Connect
Constant wakings when falling asleep (stage N1) without clear cause
Out of the blue, after two consecutive nights of bad sleep last week due to noise from upstairs neighbors, on a few occasions since then I've had nights where my body keeps waking up during the point of transitioning to sleep (I presume stage N1), either due to a hypnic jerk or other type of slight movement of head/hand/etc during the transition that for some reason I am suddenly hypersensitive to the sound or movement of while nodding off, or sometimes I wake without any clear reason at all. It's not because I am aware of the transition - I am only aware after I have woken up that the transition failed again. Last night it seems I didn't get any deep sleep at all (stage N3), nor dreams (REM). Since going to bed at midnight I was stuck in and out of N1 and, finally after 9am, at most I believe I reached N2, with constant awakenings due to the aforementioned. It felt like it happened 50+ times last night. I rarely had nights approaching this in the recent past, and they virtually never lasted more than several hours, but now, in a week, I've had 3 nights where I go to bed at 11pm or midnight and don't get any N2+ sleep until 7-8am or later, due to the abrupt awakenings at N1. At least on the previous 2 occasions I got some REM sleep, and N3 (deep sleep) on at least one of those, but I don't recall any N3 or REM last night. Yesterday I had gotten up before 8am after 8.5 hours of sleep, ran at 6pm, ate within 1-2 hours of bedtime (didn't have time to eat dinner earlier), took a melatonin 1mg at 1am after I went to bed at midnight and had started encountering the constant wakeups again, but that apparently didn't help. I've tried various combos of wearing or not wearing earplugs, using or not using one or both of my white noise machines, and/or my Shure headphones with ambient sound/music. Given that on 2 nights since this started I had a 7-8.5 hours of sleep, it seems sometimes since this began I have slept normally. I don't recall ever waking up with a feeling of gasping air, choking, etc as in apnea. When should I see a doctor; what type of doctor? I am not keen on the potential cons of pills like Zolnox, what are the most recommended options at this time?
Like
Helpful
HugInterested in more discussions like this? Go to the Sleep Health Support Group.
Connect
@gynosaur42 Thank you.
I contacted several home sleep test providers, received a few responses already which concur the home tests are not designed for testing occurrences like subtle muscle events at the lightest/transitional sleep stages, and recommended in-lab sleep studies for that. The problem with a lab study is the sleep myoclonus / random N1 wakings don't occur every night so I can't guarantee a scheduled lab won't go to waste.
That's so frustrating. My guess is that technology will improve over time and that won't be an issue in the future, but it's quite inconvenient for you right now. It may also be possible that lower level reactions might be happening even when your sleep is not disrupted, that might be detected by the assessment instruments used in dedicated sleep study labs. It would be a gamble, though. You could ask one of those centers for their recommendation.
I don't know where you are located, @cmx, but you might also want to check out whether there are any providers of Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) near you. It is a relatively new approach to trauma therapy that involves, among other things, helping people to release shock energy from the body that gets blocked from being released in the aftermath of overwhelming events. The shock occurs when a threatening, surprising or deeply unwanted stimulus is detected in the deep layers of a part of the brainstem responsible for keeping track of where we are at all times in relation to our environment (waking or asleep). It results in the release of noradrenaline that travels upward through neural pathways to the cortex (virtually waking us up, widening our eyes, alerting the nervous system that there is something going on that requires our immediate attention), and downward, via the spinal column, to ready the body for quick (defensive, if needed) action. The release of that energy in safe, gentle ways, can look like shakes, shudders, shivers, sudden jolts (looks like myoclonus) and can also involve waves of heat or cold, tingling. It can present in many ways. The good news is that releasing shock in the careful ways that are done through DBR can improve sleep for some people. There has been an encouraging evaluative study done with respect to DBR's impact on PTSD symptoms (in which sleep disturbance is a major player), but none (yet completed) on sleep specifically. Again, this is a new approach, but has the attention of many trauma therapists and neuroscientists. The book by Jaan Reitav and Celeste Thirlwell gives more detail, which is why I suggested it. That you had no obvious sleep difficulties after the tragic loss of your sister might have something to do with other reactions that can occur in the face of overwhelming events (structures in the brain and brainstem can also release endogenous cannabinoids and endogenous opioids to numb us when the pain would be too great to tolerate otherwise...endogenous opioids might make us fall asleep). As you are such an astute observer of your own experience, you might have a sense whether something like this might be helpful even in the absence of brain monitoring during your sleep, as a non-invasive intervention. Again, I wish you well with your quest to sort this out and get back to sleep.
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
1 Reaction@gynosaur42 That's interesting. Thank you.