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Be Thankful If They Just Snore

Posted by michael on from the falling-falling-falling-splat dept.

The NYT is running has a lengthy piece in their weekend supplement about sleep disorders. Besides a certain amount of humor value, the article covers sleep terrors and sleepwalking and even weirder disorders.

5 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. Faithless by Library+Spoff · · Score: 5, Insightful

    having had some problems sleeping recently due to stress I can tell you it ain't funny...

    can't sleep cause you're stressed...
    this stresses you...
    cant sleep cause you're stressed...

    not much fun..

    and *everyones* got a cure:

    "tried lettuce sandwiches"
    "tried a piriton" etc etc.

    thankfully i'm sleeping again, but I don't envy anyone who has this all the time.

    --
    Acid House saves Souls
  2. It's all pseudo-science... by ch1a · · Score: 5, Funny

    and I'll believe none of it until they produce a cure for sleep-kicking-your-boyfriend-in-the-shins.

    --

    --Just because you can doesn't mean you should--
  3. Joke.... by superspoon · · Score: 5, Funny


    What do you call a nun who sleep walks?

    A roamin' Catholic


    source: joke.com

    --


    YarrRrr
  4. I can identify with that... by Flounder · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I've been diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea. According to the sleep lab, I stopped breathing 62 times per hour average. That's once a minute. My wife has told me that I've screamed at the wall, talked with her about problems with my code, and have actually punched her in the face twice. I have absolutely no memory of any of this.

    I've lost jobs because I fall asleep at work, because I don't get any rest when I sleep at night. My marriage ended because my wife was afraid that I'd do something to her or to the kids while I slept. My health is in the crapper, and treatments I've taken for this hasn't had any affect. I've slept 14 hours and still felt tired when I woke up.

    The article doesn't quite fully describe how hard this is on the patients. You are told that you do things at night, and you have no memory of any of it. I have accused my wife of lying to me when she told me I screamed at the wall for two hours one night. Things are happening, you are told you do things, and you have absolutely no control because you don't even know you do any of it.

    My doctor is close to recommending that I undergo another surgery to try to take care of this. I've already had my tonsils and adnoids removed. Now, he's recommending a surgery that would actually scar the tissue in my throat, causing it to tighten up and open the airway.

    --

    No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow. - Cmdr. Susan Ivanova

  5. They missed a good one by Liquidrage · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Sleep paralysis.
    From the time I was 18 till 22 or so, I would occasional wake from a dream but still have the paralysis from REM sleep.

    It is the opposite of fun waking up and being totally paralyzed. Couldn't even talk. It would happen within a dream first as well. One time in a dream I was being chased up a hill by *something* and I slowed down to a crawl. Before long I couldn't move. Woke up. Couldn't move.

    Usually took about 5 minutes to wear off. The worse was when I woke up paralyzed one night face down on the inside of couch with my (now) wife sleeping on the outside but basically on top of me. My face was wedged down between the back of the couch and cushions. Could barely see anything, but I knew someone was on me. Nope, didn't like that one at all.

    http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/paralysis.html