Do You Have a Sleep Disorder?

lc07 · December 2014

I'm kind of a nutbag when it comes to sleep. I have Restless Leg Syndrome, Insomnia, and Hypnagogic as well as Hypnopompic Sleep Paralysis. So, sleep is such a pain in the butt. Sleep medications: over the counter and prescription do not help even a tiny bit. (Last night I tried the bar of soap in the bed thing - no joke - for RLS). While it's annoying as Hell, I also sort of find all things related to sleep and dreaming really interesting. Are you a normal sleeper?

themuffinman16 · December 2014

Mine is not a diagnosed sleep disorder, but it can't be normal. I have to sleep with my hands beneath the sheets at all times. Otherwise, the rats will come and bite my fingers. I will wake up if my hands are above the sheets. Also.... I don't have rats. My phobia knows no reasoning, lol.

luckya23 · December 2014

I don't, but I think FI has sleep apnea.

AddieCake · December 2014

Other than being a freakishly light sleeper (my alarm used to be ocean sounds), I believe I'm a normal sleeper.

novella1186 · December 2014

I've never been a good sleeper. I remember as a little kid I could never fall asleep, and it would give me a lot of anxiety, so I would get out of bed to go tell my mom, and she would just say "If you hold still and close your eyes you'll fall asleep!" No one I know has the same issues, so no one takes me seriously. They act like I'm purposely staying awake, or I'm "just not trying hard enough" to fall asleep. Ok, sure.

But yeah, even if I do happen to fall asleep, I wake up about 1,000 times for no reason, plus I'm a really light sleeper. My doctors have prescribed all kinds of stuff and none of it works. Neither do any of the over-the-counter drugs, natural sleep remedies, vitamins, herbal teas, etc etc etc etc. Oh well.

CMGragain · December 2014

DH has severe sleep apnea. He was in denial for years until I finally persuaded him to go for a sleep study. He came home snarling, "It was a waste of time! I didn't sleep a wink. I'll have to do it all over again. I hate it!"
The doctors office called him two days later. "Sir, to qualify for having a sleep disorder, you must have 30 episodes in one hour. You slept for six hours, and you had an average of 93 episodes per hour."
When DH saw the numbers on his oxygen levels, he was shocked. He has been sleeping with a bi-pap machine ever since, and now he is rested when he wakes up in the morning,

JCbride2015 · December 2014

I often have trouble falling asleep and I get up frequently during the night. I think it was worse as a child. I've found that a steady exercise schedule helps. Several doctors have suggested prescription meds but I really don't want to go that route. I've mostly learned to function. Meanwhile my dad found out in his 40s that he has a rare form of sleep apnea (neural, not a physical block). He's like a different person once he started sleeping with the apnea machine.

larrygaga · December 2014

I get sleep paralysis and night terrors and a butt ton of nightmares. I also often wake up and see spiders crawling all over me or falling on me or men standing over my bed. Poor FI has woken up to me so many times to me screaming I think I traumatized him.

mrscomposer · December 2014

It takes me a ridiculously long time to fall asleep, too, but nothing serious.

J has sleep apnea, and has a CPAP machine which has done absolute wonders for him being rested and actually able to function throughout the day. Upsides? No snoring with the mask on. Downsides? He snores until he puts it on (and there's a DEFINITE difference between healthy snoring and unhealthy snoring). Nine times out of ten, this is our middle-of-the-night routine, spaced several minutes apart because he'll fall asleep again:

*loving pat* "Babe, please put your mask on"
*poke* "J, put your mask on"
*punch* "J, put your damn mask on!"

mikenberger · December 2014

I snore, no apnea and I sleep hard. But poor sweet FI. He is the lightest sleeper. He takes forever to fall asleep and snores as well. Sometimes he has to go to the guest room for sleep lol

I talked to my mom about it and I found out why I sleep the way I do (super hard - like a real life tornado didn't wake me up.) She used to vacuum under my crib lol she didn't want me waking up when I was a baby and my parents were entertaining so she used to be loud on purpose while I slept to "train" me. She apparently read it in some book. Thanks late 70s!!

climbingsingle · December 2014

I'm a very light sleeper. I tend to have night terrors when I'm very stressed out. I also grind my teeth. And since my brain doesn't ever stop, I take half of a klonopin before bed. Otherwise I'd be up all night.

RebeccaB88 · December 2014

Sleep apnea, but it's much better since my surgery. I can't use a CPAP.

lc07 · December 2014

larrygaga said:

I get sleep paralysis and night terrors and a butt ton of nightmares. I also often wake up and see spiders crawling all over me or falling on me or men standing over my bed. Poor FI has woken up to me so many times to me screaming I think I traumatized him.

When I feel a presence in the room due to sleep paralysis it's almost always a good presence - like my mom or my ex-H. It's very rarely a bad presence although that has happened and can be pretty scary. I've never experienced anything like spiders. That sounds horrible.

ClimbingBrideNY said:

I'm a very light sleeper. I tend to have night terrors when I'm very stressed out. I also grind my teeth. And since my brain doesn't ever stop, I take half of a klonopin before bed. Otherwise I'd be up all night.

Xanax actually does help me sleep like a dream, but I'm worried about addiction so I got off of it. I do miss it.

hellosweetie1015 · December 2014

I have really realistic, vivid dreams, to the point where I have to convince myself that they aren't real before I can go back to sleep. It doesn't help that I can think of a couple of times where they've "come true" within a few days - hours, in one instance. If they're good dreams, I'm always a little let down to be back in the real world, but they're usually not good dreams. For instance, my best friend died about eight years ago in a single-car accident, and for about six months after that I was lucky to get 8-10 hours a week of sleep, and almost every time I did sleep I woke up in tears and had to text someone to make sure they hadn't died in a car wreck.

Eta: I'm sleeping better, although I do inexplicably wake up in the middle of the night most nights. Still having vivid dreams, but it's been a long time since I had to text someone to make sure they hadn't died.

lurkergirl · December 2014

I grind my teeth really badly when I'm stressed (I'm never aware of it, but I've woken up FI with the sound before), and I have to read or watch TV to distract my mind to fall asleep, but no real disorder, I don't think. I have a nearly perfect 8-hr body clock. I typically sleep for 6-7 with an alarm, but without an alarm, it's just 8. Last night I fell asleep early, and I was wide awake at 6 this morning. Even though it was still dark, I could not fall back asleep.

I usually have dreams about what's going on in my life. I have had bad dreams about FI and been mad at him IRL the next day, which I realize is insane. Also, if I see a snake, even on TV, there is like a 90% chance that I will have a snake nightmare. When I was going through a rough time, I had tons of drowning and falling dreams (and one where they were combined!).

larrygaga · December 2014

lc07 said:

larrygaga said:

I get sleep paralysis and night terrors and a butt ton of nightmares. I also often wake up and see spiders crawling all over me or falling on me or men standing over my bed. Poor FI has woken up to me so many times to me screaming I think I traumatized him.

When I feel a presence in the room due to sleep paralysis it's almost always a good presence - like my mom or my ex-H. It's very rarely a bad presence although that has happened and can be pretty scary. I've never experienced anything like spiders. That sounds horrible.

ClimbingBrideNY said:

I'm a very light sleeper. I tend to have night terrors when I'm very stressed out. I also grind my teeth. And since my brain doesn't ever stop, I take half of a klonopin before bed. Otherwise I'd be up all night.

Xanax actually does help me sleep like a dream, but I'm worried about addiction so I got off of it. I do miss it.

I pretty much have no fear of spiders anymore. They only swarm over your sleeping body so many times before they lose the creepy factor.

Cookie Pusher · December 2014

I am a fantastic sleeper. I fall asleep almost the instant my head hits the pillow, and I sleep straight through until my alarm. On weeknights, the 6-7 hours I get are more than enough to get me through the day (less than that, though, and I get a bit sleepy by mid-day or need a short nap after work). I sleep very soundly, so I'm not disturbed by DH getting ready in the morning nearly 2 hours before I have to get up. If I don't have to get up at a specific time, I naturally sleep 8-10 hours but have been known to occasionally lounge in bed for 12+ hours and nap on and off. I very rarely remember my dreams and don't seem to have much in the way of nightmares. I also pretty much don't move once I lay down. I might roll over once or twice through the night but it's all pretty much all in the same spot. And yes, most people I know with sleep issues hate me.

jdluvr06 · December 2014

I have trouble falling asleep and I end up staying up most of the night so I guess I have insomnia.

huskypuppy14 · December 2014

It takes me a little while to fall asleep too, but it was definitely worse as a kid. I think it's because my parents would make me go to bed so early, and I wasn't tired. I used to read at night with a flashlight.

Now, I usually have to listen to the TV to fall asleep, unless I'm really tired. Once I'm asleep, I'm usually asleep hard.

I also grind my teeth, but it didn't bother my sleeping, but I've broken a couple teeth. I now wear a night guard.

raissyrais · December 2014

It takes me a little longer than usual to fall asleep, but once asleep I can sleep straight through for 7 hours and more if I was really tired. But I'm somewhat of a light sleeper, so can wake up easily. When I'm super anxious or excited about something, then I wake up a few times throughout the night.

KytchynWitche · December 2014

I used to suffer from insomnia and sleep paralysis. I was on medication for a long time, that didn't really do much, but did at least let me grab a few hours of sleep so I wasn't a total zombie.

I went off the medication (financial issues) about a year before I met DH, and just dealt with things as they came. Then about a week after I moved in with him, everything just stopped. It's like he's a lullaby and a security blanket and everything all rolled into one!

levioosa · December 2014

I don't have a diagnosed sleep disorder, but I strongly suspect insomnia. I take forever to fall asleep, if I do fall asleep I wake up frequently, and then it's impossible to fall back asleep. I'm never rested. I think my sleep rhythm might be off, because I am exhausted all day and then inexplicably wake up from 11pm-4 am. If I see any kind of light when I wake up in the middle night I'm screwed. I get the most work done in the middle of the night, but unfortunately at this point in my life, I need to be most aware and awake during the day.

Taking melatonin helped a lot. I also take magnesium for a heart condition, and the combo has seemed to really help in the last six months.

Blergbot · December 2014

Sorry for the novel...

Oh man, don't get me started...I feel like I have the one sleep disorder to rule them all.

The insomina, coupled with difficulty waking up in the morning, started when I was a toddler. It progressed from there, but became really debilitating once I hit puberty. I would lie awake in bed for hours, then, the next morning, my mom went through the tourtures of the damned to get me out of bed for school. Sometimes I would even respond to her, hold a conversation with her, and then have no rcolection of said converstion. In 8th grade I started falling asleep during class. I could feel the sleep coming on and I would do everything in my power to stay awake, but eventually I would lose out to sleep, often falling asleep with my eyes open. I was also tired. all. the. time.

Finally went to sleep doctor who said I had Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome, a circadian rythym disorder, and there was't much he could do about it. I could try light therapy (did that and I would just fall asleep in front of the light) I could try resetting my entire sleep cycle (which he warned was difficult, would take two weeks out of my life, and any mess up (like sleeping for an extra half hour one day) would mean I'd have to start the whole process over again.) tried it to not much avail.

Basically my body wants to run on a completely different time schedule as everybody else, and while some people's circadian rythyms are flexible (like people who can do shift work), mine are intractable. During times of stress my insomia worsens and I basically either have to sleep all day or become a walking zombie.

There was a bit of a solution we found my last year in high school. I could take a stimulent, such as adderall in order to stay awake in class. This usually worked, however, I typically had an even harder time falling asleep and getting up in the morning was still a bitch.

When I went to college I tried to schedule as many classes in the afternoons as possible, but that didn't always work out. My mom was no longer there to wake me up, so often times I would sleep through my alarm or hit the button without having any memory of doing so. So I'd miss classes and appointments. Many people lost faith in me or simply didn't understand and thought I was lazy or a flake. Roomates who had been eager to help out in the begining soon grew frustrated and gave up.

After college was even worse. Trying to hold down jobs was incredibly difficult. The kinds of thing I was good at/wanted to do all required that I work a "normal" schedule. I eventually found a retail job starting at 11am, which led to only minimal problems, and went to a grad program part time.

I eventually decided I suck at retail and that my feet and back couldn't take it anymore, and I wasn't happy with my grad program. So I moved in with my dad, took an internship and did a little box office work in the evenings. Then I joined a full-time grad program, in which most classes were in the afternoon or evening. I messed up majorly once due to a 9am meeting, and the relationship with my

Advisor never recovered. I finished that program, and found myself being sabotoged in my job search by my advisor. There were already very few jobs in my field to be had, so I wound up in another grad program where I had to teach. Luckily I'd learned to be upfront about my limitations, and got preference for classes starting a bit later.

Around this time I was going through some serious depression (which I've also dealt with since I was a small child.) In addition to my regular antidepressant, my doc prescribed me an add-on called Abilify. I couldn't believe it, but literally a few days later I was getting up at 7 or 8am! I stopped taking Adderall. I did still need to take Ambien, for my insomnia, but that was also much more effective, since I wasn't taking a stimulent, which counteracted the ambien. It's no longer as amazing as the early days on the drug. I CAN get up at 8, but it's much easier for me to get up at 9am. But hey, I'll take it! Before, getting up before 11am was a huge struggle. My depression is also much more under control.

It is an intense drug though. Technically it us a heavy-duty anti-psychotic and made me gain 30 lbs. it also increased my insulin resistance, so I have to take diabeties meds, too (but not insulin). But I will take being happy and well-rested over 30 lbs thinner any day.

I decided, for my own well-being, and baby's, to continue taking my meds during pregancy, which is more of an unknown than known to cause birth defects or anything like that. It's very likely that baby will be totally fine. I am going off the Ambien, now that I'm done with school (yay!) and can afford to deal with a little insomnia. That has been known, very rarely, to pass on some addiction in baby in the third trimester. I'm not diabetic, and actually my numbers are very good, but they are treating me as if I have it, just to be safe. So I have to prick my finger and moniter my blood sugar 4x a day.

Thus you are up to date on my life-long struggle with sleep (oh, and I also have mild sleep apnea).

redheadbride15 · December 2014

I used to suffer from pretty severe insomnia, never sleeping for more than 3-4 hours on an average night, taking 2+ hours to fall asleep, having to get up at 2am every night and go read a book to quiet my brain. I have a significant dislike for most sleeping medications because they a) are habit-forming, b) cause daytime sleepiness, and c) interact with other medicines and alcohol.

I have one word for all of you, which completely saved me: EXERCISE. I have to do it every day. I now sleep 8-9 hours every night and sleep through the night without waking on many nights. If I do wake then I can almost always fall back to sleep without difficulty. The longer and harder I work out the better I sleep. Full-day activities like hiking a big mountain or a long-distance bike ride are the best! When I'm huffing and puffing I love the feeling of knowing that I will get an awesome night's sleep.

Sleep hygiene is also important. Nothing happens in our bedroom except sleeping and sex. No cell phones (this is a HUGE thing), no TV, not even books are allowed in the bedroom. Also, no "dosing" or "napping" in bed. If I get into bed it's for a full night's sleep. Also, mediTation (not mediCation) before bed if I can feel my brain running a million miles a minute (which is most days).

decembergrl2014 · December 2014

My problem has always been staying asleep. I can fall asleep without a problem, but then I tend to wake up in the middle of the night for no reason. I also need at least 7 hours of sleep a night. If I'm really stressed I'll take a Xanax before bed. I try not to do that too much. I'm afraid I'll get hooked.

manillabar · December 2014

lc07 said:

larrygaga said:

I get sleep paralysis and night terrors and a butt ton of nightmares. I also often wake up and see spiders crawling all over me or falling on me or men standing over my bed. Poor FI has woken up to me so many times to me screaming I think I traumatized him.

When I feel a presence in the room due to sleep paralysis it's almost always a good presence - like my mom or my ex-H. It's very rarely a bad presence although that has happened and can be pretty scary. I've never experienced anything like spiders. That sounds horrible.

ClimbingBrideNY said:

I'm a very light sleeper. I tend to have night terrors when I'm very stressed out. I also grind my teeth. And since my brain doesn't ever stop, I take half of a klonopin before bed. Otherwise I'd be up all night.

Xanax actually does help me sleep like a dream, but I'm worried about addiction so I got off of it. I do miss it.

I also get sleep paralysis! Though I don't often feel a presence in the room so much as I feel like something or someone is laying on top of me so I can't move (or speak, and if I don't force myself to relax I start to feel like I can't breathe). I think it might be a stress or situational thing for me though because there was a time when I used to get it very often and lately I haven't really been getting it.

When I was younger I used to have trouble falling asleep. So the doc recommended I read books at night, thinking it would put me to sleep. Instead I started staying up all night reading, much to my mom's dismay. Lately I've been so tired I fall asleep pretty easily but I usually need something going (like music or tv) to keep my mind distracted until I fall asleep.

arrippa · December 2014

Not a disorder but I snore and I am a light sleeper. I also take a melatonin pill every night and that seems to help me fall asleep. I do need 8-9 hours of sleep otherwise I am useless.

southernbelle0915 · December 2014

DH is a starfish sleeper. So am I. He's also a cover stealer. So am I. Our sleeps are sometimes epic battles for territory and covers. Other than that, I think we're both relatively normal sleepers.

ohannabelle · December 2014

Yes. Don't laugh.

I eat in my sleep.

When I was younger, it was simply walking in my sleep, which was disturbing enough, but about 15 years ago, it progressed to eating.

I wake up with melted chocolate in my bed, or the bed filled with crumbs and shredded bits of bread, and I put things away in the wrong places, like ice cream in the cupboard (crap. Good morning, effing huge sticky mess) and food stuck in my hair, and once, I opened my eyes to the sight of a half eaten steak on my pillow. It was Moose's leftover from dinner, and he was genuinely ticked off.

At one point, we had bells tied to the cupboards and fridge, which didn't stop me, but definitely woke the kids, who would steer me back to bed. It seems I believe there are hidden cookies in the house, and grumble about this, and accuse people of hiding cake.

I also wake up sick to my stomach from excess sugar.

Not a good candidate for Ambien, but Celexa helped.

My doctor tells me this is uncommon, but not unheard of. The psychiatric community is divided on whether to classify this as a sleep disorder, or eating disorder.

Remember the how often do you wash your sheets thread, and I said at least once a week? This is why.

(Somewhere, there is a picture of me sleeping beneath a shower of about twenty kit kat wrappers, when I night raided the Halloween candy. Moosey is a smart ass.)

lc07 · December 2014

@ohannabelle that sounds horrible! When my brother was very young he would sleep walk and want to pee random places. Not sure which one is worse.

@manillabar I don't notice my Sleep Paralysis changing with stress, though it absolutely is more likely to happen when I sleep on my back. It's almost a guarantee. It will also occasionally happen if I sleep on my side but never if I'm sleeping on my stomach. The waking up and feeling like you can't breathe part is the worst. That's happened to me several times when I had blankets on my face or once when I was snuggling a boyfriend and my face was buried in his back. Freaking terrifying. ETA: however, I had 0 instances of Sleep Paralysis the year that I was on anti depressants. If I take Xanax it doesn't happen either but I don't take either one anymore so it's back.

Kauris · December 2014

I have narcolepsy, it's not severe but I am on medication. I've fallen asleep at a stop light before and at work. My boss used to get very upset with me until I provided the ever important doctor's note and finally got my medication regulated, it's very expensive but worth it.

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