Startle Reflex Out Of Control

[DharmaGirl]

In the last month, my startle reflex is horrid. I scream at the sound of my toe moving on the sheet. I startle at any noise at night. My startle includes screaming. I get almost no sleep because every time I doze off, I scream myself awake. This doesn't happen until night. I take Prazosin every night but it doesn't seem to help. I have less nightmares with the Pazosin, but still have bad dreams. Does anyone have any suggestions or have had their startle reflex suddenly increase?

 

[Whitneys story]

Hi, It sounds like your system is exhausted. Have you had any recent changes good or bad? I hope you are emptying your cup. Have you had an opportunity to speak with someone about this. I am undiagnosed but have more trauma events that are getting manageable from reading the articles on the home page. You are safe here and I hope someone responds that has more experience. I am sorry you are having this experience and hope clarity comes soon. Hugs if you accept them, Whitney

 

[kers]

Ugh, I can so relate. When my startle response cycles up I am just miserable. It's self-perpetuating, because it's hard to sleep when you're jumpy and lack of sleep makes the jumpiness worse. Guided meditation really helps me, so I try to listen to a meditation for 30 minutes or more each day when I am so hypervigilant. Does your psychiatrist/medication prescriber have a backup plan for you to help the sleep issue? I am supposed to see my dr. when I don't sleep well for several nights in a row to head off further problems.

 

[DharmaGirl]

I saw my T today and I will have my first meeting with my prescriber on Friday. I have used meditation and it didn't work. I do take prazosin for that but I am at an empass since if I take more my blood pressure ditches.

 

[Flamengo]

Try phosphylated serine. I take 2000 mg at night. Its supposed to help lower cortisol and calm startle response from the brain.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

Monster, re: meditation not working...

Meditation isn't something that you do once, twice, or even a few times and necessarily have it work. I have been using meditation for a year and a half now with the guidance of my therapist. It wasn't until month 10 or so that it really clicked for me. I encourage you to keep trying. (I have another friend who uses meditation as well and it took him awhile before he felt a great benefit.)

 

[a3a2]

For me, therapy was the magic bullet. It took time and effort, but it was so worth it. My husband agrees on this, since I am no longer shaking him awake at 3 a.m. and pleading with him to call the police.

 

[Deleted member 12723]

I hope you get a handle on the startle response. It must be driving you up the wall. A few years ago I had a very bad startle response. I also had alot of stressful things going on in my life.

Now that things have calmned down I rarely startle. I wish you the best in searching out why you are having such a hard time. I am rooting for you. Take good care of you.

 

[Britt.f7]

There was a time, in my late teens mostly, that I had difficulties. It didn't take much for me to startle. At times, when I knew my boyfriend was reaching out to touch me, I had to brace myself in preparation. Otherwise, if he did without me seeing, I would jerk away or be startled. Over the years, I kept practicing not reacting. I'm not bad right now. There are only a few times when I actually do get startled. It does, however, irritate me when my husband gets startled over the littlest things. I know that isn't very nice of me and I'm not sure why I get angry. Maybe because I've forced myself not to react? Because I expect him to be a "man" and not get startled. I don't know. I wish I didn't.

Hope it's gotten better for you.

 

[Mary]

I had a couple years of severe startle response. Phone ringing, doors closing, babies crying, things dropping, people yelling, honking, anything moving in my peripheral vision, engines revving, firecrackers, footsteps where I could see them, twigs snapping, house settling unusually, etc. (These things still sometimes make me startle, but not as hard and I "come down" from it right away now). A bunch of things in combination helped me over time:
- mindfulness meditation
- singing mantra meditation (I practice out loud at home and then sing it quietly in my head during acute stress to trigger the calm mind state)
- self-hypnosis sleep audio tracks to help me to sleep/fall back to sleep
- emotional and intellectual acceptance of my response as a part of who I am
- spending the majority of my day with friends/family who accept me, startle response and all--kind people, all, for whom it is no big deal and who will make MILD accommodations to not trigger me/comfort me
- white noise machine at night set to a constant, even static noise, with the volume set fairly loud to drown out other night noises (including my breathing)
- an alarm clock that plays ocean waves that start very low and increase volume gradually (so much better than BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP -- argh!)
- cut caffeine
- cut out some easy triggers (avoided certain places/situations whose avoidance did not deeply throw my life into disarray), just to reduce the number of triggers hitting my mind/body

As I said, after two+ years of startles that turned immediately into panic attacks that I never came all the way down from, and taking a multi-cope approach, I have whittled away at my startle response until now it is very near to "normal" levels I observe in the people around me. I am still (always was/always will be) a sensitive person, though. I now feel comfortable describing myself as a "sensitive-but-brave-anyway scaredy-poo" rather than a "haunted-and-hounded, tortured bag-of-nerves". :)

 

[Hiding the Pain]

I have always had a seriously sensitive startle response. It doesn't matter if I know someone is right there. Any sudden movement on their part and I am half way across the room. At night when everyone is a sleep I hear every little sound. I wake my hubby up at least once or twice saying I heard something. He has gotten to the point he wont even wake up for me. When he is driving I can look out my window but when I return my gaze to the road I jump out of the seat or slam my hand against the window and foot on the dash to brace myself. And all we are doing is stopping at a traffic light. I look over and my husband is so peeved. He keeps telling me to chill out. That I need to relax...Yeah I wish I could...

 

[HëllaBubz]

I have gotten to the point where my startle response is fairly well hidden, however I constantly have a physical shudder run through my body every time I am startled.

In my opinion, a small terrier barking at a bird in the next door neighbors yard shouldn't make me jerk alert.
Another interesting thing is that every time my brother in law visits, and I am resting, I often jerk awake at the sound of his voice, and even though he and my partner sound very similar, I can instantly tell.

My startle reflex has gotten worse over the past month or so also, but I'm not sure if that is to do with me starting work 3 months ago, or if it is something else.
I do know that I am constantly tense, and have been (unusually for me) been having headaches which last over a week at a time, and have to consistently unclench my jaw.

Try taking an antihystamin such as Restavit or similar, it will knock you out cold, and I have not had a SINGLE nightmare or startle-awake when I'm on it. It REALLY REALLY helps.

On the other hand, it will also be worth your while to take some supplements in the form of Vitamin B/B12, and magnesium.....both of which are highly recommended by naturopath's to relieve stress and physical anxiety like excessive startle reflex.