Screwy Sleep Patterns

September 14, 2002

In a message dated 9/15/2002 2:36:20 AM Central Standard Time,

tuesdynite@... writes:

> but boy, am I familiar with the above sleep

> syndrome! Is anyone else having the same sleep problems? And any idea what

> causes it? My whole routine has been just crazy since WLS. Sometimes I'm

> zonking out at 8pm and then other times I'm up til 3 or 4am. When I wake up

>

> after a couple, three hours, I try to FORCE myself to get in a full 8 hrs

>

Okay, I am sitting here reading this at 4:22 a.m. , thinking ME TOO. How

many times since WLS have I done this? I need point out that at bedtime

last night somewhere about 10-10:30 I took my usual two Tylenol PM along with

..25 mg Xanax and went to sleep. IF I do not do that then sleep does not

occur for hours and hours. But I have the four hour pattern, then fatigue,

etc.

As I think about it, even during my twenty year military career " lights out "

in barracks and on ships was a terrifying experience for me as I did not

sleep well. I am not sure this has anything to do with WLS in my case when I

consider the many years that I have been aware of it. I had sleep study

before WLS and had severe obstructive sleep apnea, then had two more post WLS

when the patterns did not go away but the studies showed the apnea had. I

had just read something the other day sent to me by a non WLS friends about

changing moods, sleep patterns etc that had to do with chemical sweet spots

and it being related to nutritive supplememtation or a chemical imbalance. I

am not sure. I am sure that it is a lifelong pattern for me. It was there

before the weight, there with the weight, and still here after the weight.

I too wake thinking EAT. During the rapid weight loss phase I would kick

into hypoglycemia at the drop of the hat, so I think tht there is something

to the body;s anticipation of food and the output of insulin anticipating

that. It is interesting to consider that what some of us may " think " is late

dumping could be related to that. Thanks for this thread, I always thought

it was a problem unique for me. I do not have answers, but I think it also

relates to the mis-diagnosis of Bipolar II in me last year, mood swings, and

perhaps a contributing factor in the heart downward spiral. Of course I

have a positive family/sibiling history which goes into that quotient as

well.

Just makes me think that the studies of obesity and related co-morbs have not

been done very well or been so mechanically oriiented and socially

mis-directed that NOTHING is really known about the complexities of each of

us that contribute to MO in the first place and especially during the popst

OP period. Too much focus is on lbs gone which is the apparent success

marker for the surgeons and bought into by so many of us who pray for an end

to the torment of WLS. We have miles to go before we sleep, and miles to go

before we sleep, methinks.

Just wanted to throw out that this is one more of those crucial points when I

think that a national association of WLS folks could " throw a lot of lost

weight around " in bringing about the right focus for our health needs. I am

still looking for Norma Rae and she is never around when needed :-)

Dan Slone

Surgery 5/2/2000

September 15, 2002

Wow...add me to the list. My sleep patterns have always been screwy but they

are so drastically different since surgery that there can be no other

explanation.

I've been a very late night owl all my life. Left to my own devices I would

have gone to bed at 2 am and gotten up at 9 am. Things changed immediately

following surgery. I could not stay up past 9pm and I was waking up on my

own before 6 am. Sleep was light and not satisfying due to the fact I was

waking up every 60 to 90 minutes to go to the bathroom. That pattern

continued for a good 7-8 months. The diarrhea has eased off a great deal

most of the time and I have a new pattern that is holding fast for the last

5-6 months. In bed by 10 or 11, waking up around 2 or 3 am, drinking water,

going to bathroom, getting something to eat(last night it was 4 gummy vites)

reading email, snail mail or watching CNN for about an hour, then going back

to bed till 7:30 am. I don't want to stay up in the middle of the night, but

I can't sleep if I just go back to bed. I feel pretty good during the

morning but by 2 or 3 pm I am fading fast and needing a nap SO badly. I end

up taking a nap from 5 to 6 pm if I can sleep through the #$%*@

telemarketers. I've wondered if my pervasive exhaustion is due to a lack of

quality sleep. Even though I'm sleeping a decent # of hours it is so

interrupted that I don't think I get enough deep sleep.

Bert went bald, the textile mills got run out of business by NAFTA, Norma

Rae, we don't care that you got real fat, so did we, come on out of hiding!

B

September 15, 2002