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hurt back while sleeping


Posted by Paul Wilbert on September 26, 1998 at 18:12:28:

Let me start by saying that I have now been referred for a sleep study after my latest doctor's visit, but I haven't had it yet, and now I can't wait! I have to find out what's going on. Thanks to everyone for all the fantastic info. in this forum and elsewhere on the net. After searching the net, I think that I may actually be suffering from multiple different sleep disorders!

This past Christmas, I awoke on the floor in incredible pain in my back. I was faced in the opposite direction,laying face down. That made me think I actually had to have some sort of somnambulistic event to wind up that way, since I didn't see how I could have just rolled off into that position (the dresser would have gotten in the way). It ended up being a slipped disc, and let me tell you it hurt like hell. The amazing thing was though that the pain didn't wake me up, and I didn't feel it until I woke. I got referred for Physical Therapy and the disc problem got totally resolved, with no more pain. But then, just a few nights ago, I woke up on a Saturday (in the afternoon, more on that later) with more incredible back pain. This time it was muscular, not the disc, at about the same spot in my back. I had woken up earlier absolutely gasping for breath, feeling sharp pressure on my diaphragm. Once I regained the breath I dozed right back off and didn't wake until later in unbearable agony. In addition, I had huge sores on both sides of my tongue that seemed like I had really chomped away during the night, and may have indicated some kind of nightime seizure. This is the first time I have ever had that. Anyways, after explaining this all to the doc this time around I got referred for a sleep study, which brings us up to current day.

However, there is a lot of history here that makes things even more interesting. To begin with, I am very aware that the trouble breathing that I mentioned earlier is indicative of sleep apnea, and I am very aware that I am probably suffering from this. Yes, I snore. Yes, I am overweight. (Also, btw, male 27) I have tried the breathe-right strips before and they seem to help somewhat. So I am fairly convinced that apnea is part of the picture.

I am also convinced that something Circadian is going on as well. I have that delayed-sleep cycle thing where I often can't seem to get to sleep until 3:00 a.m. no matter how early I go to bed. I just can't fall asleep. However, once asleep, a plane crash wouldn't wake me up. When I was a kid, our house was burglarized, and the cops came with flashing lights, radios, etc., and I was clueless through the whole thing. I usually use three alarm clocks at various places around the room and it is still not enough to sometimes wake me up. Once I didn't wake up until noon on a workday and almost got fired. In college I slept halfway through a final exam once. I lived with my brother for a short while in a rented house. He got mad because my alarm clock woke HIM up while I was dozing right through it a foot from my head. On the weekends I often sleep well past noon, about 10-12 hours. All these are textbook symptoms of a Circadian disorder, I know.

So, to sum up, we have: Circadian rhythm problems, possible sleep apnea, maybe a somnambulistic event, maybe a nighttime seizure of some sort, and two separate back injuries incurred during sleeping that still weren't enough to wake me at the time the injuries took place. I realize these are serious problems that require a sleep study, and as I said I am doing that. My main question before going in for it though is whether there might be one single cause that ties all these things together, or whether they might just be independently occuring sleep disorders that add up to one whacked-out sleeper. Thanks for taking the time to read my life story, and I'll follow up with the results of the study once I get it.

Paul

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