# What the heck is shocking me as I lie in bed? (long-ish) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 5, 2009, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-shocking-me-as-i-lie-in-bed-long-ish/508924 "2009-09-05T00:37:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![icbm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/2acd7d/32.png) [@icbm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/icbm)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-shocking-me-as-i-lie-in-bed-long-ish/508924/21 "2009-09-05T08:27:46Z")
Another vote here for a mis-wired outlet. I’ve lived in an apartment where about half the outlets were incorrectly wired, meaning in the box in the wall where the guts of the outlet are, somebody put the white wire to the brass screw and the black wire to the silver one. In that place, the old, properly wired outlets were still bad because they were too loose to make good connections to the plugs I’d try to use in them. The newer, badly wired outlets held on to the plugs nice and tight but would still try to kill me. Symptoms included being shocked by the outside metal case of some small appliances, (the worst one was in the kitchen: touch the toaster oven and the sink at the same time and you’re in for a bad day) all the way to having an audio effect generator plugged into a bad outlet burn out when its case touched the case of another piece of equipment plugged into a properly wired outlet. Not good times. This page shows a small device that tests the wiring of an outlet. They can be had for under 10$ from a big-box hardware store: > **[Home Electrical Guide: How To Test an Electrical Outlet - ACME HOW TO.com](http://www.acmehowto.com/electrical/outlettest.php)** > > Learn how to use an outlet tester to test an electrical outlet. Do-it-yourself Electrical troubleshooting and repair guide. Use this free guide to diagnose and make electrical repairs around your home. If your outlet is wired the way I am guessing, the tester will indicate something like “Hot / Neutral Reversed”. The outlet tester I own like this has 3 prongs, though, so to test the wiring of older two-prong outlets I have to use a cheap multi-outlet power bar with the round 3rd prong chopped off (and I don’t use it for any other purpose) and plug the tester into the power bar and the power bar into the two-prong outlet. In this case the tester would show “Open Ground” at the same time as “Hot / Neut Reversed”, but the “open ground” indication is not the problem. If there is a wiring problem, call your building’s caretaker or maintenance person. Heck, your caretaker may already have one of those testers, the last and best place I rented at had a Super-Super who came and replaced the old “RAZOR ONLY” outlet in the bathroom with a modern GFCI anti-shock version. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-shocking-me-as-i-lie-in-bed-long-ish/508924/22 "2009-09-05T12:33:37Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > Sleep disorder? > > A few years ago, I had this, periodically. It felt like an electric shock coming through the mattress, and the first few times it happened, I wigged out, checking everything electric near my bed. > > It went away after a few months. > > [Like this](http://ask.metafilter.com/53277/Sleep-Shock). I actually am on the borderline of believing this might be it. Burn mark or no. : p > [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > Unplug every fucking thing in your room. Completely clear it out, if possible, of all electrical cords. Move your mattress to the other side of the room; ensure that the space is completely free and clear of any cords and any appliances whatsoever. Move your bed back to where it was, then begin with an elimination strategy. Plug in one of your appliances, taking care that the cord is completely clear of the bed. If that doesn’t cause the shock, after a night, then plug in another item. Keep up with this until you discover what the shock is being produced by; that is the culprit. If you make sure every cord is completely clear of your bed, the problem should cease. Thank you, I will do this. Seriously, thank you, everyone, for your replies. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-shocking-me-as-i-lie-in-bed-long-ish/508924/23 "2009-09-19T09:35:24Z")
Tonight is terrible so far. I cannot sleep in my own bed. I keep getting a lot of mini-shocks or something. I had no idea what it could be… …until something dawned on me. The apartment complex I live in has recently been giving people who have renewed their lease some bonus gifts to help make them want to stay. Every year they do this. First time it was a security screen door. Second time it was a remodeled sink interface. This last year it was a ceiling fan in any room you choose. I had the sudden sneaky suspicion that the apartment BELOW mine got one put in. In their bedroom…which is below mine (I live on the second floor). I thought about this for awhile as I lay there in bed getting little electrical charges. They weren’t hurting, but they were annoying. I finally got up, lifted my mattress, and studyed every INCH of the floor. Hmmm… …there is an odd CIRCULAR indentation under my mattress that I’m pretty sure was never there before. I tentively touched it and it’s a little spongy. Like the ground underneath it is a little more hollow then that on the outside of the circular indentation. The indentation is about the size of an office water cooler, if it sat on a carpet for months and was then lifted off. The impression it would leave? About the size of this circular indentation. I also could have sworn I heard minor, low humming when I bent my ear down to it to listen. I’m wondering, now, if all the shocks I’ve been getting, the ones that hurt and the ones that are just making my body feel ELECTRICALLY WEIRD are the cause of my neighbor downstairs having a ceiling fan put in his bedroom, and the maintenence guy having put it too far up or something. :dubious: Up enough so that it’s gone into MY bedroom some or far up enough to where the wires and electrical componets of it are hitting me sometimes. Is this possible? If so, why wouldn’t it ALWAYS shock me? Like, on a constant basis? And why would some hurt and some just be really low keyed and just annoying rather than huge? Anyway, it’s a sad time when one is actually scared to sleep in his own bed…but I am right now. I’m moving my mattress, for now, across the room, OFF of the indentation…until I can figure out what in the hell is going on. I plan to call emergency maitenence tomorrow. If they tell me the person below DID/DOES, in fact, have a ceiling fan, I think I’m going to have my answer. If not, I’m back at square one… ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-shocking-me-as-i-lie-in-bed-long-ish/508924/24 "2009-09-19T09:40:59Z")
You seem pretty traumatized by this. I sense a lawsuit in your near future. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-shocking-me-as-i-lie-in-bed-long-ish/508924/25 "2009-09-19T09:41:05Z")
Yes I would vote for bad wiring too. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-shocking-me-as-i-lie-in-bed-long-ish/508924/26 "2009-09-19T12:50:34Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > …there is an odd CIRCULAR indentation under my mattress that I’m pretty sure was never there before. I tentatively touched it and it’s a little spongy. Like the ground underneath it is a little more hollow than that on the outside of the circular indentation. The indentation is about the size of an office water cooler, if it sat on a carpet for months and was then lifted off. The impression it would leave? About the size of this circular indentation. I also could have sworn I heard minor, low humming when I bent my ear down to it to listen. Can you explain this a little more? It sounds like you have carpeting and there’s a circular portion that feels like there is no floor below it. Is this the case? > [@](#): > > If so, why wouldn’t it ALWAYS shock me? Like, on a constant basis? And why would some hurt and some just be really low keyed and just annoying rather than huge? Sometimes they run the fan and other times the don’t. Sometimes when they are running the fan, your bed happens to make better electrical contact with the spot/wires/whatever than at other times. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-shocking-me-as-i-lie-in-bed-long-ish/508924/27 "2009-09-19T13:02:12Z")
Please, keep us informed. I’ve been absolutely obsessed with your situation and wondering how it will turn out!. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-shocking-me-as-i-lie-in-bed-long-ish/508924/28 "2009-09-19T15:10:42Z")
Okay, my electrical engineering knowledge is a little rusty, but is it possible that the rotating magnetic field from the ceiling fan motor below is INDUCING a current in the bed springs? Normally ceiling fans are hung below the ceiling, but what if for space reasons they installed the motor IN the ceiling? And normally beds are elevated a foot or more off the floor, but yours isn’t. So it’s conceivable that your metal bed springs might be only a few inches away from the source of a rapidly changing magnetic field. And when you touch anything that’s grounded while you’re in bed you give the induced current a place to go. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-shocking-me-as-i-lie-in-bed-long-ish/508924/29 "2009-09-19T16:06:23Z")
I had a thought about your situation, but then figured the thread died so didn’t post it. If you bed was truly connected to 110V, then lying on it shouldn’t actually shock you because there’d be no path for the current. It’s like when a bird rests on a high-voltage line. This might change if the voltage is caused by induction (as that would create a voltage _across_ your bed), but overall it sounds a lot more like static (which could be created by a rotating device as well). ---
**Author:** ![TurboNuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f19dbf/32.png) [@TurboNuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TurboNuke)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2009, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-shocking-me-as-i-lie-in-bed-long-ish/508924/30 "2009-09-20T07:38:09Z")
Get a cheap meter to read the voltage… Also you could try grounding your mattress. Get some wire or an extension cord and strip back both ends of the wire and connect one end to the springs in the mattress and the other end to some metal plumbing. This is a temporary fix but should allow you to sleep until you can figure out where the power is coming from. In reallity, you shouldnt sleep on the mattress til you figure this out. 110 volt isnt very dangerous but it could still kill you if youre unlucky. ---
**Author:** ![Oglomott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oglomott/32/3543_2.png) [@Oglomott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oglomott)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-shocking-me-as-i-lie-in-bed-long-ish/508924/31 "2009-09-20T15:14:51Z")
Have a licensed electrician check out the wiring in the bedroom ASAP. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-shocking-me-as-i-lie-in-bed-long-ish/508924/32 "2009-09-22T14:20:08Z")
Posting to subscribe, and also to urge (as others have) you to have the outlet checked. 20ish years ago, I was living in a newly-renovated apartment while on an out of town assignment. I was holding a freshly-washed pan (one of those Corning glass saucepans) that was wet, and I set it down on the stovetop and YOW!!! I called the landlord and yep, the stove was attached to an improperly wired outlet. I think the reason it hadn’t bothered me before then was some combination of the pan never being completely wet when I was using it, and the handle was a good insulator. Good idea on the ceiling fan - can you knock on the downstairs neighbor’s door and ask them about it? Tell them what’s going on with you, and ask if they would mind helping you sleuth this (as in, you get zapped, you call them, they say whether it was running). ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-shocking-me-as-i-lie-in-bed-long-ish/508924/33 "2009-09-23T18:05:26Z")
Of course, the nerve-degeneration theory is still valid. That stuff can feel exactly like electric shocks, because, guess what, electric shocks feel the way they do because they affect nerves. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2009, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-shocking-me-as-i-lie-in-bed-long-ish/508924/34 "2009-10-07T21:03:06Z")
Bumping to see if you have any updates from your electrical sleuthing! Before I bumped, I checked to see if you’d posted anything recently (you have - phew!). ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-shocking-me-as-i-lie-in-bed-long-ish/508924/35 "2009-10-08T03:18:26Z")
This could be a combination of problems. To get a shock you must be between two different voltages - probably 110 and ground. It seems likely (as others have pointed out) that the wall outlet has the hot and neutral sides reversed, which could result in the outside of the fan being hot. How are you being grounded, though? It seems like the mattress itself may be grounded. Normally I would think that a mattress wouldn’t conduct well enough to act as a ground, but perhaps some part of the downstairs ceiling fan installation is poking into a mattress spring. Get your landlord to do something about this **now**. Your apartment is uninhabitable. If the landlord doesn’t respond immediately, you could threaten to call your city’s building inspector. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-shocking-me-as-i-lie-in-bed-long-ish/508924/36 "2009-10-08T03:26:08Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > you could threaten to call your city’s building inspector. That’s when my previous renter quit paying rent. Took a damn long time to evict her. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-shocking-me-as-i-lie-in-bed-long-ish/508924/37 "2009-10-08T04:05:20Z")
Any updates Idle Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![rick1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dc4da7/32.png) [@rick1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rick1)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-shocking-me-as-i-lie-in-bed-long-ish/508924/38 "2009-10-08T23:40:23Z")
body shocks are what you are experiencing, i had them also, they were violent, bringing me out of a deep sleep. either in bed or in the lazy boy near the bed. while going for tests for sleep disorders that were pretty severe for me, the sleep doc said i had a body movement disorder, something like restless leg syndrome, which i thought was a joke, he gave me a drug called requip that quieted the nerves in my body down and that has seemed to solve the problem of the shocks. the shocks are just your body tuning itself down, most people do not have this because their nerves are working in a smooth shutdown way. some of us get these shocks because of some out of sync nerve progression. it isn’t dangerous and usually subsides. but i know how you feel. sometimes i felt like i was being lifted up in the air, they were so violent. you have to go to a sleep disorder neurologist if you want to be taken seriously. i think you can find info on the web about it as well ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-shocking-me-as-i-lie-in-bed-long-ish/508924/39 "2009-10-09T01:58:54Z")
Why do people keep missing the fact that **Idle Thoughts** had burns on his fingers? You don’t get that from a neurological condition. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-shocking-me-as-i-lie-in-bed-long-ish/508924/40 "2009-10-09T03:18:15Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > Why do people keep missing the fact that **Idle Thoughts** had burns on his fingers? You don’t get that from a neurological condition. I don’t think he or she is 100% sure about that. The scenario they describe makes it practically impossible to believe that actual electrical shocks are occurring as cloth makes a pretty good insulator, and 110-120 @ 15 AMPS is not going to be penetrating dry cloth, and the OP describes shocks as coming through or conducting through cloth. It’s a lot more likely it’s a nerve pain or related issue that feels just like an electrial shock. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-shocking-me-as-i-lie-in-bed-long-ish/508924.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-shocking-me-as-i-lie-in-bed-long-ish/508924.md?page=3)