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Trevis Important: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not Everyday Health.See More NEWSLETTERS
The MS Sleep
By Trevis GleasonFor Life With Multiple SclerosisReviewed: December 20, 2006Everyday Health BlogsFact-CheckedI mentioned in a post about my recent exacerbation through which I am living something I call “MS Sleep.” One reader asked me to expound on this issue. Therefore, I will comply. There are two symptomatic "MS Sleeps" for me. They are very different. In fact, one isn't really much of a sleep at all; at least not a restful one. I'll write of that one first as it may be less familiar to some. Sometimes, when the MS is really flaring, I cannot seem to sleep. Not from leg twitches, pain or due to the MS Hug, but the cause of this lack of restful sleep seems to be extra brain activity. The brain is an amazing organ. It senses when there is a problem with signals getting past damage in the myelin and tries to re-route the signals. There is a six-fold increase in brain activity of people living with MS as compared to a control group. For me, there seems to be an increase during an attack. My docs have prescribed Doxepin (an anti-depressant) to help me sleep when this symptom kicks up. The only problem is that 25mg of this little pill and I'd better block off 12+ hours for sleep and a couple more for wake-up/recovery time. It's a restful sleep, but not something I come out of clearly. That's okay though because by the time I have decided to give in and take the damned drug, I likely haven't slept well in a week. The other “MS Sleep” is that lay-down-or-fall-down sleep; that debilitating or profound fatigue. I can be sitting doing some work or walking or just about any daily activity when – SLAM, it hits! I have begun to note a very small window of a precursor to this symptom. I'll begin to feel a kind of disconnect from my body. I could be typing and start to feel my consciousness separate from my head. It's like I have stepped back about two inches from myself and am watching it all happen in front of me. I wonder if that's what an LSD flashback is like. Anyway, if I'm paying attention, I can get to a place to lie down (even if it's the car) and avoid that stumbling to the ground fatigue. That sleep can be 20 minutes or 4 hours. There's no way of predicting how long it will last but one thing is certain. That kind of sleep will be like an anesthetic induced sleep. Like I've been put on a table in the operating room and put under. “The sleep of the dead” I call it. When I wake, I have no idea how long I've been under. It's particularly interesting to wake in the dark after such a nap. So there you have it; my two versions of MS Sleep. Anyone else have a different (or similar) example of how MS affects his or her sleep? Wishing you and your family the best of health. Cheers,Trevis Important: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not Everyday Health.See More NEWSLETTERS