Feeling a swaying/rocking sensation when lying down in bed

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L_Holmes
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21 Nov 2014, 2:36 am

For as long as I can remember, when I would be in bed trying to fall asleep, I would quite often get the feeling that the bed was swaying, rocking or spinning. It still happens. I figure it must be something to do with my vestibular system, though I don't really know what is happening or why. I always assumed it was probably pretty normal, and it's never been a problem or anything. But I was just feeling that feeling now actually, and now I'm curious to know if anyone else experiences this. I will also sometimes feel dizzy during the day for seemingly no reason. I don't feel light-headed, just strangely off-balance for a short time.


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21 Nov 2014, 2:44 am

No, not really (only after a day at sea or under the influence of alcohol :)), but as a kid and young adult I had those sensations sitting in a chair or going down the hall. I could sit there reading and suddenly feel like I was being centrifugued. I could hardly lift my head. My balance was never super, and I do have days/periods with vertigo, just by moving around or turning my head. I usually touch the wall as I go down stairs. I have heard many aspies telling the same. It may have to do with proprieception as well.


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Last edited by Jensen on 21 Nov 2014, 4:28 am, edited 3 times in total.

LoveforLoki
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21 Nov 2014, 3:49 am

L_Holmes wrote:
For as long as I can remember, when I would be in bed trying to fall asleep, I would quite often get the feeling that the bed was swaying, rocking or spinning. It still happens. I figure it must be something to do with my vestibular system, though I don't really know what is happening or why. I always assumed it was probably pretty normal, and it's never been a problem or anything. But I was just feeling that feeling now actually, and now I'm curious to know if anyone else experiences this. I will also sometimes feel dizzy during the day for seemingly no reason. I don't feel light-headed, just strangely off-balance for a short time.


Holy Moly! I also feel this sensation! I can't believe someone else does as well. I have been trying to describe this to people all my life. When I was little it happened much more, when I was a kid I thought it was demons under my bed, rocking and shaking my bed.

I also feel the dizziness you speak of. When you mention the vestibular system it makes much sense to me because I have never found any explanation for it.


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ChrisP
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21 Nov 2014, 4:18 am

I get it too, exactly like that! I don't get seasick on a ship, but I do in my own bed!



nerdygirl
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21 Nov 2014, 7:21 am

I get this feeling, too, from time to time. I got it more as a kid. But as an adult, I get more slightly dizzy spells. Nothing looks like it is spinning - it just feels like I am gently swaying somehow.

It is almost like that feeling I get when I am up high and imagining falling.



olympiadis
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21 Nov 2014, 1:20 pm

When I notice it, it always seems to have the exact same rhythm as my heart beat, so I would assume that it's just an inner sensitivity to the changes in blood pressure.



Adamantium
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21 Nov 2014, 2:04 pm

Sounds like what I often experience, but mine was more spinning, less rocking. when I was four or five I used to think it had something to do with the planet rotating on its axis. I didn't really start to think it was something in my system until I was a teenager.

When I was a kid I noticed it every time I went to bed. It seemed to become less frequent when I was a teenager but is now back.

I have never seen any other account of it and people I told about it could not relate to it, so it is very interesting to see your description here.



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21 Nov 2014, 2:08 pm

I usually have that feeling when I'm tired (which is most of the time). It gets much worse when I'm ill. I used to worry that the bed was turning upside down and I was going to fall out.

It only happens when I'm lying down, but I do have occasional dizziness.



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21 Nov 2014, 2:09 pm

Yes I get this too....well not so much now, but as a child for sure. It's like being on a great big swing.

I kind of like it.


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nuttyengineer
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24 Nov 2014, 9:51 pm

I'm not quite sure if this is the same thing you are describing or not... but there is a condition known as BPPV that will cause you to get vertigo when you first lay down (and again when you sit up). It's caused by a calcium deposit that breaks loose in your inner ear and presses on a nerve when you shift your head.

I got it back in February... it was a very interesting experience. It's really easy to treat (it just involves tilting your head through a series of motions), but it won't go away on it's own. Also, a surprising number of doctors have actually never heard of it (the first doctor who saw me thought I was having a stroke :roll: ).


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24 Nov 2014, 10:43 pm

It's not the same thing, because I've had both. When I was small, I had the swaying, rocking (not spinning) bed, and after I was grown I've had spells when every time I went from vertical to horizontal, or vice versa, I'd get dizzy. This would go on for days or weeks, happening every time I changed orientation, then go away, sometimes for years, then come back again. This latter, when we were experimenting with different antidepressants for me, the doctor told me was a withdrawal symptom. No big deal, but while it was going on, I didn't dare stand up and walk after lying down, I'd sit on the bed for a while first, long enough for it to go away, because I might be dizzy enough to fall. Whether the older incidences of it were withdrawal from something, I couldn't remember. I know that I am addicted to caffeine, and have been pretty much all my life except for a few months when I deliberately, carefully tapered off, until I was on zero caffeine and still didn't have any sick feelings or migraines. I suppose those periods might have been when some life habit changed. The rocking bed hasn't been back since I was a child. I found it very comforting, like some adult rocking a baby's crib, except that there was no one there and the bed wasn't really moving, and it was after I'd moved from a crib to a real bed in my own room.


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24 Nov 2014, 10:52 pm

I think it has something to do with my inner ears.



IamRob
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25 Nov 2014, 2:27 am

Not sure its the same thing but i have noticed a verry mild tremor sensation or a mild swaying either laying down or standing for periods of time.



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25 Nov 2014, 8:22 am

I have chronic migraines with associated vertigo. I had the OP's problem until I went on a medication for my vertigo, on top of my regular migraine medication. Best get checked out.


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21 Jun 2025, 9:37 pm

nuttyengineer wrote:
I'm not quite sure if this is the same thing you are describing or not... but there is a condition known as BPPV that will cause you to get vertigo when you first lay down (and again when you sit up). It's caused by a calcium deposit that breaks loose in your inner ear and presses on a nerve when you shift your head.

I got it back in February... it was a very interesting experience. It's really easy to treat (it just involves tilting your head through a series of motions), but it won't go away on it's own. Also, a surprising number of doctors have actually never heard of it (the first doctor who saw me thought I was having a stroke :roll: ).


My BPPV went away on its own. It took about four weeks, though, with the "attacks" coming further apart and with much less impact.



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23 Jun 2025, 8:39 am

I've experinced these symtoms before. Sometmes it was related to med side-effects, especially psych meds & other meds that can have side-effects of lowering blood-pressure, tiredness, or CNS Depression(central nervous system depression). As well as sometimes experiencing stress & anxiety for me.


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