Need help
Question:
It’s 6:00am here on Christmas Eve morning and I have not slept since I woke up Tuesday morning. I have a particular case of insomnia that I can’t find anywhere in all of my research, and when I talk to my doctor he looks at me like I’m nuts. This first started when I was about 18 and I am now 35 and find that it has grown worse. I fall asleep…easily, but I can not transition to REM. My body is what won’t let me. I don’t know if this makes any sense or not, but my arms and my legs feel as if they have taken on a life of their own…or sometimes feel as if they do not exist. Since my brain has not gone into REM yet, it registeres this and snaps me awake. I consider it similar to those who snap awake due to having a falling sensation. I don’t have that sensation… I have the sensation that my body is gone. It’s very painful until I am awake, then I can not figure out what woke me up to begin with. I know this is some sort of phycological pain as it only happens when I lay down and begin to drift off. My Dr. said. No caffeine. So I quit the caffeine. The sleeping disorder continued undisturbed. He decided to put me on prescription sleeping pills. A 2 week supply was all I would need to break the cycle, he told me. Once my body got into the habit of sleeping then it would continue itself. The sleeping pills did not work unless I doubled them. Over the counter sleep aids, my body laughs at. The only thing that my body can not win against is codene. I discovered this 3 years ago when I developed a case of the shingles and in addition to antiviruls, codene was given. I slept. 3 years later, codene is still the only thing that will let my body not do whatever it is that it does. But who has a lifetime supply of codene? I certainly don’t. I took a tylenol with codene on Monday night, and slept till tuesday morning. I have taken nothing since then, and I have not slept since then – not even naps in the afternoon. I try to lay down then and the same thing happens. Is this type of insomnia familiar to anyone? Does it have a name? Is there some supplement my body is missing that is causing it to react this way when I try to sleep? I posted one time before and I got people emailing me telling me I was trying to have an out of body experience. I don’t believe this to be true, and if it is true, it’s not what I want. I want to sleep. I want this to stop. Thanks for any help anyone can offer.
Response:
You did not mention if you have had a full sleep study performed by a recognized sleep lab. If not I would suggest that you get a referral ASAP. If you have already had on, get another at another lab. There is a type of sleep apnea which manifests itself with more extremity jerking and movement than snoring. You may well have such a problem and, from my understanding, you may not need CPAP in order to treat this problem. I believe that there is one medication used now for this isolated problem. However, your leg/extremity movement may well require treatment with a CPAP/BiPAP machine. Once the hypoxia is resolved the body can finally rest. Hope this helps some. R. Brock, CRT, EMT-P Staff Therapist Resp-A-Care (the opinions expressed are mine and not necessarily those of my employer!) Scooby RCP, EMT-P Perinatal-Pediatric Respiratory Specialist This mail is a natural product. The slight variations in spelling and grammar enhance its individual character and beauty and in no way are to be considered flaws or defects.
Response:
Sounds more like periodic limb movement syndrome, or restless leg syndrome than sleep apnea to me Either way, please, go and get a sleep proper study done there could be serveral problems causing your symptoms. Beth in Australia "ScoobyRCP" <scooby…@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20001224090721.10546.00003105@ng-fn1.aol.com… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> You did not mention if you have had a full sleep study performed by a > recognized sleep lab. If not I would suggest that you get a referral ASAP. If > you have already had on, get another at another lab. There is a type of sleep > apnea which manifests itself with more extremity jerking and movement than > snoring. You may well have such a problem and, from my understanding, you may > not need CPAP in order to treat this problem. I believe that there is one > medication used now for this isolated problem. However, your leg/extremity > movement may well require treatment with a CPAP/BiPAP machine. Once the > hypoxia is resolved the body can finally rest. > Hope this helps some. > R. Brock, CRT, EMT-P > Staff Therapist > Resp-A-Care (the opinions expressed are mine and not necessarily those of my > employer!) > Scooby > RCP, EMT-P > Perinatal-Pediatric Respiratory Specialist > This mail is a natural product. The slight variations in spelling and > grammar enhance its individual character and beauty and in no way are to > be considered flaws or defects.
