangerous drug:

[*]Ensure your Magnesium levels are good. Add Magnesium rich foods to your diet if you aren't already doing so and take Magnesium Glycinate to enhance your Magnesium intake

[*]Maintain a good sleep routine. Shut off the phones/computers by 8pm, take a hot bath (Preferably with Epsom Salt) at night, or Shower an hour before bed, read if you enjoy reading, and prepare to calm yourself before getting into bed

[*]Soak in Epsom Salt to enhance your magnesium intake. If you take a bath, then add it to your bathtub, if you don't, then soak your feet in a warm water epsom salt

[*]Ensure your Amino Acid intake is good, especially Taurine. You get good levels of Amino Acids through meat consumption, but you can enhance that with BCAAs you can find in most vitamin stores

[*]Revisit the Keppra prescription and identify if it could be causing Hypnic Jerks. I found research that it did

 

So I gave all of this information to this woman and I told her that as long as she rests, she won't die from a lack of sleep. My grandmother is 87 years old, healthy and never slept because she has insomnia. She would lay in bed, but never got sleep. I told her if you don't sleep and you use that time to work, exercise, or do anything that activates her brain, then yes you can harm herself, but if she just lay there and rest in a comfortable bed, then she will be ok.

 

I'm not sure what did it for her, but I think it was a combination of my re-affirming she won't die if she doesn't get actual sleep and just rests in the bed, and an improved sleep process and increased Magnesium intake.  The first night she reached out to me and told me she still had jerks, but she was able to sleep through them.  Today is the fifth night since I spoke to her and she told me she's been able to sleep every night based on my advice and feels a lot more confident with her ability to sleep. She no longer has any urge to take clonazepam and is considering tapering off of her Keppra to hopefully reduce the hypnic jerks. 

 

I know this is a small victory, but it felt great to help someone redirect around the mistake that occurred in our household.

Well done, TheSunAlsoRises!

Great job! I wish someone had just been comforting with me about having trouble sleeping instead of all these therapists telling me I needed sleep and to take this to sleep. You're a hero!

Hi there!

 

I am so glad I found your post. I started to suffer Hypnic Jerks as well as closed eyes hallucinations and terrifying nightmares intrusive thoughts when waking up abruptly, when i'm trying to taper off clonazepam!! I saw you mentioned Taurine and Magnesium Glycinate. On facebook (beating benzos) they warn about Magnesium supplements - that it may hinder the full recovery, and some other post also warned about Taurine.. I don't know who to believe anymore.. :/ I also know Magnesium comes in different 'types', why is the Glycinate?

 

Cheers

Guy