Re: sleep problem - Malcolm

[Guest guest]

Very interesting letter Malcolm. I get the feeling that your

experience with the beta-blockers - no dreams and feeling 'dead'

versus resuming dreaming - might be of a similar nature. Ie,

maybe unexplanable but possibly some relationship to something

physically wrong and the nature of your sleep. Not that I'm

assuming that I have your problem exactly, but something odd

going on.

I relate to nearly everything you say. The " being over hot, waking

dehydrated and groggy " , but filling up with water and taking a

cool shower helps that for me. And what is going on now is

different. And, I've had times where I've incorporated noises

into dreams/nightmares - like the guy next door mowing his lawn

at 7 in the morning, right under out bedroom window - and that

leaves me waking irritable and tense, but that is different

also. I do sometimes have nightmares - I had a really bad few

years after a trauma where I'd wake screaming and tense and

jerking all over - and that would be very bad. And, of course,

when I'm having pain, I'll awake gritting my teeth and tense.

I also have chronic bronchitis and when I'm having a bad time

of that, I'll wake in a cold sweat feeling like I'm suffocating

and buried under tons of dirt with and elephant sitting on my

chest - now that's a horrible feeling - but even that doesn't

compare to this 'tornedo'. I don't think words can describe this

feeling of having been tossed and battered - it feels physically

very real and just as exhausting as if it were real, I feel bruised

and beaten as well as this roaring so loud I can't hear. So wierd.

Fasia is a connective tissue that is very thin, smooth, slippery with

a slight stickiness. Fasia surrounds every organ and muscle in the

body and connects the skin to the underlying tissues. Plantar fasciitis

is when the fascia of the arch/heel becomes inflamed and causes that

excruiciating arch/heel pain.

There is one theory that fibromyalgia pain is related to something not

quite right in the fascia - explaining the all over pain. The main

purpose of the fascia is to hold things in place while allowing for

limited movement, ie holding the skin to the underlying muscles and yet

allowing the skin to slide across the muscles as the work and move.

Internally, it holds the organs in relation to each other, prevents

their movement out of position with activity and yet allows the necessary

ease when changing position/jogging, etc. If you've every dealt with

raw chicken, the fascia is very obvious, it's that very slippery, sticky

white layer that holds the skin on but readily pulls off - leaving those

sticky threads behind.

Some studies seem to indicate that people with fibromyalgia show some

stiffness and loss of slipperness and stretchiness of the fascia. Some

people even seem to develop a grainy feel in the fascia. But, the

problem with fibromyalgia is that there are lots of theories, lots of

studies, some showing contradictory findings, and most things around

fibromyalgia seem terribly subjective. The prime reason that many (most)

doctors have difficulty treating it or working with it. Don't misinterpret

that, it's very real, just very subjective. But then, headaches are

just as subjective - it's just that most doctors have experienced

headaches, but not fibromyalgia.

So, thanks for your thoughts, they've given me something to think about.

--

kjg@...

Canberra, ACT Australia