Sleep disorder - neurology link?

   For several years now, I have had problems getting a good nights sleep. It has become so bad that recently I have been evicted from my marital bed and now have to make do with sleeping on the living room couch!

I awake on numerous occasions during the night. According to my wife I snore loudly and when I am not doing that I "flail and jitter" and have "spasms", much to my wife's annoyance.

Another aspect of my broken sleep is that I have sleep paralysis. At first this was frightening but now I am used to it. I am aware that I am awake but unable to move, open my eyes or speak. I just lie there now until it passes. This happens several times a year, but I can have a couple of bouts a month if I am unlucky.

To cap it all, at least once a month, I suffer from a couple of days, complete mental and physical exhaustion, where I feel incapable of doing anything. This is causing real problems with my young family and with my job. I have a tendency to make fundamental mistakes and am unable to concentrate or think clearly, seemingly having "mind fog" and find myself staring into the middle-distance a lot. This is also occasionally accompanied by headaches/nape of neck pain to varying degrees.

I don't know if these things are connected, but I have noticeable muscle spasms in my legs,  less so in my arms and occasional desensitisation in my fingers and toes. My lips and face becomes numb and I get a weird crawling feeling usually on the right facial cheek. My whole body aches! It feels like a bad case of influenza

I have had an ENT investigation completed by a specialist and the results are normal. I have also worn an oxygen saturation monitor overnight with the results coming back from the doctor stating that my levels show no signs of Obstructive Sleep Apnoea. Yet the problem still continues.

I am searching for possible solutions to the problem. I have tried the sleep forum with some helpful information coming back regarding oxygen saturation tests and a suggestion to have a sleep study completed, but was wondering if my problem was in some way neurological in nature.

[BobbHilton]

Hi,
Sleep complaints generally fall into 6 major categories:
(1) insomnia :difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, awakening too early and a feeling that sleep has not provided the usual sense of restoration
(2) excessive somnolence during daytimes
(3) snoring and sleep breathing difficulties especially you are few Kgs overweight
(4) sleep-wake disruption (circadian dysrhythmia -->timing of the sleep/wake pattern with the night/day cycle)
(5) bizarre sleep-related behaviors or parasomnias which are defined as undesirable physical phenomena that occur primarily during sleep )
and (6) sleep-related movement disorders.
A particular sleep disorder may be associated with 1 or more of these major categories of symptoms. Lets analys each complaint seperatly
1-Loud snoring +/- apneas during sleep point strongly to obstructive sleep apnea syndrome esp if  you are overweight.
2- Sleep paralysis could occure in normal people as its simply a REM sleep intrusion (meaning a REM stage of slepp with its paralytic effects extending beyond its usual peroid) or could be part of  narcolepsy (a tetrad of symptomes while you mentioned only one of them).
3-the other part of your story is inkeeping with parasomnias (sensations or bizarre movements, behaviors while asleep which could even include urinary incontinence, shouting or screaming, and violent behavior). Generally speaking Parasomnia needs to be differentiated from other ictal (Seizure) events occurring at night. In many instances testing in the sleep laboratory is necessary.

In a summary you would need :
1-Complete blood count, serum chemistries, and thyroid function tests.
2-Pulmonary function tests, including arterial blood gases.
3- Human leukocyte antigen testing may be useful if more evidence pointed at narcolepsy.
4-Polysomnography, with simultaneous monitoring of EEG, eye movements, heart rate, respiratory effort and airflow, oxygenation, and muscle tone, is used to confirm that you do not sleep apnea/ hypoxemia causing thr jittry movements and the muscle cramps and pain its also useful in diagnosing narcolepsy  or suspected periodic limb movements,  nocturnal epilepsy, REM sleep behavior disorder, and other parasomnias.
  
  Hope this is helpful and sorry as English is not my first language

  God bless
  Bob Hilton

[Oslog]

Hi, Thank you for your comments. They have been very helpful. I have had Obstructive Sleep Aponea ruled out after wearing an oxygen saturation unit overnight ( I think this is refered to in point 2 of the summary relating to the pulonary test in some way). I have also had an ENT check-up,ruling out any tonsular obstruction, nasal blockages etc.  

I understand that there are other types of Aponea and will go back to my doctor with a request for summary points 1,3 and 4 to be conducted. (And 2 if I was wrong in my first paragraph!)

Once again, thank you for your advice on this matter, as it is starting to get me down.

By the way.....Your English is excellent!

Kindest regards,

Oslog  

[ggreg]

Hilton,
Sorry to hijack this thread, but your English is PERFECT.  Before retiring, I was a copy writer and copy editor.  So good at language, could turn it around to suit myself.  But really had a hard time learning other languages, closest I came to assimilating was Spanish, lived there a few years.  Hope to take senior classes, as I want to be on equal footing with the wonderful Mexican people who are trying so hard to join us.  Also found some Central Americans exceedingly polite.  I have American Indian in my family and those south of the border are actually part Indian, and their magical connection to the earth is something civilized man has lost.
GG