Poll: Senitive/Hyperarousable Sleepers

[jishy]

I need my noisy wall unit air conditioner running to get to sleep with CPAP. Otherwise I start concentrating on my breathing too much and start hyperventilating. Otherwise, the only thing that wakes me up is a long OSA and the pressure ramping up. I could sleep through WW3 before or after starting CPAP.

[echo]

- Stupid people - cannot stand stupid people.

I will try not to take that personally.

awwwww jeff, of COURSE NOT!

To elaborate: I just have a hard time staying patient with people I feel are ... oh gosh this list could get long. Bottom line I am very impatient with people. Actually I'm just very impatient in general, always have been. Is that related to sensitivity , I don't know! Probably, it just means my tolerance for things isn't very big.

Interesting stories!!!

[dsm]

- Stupid people - cannot stand stupid people.

I will try not to take that personally.

awwwww jeff, of COURSE NOT!

To elaborate: I just have a hard time staying patient with people I feel are ... oh gosh this list could get long. Bottom line I am very impatient with people. Actually I'm just very impatient in general, always have been. Is that related to sensitivity , I don't know! Probably, it just means my tolerance for things isn't very big.

Interesting stories!!!

Echo

You are obviously (to me) a high achiever' & struggle with those who aren't

It is an issue some folk have to come to grips with - think of it from the point of view of some others who may see the intolerance itself as a problem (comments to dwell on )

But !!!, stay the way you are - gets people thinking & sometimes squirming - often justifiably

DSM

[newhosehead]

NOT counting periods of insomnia in my life, there is very little that is capable of disturbing my sleep. Slept through a tornado once. Strongly believe thieves could come in the night, remove bed, throw me on floor and I would continue sleeping. Have no idea why thieves would want my bed, but just saying. One condition: must have tv on to go to sleep. I set the timer for an hour, which is really overkill since I am usually asleep within the first five minutes.

Only difference post CPAP: no longer feel the need to sleep in the daytime.

I notice that I am using sentence fragments as I write. Grading too many papers right now.

Jeanette

[Slinky]

Most of my life I slept the sleep of the dead. Nothng woke me but morning when I'd had enough sleep. Then I became a mother. Selective noises (baby crying) would wake me in a flash. Once the kids were older I was back to sleeping thru anything. Then I began raising dogs. I could sleep thru anything ... but a newborn puppy in the whelping box in the basment squealing or otherwise mewing would wake me despite I was sleeping in the bedroom TWO floors above.

Since PAP? Varies considerably. Kind of all over the map. Not really super-sensitive, but also seldom the old sleep of the dead either. What will wake me one night won't wake me another. What will keep me awake one night, won't phase me another night. Go figure. I gave up. I just go w/the flow. I sleep or I don't.

[nanwilson]

I have always been a light sleeper, wake at the slightest sound. About seven years ago I had a viral infection in my brain which left me deaf in my right ear.......now if things are getting to me during the night, I simply roll over with my good ear mashed into the pillow...I don't hear a thing. ...how the 1@#$&! do I get these smilies to work? Oh well you know what I mean
Nan

[nanwilson]

WHooooooeeee! I got the smilies to work I must be smarter than I thought
Nan

[dsm]

Most of my life I slept the sleep of the dead. Nothng woke me but morning when I'd had enough sleep. Then I became a mother. Selective noises (baby crying) would wake me in a flash. Once the kids were older I was back to sleeping thru anything. Then I began raising dogs. I could sleep thru anything ... but a newborn puppy in the whelping box in the basment squealing or otherwise mewing would wake me despite I was sleeping in the bedroom TWO floors above.

Since PAP? Varies considerably. Kind of all over the map. Not really super-sensitive, but also seldom the old sleep of the dead either. What will wake me one night won't wake me another. What will keep me awake one night, won't phase me another night. Go figure. I gave up. I just go w/the flow. I sleep or I don't.

Slinky you ole farmers daughter - what a treat - whelping pups made it thru to you - but what a lovely sound they make - remember well as a whelp myself crawling under the house & cuddling up with our Labrador pups - me is 1 of them - the parents of them (I still know their names even though they were from the 1940s) acted as surrogate parents to myself & siblings - funny to say so but that is the way it was !. Mum & dad humans ( m & P the Labrador as surrogates !. So many tales I could tell about why.

Once upon a time - my wife woke every time our 1st bub had a central (normal benign central ) - Later. I could work on computer core dumps with 2-3 kids playing gee-gees on my back & not miss a detail - must be the aspergers characteristic If Bill gates can have it so can self

DSM

[Catnapper]

I am a super light sleeper. Years ago my daughter could wake me up during the night by standing by my bed staring at me. Now, still, I hear the cat walk down the hall, the heat turn on, and my husband when he goes sleepwalking.

The bad part is that once I wake up I cannot just go back to sleep. Often it takes hours.

Catnapper - Joanie

[unadog]

After getting on ASV, with powerful narcotics, I slept through the night for about 8 hours. For the first time in 20 years. For 3 weeks ...

Now I am back to troubleed sleep. I can't quite stay balanced on my meds, 5-6 kinds when needed (lyrica, naproxen, Ambien, etc. too). Doctors are used to using the big hitters for cancer. They are afriad of overprescribing, so ....... So back to insomnia and frequent arousals .... I had about 199 arousals and a 54% sleep efficiency at my titration study. And at my diagnostic study.

At least my "events" - OA and CA - are pretty well controlled when I can sleep and keep the mask on (3 hours masked last night.) Sleep stage changes are frequent though. Fibromyalgia for 20+ years, chronic mechanical pain - low back, sciatica, shoulder, neck

Ugh. At least I know what good dreams and a rested feeling are! Now to get back ...

Michael

[brain_cloud]

Since people are notoriously bad at estimating how long they've slept, I wonder how good they are at knowing why they just woke up, as opposed to merely attributing it to the first thing they hear/see/smell?

[DreamDiver]

I'm not sure it's so much about light sleeping for me as waking up from headaches, body pain, unusual noises. If I stay too long in one position, something either goes numb or starts throbbing. So I turn like a burger on the hibachi grill, all night long. Except it never feels like I'm 'done'.

[Patzee]

What say ye, sensitive sleepers? UNITE!!!!! Share your tips and tricks here...

...pets NOT allowed to sleep in the master's bed w/the masters. I can swear to the fact that this helps 'cauze once we finally put our two sweetie Norwich Terriers back on the floor in their own doggie beds, sleep quality for us improved at least by 50%.

...turning off the overhead projected digiital current time bright & large number image feature on the bedside clock.

....standing up a small but thick piece of cardboard in front of the bedroom tv cable box so the digital display's bright red numbers and the various yellow & red indicator button lights aren't visible.

...using soft ear plugs on IMPOSSIBlE NIGHTS - celebration dates like 4th of July, or in thunderstorm conditions, for example.

...keeping the whole house thermostat set at the desired round-the-clock temperature, but using the bedroom overhead ceiling fan in addition in summer.

...using ONLY 100% cotton sheets & coverlet in summer; having several different pillows in bed to choose from through out the night, all of which don't sleep HOT (have to be very careful in the buying process); and the mattress most not sleep HOT; and wearing 100% cotton sleep wear.

One big help that has my nights with more sleep time & less awake time is this: in cutting my own mask liners out of my husband's T-shirts, I cut them wider on the top half than needed by about 3/4" on each side, AND use a double thickness - two of the cut-outs instead of one; this allows the mask liner to double as an eye mask 'cause it completely lays over the eyes and blocks any bit of offending light. And this does away with having to use the uncomfortable eye masks and removes one more strap from ones head.

About the mask liners - I'd recommend everyone using them - easy to make, zero cost if using something on hand, and with the liner, wearing the mask is instantly SOOOOOO much more pleasant & comfortable - no more "something foreign and siliconey is creating a suctiony perspirary augh" sensation. And leaks become a rariety. Just a soft, cushiony, comfy feeling. And cut up a week's supply...put the ones you've worn in a small lingerie laundry bad (the little white, mesh, zippered bags, and wash & dry them all together).

Really, if you haven't tried the liners, cut up something (all cotton) right now, and at least try it to see if it doesn't make a huge difference. Doesn't matter if you use a nasal or a full-face mask, it will work.

....if possible, try eating your last meal of the day AS EARLY as is feasable with your schedule - going to bed on a full tummy isn't good unless you are a 3 month old.

...have an early in the evening cutoff time for caffiene intake.

...try not to take your worries to bed with you...when they crop up in your mind after lights out, just say "hasta la vista baby! you're not invited or allowed in THIS bed." And then enforce your edict.

Will love to continue reading this thread - terrific idea!

Patzee

[Muse-Inc]

...how good they are at knowing why they just woke up...

I'm totally clueless...first thought I was desatting but doesn't appear to be the case (using borrowed pulseox every night), might be too little thyroid meds, at this point might be astrological alignments and/or the phase of the moon

[DreamDiver]

...how good they are at knowing why they just woke up...

I'm totally clueless...first thought I was desatting but doesn't appear to be the case (using borrowed pulseox every night), might be too little thyroid meds, at this point might be astrological alignments and/or the phase of the moon

My favorite excuse is sunspot activity - or the lack thereof - whatever fits the time frame. Of course they're easily made responsible for everything inexplicable.