Hypersomnia

For the past few months I have been experiencing the strangest thing. Many days I am so tired when I am at my desk that I HAVE to close my eyes, I can go into a state that is close to sleep but not really because I keep my head up without resting it on something. When I do this I will have these instant dreams, I call them dream flashes because it will happen the split second after I close my eyes. Usually these flashes could easily be just memories or thought because they usually have to do with something going on in my life, but there is always something in them that is unrealistic so they seem to be a dream. I have been chalking this up to being so exhausted from apnea that I am constantly at the edge of sleep, but I don't think thats it. This only happens to me when I am at work sitting at my desk. I can sit at home and watch tv or whatever and as long as I am not lying down, I don't fall asleep. I was reading a blog today and saw something mentioned called hypersomnia, I have never heard of this but after some initial reading this looks all too familiar.

Years I ago I got heavily into stimulants because it was the only time I felt awake or alert, but I would end up staying up for days, I would drop off in mid sentence for a second and wake up and continue talking just like I had never stopped, it would really freak my girlfriend out, but I have always started dreaming immediately when I fall asleep, especially during naps, usually those dreams are vivid and often times really bad.

HelpMeBreath wrote:For the past few months I have been experiencing the strangest thing. Many days I am so tired when I am at my desk that I HAVE to close my eyes, I can go into a state that is close to sleep but not really because I keep my head up without resting it on something. When I do this I will have these instant dreams, I call them dream flashes because it will happen the split second after I close my eyes. Usually these flashes could easily be just memories or thought because they usually have to do with something going on in my life, but there is always something in them that is unrealistic so they seem to be a dream. I have been chalking this up to being so exhausted from apnea that I am constantly at the edge of sleep, but I don't think thats it. This only happens to me when I am at work sitting at my desk. I can sit at home and watch tv or whatever and as long as I am not lying down, I don't fall asleep. I was reading a blog today and saw something mentioned called hypersomnia, I have never heard of this but after some initial reading this looks all too familiar.

Years I ago I got heavily into stimulants because it was the only time I felt awake or alert, but I would end up staying up for days, I would drop off in mid sentence for a second and wake up and continue talking just like I had never stopped, it would really freak my girlfriend out, but I have always started dreaming immediately when I fall asleep, especially during naps, usually those dreams are vivid and often times really bad.

What you were describing is what I experienced before I started therapy.....mostly in front of a computer. I could feel it coming on.....and would have the dreaming-state sensations. I thought it might be narcolepsy.

Those episodes went away once I got on CPAP therapy.

It's amazing what the lack of sleep can do to the body and brain.

Den

Interesting to note, I am having those mini dreams at work now, its just a split second and when it happens my eyes unfocus and I feel a slight buzz. It seems to stop instantly but it almost feels like Im falling asleep. Very odd sensation and it only seems to happen when I am in my office in front of the computer. It definitely has to do with fatigue because it only happens when I have had lousy sleep the night before but it is slightly disconcerting.

Hi. My story is much like Den's (Wulfman) in that my symptoms sounded like narcolepsy, especially since mine sometimes happened during spells of muscle weakness where I was almost awake but in a dream like scene. They happened a lot at work too. Once my CPAP and PLMD treatments began to give me some quality sleep, the worst of the spells stopped. I still doze frequently and have the dreams, just not weakness.

My sleep doc told me I would need to be getting at least 6 hours sleep a nite regularly and still be symptomatic before they would consider a need for further diagnostics. Which reminds me, I'm averaging over 7 a night, yet napping a combined total between 1 - 5 hours a day, so I guess I'd better let the sleep doc know.

I don't know how long you've been on cpap, how well you're sleeping, etc.. but if you are sleeping well and your cpap therapy seems to be working, it wouldn't hurt to relay your symptoms to your doctor.

Has anyone watched you when this happens, and reported that you are 'out' for a specific length of time (more or less different than what you think it is)? I wonder if you don't have a mini version of narcolepsy.

HelpMeBreath wrote:Interesting to note, I am having those mini dreams at work now, its just a split second and when it happens my eyes unfocus and I feel a slight buzz. It seems to stop instantly but it almost feels like Im falling asleep. Very odd sensation and it only seems to happen when I am in my office in front of the computer. It definitely has to do with fatigue because it only happens when I have had lousy sleep the night before but it is slightly disconcerting.

Do "whatever it takes" to get more sleep time.....naps, more sleep on the weekends, going to bed earlier, etc.
It sounds like your therapy is starting to take hold, but I can tell you from experience that it can take A LOT of sleep to get to where a person starts to feel "normal" again.

Hang in there.

Den

I used to get that before therapy. I would find myself falling asleep at the computer. At work I am on my feet, otherwise I am sure it would have happened there too.

It still happens very occasionally if I am super tired. I have been on cpap a year now.

I asked the doc about the dreaming as I fell asleep, he said that isn't proper REM sleep, it is some sort of image - idetic image I think he said - that happens as people fall asleep. I asked him if I had narcolepsy, he said it was possible but it was "pounds to peanuts" that it would turn out to be OSA.

Di