I've never had anything like that, but I can power sleep.if it was an olympic sport, I'd be a medal winner. My husband does say that I act out in my sleep now and I never did before..kicking and such it's always associated with whatever I'm dreaming about.

before all this i typically slept 6-7 hours. when I ever had to stay up all night, the next night I needed about 12-13 hour to catch up.

but several years ago before I knew what was going on, I fell asleep on the couch one friday night after work and woke up very early sunday morning. It was a total shock. I didn't even think a person could sleep that long. Now its a pretty regular thing.

Have either of you had sleep studies done? I have twice and found out a few things - I act out my dreams and beat up on my husband. My sleep neurologist said the is REM Sleep Behavior Disorder. Most people are paralyzed when they sleep. I also have sleep apnea, but it is mild, and I can't stand the CPAP, so I don't use it. I also have night terrors during which I can't wake up during a very frightening dream, I happened during my second sleep study and they had to come in and wake me up. I used to power sleep up to 18 hours a few years ago, but I have stopped for some reason. I still hate mornings and I am very hard to wake up.

Be well,

Gabrielle

I had a study done years ago perhaps 20 and was diagnosed with sleep apnea. at the time that cpap changed my life. Ive learned to sleep without it, but not for very long. a couple of nights max. its not good sleep without the cpap but better than before. I have found a position that reduces my sleep apnea but its not a comfortable position and hard to maintain while sleeping and i have to make a conscious effort to get back into it if i get out. thats why its not good for more than a couple of nights. and it requires a good pillow.

I'm still using that machine i started with 20 years ago. freakin thing still works.
whatever is causing my sleep problem is something deeper than sleep apnea. I'm sure if I had night terrors someone would have told me. and i can't recall the last time i had a nightmare. not since my 20s

the only other thing is the pain keeps me moving all night long. whatever part of me in in contact with the bed starts to hurt until is wakes me and i have to turn. I'm like a rotisserie all night long. I don't remember turning most of the time. but my cpap hope can get wrapped around my head and neck

Does anyone find that they are always cold when they are sleeping? I now sleep with about 4 layers of blankets and flannel pajamas and socks. I was waking up a while back with night sweats but that seems to have gone away. Going back a few years, I never used to be cold at night when sleeping. My labs show borderline underactive thyroid, but again the doc's just shrug it off.

Stephen:
My husband had that problem. His blood work showed he was anemic. He also had a bad thyroid. He has had seven back surgeries now. My point bring up the thyroid and back surgeries is he had many things going on at that time too. He got B12 shots monthly for the anemia. I believe it was for 9 months. Have they checked your blood for anemia? He would be sitting on the couch and out he went. I let him sleep. Then he would get up long enough to eat. 7pm would come and he would go to bed until 9am. I had to get him up because I had to eat at 7am because of my stomach and he wanted to be up with me while I and he ate. It took nine months to resolve itself. I was very supportive! He has been there for me with all my illnesses. Please check with your doctor. Okay? We care. Keep us posted.

For the past three or four weeks, I've had a lot of relief from sleep problems-- but I have no idea what caused it.

For the first four or five months of the year, I was literally waking up every hour, and had to keep shifting position, like the rotisserie effect. I also had terrible problems with saliva and snot running into my windpipe, and even the dreaded GERD, sometimes spitting up stomach acid (with blood in it) that would then go down my trachea. Total Jimi Hendrix thing, I described it in another thread, for some reason, my doctor wasn't worried, my wife didn't even wake up-- but the dogs were in a total panic.

Okay, so I switched up sleep meds (Ambien to Lunesta or Zolpidem to Ezopiclone) which helped-- but I could only do that for two weeks, the Lunesta is so freaking expensive. That seemed to help, but the weird thing is, when I switched back to Zolpidem, it started working again.

I still have the Rotisserie-wake-up-paralyzed kind of thing where I don't really feel steady on my feet for an hour or two after waking up. And my level of discomfort in the morning is exactly the same, still having problems playing guitar (though I can do three songs at a coffee house) and my first surf day was kind of a disaster, was wiped out for three days, almost had to miss work.

BUT I am sleeping well for five hours in a row, and then one to three hours of crappy sleep, just about every night.

The difference in the brain fog is huge. I found the remote for my air conditioner-- very important, 105 degrees here yesterday, and the air conditioner is seven feet up on the wall, hard to balance on the step ladder to turn it on. That thing had been missing for weeks. Typing and writing my notes for work much faster.

Still need a nap in the afternoon, but sometimes I can just meditate, or just pass out with the dogs for 20 minutes. Earlier in the year, I'd be lying around for two hours unable to do anything.

I still don't really know what changed. I'm sure getting done with Dad's memorial service and the switch-switch back in medication helped, but that doesn't completely explain it.