I know this is a little bit of a different kind of place than healthboards, sometimes those boards can be helpful too... not knocking it....
Basically, I feel as if I am becoming dismantled from exhaustion, and I'm just a young 50 yrs old! I wake up after 4 hours usually, no matter what time I go down. Then I feel an ache in my legs and exhaustion... it tells me that for that time, that 3 or 4 hours, I may not have gotten past the first or second stage of sleep... no healing, no repair.. no REM.... the day ahead will be a zombie day, I will get very little done and have difficulty focusing on much.... I won't be able to nap because, well I can't take naps for the time being, these days....
It's going on five months of this, in this intense mode, Before, going back oh some three years I would have the occasional really bad mornings where I would get up and an hour later realize..... I thought I slept but it had been one of 'those' nights where again I apparently didn't sleep... not in the right way.... now it's almost every night...yes I was diagnosed with sleep apnea....
I was prescribed a CPAP for mild apnea which is part obstructive and part 'central' where, supposedly the signal from brain to breathing muscles doesn't get through. Not sure I believe such a thing though! This is still somewhat a source of anxiety.
I am presently taking hydroxyzine at night to get me drowsy, it is a very old anti-histamine which is prescribed off label as a sedative and mild anti-depressant. I liek it better than Ambien which, while very effective, has a knack for being sure I DO wake up after four hours and I don't think I dream at all... the hydroxyzine will occasionally put me into REM and dreams for a little while....
The CPAP has been something to get used to. I hacked into the machine to lower the pressure just slightly, it was hard to exhale against the pressure...
Well, if there is anyone who knows about stem cells and sleep, why not! I'd love a stem cell sleep injection. But also I am hoping if anyone struggles with this kind of sleep issue I'd like to know what works for you or if you have gotten the better of it. Right now I feel I am falling apart... I might have to give up my self-employment and my apartment, and pack up my stuff and move in with family somewhere...
I also got my pulmonary PFT results Friday... not devastating, but it could influence sleep, I don't know... maybe need to talk with doc about it, anyway the FVC was 95% (ok, pretty good) and the FEV1 was 90% (not so great but not scary bad either, especially as I quit smoking and I'm all about happy lungs, the idea is I should be able to hold the line)
Thanks for letting me ramble... I hope I put out enough information so that something resonates for someone.... All best -- Del