Question
I am 26 years old and I have been plagued by excessive dreaming and thirst for many years and I wonder what might be the cause and where to seek help. Throughout the night, I have constant dreams and wake up at least 5 times to drink water. I go from one dream to another dream; its like watching one short movie after another. The story of each dream most often is incoherent and phantasmagoric and the stories of all the dreams are never connected. Every 2 hours I wake up extremely thirsty and with cerebral tiredness; most of the time I have no problem falling back asleep except that I go right back to having dreams, most of which I barely remember upon waking up. In the morning, I always wake up sleepy and often exhausted: my eyes and brain feel very tired and my muscles are sluggish, even after 10-12 hours of sleep (which I need to feel slightly rested and function during the day). In order to help you answer my question better, please note that I also suffer from food intolerance (gluten and dairy) and bowel problems (fullness, bloatedness, candida) yet I try to wait at least 2 hours or more after a meal (all gluten and dairy free) to go to bed. I have also been tested for diabetes which came abck negative and my father, interestingly, has the same condition. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Answer
Although Im not an md, the symptoms you describe especially the sleepiness and muscles being sluggish could very well be a sleep disorder which I suffer from called narcolepsy. You need to go to a sleep center which your local hospital can refer you to have an overnight sleep study so that they can monitor your sleep proble.. Go to sleepnet.com click on disorders narcolepsy to read more, also go to narcolepsy network.org. Lastly go to talkabout sleep.com. They have weekly online chats with sleep experts, but you need to get this diagnosed so that you can be placed on medication and get your life back. feel free to email again karel
