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Old 01-09-2013, 09:38 PM   #1
shrtcak81 shrtcak81 is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Posts: 160
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Hypnic jerk in throat/involuntary swallowing right before falling asleep?

Hello all,

I've experienced this weird swallowing thing on two separate occasions, both were anxiety induced with insomnia, so I believe that is why I'm experiencing it again. It doesn't happen when I first go to sleep since I think that's because I'm really tired, but after waking up early in the morning, I try to get back to sleep and right as I drift off, I feel my throat swallow even though I know I'm not doing it intentionally. It startles me and it will happen another few times as I'm trying to fall back asleep. It's so frustrating that I lose a bunch of sleep over it. I'm taking medications for sleep too and I still wake up and this happens. It's been going on for the last month and a half on and off since I started experiencing anxiety again. I've been on Lexapro the entire time for anxiety, and I've gotten better but I just had to increase the dose because I'm still somewhat anxious. Anyway, I would think that Lexapro would help get this to go away (it has in the past), but it's Lexapro that I believe is causing my insomnia.

Has anyone else had this same spasm/jerk sensation in their throat while drifting off to sleep? It's such a weird feeling. It's beginning to concern me since it's not really going away as fast as it did in the past when it happened.


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