Our Story
So many of us were suffering alone. Led down identical paths of misdiagnoses, improper treatments and failed doctor appointments, we decided to join together to formalize. The Hypnic jerk / sleep myoclonus Facebook group was established in July 2017. It was precipitated by discussions between folks who met on The Man Who Cannot Sleep blog.
Our Facebook group now has about 2100 members from all over the world. Newborns, toddlers, and teens are represented by their parents. Our group is growing rapidly, day by day. People are desperate for answers and treatment options.
We now rally together on a path toward greater recognition.
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Meet Tracy Hans,
Founder of Hypnicjerking.com
I spent about 15 years not knowing anyone who had this odd thing that I had no name for. I traveled far and wide in the U.S. in search of ways to address this oftentimes intractable condition.
My hypnic jerking started soon after contracting Lyme disease. A complication was that I was misdiagnosed and treated with steroid for an adrenal condition.
The condition began on a night I slept on a hardwood floor that torqued my neck. This was right after the September 11th attack in New York City and had me breathing in toxic fumes. Additionally, I discovered that I had been living in an apartment affected by mold.
As you can see, my story began with a list of confounding variables that led me on a wild goose chase.
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The Importance of Community
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When I finally met fellow sufferers years later through Facebook, it was a breath of fresh air - a freeing of my life as an anomaly.
Since we’ve linked, we have grown leaps and bounds in identifying people's triggers and probable causes, simply by sharing our health journeys.
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Hypnicjerking.com is a space for those impassioned to get to the bottom of what’s really going on and to find some answers. It’s our fervid attempt to once again have uninterrupted, restorative sleep.