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General Sleep problems: body jerking, power nap sweats, exhaustion

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clarapark

New Here
Hi everyone. I'm new here. Been reading the forums even before I registered myself a member and I should say I'm so happy because this forum helps me a lot as a supporter! Sorry for the grammatical error bc I'm not a native english speaker.

I'm a supporter of my c-ptsd boyfriend. It's been a roller-coaster relationship since I was diagnosed with anxiety disorder too, but I'm already a survivor now who automatically become a carer of my boyfriend's condition.

My bf has body jerking while sleeping, and he also suffers from sleep deprivation. I know sleep deprivation is a common sleep problem for ptsd sufferer, but how about body jerking? Everytime he jerks, I'm always startled that I'm eventually awake, then try to calm him down. But one night he was awake (bc I was) asking me what happened, I was like "you jerked so hard are u ok", and he was like "really? I don't know. thought I just sleep". It happens many times and he doesn't recognise it. Is it common for ptsd sufferer to have body jerking like that?

Also whenever he has power nap, he always ends up waking up with cold sweats all over his back. He asked me 2 days ago if all of these sleep problems are related with his c-ptsd, because at least for now he just wants to have a good night sleep. I've been trying to google it, but I thought posting this thread would help me too. Basically, I'm just getting as many help as I can. Please if anyone know about this or can help me. Thank you everyone!
 
My husband is NOT a sufferer but he has this. He has it as the result of a spinal cord injury from a car accident. I am the sufferer and have sleep problems enough as it is, so when when it flares up, it drives me in sane. It's called periodic limb movement disorder. It is purely a neurological issue. The person who has it is rarely aware they are doing it as it doesn't wake them like other hypnic jerks.

Has he ever had a spinal or brain injury like a concussion?
 
I go through periods where I get a lot of muscle spams, and sometimes my body jerks about. It's pretty clear in my case that it's linked to the PTSD.

Often, I'm afraid to go to sleep. Nightmares are not fun. Often, I don't want to admit that I'm afraid to go to sleep.

Exercise helps. Patience helps. Getting to the point where you're too tired to do anything but sleep isn't ideal, but it works.
 
@BlueOrange Are you aware of them though. I jerk during nightmares and stuff, I am not be aware I am doing it, but when I wake up, I know I had a nightmare. What the OP seems to be describing is different though. I guess we need to find out if he is having nightmares.
 
My husband is NOT a sufferer but he has this. He has it as the result of a spinal cord injury from a c...

I'm not sure about this.. because he might have a kind of injury when he was kid. I remember he told me that one of his friends punched him, made him fainted and he wasn't sure that the head was ok bc it hit the ground so hard. His friends even thought that he might be dead. I don't know if there are anything worse than that, I should ask him later.

I go through periods where I get a lot of muscle spams, and sometimes my body jerks about. It's pret...

@BlueOrange Are you aware of them though. I jerk during nightmares and stuff, I am...

No he doesn't have nightmares. He used to when he was a kid, but not anymore now, at least he never told me he had one. He can't really remember stuff, so I'm not sure if he actually had one or he just forgot. We used to hit the gym together during uni, but since we graduated and had jobs (I'm simply too busy to remind him) he stops going. But I realized that the jerking was not as bad as it is now. Even if it was a neurological issue, would exercise help?
 
It's hard to tell... My vet twitches and jerks when he is having nightmares. He also has nerve damage from a spinal injury, so he twitches from that too. I'm not an expert on this by any means, but just from observation, there seems to be a difference. I've noticed his nightmare movement seem to be more violent or reminiscent of conscious body movements... like grabbing me tighter, clenching fists, or tensing up. Sometimes it's like he's trying to run or swing a rifle around. The nerve stuff seems to be like one whole body jerk, or a series of flutters.

Have you ever seen him twitch and move in his sleep while you were awake?
 
It's hard to tell... My vet twitches and jerks when he is having nightmares. He also has nerve damag...

Yes, most of the time I see him jerking while I'm awake. I think he has all of them. Sometimes he grabs me tighter especially when we're holding hands, clenching fists, the whole body jerk, and he never noticed any of them. There are many possibilities so I don't wanna assume anything. Just curious if it's normal for a sufferer experiencing these things.
 
Is it common for ptsd sufferer to have body jerking like that?

Also whenever he has power nap, he always ends up waking up with cold sweats all over his back.
Yes to both. Absolutely.

There can be a bunch of processing that goes on during sleep time and the body gets involved. Oh, and just because he doesn't remember nightmares, doesn't mean he doesn't have them.

Given the possible physical issues with your partner, you might want to look into that as well.
 
Yes to both. Absolutely.

There can be a bunch of processing that goes on during sleep time and the...

Exactly! I talked about nightmares last night with him, and he said he's not sure either. I think sometimes he has nightmares, but he just cannot remember any of them. I remember when we were going on trip by train last month, he was sleeping with his arms around mine, his body was jerking as usual, and then after awhile he suddenly slapped me with his eyes closed. He was still sleeping... I tried to wake him up, but he wasn't awake because he was very sleepy and ended up hugging me tight. The body jerking and twitching kept happening, of course. After we arrived, I told him what happened and he said he can't remember anything although he felt like he had a bad dream, but nothing in his head pops out. All he can remember was only small fragments that will never be completed as a whole memory. He said sorry and I just laughed. One of his cptsd effects I guess?

I also talked about any neurological issue he might have as a result of his injury when he was a kid. Nothing serious happened, he said, except that one when he fainted and his head hit the ground. But then again, I'm not sure because he has a severe memory problem...
 
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