Oversleeping, Sleepwalking, And Sleep Paralysis

[Raven]

I know that lack of sleep is a common problem for us, but I don't seem to fit into that particular mold.

I sleep for 10-12 hours a day and still don't feel rested. If I get the normal 6-8 hours of sleep, I'm even more sleepy throughout the day. Even less? I'll be passing out by dinnertime, lol.

I don't get it. I used to be accustomed to small amounts of sleep. A three hour nap would leave me good to go for the next seventy two hours.

Over the past year and a half, it's gradually changed.

I wake up every two to three hours, briefly, and then fall right back asleep so perhaps it's because of a lack of REM sleep?

My husband reported that I sleepwalk. He said that on several occasions I have gotten out of bed and stared at something until he guided me back to the bed. I was unconvinced until he "accidentally" woke me up during one of these episodes--though I think he did it intentionally to show me that he was right.

No night terrors, no bad dreams that I remember after waking.

I do sometimes get sleep paralysis upon waking. It feels like hours of helplessness, but it's only a minute at most. This used to happen to me a lot as a small child. It happened again recently and I was cognizant of what it was at the time. I think the birds started tweeting loudly in the other room and it woke me suddenly before the REM cycle was done. I could hear them tweeting with increasing urgency until I was able to fully wake up, get out of bed, and check on them.

One of them had shat in the water and they demanded it be fixed.

 

[reddevil1111]

I have very broken sleep. I fall asleep and then nightmares wake me. I stay awake for 20-30 minutes then fall back asleep. I also wake every time I roll over. If the girlfriend moves in the bed I wake up. So I just don't get a lot of rest it seems. I am always tired.

 

[Fargo1]

Prior to getting into therapy I couldn't sleep. The nightmares came screaming in as soon as I closed my eyes. By last girlfriend said she could tell I had fallen asleep because I started snoring like a freight train. But soon after the snoring started, I would start mumbling and whimpering in my sleep, then thrashing about, then I would sit up completely awake and alert. She tried to wake me up once when I was thrashing and my response was scary to say the least. She shook my shoulder and was met with — my eyes snapping open, my left hand grabbing her throat as I rolled over on top of her and cocked my right fist back. Thankfully my mind and reason came to me prior to hitting her.

Now after two years I can fall asleep if I am listening to the TV or radio on talk radio. No music —if its music I can't sleep, no voices and I still have nightmares. But people talking will allow me to fall asleep. When I sleep, I sleep like the dead...for five hours. It doesn't matter what time I go to bed at around five hours I am awake and will be for 18-20 hours. I never feel fully rested, but some days I can manage to get up and do things. Others, I watch TV (I hate it), play video games, or just space out. Reading more than a few paragraphs at a time is a thing of the past. My mind just wanders and I have to reread all that I just read.

My sleep startle response has changed as well. If someone is walking or doing something in the room as they would if I was awake, I sleep right through it. But if they are sneaking about trying not to wake me, I come right awake.

Small changes, but changes nonetheless.

 

[Raven]

Prior to getting into therapy I couldn't sleep. The nightmares came screaming in as soon as I closed my eyes. By last girlfriend said she could tell I had fallen asleep because I started snoring like a freight train. But soon after the snoring started, I would start mumbling and whimpering in my sleep, then thrashing about, then I would sit up completely awake and alert. She tried to wake me up once when I was thrashing and my response was scary to say the least. She shook my shoulder and was met with — my eyes snapping open, my left hand grabbing her throat as I rolled over on top of her and cocked my right fist back. Thankfully my mind and reason came to me prior to hitting her.

I had a pretty unfortunate and volatile reaction to being awoken while sleepwalking. Luckily for my husband, he's physically stronger than I am and was able to restrain me for a few moments until I came to my senses, lol. (Though waking with such a start in the middle of the living room and then being forced into a prone restraint was quite terrifying for a minute.) That's why they tell you not to wake sleepwalkers. They often lash out, so my reaction was not uncommon.

 

[Squip Mrbearsfriend]

some questions I would have is...sleep apnea? snoring? are you getting enough oxygen?

 

[Raven]

some questions I would have is...sleep apnea? snoring? are you getting enough oxygen?

Snoring? Sometimes, apparently. I think everyone does it on occasion.

Sleep apnea?... Yeesh, I hope not. The only really fixes for it are a CPAP (which I don't want) and oral surgery (removing part of the soft palette to open up the air passage more). I really don't want to take extreme measures to address a little sleeping issue.

My husband actually has been diagnosed with sleep apnea. He snores like a linebacker and it sometimes wakes me up. Usually it just plays into my dream. That's how I know he's there, when I'm dreaming that I'm walking down the street to the rhythmic jackhammer noises that f*cking man can produce.

 

[Jimmy1]

I wake up so cramped up like I have been doing squats all day with 200lbs on my shoulders.

The whole sleep thing often initiated while we were deployed and the trauma that started the ball rolling happened. Usually we were either on shift work, on security patrols, on missions, etc, etc. You have to remember we had to be on the edge of consciousness all the time so we could be instantly awake.

My soldiers could never sneak up on me. This is why a lot of us use self medication or medication to try and achieve that peaceful sleep but all we are doing is altering our state of consciousness.

Once we can truly clear our mind and unprogram all the shit that we have accumulated, I think we will be able to sleep again, or maybe we have to wait till we are pushing up daisy's.

 

[bobbybob]

Man, all of this makes sense now. I was always alert on deployment and eventually needed pills to get me to sleep there. When I came home the nightmares and restless nights started. Pills won't work and I even sleepwalk every so often. Just guess I need to continue fighting the good fight until my body and mind right themselves.

 

[Fargo1]

When I started learning about all of this, the Latin moto, Sempre Paratus (Always Prepared), took on a whole new meaning.

 

[Lee C]

Sleep is over rated anyway !