Lack of sleep?

Question

Hi everyone! For the last 2 weeks I've been extremely sick with a sinus infection and I've been getting little to no sleep. I don't end up falling asleep until 3 or 4 am, then I'm up again at 5 to do my nebulizer (I have severe asthma which only gets worse when I'm sick), which makes me jittery, so I can't get back asleep until 7, and then I'm up for the day at 9 or 10. I've been so tired that I can't even explain it. I mean sometimes when I wake up with trouble breathing in the middle of the night, before I can even get up to do my nebulizer, I fall back asleep, only to be awakened gasping for air. And I know the solution seems to just be "GO TO SLEEP before 3 am!" but it's impossible when I can't breathe -- what happens is as I start to doze off I get startled and wake up.

My problem is that all day and night I'm soooooooo tired, and I feel out of it, dizzy, like I'm going to pass out, "fuzzy," and have "abnormal" thinking on a whole. Is this normal for a lack of sleep?

Yeah, I know. I'm on an antibiotic but I get these so often that I'm resistant to every one (and what I'm not resistant to, I'm allergic to). I'm 330 mch of Flovent (an inhailed steriod) 2 X daily, and I'm doing Xopenex treatments every 4 hours, as needed. Last time I was on Prednisone (about 4 months ago), I had serious acid reflux and it really messed with my hormones (I've had irregular menstrual cycles since). So I'd prefer not to go on it, but I may have to if this continues. I'm just really concerned about my symptoms that I think are from the drowsiness -- I don't know if it's normal for lack of sleep or if I have something else going on (maybe I'm just being a hypochondriac but everything from a mental illness to a brain tumor has run through my mind, lol).

Thanks for all the replies so far. About the sleep apnea, I really don't think it's that because this only happens when I'm having really bad asthma symptoms. Not to mention, it's not like I just get startled and wake up, then I'm fine. When I wake up I'm having asthma symptoms, I still can't breathe, I'm coughing on phlegm (sorry not to be gross!), plus it's the same asthma feeling that I have all the time -- even during the day. I thought of that myself though too, and if it starts happening when I'm not sick and/or if once I wake up I feel fine, I'll definitely mention it to the dr. :)

Answer 1

I'd say it's normal for being sleep-deprived and also for having been sick. You might try taking a Tylenol PM just for a night or two to catch up and get yourself back on a normal sleep routine. Or, if you don't want to take anything, just put yourself in bed an hour earlier each night until you're back to normal.

Answer 2

I honestly believe that you may be diagnosed with sleep apena, since you say that you have trouble breathing at night and it wakes you up in the middle of the night. You should go see a doctor and tell him whats up, there may be more serious conditions.

Sleep apena is a very bad disease, and you should go find out if you have now.

Answer 3

Go see a doctor! If your sick and your asthma is that severe you probably need a course of steroid treatments or a different med for your nebulizer.