Business History Books » Business Plans » can't sleep well
can't sleep well
Question:
> more hands make lighter work…… i passionately believe that…. noone > should ever ever =ever= be alone with their problems…… one of my > purposes in attending law school and obtaining that education, in > addition to pre med if i can do both, is to get out there and work so > that people have access to things that can help them. i want to help > people break that isolation and get in contact with resources that will > help them. i think its beyond some peoples ability and so they simply > slip thru those cracks. its scary how close -i- am to the cracks. and i > have (or had) a genius iq and college education and a damn hot fighting > spirit.
Geeeeeeeeeeeez! maybe you don’t need those cognitive impairment tests after all 
What can I say, but Wow. Squiggles
Response:
> > well there are actually different types of ’sleep attacks’. > Right, anna what I meant then was "catalepsy" not "narcolepsy" – > you know a lot about this stuff.
i had to read it to stick it to my doctors, and i seem to have a good memory again now that i am sleeping….. this will stand me in good stead in law school }} >> > -sleep attacks- come when you are literally so exhausted that you can > not move another step, and must lie down that instant and sleep. that > was what was happening to me. i slept through appointments, picking up > my daughter from school, burning pots on the stove, leaving the door > unlocked and open late at night, i mean, it was literally dangerous. you > have no control and you cannot wake up. its almost like a coma if it > gets bad enough, and in my case it did. your brain is swinging > uncontrollably into rem state anytime it wants. you have no control in > place to stop it. > Yup, that would be a different thing and the consequence of > just downright insomnia even.
yes. i read about ’sleep attacks’ where they just did a study on regular normal people. they took a group of regular normal people and simply deprived them of ONE HOUR of sleep a night. they only got one hour less of sleep than they were used to. by the end of six days, a small percentage was already having uncontrollable sleep attacks during the day. of those deprived of several hours of sleep, the numbers were far higher. so it doesnt take much. > I was referring mostly to the change in sleep patterns; I > noticed in particular that REM would start just as you hit the > pillow, so that you can come to a start and not be sure if you > are asleep or awake, sort of in a twilight zone between.
yeah that is something different, tho it can certainly lead to sleep attacks if you get exhausted enough. as i understood it, there is like a little part of your brain that acts as a gate-keeper or the shutdown switch on your computer. when you shut down your computer, it does this first, then this, then this, all in order, so the computer is shut down properly and nothing is broken or messed up. similarly, this is what your normally functioning brain will do. first it makes you drowsy…. then your muscles relax.. then you lie down….. then you drift off….. then your muscles are paralysed so you can drift into rem, and eventually into deep resting sleep states. this all happens in a certain order when its happening correctly. when its not, the order is all out of whack and you experience symptoms. one of the tests for narcolepsy actually is how fast the brain enters rem state, from the moment you lie down. it is not normal to flash directly into rem like that, and if you do it fast enough, its considered abnormal and positive for narcolepsy. that upset in the process of ’shutting down’ is what induces the other symptoms of sleep weirdness which are called hypnogogic (sp) hallucinations and sleep paralysis. with these, you seem to ’hallucinate’ becuase you are actually in rem state but the rest of your body is not shut down. this is when you feel like you are going out of your body, astral projection, all of that stuff happens when you are hypnogogically hallucinating. you are in rem but your body is not properly paralysed. or, you experience sleep paralysis, the opposite becuase you feel ‘awake’ but your body is still ‘paralyzed’ from trying to be in deep sleep. its very awful on all counts. this is often when people feel afraid or think they are being attacked by dark figures or scary images around their bed, and cannot move or speak. this can be avoided by not sleeping on your back. it seems that universally they only happen when the sleeper is flat on their back. both those things -can- happen to peopel with healthy sleep…. but are charecteristic of sleep disorders…. so you are pretty right on, what you described sounds a lot like an upset in your sleep mechanism. im glad its gone but keep an eye on it!!! >>> > That’s gruesome. I am glad you have come out of it to be where > you are now. It must have been misery for a long time.
yes it was. like jesus wandering in the desert i guess. it ended up as a very spiritual time eventually… i guess cause of how i am inside…. and certain small lucky things that happened, or good choices i made, or something kept me alive….. i stay resolutely turned toward the light in my own mind. i dont know if that has helped. i have -still- not been tested for brain function or cognitive impairment from that crash. but i know that it changed a lot of stuff in my mind. plus it was a near death thing. those change you ive heard. > interestingly from the apnea standpoint, i know that my sinuses on that > side were crushed, and not fixed. ive wondered if that adds to the > problem. > I’m not sure – apnea has many causes – I would suspect the > medication first.
yeah. grasping at straws….. > Horrid. I think that you are now on the net to tell about it > is a miraculous accomplishment, thought. You are much better and > have surmounted many obstacles to attain level ground. That’s > really good.
sweat and tears, let me say right now. nobody handed me a bit of this. i fought for every scrap. i think that….. i feel as though i have died and been reborn so many times….. maybe thats why im not afraid of normal things sometimes….. maybe that is why i am passionate in protection of this resource, because it has done so much for me….. sometimes i dont know how i keep fighting…… i just have survivor in my blood somehow…. we all must….. more hands make lighter work…… i passionately believe that…. noone should ever ever =ever= be alone with their problems…… one of my purposes in attending law school and obtaining that education, in addition to pre med if i can do both, is to get out there and work so that people have access to things that can help them. i want to help people break that isolation and get in contact with resources that will help them. i think its beyond some peoples ability and so they simply slip thru those cracks. its scary how close -i- am to the cracks. and i have (or had) a genius iq and college education and a damn hot fighting spirit. so.. theres a =big= need for advocacy out there……. > Well, I would certainly like to see your artwork if available > on the net.
my artwork will soon be available again!!!! i havent done a lick since my daughter was born. thats a long break. as soon as any of its out there i will let everyone know. ive already got some stickers in national catalogues…. they dont bring in much $$ yet, but the woman who runs the catalog is a very old friend of mine, and wants to promote me, so she has just recently revived another of my old drawings, colored it in full color, and actually sent it to the grateful dead merchandising people to get it approved for merchandising!! so, we are waiting for final word on that right this second. that would be a wonderful break. she plans to put my sticker if its approved on the cover of the christmas edition….. it is sent to head shops and new age shops all over the country…. so im very excited about that. also, another old benefactor has showed up, a wonderful man that ive known for a good ten years or so. when i first met him, he was already collecting my stuff, (lots of people all over the states and the world already collect my stuff……) and took pity on my starving artist state and wants to assist me as well. he has always bought a shirt or whatever if i needed extra cash. well now, he has just ordered $500 of clothes, sight unseen, paid in advance….. $200 for just one pair of pants. all he wants me to do is decorate the pants. he is willing to pay $200 for this. then i have to come up with another $300 worth of interesting party clothes that he can wear to concerts and out to parties, which is what he wants them for. so that is a big order for me to get going on. this same benefactor, has told me, that he knows of some computer equipment ive been trying to get, about $1500 dollars worth of printer, scanner, and heat press for fabric operations…. he has said that he is definitely open to helping my buy this stuff just to help out my business….. so i figure if i do a really good job on this order, then he may help me with that next step and get me my equipment so i can really start production. i hope ive got this one by the neck. i always did great with my artwork. gotta lot of stories to tell on that front as well…. ) > Sorry.
thanks ) that really =really= means a lot to me. i never hear that usually. usually its, why are you still complaining about that, or anna presented as psychotic today, or no you cant see a neurologist becuase you are crazy and crazy peopel dont have valid medical complaints. so a nice ’sorry’ is a very good thing to hear. > gasp! what hospital where you at and why were they so negligent..
they were negligent cause i couldnt pay! thats medical 101 m’dear. i still need to find the names of the hospitals, since i plan now to obtain my medical records from that time. im sick of waiting for any doctor here to do it. one was in philly (UGH- ARMIPIT TOWN) and the other was in syracuse, ny. needless to say i remember nothing else. > Poor thing. That’s like involutional melancholia or just > downright, grief and resignation.
looking back….. it was really bad. i did, i crumpled up inside…. a part of me almost did die then, or it might as well have. it gave up on trying to live anyway. i dont feel that anymore. i feel a strong fighting spirit to not only live but =win=. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> just have to do the best you can….. > Yup. I think you have come out of it relatively on
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Response:
> well there are actually different types of ’sleep attacks’. the kind > that make you fall down is actually not a sleep attack, but something > else called catalepsy or cataplexy i forget which one, in which you > suddenly lose all muscle tone and cannot hold yourself up. only a > percentage of people with narcolepsy will have this symptom, though a > larger percentage develops it with age. so in that case, you are not > really falling asleep, you are losing control of your muscle tone due to > siezure activity or whatever causes that stuff. that just makes you fall > down and be unable to move for some period of time. this is definitely > the classic narcolepsy image, that we all have, but its actually a lot > more complicated that just falling asleep suddenly or whatever.
Right, anna what I meant then was "catalepsy" not "narcolepsy" – you know a lot about this stuff. > -sleep attacks- come when you are literally so exhausted that you can > not move another step, and must lie down that instant and sleep. that > was what was happening to me. i slept through appointments, picking up > my daughter from school, burning pots on the stove, leaving the door > unlocked and open late at night, i mean, it was literally dangerous. you > have no control and you cannot wake up. its almost like a coma if it > gets bad enough, and in my case it did. your brain is swinging > uncontrollably into rem state anytime it wants. you have no control in > place to stop it.
Yup, that would be a different thing and the consequence of just downright insomnia even. > so there is ‘narcolepsy’ which is one sleep disorder that i researched. > if you have the symptom where you lose all muscle tone and fall down, > then you have an automatic dx of narcolepsy without having brain wave > tests done.
I was referring mostly to the change in sleep patterns; I noticed in particular that REM would start just as you hit the pillow, so that you can come to a start and not be sure if you are asleep or awake, sort of in a twilight zone between. > sometimes its caused by the airwave blockage thing, where a person > cannot sleep becuase they are woken up by their blocked breathing. that > is a totally different thing and cured a different way. sometimes by > siezure activity, which i think mine personally is.
That might be apnea – I used to have that when I was on 2 benzos, but since tapering to a smaller amount, I no longer have that – it may have been the clonazepam itself or it with a combination with Xanax (they are respiratory depressants after all) or those in comination with the lithium. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> if you dont have catalepsy or loss of muscle tone, or an identifiable > breathing problem, then it gets into a grey area. > this is where you can have a sleep disorder and not know it, becuase you > dont display real obvious overt symptoms… but just being tired all > time during the day is enough to be suspicious and investigate…… > so basically, it doesnt have to be narcolepsy, to be a sleep disorder. > there are other sleep disorders than narcolepsy, narcolepsy is very > close to what i have, but what i have isnt cured by the breathing > technique or apnea, it ended up responding to these particular medicines > instead… i was lucky becuase they were the first things i tried.. > thats pretty lucky…. > I would not be surprised if ECT would > have some effect on the area of the brain controlling those > patterns which are set for certain hours. > me neither, not at all. one of the things that made me really suspicious > was that i could no longer wake up at any predictable time in the > morning… that used to be something that i could do. i had completely > lost control over my internal ’sleep clock’. that didnt feel right and > got kinda scary. > I am sorry you had > such a horrible time with the doctors – I swear they just can’t > figure anything out unless they have followed you for a while; > arg. thank you :-}}})))) none of my present doctors has even sent for > the records regarding the accident. its pretty astonishing. f-ckups!!! > sorry…. > I think that plants get more supervision. What is the injury > that caused this?
About your injury: > many years ago i was hit as a pedestrian by a drunk driver going 40 mph > in a parking lot. i had a pretty severe head/face injury, and broke my > collarbone and some other stuff was messed up. the whole left side of my > face and skull was basically caved in by the metal surface of a car > going 40 mph…… it was a radical impact….. they had to do a second > operation to put my bones back in place and they said save my sight in > that eye. at the time i had no insurance, no real job, no shoes. i was > basically homeless. so they knew it and i got rather marginal care, > although im certainly thankful for what i did get.
That’s gruesome. I am glad you have come out of it to be where you are now. It must have been misery for a long time. > interestingly from the apnea standpoint, i know that my sinuses on that > side were crushed, and not fixed. ive wondered if that adds to the > problem.
I’m not sure – apnea has many causes – I would suspect the medication first. > it was pretty traumatic, and a lot of bad things happened cause i didnt > know any better and was too sick and young to do stuff right at the > time. i was 20, and living on the road; i had spent the whole 17th year > in a mental hospital for trying to run away from my ukky home; after > that year my family disowned me and i was on my own…. so after a > lifetime of abuse, then a year of specialised abuse in an institution, > they disown me and set me on the world, alone and with a pile of rather > psychotic ashes for self confidence }
Horrid. I think that you are now on the net to tell about it is a miraculous accomplishment, thought. You are much better and have surmounted many obstacles to attain level ground. That’s really good. > i was already pretty banged up… i already had serious ptsd to the > point of probably psychosis already….. > but i tried to pick it up and was on the east coast, selling my artwork, > making friends and all of that, making money and doing really well…. > we followed the dead tour and thats why we were ‘homeless’.
Well, I would certainly like to see your artwork if available on the net. > i was starting to color my posters and sell them for ten bucks instead > of two, and people were having me sign them, when this guy hit me like > that….. it was so senseless and stupid. he wasnt even old enough to > drive, and the car was stolen and uninsured! arg.
Sorry. > i think if that hadnt happened i would have recovered from the rest of > my life a lot faster…… > after that a very bad combination of things happened. i was incredibly > sick at that time; my boyfriend was taking care of me and our stuff. > since he knew nothing better, and we had nowhere to stay on the east > coast and no money <since we were supporting ourselves with the artwork > which i couldnt do now cuase i had broke my right arm!!!! > bleaagghhhhhh>>, he took me back to the west coast, as soon as my > stitches were out… so no followup care at all….. nothing…… im > pretty sure that i needed some…..
gasp! what hospital where you at and why were they so negligent.. > also i was very freaked out…. and somehow just pretended it didnt > happen i guess and kept on going. everyone else seemed to be doing that > so thats what i did……but it was so psychologically horrible, it was > that straw you know, that broke that back, and i figured inside that > life just didnt want me. life just didnt want me around. there was > nowhere i could go and nothing i could do and be left in peace to > prosper. god truly wouldnt be happy until i was six feet under, and it > was only fortune that in this particular case i had squeaked through.
Yeah, I understand. I would be in despair too; anyone would under those pressures and lack of support socially. Very hard. > at that point i went truly psycho. i believed that all > people/things/events/life itself, wanted me dead. becuase i believed > that the mental hospital people also wanted me dead, i could not go > anywhere there for help. there was nowhere i could go for help. after > about 2 years my boyfriend left me too… he is still my friend and he > tells me now that it looked as though i suddenly ‘crumpled up’ or i > looked like some one that had been ‘beaten’. he said that peopel would > talk to me and i would not even respond. before, i was a dancing > deadhead, always ready for fun and to do fun things. it was some serious > personality changes.
Poor thing. That’s like involutional melancholia or just downright, grief and resignation. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> so there i was with these major personality changes, and suddenly > sleeping constantly, but noone would believe me about it….. those are > both classic stuff that comes with head injuries, especially frontal > lobe ones……. i learned in my research that of the causes of > narcolepsy and other sleep disorders, its thought that 50% originate > with head injuries…. > so i should have gotten treatment for both those symptoms all the way > back then if anyone had been on the ball. but i had noone but myself and > i was sooooo out of it and totally afraid of everyone especially > doctors… and so, i lived in my car and didnt talk to -anyone- about > -anything-. for years. > that is why everything got so bad. all this could have and should have > lot of years of sleep deprivation. let me tell you. > i also found out, that the average age of onset for sleep disorders is > > they kept trying to give me higher
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Response:
Dear Group, I think ECT has something to do with it. I don’t think it’s narcolepsy or sleep consolidation. More help please! Thanks all. Yours Truly, Dominick
Response:
> Dear Group, > I think ECT has something to do with it. I don’t think it’s narcolepsy > or sleep consolidation. More help please! Thanks all. > Yours Truly, > Dominick
Well, more help seems available at ASAP – you’ve lucky; I went there and was treated like a piece of garbage. Hang in there – your case is meritorious. Squiggles
Response:
> anna, and Dominick, > About "sleep consolidators" – I could not find anything under > those key words on the net, but this may be a general guide: > http://sleepdisorders.about.com/library/weekly/aa082199.htm
i might have some of the sites i saw bookmarked still, i will check that out.. > its kind of like you desribed squiggles, when your brain waves are not > right your sleep comes and goes in shallow waves, to the point where you > can hallucinate becuase you are ‘dreaming’ but not ‘unconscious’…. or, > where you feel exhausted and ’sleep’ but are never rested when you wake > up. it can include excessive sleeping or insomnia. the main thing is > your sleep becomes fragmented and loses its ability to get you rested > properly. > That sounds very disruptive of your ability to get well in general.
very definitely… that can cause psychosis and such in and of itself…. just from sleep deprivation over extended periods of time….. > Yes, the daily attacks are called narcolepsy I think – and they > are kinds of fits, I think and they come with different electrical > activity in the brain.
well there are actually different types of ’sleep attacks’. the kind that make you fall down is actually not a sleep attack, but something else called catalepsy or cataplexy i forget which one, in which you suddenly lose all muscle tone and cannot hold yourself up. only a percentage of people with narcolepsy will have this symptom, though a larger percentage develops it with age. so in that case, you are not really falling asleep, you are losing control of your muscle tone due to siezure activity or whatever causes that stuff. that just makes you fall down and be unable to move for some period of time. this is definitely the classic narcolepsy image, that we all have, but its actually a lot more complicated that just falling asleep suddenly or whatever. -sleep attacks- come when you are literally so exhausted that you can not move another step, and must lie down that instant and sleep. that was what was happening to me. i slept through appointments, picking up my daughter from school, burning pots on the stove, leaving the door unlocked and open late at night, i mean, it was literally dangerous. you have no control and you cannot wake up. its almost like a coma if it gets bad enough, and in my case it did. your brain is swinging uncontrollably into rem state anytime it wants. you have no control in place to stop it. so there is ‘narcolepsy’ which is one sleep disorder that i researched. if you have the symptom where you lose all muscle tone and fall down, then you have an automatic dx of narcolepsy without having brain wave tests done. if you dont have that symptom, then the next main symptom is being tired all the time during the day. there could however be lots of different reasons for this. sometimes its caused by the airwave blockage thing, where a person cannot sleep becuase they are woken up by their blocked breathing. that is a totally different thing and cured a different way. sometimes by siezure activity, which i think mine personally is. if you dont have catalepsy or loss of muscle tone, or an identifiable breathing problem, then it gets into a grey area. this is where you can have a sleep disorder and not know it, becuase you dont display real obvious overt symptoms… but just being tired all time during the day is enough to be suspicious and investigate…… so basically, it doesnt have to be narcolepsy, to be a sleep disorder. there are other sleep disorders than narcolepsy, narcolepsy is very close to what i have, but what i have isnt cured by the breathing technique or apnea, it ended up responding to these particular medicines instead… i was lucky becuase they were the first things i tried.. thats pretty lucky…. I would not be surprised if ECT would > have some effect on the area of the brain controlling those > patterns which are set for certain hours.
me neither, not at all. one of the things that made me really suspicious was that i could no longer wake up at any predictable time in the morning… that used to be something that i could do. i had completely lost control over my internal ’sleep clock’. that didnt feel right and got kinda scary. I am sorry you had > such a horrible time with the doctors – I swear they just can’t > figure anything out unless they have followed you for a while;
arg. thank you :-}}})))) none of my present doctors has even sent for the records regarding the accident. its pretty astonishing. f-ckups!!! sorry…. > I think that plants get more supervision. What is the injury > that caused this?
many years ago i was hit as a pedestrian by a drunk driver going 40 mph in a parking lot. i had a pretty severe head/face injury, and broke my collarbone and some other stuff was messed up. the whole left side of my face and skull was basically caved in by the metal surface of a car going 40 mph…… it was a radical impact….. they had to do a second operation to put my bones back in place and they said save my sight in that eye. at the time i had no insurance, no real job, no shoes. i was basically homeless. so they knew it and i got rather marginal care, although im certainly thankful for what i did get. interestingly from the apnea standpoint, i know that my sinuses on that side were crushed, and not fixed. ive wondered if that adds to the problem. it was pretty traumatic, and a lot of bad things happened cause i didnt know any better and was too sick and young to do stuff right at the time. i was 20, and living on the road; i had spent the whole 17th year in a mental hospital for trying to run away from my ukky home; after that year my family disowned me and i was on my own…. so after a lifetime of abuse, then a year of specialised abuse in an institution, they disown me and set me on the world, alone and with a pile of rather psychotic ashes for self confidence } i was already pretty banged up… i already had serious ptsd to the point of probably psychosis already….. but i tried to pick it up and was on the east coast, selling my artwork, making friends and all of that, making money and doing really well…. we followed the dead tour and thats why we were ‘homeless’. i was starting to color my posters and sell them for ten bucks instead of two, and people were having me sign them, when this guy hit me like that….. it was so senseless and stupid. he wasnt even old enough to drive, and the car was stolen and uninsured! arg. i think if that hadnt happened i would have recovered from the rest of my life a lot faster…… after that a very bad combination of things happened. i was incredibly sick at that time; my boyfriend was taking care of me and our stuff. since he knew nothing better, and we had nowhere to stay on the east coast and no money <since we were supporting ourselves with the artwork which i couldnt do now cuase i had broke my right arm!!!! bleaagghhhhhh>>, he took me back to the west coast, as soon as my stitches were out… so no followup care at all….. nothing…… im pretty sure that i needed some….. also i was very freaked out…. and somehow just pretended it didnt happen i guess and kept on going. everyone else seemed to be doing that so thats what i did……but it was so psychologically horrible, it was that straw you know, that broke that back, and i figured inside that life just didnt want me. life just didnt want me around. there was nowhere i could go and nothing i could do and be left in peace to prosper. god truly wouldnt be happy until i was six feet under, and it was only fortune that in this particular case i had squeaked through. at that point i went truly psycho. i believed that all people/things/events/life itself, wanted me dead. becuase i believed that the mental hospital people also wanted me dead, i could not go anywhere there for help. there was nowhere i could go for help. after about 2 years my boyfriend left me too… he is still my friend and he tells me now that it looked as though i suddenly ‘crumpled up’ or i looked like some one that had been ‘beaten’. he said that peopel would talk to me and i would not even respond. before, i was a dancing deadhead, always ready for fun and to do fun things. it was some serious personality changes. so there i was with these major personality changes, and suddenly sleeping constantly, but noone would believe me about it….. those are both classic stuff that comes with head injuries, especially frontal lobe ones……. i learned in my research that of the causes of narcolepsy and other sleep disorders, its thought that 50% originate with head injuries…. so i should have gotten treatment for both those symptoms all the way back then if anyone had been on the ball. but i had noone but myself and i was sooooo out of it and totally afraid of everyone especially doctors… and so, i lived in my car and didnt talk to -anyone- about -anything-. for years. that is why everything got so bad. all this could have and should have lot of years of sleep deprivation. let me tell you. i also found out, that the average age of onset for sleep disorders is > they kept trying to give me higher and higher doses of antidepressant, > thinking i was sleeping cause i was still depressed. that is the trap, > right there. > Sigh. I take it you mean a number of different doctors, or a team, > or serial doctoring?
yes. very very bad stuff. > OK – maybe the names of those "consolidating drugs" would help > Dominick – maybe they are hormones?
no, they are very simple in my case, the first ones i tried i responded to, it didnt require anything fancy and id say im a hardcore case. only … read more »
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > kLONOPIN ISN’T THE PROBLEM >> Dear Group, >> Sorry to repeat. I have an awful case of insomnia. It takes me 3+ >> hours to fall asleep. A few hours later, I wake up, and I have a hard >> time falling back asleep. I take the following medications: >> Remeron, 30 mg >> Klonopin, 2 mg >> at bedtime. What should I do? Are medications keeping me awake? >> Thanks all. >> Yours Truly, >> Dominick >When you do fall asleep, do you sleep for a long time? >Squiggles
OK – sorry about that Dominick – i noticed you sleep a few hours; if it is any help, i had something like a withdrawal seizure recently, and for a month my sleep came in strange waves – lasting shortly, and with headache…. but eventually that went away…. and maybe it will for you too… I hope. I think the drugs you take should HELP you sleep, not the contrary. best wishes Squiggles
Response:
> OK – sorry about that Dominick – i noticed you sleep a few hours; > if it is any help, i had something like a withdrawal seizure > recently, and for a month my sleep came in strange waves – lasting > shortly, and with headache…. but eventually that went away…. > and maybe it will for you too… I hope. I think the drugs > you take should HELP you sleep, not the contrary.
they should help him sleep if his only problem is getting drowsy….. he may need more than that if his brain is not entering the proper states.. you need different drugs for that, they are called ’sleep consolidators’…. its kind of like you desribed squiggles, when your brain waves are not right your sleep comes and goes in shallow waves, to the point where you can hallucinate becuase you are ‘dreaming’ but not ‘unconscious’…. or, where you feel exhausted and ’sleep’ but are never rested when you wake up. it can include excessive sleeping or insomnia. the main thing is your sleep becomes fragmented and loses its ability to get you rested properly. by the time i finally got them to listen to me about it, my sleep was so shallow and fragmented, that my mind could not distinguish what had happened in real life and what i had dreamed. my conscious mind could not make that distinction. i was walking around all day in REM, if i could get my ass out of bed, and at night, i was only half in REM. so i was never really awake, and never really asleep. it was FUCKED UP. so my cognition was gone, my functioning was gone, and also i had uncontrolled sleep attacks any time of day, where i would be so exhausted i would simply fall down where i stood. these were what made it impossible for me to do anything. but no matter how much i slept, how many hours, i would wake up just as torturously tired as ever. it was TORTURE. torture, i say. this went on for many years. thats how far they let my situation disintegrate, even though i told them over and over the sleep problems began right after the injury, blah blah, it had to get that bad before i could make them listen to me about it. ps. dont let that happen to you! they kept trying to give me higher and higher doses of antidepressant, thinking i was sleeping cause i was still depressed. that is the trap, right there. i was =finally= able to prove that even though the mood had largely broken, and i was feeling alright, and was already taking the highest possible dose of the ad i was on, and he wanted to give me even more, i finally forced him to consider giving me specific medicines to CONSOLIDATE MY SLEEP. since going on those, i have been able to taper down the ad’s and actually am tapering completely off them right now! so, more ad’s was totally the wrong way to go. i could have od’d on them and my sleep would not have changed. literally the right medicines changed my life. the very first night, i slept all night, the very first day, i was awake all day. that sounds kinda simple but when you are used to living in a haze where you are walking around half in a dream and half so exhausted you cannot see in front of you, and you sleep all day cuase you are so exhausted, and still at night you have horrible insomnia and can never be rested, and its totally out of your control =completely=, just a simply solid nights sleep, and a solid days activity, with no bone numbing exhaustion, no hallucinations, no memories that i cant tell if they really happened or not, was like a blessing straight from god. i still feel that way every single day, since i sleep like a baby all night long, and i wake up in the morning and i feel different. before i just felt the same all the time. insanely, ungodly, exhausted. now i actually feel as if something happened to me during the night that was healthy for me and did something good for my brain. imagine that! so, i recommend these things. i think the most common indicator of something of this nature is that you are exhausted or excessively tired during the day. just insomnia by itself doesnt mean a sleep fragmentation disorder. to see if this applies to you we would have to look closer at your sleep patterns as a whole and overall, which id be glad to help you do……. good luck anna > best wishes > Squiggles
– blackbird singin in the dead of night take these broken eyes and learn to see all your life you were only waiting for this moment to be free ~
Response:
> they should help him sleep if his only problem is getting drowsy….. he > may need more than that if his brain is not entering the proper states.. > you need different drugs for that, they are called ’sleep > consolidators’….
anna, and Dominick, About "sleep consolidators" – I could not find anything under those key words on the net, but this may be a general guide: http://sleepdisorders.about.com/library/weekly/aa082199.htm > its kind of like you desribed squiggles, when your brain waves are not > right your sleep comes and goes in shallow waves, to the point where you > can hallucinate becuase you are ‘dreaming’ but not ‘unconscious’…. or, > where you feel exhausted and ’sleep’ but are never rested when you wake > up. it can include excessive sleeping or insomnia. the main thing is > your sleep becomes fragmented and loses its ability to get you rested > properly.
That sounds very disruptive of your ability to get well in general. > by the time i finally got them to listen to me about it, my sleep was so > shallow and fragmented, that my mind could not distinguish what had > happened in real life and what i had dreamed. my conscious mind could > not make that distinction. i was walking around all day in REM, if i > could get my ass out of bed, and at night, i was only half in REM. so i > was never really awake, and never really asleep. it was FUCKED UP.
Yeach. I worship the ability to sleep, and when my sleep was disorderd due to that "seizure" I was very much afraid I would not return to normal. > so my cognition was gone, my functioning was gone, and also i had > uncontrolled sleep attacks any time of day, where i would be so > exhausted i would simply fall down where i stood. these were what made > it impossible for me to do anything. but no matter how much i slept, how > many hours, i would wake up just as torturously tired as ever. it was > TORTURE. torture, i say. this went on for many years. thats how far they > let my situation disintegrate, even though i told them over and over the > sleep problems began right after the injury, blah blah, it had to get > that bad before i could make them listen to me about it. ps. dont let > that happen to you!
Yes, the daily attacks are called narcolepsy I think – and they are kinds of fits, I think and they come with different electrical activity in the brain. I would not be surprised if ECT would have some effect on the area of the brain controlling those patterns which are set for certain hours. I am sorry you had such a horrible time with the doctors – I swear they just can’t figure anything out unless they have followed you for a while; I think that plants get more supervision. What is the injury that caused this? > they kept trying to give me higher and higher doses of antidepressant, > thinking i was sleeping cause i was still depressed. that is the trap, > right there.
Sigh. I take it you mean a number of different doctors, or a team, or serial doctoring? > i was =finally= able to prove that even though the mood had largely > broken, and i was feeling alright, and was already taking the highest > possible dose of the ad i was on, and he wanted to give me even more, i > finally forced him to consider giving me specific medicines to > CONSOLIDATE MY SLEEP. since going on those, i have been able to taper > down the ad’s and actually am tapering completely off them right now! > so, more ad’s was totally the wrong way to go. i could have od’d on them > and my sleep would not have changed.
OK – maybe the names of those "consolidating drugs" would help Dominick – maybe they are hormones? – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> literally the right medicines changed my life. the very first night, i > slept all night, the very first day, i was awake all day. that sounds > kinda simple but when you are used to living in a haze where you are > walking around half in a dream and half so exhausted you cannot see in > front of you, and you sleep all day cuase you are so exhausted, and > still at night you have horrible insomnia and can never be rested, and > its totally out of your control =completely=, just a simply solid > nights sleep, and a solid days activity, with no bone numbing > exhaustion, no hallucinations, no memories that i cant tell if they > really happened or not, was like a blessing straight from god. i still > feel that way every single day, since i sleep like a baby all night > long, and i wake up in the morning and i feel different. before i just > felt the same all the time. insanely, ungodly, exhausted. now i > actually feel as if something happened to me during the night that was > healthy for me and did something good for my brain. imagine that!
That’s very impressive – what are the drugs? > so, i recommend these things. > i think the most common indicator of something of this nature is that > you are exhausted or excessively tired during the day. > just insomnia by itself doesnt mean a sleep fragmentation disorder. to > see if this applies to you we would have to look closer at your sleep > patterns as a whole and overall, which id be glad to help you do…….
Also, maybe there are sleep doctors – seems to me if someone has had ECT – the repercussions should be anticipated; on the other hand I don’t believe anyone noticed I had a seizure, even though I recognized the electrical activity and the "crack" in my head, and the loss of memory for 20 minutes, not to mention inability to walk straight for a month and those sleep waves things, sweating etc. No, the doctor said over the phone "that doesn’t sound like a seizure" – and the emergency doc did a "walk, raise your arms – light in the eyes" kind of test… both thought withdrawal — but I think without an MRI or EEG it could not be rightly concluded. So, as I said, it’s tough for the medical profession today because they are overloaded and it’s tough for us too. On the other hand I may be wrong – but I really don’t think so in this case. take care Squiggles —–>> – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> blackbird singin in the dead of night > take these broken eyes and learn to see > all your life > you were only waiting for this moment to be free ~
Response:
Dear Group, Sorry to repeat. I have an awful case of insomnia. It takes me 3+ hours to fall asleep. A few hours later, I wake up, and I have a hard time falling back asleep. I take the following medications: Remeron, 30 mg Klonopin, 2 mg at bedtime. What should I do? Are medications keeping me awake? Thanks all. Yours Truly, Dominick
Response:
> Dear Group, > Sorry to repeat. I have an awful case of insomnia. It takes me 3+ > hours to fall asleep. A few hours later, I wake up, and I have a hard > time falling back asleep. I take the following medications: > Remeron, 30 mg > Klonopin, 2 mg > at bedtime. What should I do? Are medications keeping me awake? > Thanks all. > Yours Truly, > Dominick
When you do fall asleep, do you sleep for a long time? Squiggles
Response:
kLONOPIN ISN’T THE PROBLEM – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Dear Group, > Sorry to repeat. I have an awful case of insomnia. It takes me 3+ > hours to fall asleep. A few hours later, I wake up, and I have a hard > time falling back asleep. I take the following medications: > Remeron, 30 mg > Klonopin, 2 mg > at bedtime. What should I do? Are medications keeping me awake? > Thanks all. > Yours Truly, > Dominick >When you do fall asleep, do you sleep for a long time? >Squiggles