I'm 17 years old, and last night was the first time this has ever happened to me. It occured after an odd dream that I had, and then a song that I didn't know was playing and kept repeating and getting louder, all of a sudden I started shaking. I was aware that I was shaking but my eyes would not open. Then after my body felt numb and tingled a bit. I told my parents and of course they thought I was crazy and really wouldn't listen, if this happens again I will definitely take this up with my doctor.

But in the mean time, does anyone have any good sites for this so I can maybe have some closure.
Thanks

and I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one experiencing this.

I'm 17 years old, and last night was the first time this has ever happened to me. It occured after an odd dream that I had, and then a song that I didn't know was playing and kept repeating and getting louder, all of a sudden I started shaking. I was aware that I was shaking but my eyes would not open. Then after my body felt numb and tingled a bit. I told my parents and of course they thought I was crazy and really wouldn't listen, if this happens again I will definitely take this up with my doctor.

But in the mean time, does anyone have any good sites for this so I can maybe have some closure.
Thanks

and I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one experiencing this.

I also get this from time to time - after a couple of hours, I wake up shivering with cold right to my bones but I am not actually cold at all. It is like the rigors you get just before a fever. The first time I remember experiencing this was when I was coming out of an anaesthetic. The anaesthetist told me it was a reaction to the anaesthetic and that my blood pressure had dropped very low. I do generally have low BP (100/60) so I am guessing that during sleep it drops even lower. Could any medical people attest to the likelihood of this?

Wow...I have the same thing. It seems to happen just when I'm dozing off. I can feel my whole body shaking. These posts have given me some peace of mind. When it first happened I thought I had Parkinson's or something. I did some reading on it and it doesn't seem to fit with what I read about Parkinson's. I've had some pretty bad anxiety and I assume it might be connected with that.

I am so glad I came across this in my search. My story seems to be the same as most people. I'm not sure how long this has been going on, but I've noticed it off an on more recently. I, too, thought maybe it was my cat or the bed shaking. Actually, we just got a new mattress and I feel it a lot more now, but my fiance also feels it, so I don't know what is going on with that. Our first night on the mattress I woke myself up with a cough and that's when I felt the shake. I woke him up asking if the bed was shaking and he said yes it was....now I don't know if it was the bed or me shaking the bed. I always seem to get them when waking in the morning. I always thought because I was in a deep sleep and jolted because of the alarm going off, that my nerves where on edge. It never lasts long, seems to go away when I get up and it doesn't happen at all during the day. I also have an anxiety disorder (although mostly under control through CBT no meds) and I've been under a tremendous amount of stress the past few months because of tax season. Of course I am fixated on it and it is making me all the more anxious about it. I know with the anxiety we really aren't supposed to be searching the net because it makes matter worse, but I am glad I came across this forum. Maybe it's because I dread going to work every morning haha. I should also mention that this shaking seems to be internal.

I have this problem too, just started happening a week ago. I would wake up and I would be shaking then I would eat somthing and it would go away or at least calm down alot. Woke up last night almost disoriented and full of panic and fear which lasted maybe 10 seconds. and I wake up around 6-7 times a night with just feeling uneasy and maybe 2 times with shaking episodes. I have a depression and personality disorder which I think is triggering this. Just wish I could find a answer to this.

I have MS too and sometimes I wake up over and over again all night long from the shaking. I don't know how long I have been doing this or how often this happens since I sleep alone most of the time, but I know it has been going on for at least a year. I thought that my dogs were causing it and have gotten out of bed to check and found that they are both peacefully asleep away from my bed. I have thought perhaps we were having an earthquake, but we cannot be having that many unreported earthquakes. I even wondered if a ghost was shaking my bed, but I finally realized a month ago that it is me--because I finally woke up while it was happening. On the nights when it is most severe I don't get restful sleep at all and sleep is so important when you have MS. My medications are Low Dose Naltrexone for the MS and Flexeril for muscle spasticity. Anyone else taking those medicaitons? I have never heard that they could cause those symptoms. I think these symptoms are caused by brain and nerve damage. That would be my best guess. Back in 2003, my neurologist said that my brain and spinal cord are covered with sclera and my spinal cord is coming apart in two places. It seems reasonable that nerve damage could cause this problem.

I have the exact same problem... every morning around 430 or so ill wake up and ill be sweating and shaking really bad all over. it scares me because sometimes its hard to breath. i only started this after i got off of Lamictal, which was the prescription i was on for bi-polar disorder. did you find any answers to our problem or a definet diagnosis?

I am sure that your parents assumed that you were having a nightmare, and hopefully, you were. If it happens again, tell your parents, and I am sure they will be supportive.

I have this shaking too. I was wondering if any of you have taken the drug Lexapro? I think it started after I took this antidepressent.

Lexapro is an antidepressant/anxiety medication. A lot of people react differently to different medications. Lexapro, I have been told, is the number one medication doctors are prescribing now. I have heard positive things about this medication, but it did not help my anxiety/depression.

Yes, I found Lexapro to be very effective for depression but it gave me migraines and tremors. If you google (Lexapro, tremors) there's a lot of discussion about this side effect apparently. I wake up with tremors all of the time. I feel them in my fingers quite a bit in the day as well as my hands and other places and wake up shaking all over or about to sleep, much like has been described here.

I was just wondering how many here have taken that drug and if there was a correlation.

The reason nobody has come back with an answer as to what "it" might be is that nobody knows. Our doctors don't even know. All we have are some educated (or not) guesses. I will share my information, summarize what we seem to know about the shivering syndrome so far, and suggest how we might contribute to finding out more. For now, however, we'll see that the common thread is nerve damage, and the way to treat it is with neural protective medications such as depakote. I suggest that the source is chronic obstructed breathing at night.

MY CASE:
I get intense shivering sometimes when falling asleep, mostly when waking up (usually it wakes me up), even though my room temperature is controlled at a constant 70 degrees (variance of about 2 degrees). With or without the shivering I nearly always wake up freezing, disoriented, and weak.

The shivering is actually so intense that it hurts, and the only way I have got it to stop is to apply sudden and direct pressure to pressure points, which results in a "charlie horse" or "dead arm". My right side is affected more so than the left, but both are involved. By the time it stops I am usually exhausted, then pass out, and miss work/class. But I have a very sensitive sleep schedule such that any changes to a normal routine throws me off for several days, so the consequences extend beyond the nights I'm affected.

On days that I do not get the violent shivering, I am still freezing. If I take a very hot shower, I can "burn off" the chill (too long a shower and it makes me feel sick though). If I do not get a shower, I can feel chilled until the, sometimes late, afternoon.
I have a mental health history of ADHD and hypersomnolence (a waking up problem) up until I incurred a brain injury, after which I had many more problems, such as migraines, (something like) bipolar, and this shivering thing at night. Sleep apnea was diagnosed after my injury as well. (right side of body affected more -> left side of brain; I sustained my injury on the left side, which affected language).

DATA:
I have done some investigation on my own trying to pinpoint the problem(s), a sleep study at a sleep lab, as well as generating my own data. If I had chronically low body temperature in the morning, that would be an indication of thyroid disregulation, but my peripheral skin temperature, continuously recorded every 4 seconds through the night for several nights, was not abnormal. I experienced a decrease in symptoms when I restarted valproic acid (like Depakote).

LIMITATIONS:
I have not yet kept a journal of my meals, meds, and their times, nor the times I slept. I do not have a "low light" web-cam, which could record video of my sleep, to control for, say, sleeping on the arm the probs are attached too, and documenting any nocturnal behavior that may interest my doctors.

RESULTS:
My information did not shed light on the problem other than it may be related to my brain injury or sleep apnea - though limbic structures (sleep, breathing) are very deep & well protected areas of the brain.

SYNOPSIS:
So far I have seen posts about this problem (or similar) from people with histories of bipolar, anxiety, MS, epilepsy, ADHD, head trauma, depression, (unspecified) personality disorder, and perhaps (pre)diabetes. The classes I have read about seems to include 2 distinct "types" of the syndrome, namely, those who experience shivering with freezing, and those who just experience the shivering. My guess is that there will be two separate etiologies involved. Since folks seem to have a common set of diagnoses, the syndrome may be related to meds or the psychological diagnoses themselves. Sleep terrors, for example, can cause people to wake sweating, though I'm not sure about the tremor. As suggested by others, the syndrome(s) could be related to medical conditions such as diabetes, MS, psychological diagnoses such as bipolar, or anxiety, or nerve damage - such as caused by blunt injuries or medications. The folks without a mental health history, which does not mean they do not have something that was not yet identified, tentatively indicate that a mental health history is not necessary. Of the meds, Lexapro and Lamictal have been implicated with increased incidence, and anti-seizure meds used in bipolar have been implicated with a decreased incidence.

IMPRESSIONS:
Since this shivering syndrome has occurred in people both with and without mental health histories, and since those with mental health histories comprise a large cross-section of diagnoses, I doubt psychological diagnoses are the cause. However, one must be cautious to properly rule out night terrors, perhaps sleep apnea, and certainly panic disorders (difficult, because the shaking syndrome itself can be scary) and a history of trauma. In addition, one must keep in mind that many of the people with mental health diagnoses presented very complex histories. For people with diagnoses, the that complexity itself may be an indication. Even so, I suspect the shivering syndrome could be treated separately from, e.g. trauma, even if trauma somehow caused it. The implication of several SSRIs suggests that seretonin syndrome, other side effects, and/or withdrawal (tapering off, & morning dose wearing off at "troth" levels 12 hours later). That anti-seizure meds have been implicated with symptom improvement may suggest an underlying seizure disorder, or a withdrawal syndrome experienced at troth levels (if taken once a day, and not long acting formulations), or that it is acting as a protective factor for nerve damage. Folks with a family history of diabetes experiencing shaking suggest blood sugar, or other blood level "stuff", such as glucose, may be important factors. The implication so many different things, that of MS is rather sobering, suggests this shivering syndrome may be the direct result of nerve damage, which can be caused by direct injury (car accident), MS, diabetes, the meds for the mood and anxiety disorders, some heart conditions, sleep apnea, and trauma (even without personal injury/insult). On the other hand, perhaps these various diagnoses & conditions somehow make us more subceptable to the shivering. The best indication for treatment seems to be (though limited, as seen in the case of the post of MS & another one I saw about a person with epilepsy) meds that act as neuroprotective factors such as the anti-seizure medications. The most immediate suggestion for a related complication, given that shivering is a limbic response related to other limbic system functions such as sleep and breathing, is that you snore (perhaps related, but not necessarily causal, though Apnea can cause nerve damage if it is bad/chronic enough).

FURTHER DIRECTIONS:
Trauma may somehow "turn on" this shivering response, as it is no doubt capable of influencing sleep. We need shiverer's to supply (not detail but the fact of/kind of) whether we have - as a group - a history of trauma. Insult to the brain could be another source, in particular, left temporal regions & perhaps limbic structures. Those with brain injuries need to supply the nature of their injury compared to at least the side of the body they tend to experience shivering with more. A more frequent thread for a possible etiology is that of (type II) diabetes. Journals with food intake should help clarify whether shivering is related to blood sugar or glucose (or not). Whether or not recent sugar/glucose levels were elevated at the time of the shivering would be useful (within a week, leading to the test, perhaps). I am very curious about the nerve damage theme I presented, which, admittedly, doesn't tell us why or where it would be happening (except in the case of known, non-diffuse injuries). Perhaps it is related to the limbic system, and either caused by or related to sleep apnea (or some other limbic function). The only way to tell is to gather more information. Sleep journals will be the best tool. If you do have apnea, please journal when you wore a CPAP/BIPAP mask (or not) or wore a dental device, related to your symptoms. If you're on meds, journal times/doses. Journal exercise, too. No reason why we cannot crack this thing.

Sincerely,
KeithC.

So true about the doctors. Unless a simple blood culture shows something, they don't know what to do, so they prescribe antidepressant/anxiety meds or send you to a psychiatrist! Really a sad thing in the year of 2008! GOOD doctors, I think, are few and far between. Sorry for what you are going through!

I seem to wake up to my body shaking only when I am at school. It never happens at home. I never shake when I am asleep at home. Can anyone give me an Idea has to why I only shake at school. I am a little scared.

what you could do is go to a search engine, like google (we have become best friends lol) and search astro projection, or out of body experience, that's usually what it can be referred to. i can't think of anything off the top of my head as far as a website, but try that and you will find some interesting things

Check out astro projection if you like, though it will be a red herring (lead nowhere useful), and can in fact deter you from identifying life threatening medical issues which may be responsible for the shivering, such as fever, sleep apnea, seizures, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, thyroid conditions, autonomic failure, Parkinson's disease, and the like.

I prefer to stick with the science, which claims that we are our brain. Change the brain, and an the very "individual" can change in fundamental and profound ways. Under this assumption, out of body experiences are not possible, though consciousness is still certainly capable of feeling like it had such an experience, & it may carry significant spiritual value for the individual who experienced it.

EMDR is a fine suggestion IF the person has a history of trauma. However, we have not even established that waking up with violent shivering is a complication of trauma. Even if we did, it may be one symptom of several other issues, each with distinct treatments. EMDR, for example, will be a waste of time if the shivering is caused by a seizure disorder or any other medical issue. Even if it was due to trauma, we have not established that EMDR would treat the shivering specifically.

The point here is that suggesting treatment is like skipping the first 10 steps. If treatment for some issue helped your shivering, however, then speaking from your own experience IS a significant contribution to this discussion. Perhaps you're already being treated for sleep apnea with a CPAP or BiPAP device, and you're still experiencing the shivering. This kind of personal experience information would be very helpful to point out.

Do meditation regularly to relax your mind first. I think those shakes are because of tension and nervous..
I think meditation helps little bit.

It could be as simple as lack of sugar, when i was shooting i found it dificult to shoot streight until i was told i needed more sugar. it helped. before you go to bed have chocolate and fruit (about an hour before you go to bed).

I don't know if this is the same thing, but sometimes at night while lying in bed, when I am just about to fall asleep, it feels like we are having a mild earthquake or an aftershock. But in reality, it is my body. This can last any where from a few minutes to a few hours. I have never discussed this with my doctor, and I have no idea what causes it. I am on medications, but none of them list this as a symptom.

The first time it happened, I had just fallen asleep, and it woke me up. At first I thought my husband was shaking the bed, but he was fast asleep, and wasn't moving. Then I thought it might be a mild earth tremor, but it was not that either. It was a few moments before I was awake enough to realize that it was my body. Unlike when you get the shivers, this was a slow, consistant tremble of my entire body.

I have searched online, trying to find an answer, but have yet to find anything as I have just descibed. I do not suffer from anxiety, I do not frighten easily, and I do not have a nervous disorder. I am normally a very relaxed, laid back person. If it can't kill me, I don't worry about it. These body trembles only happen occasionally. Maybe once every 7-9 months. I just lie there, and wait for it to stop, and then go back to sleep. If I cannot get back to sleep, then I will get up and do something until I am tired enough to get to sleep.

I do have a sleeping disorder, but I have had that most of my life, and I have only had these body trembles for the past few years. I am in my fifties. If anyone knows anything about this sort of experience, or have had this condition analysed by your doctor, then I would love to hear from you as to the cause. I would like to know what makes my body do this. Thanks.