Hey all,

I recently went through a really hellish season of life and wound up taking hydroxyzine for a while to cope with anxiety.  Unfortunately the medication made things ten times worse by "giving me" hypnic jerks and almost constant muscle spasms.  

I have been going to counseling and trying a bit of progressive muscle relaxation along with listening to a lot of stand-up comedy to try and lighten up my perspective. I also discovered that I had an iron deficiency (possibly calcium a bit too).  I am doing everything I know to do but unfortunately I jerk or twitch awake every night for hours just as I'm about to fall asleep  It is pretty torturous especially when I don't wake up with much sleep because of it.  I also am scared of distant sounds (or near ones that are loud) and I get scared easily when I'm driving.  When my fear response is triggered several times throughout the day I inevitably end up twitching myself awake at night.  On the rare days that I don't have a lot of fear responses (startles) during the day I can sleep a bit better.

I am considering dry needling and possibly a massage but I really don't know how much they will help.    I am only 3 days into supplementing iron and can already feel a difference in my mood/mental clarity but my  anxiety twitching/ fear response/ hypnic jerks have not improved.  

I'm pretty much at a loss for right now.  Has anyone else been through this sort of thing?  It seems as though hypnic jerks are not well researched although I think my fear response (constantly being startled) is the root of my problem.