by GaryM » Thu Apr 12, 2012 1:13 am
It sounds like you are not getting proper quality of sleep and it leaves you tired no matter how many hours you stay in bed. You need a sleep study.
The basics of sleep. There are 4 levels of sleep. Level 1 is nodding off. Level 2 is sleep, but not dreaming. Level 3 is dreaming, Level 4 is very deep sleep where even dreams stop.
My most recent sleep study showed I only experienced level 1 sleep and that was badly interrupted by short periods of waking that I did not remember. I would get out of bed exhausted. The day went downhill from there.
It could also be obstructive apnea. Do you snore? If so, you are likely to have some apnea. If you don't snore, you can still have apnea. Snoring and apnea are different, but they often occur together. Apnea is where you stop breathing for a time. The oxygen level in your blood drops which causes you to wake and catch your breath. Most people fall back asleep without realizing what happened. There are 2 types of apnea. Obstructive apnea is caused by the throat relaxing and blocking the air passages. It can be treated with a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure). It is a mask you wear at night with air pumped into your nose at low pressure. It takes some practice to tolerate it. The second type is central apnea. The brain stops telling the lungs to breath while sleeping. There are some drugs that seem to help this.
Get a sleep study to find out what might be the problem. It really sounds like you are not getting good quality sleep. Once the results are available, the doctor will likely have many more options than I have presented.
These problems can be difficult to solve. Don't permit the doctor to try one or two things then give up. I hear that story far too often. There are more than 2 options for any problem you have.
By the way, I am doing much better thanks to some herbal supplements, meditation, and I sleep on my side instead of my back with 2 pillows under my head. A cool bedroom also helps. I took the TV out of my bedroom too. Your solution may not require an expensive, high tech solution. Find the problem first.
good luck
GaryM