Having sudden jerks when trying to fall asleep

[Shanna707]

I am currently taking Morphine 100mg /cr twice daily for severe RA and Fibromyalgia pain.  I have noticed an unwanted side effect to the medication.  AT night when I retire to bed and try to relax, I start having sudden/ moderately severe jerks or twitches all over my body, but only one area at a time.  I know for a fact it is the morphine because as soon as I 've gone off it and put on something else, this jerking and twitching immediatley stops.  

I am unable to not take the morphine so I need to find a way to control the above side effect.  Is there anything vitamin or herbal or anything that may be able to atleast lessen this problem??  I already have some insomnia and can't handle it getting worse.  Last night it happened to me almost constantly as I started to relax and I dought I ever entered REM sleep.

I apprciate any advise at all.   Is there any thing natural that is a mild anti-convulsent?  I'm kind of concerned that if this continues and worsens becoming shorter time between the jerking that perhaps it could cause a seizure or something neurological in the future.

Please help me.  I am out of ideals.  Like i said I cant just stop the morphine for several reasons, so I must find a solution somehow to this unwanted adverse reaction.

[sandee1818]

I would not recommend taking even herbs and vitamins without asking your doctor or pharmacist first. These remedies are not controlled by the FDA and you really have to be careful taking these supplements with prescibed medications.
I suggest you talk to your doctor about this side effect and have him/her preside you something to help you.
Sorry I could not be of more help, I do not like advising people to take anything like herbs or other supplements as I said they are not regulated and can/will interfere with your prescribed medications.

[Mollyrae]

Shanna:

I really couldn't believe that someone else is going through the jerking at night. I am also and it started about a month and a half ago. I went to my annual 2 month check up with my Doctor and he had asked me if it started after I started taking Remeron or Mirtazapine...an anti-depressant. Why yes it did.....I stopped taking the Remeron and the jerking has almost subsided.

Are you taking an anti-depressant??

Regards,
Mollyrae

[Mollyrae]

Other meds along these lines can also produce unwanted jerks.......

You need to stop the meds but do it with your Doctors consent...many anti-depressants cannot be stopped without tapering.....

[Blujax]

My husband has this problem, he is taking anti depressants.. and  Iknow this is the cause of his twitching, I keep begging him to get it checked out, because it is very bothersome to me having to sleep next to him at night, but he doesn't seem to be bothered by it.. it's gotten so bad that most of the time i sleep in another room,  I don't know what to do.

typical man. will not go to the doctor, won't adress the situation even tho I have talked to him and told him that it keeps ME up.... but I guess he think that if it doesn't keep him up, it's not that big of a problem...

[Shanna707]

actually I am on prozac and iterestingly I didn't take it yesterday and had no problem sleeping at night, but I also took a clonazepam at bedtimes with the morphine and thought that was the reason I slept so much better.  I never had any problems with the prozac before, but that doesn't mean it's not causing the problem now.

hmm well I will have to evaluate this further.  All I know is that when I have the jerking literally all night like the night before last it is horrible and I actually had joints that were hurting because it was so frequent and severe.

Thanks for the comments

[Tuckamore]

It may be a combination of the medications. I have this periodically but do not find it bothersome. But than I never said I was normal.

By all means report this to your physician. That said if the meds are working for you and you can tolerate or adjust to the jerking than you may be better off to stay on the medication. You may just have a different sleeping pattern and have had these episodes before but now it is more pronounced. There are all kinds of possibilities including a magnesium or other mineral or vitamin deficiency.

Some ppl experiencing muscle twitching or jerking that are not on any medication. Some involuntary muscle twitching is normal as a person falls asleep, and this type of jerking is called hypnagogic myoclonus. If you are having severe jerking all night long to the extent that you describe in your past post it would be concerning to me also.

Please do not stop any of your medications and please do not take any type of supplement(s) until you have checked with your physician. I hope you will let us know what you discover.

[opus88]

appears that many classes of medications will cause this same problem(?)
I've had some jerking for years, just when about to fall into sleep, Interesting that I have been on an anticonvulsant(gabapentin)  also for a number of years...In Oct. this dose was increased remarkably and the jerking got much much worse, all of my limbs would jerk not just a leg as before. I didn't know what was causing it, blamed it on Lamictal a mood stabilizer I am also taking and this is one of the listed side effects(rare)....
However when I reduced the gabapentin, the jerks also became alot less, back down to where they had been for years at a mild jerk or two before falling alseep.

So Shanna it appears to be the MORPHINE
Myself it appears to be the GABAPENTIN
Mollyrae appears to be REMERON
Blujaz appears to be an unknown ANTIDEPRESSANT

Interesting findings...anyone else?