Insomnia Support Group
Insomnia is a symptom, rather than a disease, and is characterized by inadequate quantity or quality of sleep. People with insomnia complain of difficulty falling or staying asleep, which results in significant impairment of daytime functioning. Insomnia is categorized as transient (shorter than one week), short-term (one to three weeks) or chronic (longer than three...
have any of you heard about insomnia after a brain injury?
i started getting insomnia after a brain injury this year . after the injury i got sudden insomnia. i never had sleep trouble before the injury
i used to be a heavy sleeper. i could sleep with the light on and people talking and i would not wake up. i could sleep through a phone ringing and alarm clock
now i am "sleeping" 3-5 hours a night and many times i cant doze off for nights in a row
i dont know if im sleeping because it feels like i havent slept in months the sleeping i do does not feel like regular sleep or the restfull sleep i used to have
i think my internal clock is broken. what it is called
the insomnia got so bad that i thought i was dying or had fatal insomnia even if it is rare
i got stiff muscles, shaky, at one time i could not doze off for 13 nights in a row at all which i ended up in the er
zero sleep for 2 weeks in a row
i also began having crazy vivid dreams after and started taking valerian to eventually help doze off
i would sometimes wake up during the dream
i went for a sleep study and it showed i could only sleep 3 hours that night and that the rem sleep was reduced. and that i dont have sleep apnea
my doctors have tried to [prescribe me heavy sleeping pills but i dont want to do that
in the last 5 months i only sleep 3-5 hours
but i feel like my brain just shuts off but i dont get good quality sleep. i dont feel well rested
i dont want to be on prescription sleep pills because i have bad reactions to them
also my brain is not done healing from the severe damage. i almost was killed
i had a brain stem injury so i dont want to start playing around with brain medication or psychiatric medication to help me sleep if there is still serious damage and cut axons
i suffered some artery damage in my brain also.
i also have vision and hearing sensitivity and trouble since the injury
and one eye looks different from the other. the first few months it looked cross eyes
any idea or does anyone know about sleep trouble after a brain injury
?
i hate relying on pills.
the only thing that helped is valerian sometimes. melatonin makes things worse
over the counter sleep medication made me feel like i had rabies i got agitated and restless from it
im someone who normally needs 9-10 hours of sleep to function before the injury or atleast 8
now i am sleeping 3-5 hours and that is lucky. but i dont even feel tired either
i miss being able to sleep 7-8 hours it had been many months since
also my mood is more irritable, i cant think as clearly. im getting weird phobias and am not my old self since the sleep trouble
on the days that i dont doze off at all im almost psychotic the next day
also female question i noticed the last 2 months during the time of the month i have more difficult time sleeping the first few nights of the period( maybe hormones)
is that normal for menstrual to make insomnia worse?
do you think im gonna die from this? i havent had a normal night of sleep since the summer
it is weird. im in my 30s and never had insomnia before this
i cant work or go about my day normally because of the sleep trouble and trouble concentrating
the sleep issues started getting worse in august. how would i know if i have the deadly type of insomnia?
i also notice im not able to sweat much or feel the weather when i go outside. like if it is 30 degrees and i go into the backyard with no coat i dont feel much cold
there has also been weird tremors at times.
i started getting insomnia after a brain injury this year . after the injury i got sudden insomnia. i never had sleep trouble before the injury
i used to be a heavy sleeper. i could sleep with the light on and people talking and i would not wake up. i could sleep through a phone ringing and alarm clock
now i am "sleeping" 3-5 hours a night and many times i cant doze off for nights in a row
i dont know if im sleeping because it feels like i havent slept in months the sleeping i do does not feel like regular sleep or the restfull sleep i used to have
i think my internal clock is broken. what it is called
the insomnia got so bad that i thought i was dying or had fatal insomnia even if it is rare
i got stiff muscles, shaky, at one time i could not doze off for 13 nights in a row at all which i ended up in the er
zero sleep for 2 weeks in a row
i also began having crazy vivid dreams after and started taking valerian to eventually help doze off
i would sometimes wake up during the dream
i went for a sleep study and it showed i could only sleep 3 hours that night and that the rem sleep was reduced. and that i dont have sleep apnea
my doctors have tried to [prescribe me heavy sleeping pills but i dont want to do that
in the last 5 months i only sleep 3-5 hours
but i feel like my brain just shuts off but i dont get good quality sleep. i dont feel well rested
i dont want to be on prescription sleep pills because i have bad reactions to them
also my brain is not done healing from the severe damage. i almost was killed
i had a brain stem injury so i dont want to start playing around with brain medication or psychiatric medication to help me sleep if there is still serious damage and cut axons
i suffered some artery damage in my brain also.
i also have vision and hearing sensitivity and trouble since the injury
and one eye looks different from the other. the first few months it looked cross eyes
any idea or does anyone know about sleep trouble after a brain injury
?
i hate relying on pills.
the only thing that helped is valerian sometimes. melatonin makes things worse
over the counter sleep medication made me feel like i had rabies i got agitated and restless from it
im someone who normally needs 9-10 hours of sleep to function before the injury or atleast 8
now i am sleeping 3-5 hours and that is lucky. but i dont even feel tired either
i miss being able to sleep 7-8 hours it had been many months since
also my mood is more irritable, i cant think as clearly. im getting weird phobias and am not my old self since the sleep trouble
on the days that i dont doze off at all im almost psychotic the next day
also female question i noticed the last 2 months during the time of the month i have more difficult time sleeping the first few nights of the period( maybe hormones)
is that normal for menstrual to make insomnia worse?
do you think im gonna die from this? i havent had a normal night of sleep since the summer
it is weird. im in my 30s and never had insomnia before this
i cant work or go about my day normally because of the sleep trouble and trouble concentrating
the sleep issues started getting worse in august. how would i know if i have the deadly type of insomnia?
i also notice im not able to sweat much or feel the weather when i go outside. like if it is 30 degrees and i go into the backyard with no coat i dont feel much cold
there has also been weird tremors at times.
http://www.brainline.org/content/2010/03/sleep-and-traumatic-brain-injury_pageall.html
I hope this helps. Please keep us posted on how you are doing. I am so sorry to hear you are going through such a difficult time.
Your internal clock is sometimes called your circadian rhythm. More accurately, your circadian rhythm that controls sleep is keyed by your inner biologic clock, which responds to a number of environmental cues, especially light, to re-set each day.
Fatal insomnia is an inherited genetic disease. So unless you have a blood relative that's had it (you'd know), the chances of you having this are basically nil. Hope that helps.
Considering your medical history, you might do well to ask your doctor for a referral to a sleep specialist. Meaning a medical doctor who specializes in sleep.
You should be confident that sleep is one of the most basic needs in life, akin to breathing and drinking. Your body will at some point get the sleep it requires regardless of what you do or don't do.
There are many things you can do, however, to help this natural sleep process.
Sleep specialists often use non-drug treatments to address insomnia, particularly CBT or cognitive behavioral therapy, which helps most people who try it.
In your case whatever you do should be closely monitored by your doctors.
good luck to you.