Insomnia seems to be a fairly common marker of CFS for most people, but I seem to struggle with the opposite problem. The earliest memory I have of my condition was struggling to wake up in the morning. After a normal night of sleep, it felt like I had gotten none at all. This quickly developed into a voracious need for sleep - anywhere between nine and 12 hours a night - and yet I still struggled with feelings of exhaustion and fatigue all day. Other classic CFS symptoms such as gut disturbances and worsening muscle fatigue soon followed within the next few months. From a relatively high baseline of activity, I lost most of my capacity to exercise. Unlike many other accounts I've read, I don't remember a specific infection that might have triggered my condition, but I am open to the possibility that a virus may have been involved somehow.
Because of these mixed signals, I've always struggled to understand whether this signifies I am obtaining enough high-quality sleep. On one hand, because I feel so miserable while awake, it stands to reason that there's something broken about my sleep cycle. Anything less than seven or eight hours is catastrophic to my cognitive abilities, assuming I can wake up at all; I'm drowsy, tired, and unable to focus. On the other hand, once I am asleep, it feels incredibly deep and satisfying in the moment - but also far too deep to be considered normal. It's overpowering, and paralyzing. I almost cannot get up of my own volition for most of my sleep time. Curiously, a complicating factor is that I now struggle to take smaller naps during the day. I can only sleep in large chunks.
Does anyone experience something similar? Does anyone know about the most probable theories of pathology? Any potential treatments? I already tried modafinil, but it had no beneficial effect.
Because of these mixed signals, I've always struggled to understand whether this signifies I am obtaining enough high-quality sleep. On one hand, because I feel so miserable while awake, it stands to reason that there's something broken about my sleep cycle. Anything less than seven or eight hours is catastrophic to my cognitive abilities, assuming I can wake up at all; I'm drowsy, tired, and unable to focus. On the other hand, once I am asleep, it feels incredibly deep and satisfying in the moment - but also far too deep to be considered normal. It's overpowering, and paralyzing. I almost cannot get up of my own volition for most of my sleep time. Curiously, a complicating factor is that I now struggle to take smaller naps during the day. I can only sleep in large chunks.
Does anyone experience something similar? Does anyone know about the most probable theories of pathology? Any potential treatments? I already tried modafinil, but it had no beneficial effect.
