Other Sleep Disorders

While obstructive sleep apnea is common, there are over eighty different recognized sleep disorders. Some keep you awake, some disrupt your sleep, and others can make you fall asleep immediately. Here are a few.

Insomnia, most common in women, the elderly and shift workers, can affect over a quarter of our population. People will demonstrate the inability to fall asleep or stay asleep. Some people have brief episodes (days to weeks) while others can have chronic problems (months to years). Symptoms can include difficulty in falling asleep, waking too early and being unable to fall back asleep, feeling not refreshed, and frequent waking throughout the night. Stress, depression, anxiety, illness, or a sleeping pill habit are all possible causes of insomnia. If untreated, people experience daytime sleepiness, changes in personality, trouble with memory and performance, increased likelihood for accidents and illness, and the inability to enjoy life.

Narcolepsy is a chronic neurological disorder that shows itself as the inability to stay awake. People will feel sleepy all day and will fall asleep suddenly when they should be awake. Symptoms may include daytime sleepiness, cataplexy (sudden loss of muscle tone), sleep paralysis, dream-like hallucinations, and sudden sleep attacks. Many physicians are not familiar with correlating the symptoms with narcolepsy and may suspect other disorders. Diagnosis is made from a polysomnogram (sleep study) and multiple sleep latency tests.

Restless Leg Syndrome patients may appear healthy but experience a neurologic disorder characterized by unpleasant sensations in the legs and an uncontrollable urge to more their legs when at rest. These people may also experience discomfort when sitting or lying down and difficulty falling or staying asleep. The causes of restless leg syndrome are not known, but the symptoms seem to worsen over the years. There appears to be a genetic correlation as well as a relationship with diabetes, kidney problems, alcoholism and Parkinson’s disease. Proper diagnosis and treatment may help as well as some home remedies such as hot baths, leg massages, heat, ice, excursive, yoga, and elimination of caffeine.

Fibromyalgia is a medical syndrome characterized by pain and stiffness in muscles and joints. These patients also exhibit sleep problems and daytime sleepiness similar to sleep apnea. The sleep disturbances and pain are linked creating problems associated with sleep deprivation. While fibromyalgia can affect anyone it is most common in middle aged women. In addition to the muscle and joint problems there is a wide range of additional symptoms including insomnia and restless leg syndrome. Sleep studies should be evaluated to see if there is a correlation to fibromyalgia.

Parasomnias are sleep disorders that are characterized by activities that do not usually happen during sleep.

REM Behavior Disorder occurs when the mechanism that ensures paralysis during REM sleep does not operate correctly. Sleepers with this disorder "act out" their dreams and may injure themselves or their bed partners. This disorder is more common among older men and responds well to medication.

Sleep talkers may only say a few words or recite an entire speech. Generally, the condition coincides with stress or illness, and the sleep talker has no recollection of their nocturnal speeches. Sleep talking also occurs with sleep terrors and sleep apnea.

Sleep terrors create sudden awakenings with violent behavior. Screaming is common and intense physical efforts that may cause injury to the sleeper or sleeper's partner. An episode lasts about 15 minutes, during which the sleeper may seem to be awake, but in the morning the sleeper generally remembers nothing. Sleep terrors are common in children and typically disappear by adulthood.

Sleepwalking, like sleep terrors, occurs mostly in children and tends to run in families. Most people who sleepwalk stop sometime during puberty. These nocturnal walks tend to occur during delta sleep. Like sleep terrors, sleep walking may be dangerous to the walker or partner. Evaluation, diagnosis and treatment should be provided by your physician. Better sleep hygiene may help. See the ‘Sleep Hygiene’ tab for more information.

Snoring and Sleep Apnea can be managed with the CPAP alternative!
Call Philadelphia Dental Sleep Medicine now to help with healthier sleeping!
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