Lack of flue / cold / other common disease

[Pendergast]

Have you ever investigated Herpes simplex as a possible cause?

Well, I have a lot of EBV antibodies positives (VCA, Early antigen and Nuclear antibodies), but all of them are IgG, not IgM, so my doctors here don't think it's relevant...

I think I have been tested for other Herpes Virus too, but I think they are normal ( I can't remember right now and I should search in my caotic papers...).

I have never been put on Antiviral treatments ( It's very difficult to get a prescription here for them, at least without an IgM antibodies positives).

So I don't know if any bug is still present and reactivating or if it did the job and left behind an aberrant inmune-metabolic state.

I hope the OMF can answer that question.

Good night!

 

[WoolPippi]

I have also read somewhere that this is a primal human sleep pattern and that sleeping 7-8 hours in a row has been the usual sleep pattern only in modern times, so interrupting your sleep shouldn't harm your health if total number of hours stays in the 7-8 hour range every day.

yeah this idea of biphasic sleep is floating around. It's a load of bollocks, in my opinion. Sprung from one man's head who had a lot of thoughts but not a lot of studies to back up his ponderings.

your body needs 5 continuous hours for Deep Sleep and repairs and will do anything to get it. Meaning if you pull an all-nighter your body will make the first 5 hours of the next night count. It pushes REM towards the morning.

As you know REM is beneficial too but you only get there after Deep Sleep has been forfilled. Also the Human Growth Hormone only surges in the early morning, at the end of your night's sleep.

hee hee, so sorry, you are talking to the wrong grumpy old sleepy head about this because I've been jolting from my sleep after 4,5 hours of sleep my whole life. Like: every night. Since birth. The cause is Hepatic Flexure Syndrome. My colon is so bendy that stuff gets stuck and after 4,5 hours (which are 3 cycles of BBM, Big Bowel Movements) my stomach swells up and my body goes in panic mode. Hotflash. Wake up. Stay awake for 1,5 hours. (Because I have the MAO A mutation in my DNA meaning excitatory neurotransmitters don't get broken down fast enough)

Yeah, I've been doing the biphasic sleep thing for year now, unvoluntary. And I've got the bruises to show for it because after a few decades of trying to keep up with it my adrenals said: bye!
Adrenal Insufficiency or Addison's Disease. I have to supplement with hydrocortisone now.

But hey! It's only been 8 months since I figured out the cause of the nightly wakings and I've found a solution: stop eating. No more fibre and no more FODMAP for me. I only drink. And my sleeps have extended to 6 hours!!
So I can't comment on your experience that 8 hours makes you worse than 6. I think 6 hours plus 2 during the day are a fine experiment for you.

I do suspect that bodies run in laps of 1,5 hours. That seems to be the time for a lot of things. 1,5 hours after you eat before you get tired. 1,5 hours for my brain to calm down. 1,5 hours of feeling good before cortisol starts to wane.
So perhaps that's the difference between 6 and 8 hours for you. 4 x 1,5 hours is what your body can handle. Longer and it needs food or input or movement. I don't know.
Let me know how you are faring. Good sleep is such a treasure!

 

[Howard]

@WoolPippi

I've been doing the biphasic sleep thing for the past several years. If I'm not in pain when I awaken, if I'm not exceedingly thirsty when waking (drinking water doesn't help, so I must chew gum in order to produce saliva), or if I don't engage my mind, then I can fall back asleep in relatively short order.

Anything less than six hours sleep and my body feels it (beyond the plain normal CFS, debilitatingly exhausted everyday sensation). Mostly it's sore burning muscles combined with random aches and pains. No big deal.

Greater than six hours sleep and the muscle burn and random pains are minimized, more or less.

I just find it utterly bizarre that I can get an extra 15 to 20 minutes sleep, somewhere between 6 and 730a.m. and I feel somewhat energized, relaxed, clear-headed and my muscles don't hurt.

But this ONLY occurs if I take a power nap shortly after waking and during that specific time frame (after my primary overnight sleep episodes). And it's not always repeatable, occurring at most twice per month.

I'm not complaining, as this gives me some hope, thinking that if I cure my sleep issues I may vastly improve my recovery rate.

Ingesting tart cherry juice and partaking in CBD oil / THC prior to my sleeping seems to have helped. I didn't have any kind of energy or any kind of restful sleep prior to starting on each of these simultaneously back in April.

It could be the tryptophan affect or the CBD oil, I'm not sure. But whatever it is, I'd like more of this and I want it now.

Yes, craving sucks!

As you suggested, I have been taking naps during the day ever since April. Prior to that, I was never able to nap no matter how little sleep I had overnight, nor was I ever hungry or have any.kind of appetite since the illness began in 2010.

I used to wake up in the middle of the night with digestive issues as well, likely not as severe as yours, but once I started utilizing methylcellulose regularly my intestinal motility increased while the discomfort diminished quite a bit. Each of the other fiber supplements I tried were too harsh.

Also, I was on a liquid-based diet as of four years ago. The very first time I used a couple of Metagenics product samples in succession I had unbelievable results. Easy energy, easy breathing, no muscle pain, no muscle burn… negatively, the crazy energy drove me absolutely batty, making me want to shed my skin.

Back then, I was still able to walk, but my body thought it could fly and wanted to leap head first off the balcony!

This effect lasted for six hours. Of course, I bought the product and was never able to recapture the effect despite taking a daily for two years.

So yeah, I don't know if any of this was useful, but that sums up my sleep efforts. Well actually, I have a sleep study scheduled, but don't have any money, so that's on the back burner for now. They want to check for sleep apnea, finally!

Oh, and just a note on the REM sleep. Anytime I fall asleep, even for the briefest of moments, I immediately go into REM stage sleep, crazy dreams, exquisitely detailed. And based on my understanding, it's an indicator that I'm not getting enough REM sleep night to night, and probably for a prolonged period of time as well. Classic sleep deficit, I think.

Thank you for your input, it's much appreciated.