I found out an interesting fact about my own sleep during the consultation. Only 16% of my sleep reaches R.E.M or DEEP SLEEP. 22% is normal. This difference is a result of my Traumatic Brain Injury, which explains WHY I never sleep more than six hours at one time (occasionally seven hours) and I WHY I NEVER feel rested. My quality of sleep sucks.
So now I'm on my way to pick up a prescribed sleep medication, AKA AMBIEN. Some patients have weird dreams and awakenings in the middle of the night with Ambien, but she said these are not the majority. So I'm going to try it for a month and see if it helps me.
As a side note, I must acknowledge that Dr. Mark Ashley told me at the Brain Injury Association of Utah Conference a few years back that TBI survivors must fix their sleep hygiene along with taking prescribed medication. You can't assume that a sleeping pill is going to fix it alone. So I'll be sticking with my early bed time, no sugar or salt late at night stuff.
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5 comments:
Good Luck! I hope the ambien helps.
Wow, that is cool that they could track your actual REM sleep. I didn't know that sugar and salt before bed prohibited good rest. I will have to remember that. I am always busting out the chips and salsa before bed. Good luck with the Ambien
Has your sleep been better?
Due in July!
I'm glad you were able to get some direction. I'm impressed with your willingness to modify behaviors-that's so much harder than just taking a pill, and so many people aren't able to do it. Good luck.
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