-
Parkinon's impact on sleep and dreaming
-
Has anyone tried using a diffuser in their bedroom with essential oils that help for sleep and anxiety? I’ve heard this has helped, but wanted to see how many of you had tried this.
My mom currently uses the diffuser in their home but wonder if she should start using it in the bedroom for my dad with the essential oils that work for anxiety and sleep.
Also, has anyone tried a weighted blanket?
I’m considering getting my dad a weighted blanket for a gift.
-
I’ve heard from some people that a weighty duvet is a good in-between option if a weighted blanket is too expensive or too heavy.
-
-
I bought a weighted blanket a year so ago. It was 15 pounds, which I believe is a standard weight. (They go up from there.) As a Parky, however, I found it very difficult to move the blanket around, to get it, say, covering my feet and up to my neck. Also, I have typical Parkinson’s figit, causing me to change positions almost constantly. The weighted blanket turned out to a hindrance to a comfortable sleep rather than an aid.
Someone who can sleep still all night might find one useful. Some people say the blankets are great.
-
Weighted blankets matter. Using it was very helpful for my daughter, but I heard a lot of negative reviews. Who knows, finally…
-
-
ervI didn’t read every word, but I saw no mention of roprinerole. EVERY doc and PWP I have discussed my dream with says that the dopamine agonists like roprinerole, are often involved in the production of these strange dreams. I have been taking it for eight years and I’d say it causes me to have one for three of these acting-out dreams every year. Many involve defending myself from my attacking wife. In another I tried to climb out a second story window.
My first wife, whose name was ALLYson, would not have awakened I believe, but my second has been able to shock me into awareness every time before I hurt myself or her
-
Thanks for sharing, Jack. What happened when you tried to climb out the window?! Did your wife awaken and stop you?
-
-
My husband has all the symptoms of REM disturbance, kicking, screaming, falling out of bed etc. He has Parkinson’s for almost 20 ears now. Melatonin helped a bit, but not enough, too much of it made him sleepy the entire day. Reading the list of side effects, we decided against strong medications. What finally really helped, MEDICAL MARIJUANA! First we tried CBD, that had mild effect. THC dominant drops (just a few drops) immediately calms all that terrible acting in dreams. Give it a try!
-
The dreams I have range from fussing at someone to being attacked by someone who comes out of nowhere. Sometimes I move around but I have never struck my husband or jumped or fell out of bed. I always shout or scream and my husband wakes me up and we go back to sleep.
-
My post is appealing to the armchair Neurologists in our midst.
I’m aware that REM sleep helps us to “reconstitute” our emotional experiences while we sleep. It constitutes from 18% to 33% of an average 8-hour rest, the bulk being experienced in the latter 4 hours. It is related directly to the Amygdala, which maintain direct connections to the PFC as well. I’m not too sure if it has any involvement in memory consolidation, as does NREM sleep phases.
Does anyone know what happens to this percentage balance between REM and NREM sleep in PwP? Do we struggle with less REM and more NREM?
For someone who struggles with REM-SBD, not only does the intensity of dreaming increase, but bodily neural impulses shift from atonic to tonic. Does anyone know what happens in different parts of the brain to do with these issues?
-
I PLMD or periodic limb movement disorder and have punched myself in the eye and blackened my hand on the bed frame as I flailed about in my sleep. It was difficult explaining that to my coworkers when I was working!
Generally, my dreams are very vivid to a point where I can hear, feel, smell, and even taste things. These are the ones I enjoy especially as I relive my days of traveling and going places. It’s the scary ones that have knocked me on the floor or have given me visitors I don’t wish to have that I want to forget!
-
<Typo>
I have PLMD or periodic …
-
-
I have had Parkinson’s for 11 years. I used to have vivid dreams of animals attacking and would kick to save my wife from their attacks. We have a double bed, but with single top sheets. So my legs would get wrapped in my sheet, so I never managed to actually kick her.
But this is one of the symptoms that disappeared when I started taking a teaspoon of Mannitol each day. I also sleep better and seldom have cramps anymore. Mannitol is a sugar used in desserts for diabetics. So it is not dangerous. Try it.
-
This is a very long thread, so sorry if someone already mentioned this! I first heard about this phenomenon when Alan Alda described in an interview how he determined that he had Parkinson’s. He had read about this in an article in the NY Times and experienced it. I believe he thought he was throwing a bag of potatoes at someone trying to hurt him, but was really throwing a pillow at his wife! He went to his neurologist, but because he had no other symptoms of PD, they wanted to dismiss it. However, he insisted on a DaTscan and after that was diagnosed with PD. It was the dreams that started him down the path of realizing what he might have.
-
Melatonin has helped calm my husband’s dreams. We had to reaserch it ourselves to see that it was helpful. What would we do without the internet since drs don’t tell us these things?
-
Hello
1mg of Clonazepam each night is what works for me. Originally started on 0.5mg.
Good luck!
John
Log in to reply.