Posted by Kathii on February 9, 2003, at 21:09:17
In reply to Re: Strange REM sleep Phenomenon » Alara, posted by Bob on February 9, 2003, at 2:27:24
> > Has anybody who is busy during the week ever noticed the following?:
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> > On the weekends you catch up on your sleep...Knowing that you can sleep for as long as you want, you keep drifting in and out of REM sleep after a full 8-10 hours of `catchup sleep'.
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> > I find this happening to me every weekend. I can continue sleeping for another 3-5 hours after the restorative sleep phase, becoming semi-awake after each dream finishes..At this point I can decide whether or not to get up or to fall back asleep again. I am usually kind of enjoying the dreams and feel so relaxed that I take the easy way out and fall asleep again. Today I continued this cycle until 1pm!
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> > I'm not worried about this, just curious. I think it's just the result of working long and stressful hours...It's probably just my mind/body's way of replenishing itself.. But I find it strangely therapeutic and was wondering whether anyone else had experienced anything similar.
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> > Alara
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> Alara:
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> I have ALWAYS experienced this phenomenon on all SSRIs I have ever taken. My sleep cycle starts to shift, and eventually I find myself staying awake late into the night, and sleeping into the afternoon. The nature of my sleep in the morning is always extremely heavy with a lot of vivid dreaming. If I am taking a robust dose of an SSRI, this sleep will be so heavy as to prevent me from hearing my alarm clock. I will often incorporate sounds around me into my dreams. I will sometimes dream that I am getting out of bed and getting ready for work. Later I awake to find it was just a dream. Sometimes in the morning I will wake up briefly, but the sedation is overwhelming, and I fall back asleep so quickly I don't even realize it. It is an utterly overpowering urge to continue sleeping. It is one aspect of the drugs that as contributed to the destruction of my life. I have experienced this phenomenon for many years and have tried many, many things to correct it, like stimulants, melatonin, thyroid supplements, light boxes, Welbutrin, coffee, taking my meds at different times of the day, etc, etc, etc. Nothing has ever worked for more than a few days to a week. No doctor I have ever spoken to has really understood the severity of it.
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> Anyway, it fortunately sounds like you don't suffer quite like I do, but I wanted you to know that I do experience the same REM sleep phenomenon that you do.
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> Bob
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Oh, Wow, Bob, I have exactly the same thing - thought I was all alone with it. The alarm clock becomes just a part of my dream, the sheets won't let me go, and I can sleep until 1pm if I don't have to get up. I tell people that I have chronic insomnia and have problems getting up early because I really haven't slept most of the night. It's like waking the dead...
But I *do* need to start getting up earlier.
I've recently started Lexapro (have been on Wellbutrin and Xanax) and have been enjoying the increased dreaming, although I had one dream where a TV weatherman kept telling me all my clocks were wrong.
Anybody have suggestions on how to get up in the morning?
poster:Kathii
thread:140244
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030208/msgs/140369.html