Hey all. I am in day four of sobriety from alcohol. I have quit a few times in the past 15 years for short periods of time but no longer than 40 days. I am trying again to curb the issue but realize I can’t sleep due to constant waking up when about to fall asleep due to these things called hypnic jerks. I can only describe it as waking up suddenly and feeling like you woke up from falling. Has anyone else experienced this?
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I don’t struggle with alcohol myself but I have experienced hypnic jerks. They are common and many people experience them.
Personally I have found that having healthy “sleep hygiene” helps. In particular taking a hot bath before bed helps my body relax and makes it easier for me to get to sleep.
Have you found they go away after some time in the past?
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I used to have a real issue with this sort of stuff when I was drinking.
I would either wake up suddenly throughout the night, or i would wake up with heart palpitations and body tremors. I later realised it was due to the stress alcohol abuse was putting on my nervous system, as well as coffee and nicotine.
After i quit these issues dissapeared. Weight loss also helped hugely for me, but going sober and losing weight go hand in hand so i didn’t intentionally try to loose weight really.
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Yeah thankfully after a week they aren’t as frequent. When it happens, my anxiety spikes and I even have a few visual hallucinations. I got them once in a while as a kid. It’s just really tough the first few days of sobriety.
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It is a challenge. Your body is settling. Just care for your body, eat healthy, get enough rest. It will settle 
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Yes, during the first 5 days. It was terrible, I used to sleep a propped up with two pillows. Having my torso a bit lifted seemed to help (to me). I have no idea why.
It’s been much better after the first week or so.
It will get better for you too 
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Yes. I get it periodically but it’s worse when coming down.
Even worse is “Exploding head” 
syndrome. No, I’m not making it up. Right before you drift off to sleep you hear/feel a huge “Bang!” in your right ear (always the right; don’t know why).
No hypnic jerks for me but I did experience sleep paralysis where I felt half awake but dreaming so like fully aware but idk it was like hallucinating.
Craziest experience but it was okay cause I knew I was sober.
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