Tired and sleeping in dreams

[iacyi]

I pushed myself a bit too far over the weekend and an old 'symptom' came back to remind me. Not sure why I am posting this, perhaps because anywhere else I would sound crazy.

I start to feel really exhausted within my dream, vividly physical and mental tiredness. This time it was as though I became somewhat conscious and thought something like "I remember this feeling. I must be asleep, dreaming." Then I heard faint voices and remembered my mum told me someone was coming round in the morning and I recognised this as another sign I was asleep, but still couldn't wake up.

Overcome, I tried to go to sleep in the dream. Upon this "double sleep" I always get a very uncomfortable sensation in my brain until I shortly wake up to reality with the same feeling.

The brain sensation is a bit like a less-electric brain zap from antidepressant withdrawal. Sometimes if I get a similar feeling before I sleep I know I will stop breathing and, though conscious of it, be unable to wake myself until my body suffocates enough to wake and gasp for air. In case you are wondering my doctors diagnosis for this was 'panic attacks'.

The bit I find fascinating is that it is the "double sleep" precedes the brain sensation, at least in my perception.

 

[Zensational]

Not crazy at all. I've been living in a dream for many years. Sometimes dreams are so vivid I can't determine if what is real. You should probably be tested for sleep apnea if you stop breathing. There three types of sleep apnea:

1. Obstructive Sleep Apnea, caused blocked airways. CPAP works pretty well for that once you get used to the mask and the noise. I happen to like the white noise of the machine.
2. Central Sleep Apnea, the brain forgets to tell you to breathe. This sounds like what I have and it is probably a result of the viruses that affect the brain and spinal cord. I don't know if research has been done in that area but my last sleep study revealed that I got NO delta sleep. I'm sure at home a get a modicum of delta sleep, otherwise I couldn't live.
3. Mixed Sleep Apnea, is a combination of the first two.

Again, I am not sure if there is research linking sleep apnea to CFS/ME and which type is most common.
Nonetheless, not breathing at night can be detrimental and even deadly so don't overlook what your body is telling you.

BTW, I sleep with CPAP for about 20 years and it is pretty comfortable if you get the right mask for you. It does not, however, make me sleep any better, more refreshed, that is. I still have long vivid dreams and wake up exhausted. My sleep doctor said that with the CPAP at least my brain would be getting oxygen.

Best of luck

 

[L'engle]

Sleep apnea's pretty important, I'd look into that first as it's dangerous. I don't have apnea but I've had sleep paralysis with many odd sensations, half-waking half sleeping or odd electrical type sensations. I find this is much worse as morning wears on or if I'm in a warm room. Confusing, isn't it?

 

[Enid]

Thanks Zensational - you've explained my early sleep problems so well - on top of which my dreams were very vivid (and horrible !).

 

[Little Bluestem]

Enid, what improved your sleep? I also have long, vivid dreams that leave me exhausted. Although they do not usually make it to horrible, they are often unpleasant.

 

[Enid]

@ Little Bluestem - I wish I could tell you anything specific that aided. It was the classic symptom first recorded at UK Royal Free Hosptal (Royal Free Disease on the web). At that stage I was very ill and now suspect active viral infection in the brainstem (eg HHV6). I had the "encephalo" of ME. and just battled on with Gabapentin(Neurontin) to epilepsy levels at one stage allowing me sound sleep over two weeks. After that following recognised ME supps though wired and tired followed for a while. Now normal sleeping patterns are restored as general health improves somewhat but slow still. A serendipity treatment following teeth extraction (forget the name of the antibiotic) did wonders for the GI tract - presumably elsewhere too - added to improvements.

 

[alexa]

HA ha, i double sleep a lot recently!
my dreams are so vivid and sometimes i feel like i live more in my dreams than in my real ME life... but double sleeping is new for me too... it feels strange... mostly i feel bad for my body, its like it is not getting enough sleep even when i am sleeping...

 

[Little Bluestem]

I have not dreamed about going to sleep. I did sometime dream that I have awakened, which is annoying. I would dream that I was awake and getting ready to go to work, then the alarm would go off and wake me up. Very disconcerting.

More recently, I dreamed that I was 8 hours away visiting cousins in Michigan. In the dream I thought, "I must be dreaming because I cannot get to Michigan this fast." I looked around me and saw the familiar Michigan environment, so thought that I must really be awake and in Michigan. The real kicker is that when I woke up I realized that the 'familiar Michigan environment' that I recognized in the dream was not anywhere familiar to me in real life.

 

[grosolo]

i get the double dream thing. it's exactly how i sleep when my sleep quality is terrible. i wake up more tired than when i first when to sleep. i have no idea how to get rid of this poor quality sleep. it's definitely due to neuroinflammation. but i need an ME treatment to deal with the inflammation and in the meantime, the sleep drugs I take don't take me out of that light stage and put me into the deep stage sleep that I need.
I can totally relate to the first poster.

 

[iacyi]

I'm glad to know I'm not alone! I get the half-awake half-asleep thing with electric feelings on waking up sometimes also; I can get stuck coming and going for a couple of hours.

Another weird one I had a while ago was managing to fall asleep with my eyes open. I could see my room clearly, but my brain just suddenly went off on a tangent over which I had no control. All very peculiar!

 

[Mattman1]

Yep, creepy stuff-- I get that too at times. And like grosolo said, seems to occur more as quality lessens.

For me it's the worst symptom-- Can't get more than 4-6 hours without meds, problem is you become dependent. Getting to sleep isn't the problem, it's waking up after three to four hours not feeling rested-- and short of meds, I'm not sure some of us are going to get those later stages back.

 

[August59]

Definitely sounds like your stuck in REM sleep or it's REM sleep with "Alpha Intrusions", gabapentin is probably the best medication to move you out of REM sleep. Which way you go coming out of REM sleep is the million dollar question. If it can push you into Stage 3 and 4 sleep (Deep sleep) that's a wonderful thing, however if you fall back into Stage 2 sleep leads to a very poor night of sleep.

Most likely you will need something to push or coach you into deep sleep and that can be anything from just sleep environment, other things going on such as tinnitus, RLS and quite often there is the use of meds that can get you into deep sleep (trazadone, ambein or xyrem)

Lack of deep sleep eventually plays a big toll on the entire body, especially the brain and organs. Most of the time it takes a sleep study to verify your specific situation, but that is easier said than done unfortunately.