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Mental Health (Expert Forum)
Anxiety and Insomnia - strange brain/head sensation and FFI?
Answered by
Roger Gould, M.D. - Mental Health, Wellness
Questions posted in the Mental Health forum are being answered by Dr. Roger L. Gould, author of the Mastering Stress and Depression program and affiliated with the UCLA. Department of Psychiatry. Topics covered include anger, attention deficit disorder (ADD), bipolar disorder, dementia, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), learning disabilities, memory, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic, personality disorders, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, stress, transitions, and work problems.
Anxiety and Insomnia - strange brain/head sensation and FFI?
by wxguy1, Dec 03, 2006 12:00AM
I am a 30-year-old Asian male.
I have been having insomnia for the past 2 weeks, which was partly attributed to jet lag...but more importantly, anxiety about my health. I am still waiting for some tests back. As for my insomnia, I have been having this strange sensation that my brain was putting the light switch back on when I was about to fall asleep. It's almost as though my brain is trying prevent me from sleeping. In some ways, it's almost a "twitch". I heard there is a rare form of insomnia that's fatal (FFI?). How likely is it that one could get it? Can I get tested for it? I have also been getting some muscle twitches, especially during sleep starts, which wake me up. I am just going crazy with these sleep problems.
Thank you for your help.
I have been having insomnia for the past 2 weeks, which was partly attributed to jet lag...but more importantly, anxiety about my health. I am still waiting for some tests back. As for my insomnia, I have been having this strange sensation that my brain was putting the light switch back on when I was about to fall asleep. It's almost as though my brain is trying prevent me from sleeping. In some ways, it's almost a "twitch". I heard there is a rare form of insomnia that's fatal (FFI?). How likely is it that one could get it? Can I get tested for it? I have also been getting some muscle twitches, especially during sleep starts, which wake me up. I am just going crazy with these sleep problems.
Thank you for your help.
Doctor's Answer
by Roger Gould, M.D., Dec 08, 2006 12:00AM
, Dec 08, 2006 12:00AM
Thanks for the response. The reason I was worried is I read there is a sporadic version of it that could HAPPEN (even though very rare). I will go see a therapist and deal with the anxiety. Meanwhile, I just got prescribed Ativan (Lorazepam) for my insomnia. Anyone has experience with it? Thanks.
I am still getting some of the "mind/brain twitches" when sleep starts which scare and worry me. Obviously, that doesn't help with my anxiety and insomnia. The therapist says that I am just too wired and I shouldn't worry about sporadic fatal insomnia.
The last few days I have been feeling some weakness in my left arm. Can this and insomnia be indications of neurological disorders or even brain tumor? I know I am just going crazy!
I've read about this quite often; that was the first time it was proven to me personally to be true. Are you ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE you are not sleeping at ALL?
Insomnia has plagued me most of the last 4 years. Now at 50 I have a set of elemnts that are working.
I will now avoid Lunesta, Ambien, and all the others hypotics that make me loony and leave me so forgetful I think that I have dementia. I know it has been in part due to post surg. hormonal imbalances and taking wellbutrin as the ostensible, though not actual solution. I needed the right the right hormones adn quietude in my mind.
Now that that that is all good I am weaning off wellbutrin SR at 150 every other day, down from 300, and only in the a.m. NO caffeine as coffee or soda. I daily exercies and get fresh air.
AND: I enjoy a cup of Sleepytime Extra tea with 2 Calms Forte for sleep, from the health section at the grocery. AND best topper of all--I count backwards by threes-usually starting at somewhere between 170 and 200. I do not recall gettng any further that the 140s before sleeping.
I will not take Lunesta again unless the jet lag on vacation is so severe I cannot function.
Before I developed this method, I was seeing psychedelic visions, could not turn off my brain nor keep eyes closed, and would have those brain kicks that stopped me from falling asleep--this would last for hours. It got so bad with this and those compulsive anxious thoughts that I even questioned my marriage --and I adore my spouse.
I even went to prescribed sessions with a sleep therapist and an accupuncturist.
I would never tell someone who needs professional help for a medical condition to avoid a physician or pharmaceutical therapy. This has only been my experience--and it may be worth discussing with your doctor, especially if you are a woman.
I will keep all of you in my thoughts. Thanks so much for letting me share.
One of these was a sensation of having an electric shock, or cattle prod in the centre of my brain at the point of falling asleep. I would jerk awake, and actually heard a 'zap'. It was horrible, and I was always wide awake after. Then I would get sleepy...then just on the point of sleep...'zap' it happened again.
I also had what I now think were mild seizures and could feel my eyeballs being involuntarily pulled up and back in my head.
Also had severe parethsesia (total numbness) in both my hands when I finally fell asleep and woke in the morning, lasting a few minutes.
I was told to stimulate the pineal gland in the brain