Hi Nancy,

A few TBI patients never regain the capacity to enter REM sleep. My brain just can't go there and I wake everytime I approach that part of the cycle. So, your daughter's capacity to enter REM sleep is encouraging. Does she dream? What sorts of dreams?

Once you get her neuro-psych results, you'll have a better idea of what areas have been most damaged. That will make it easier to understand what's happening and to target therapies.

Her fatigue may not be solely the result of poor sleep quality. When one has a brain injury, everything one does (talk, walk, eat, etc...) takes so much effort that exhaustion can be pretty much inevitable. At this early stage, let her sleep as much as she likes and don't expect much from her during the day.

Cheers

Yes, she dreams. The types of dreams vary. Some are pretty typical for her, others are related to her memory failing, and other are truly bizare. Does the frequency she is dreaming and the types of dreams indicate anything?

I have had mostly 'stressful' dreams since my injury. Not quite nightmares but definitely stressful. They appear to coincide with other sleep disturbances, like body twitches, legs kicking, etc. Some appear to be breathing related. I have some Central Sleep Apnea. My sleep and dreams have improved greatly since adding B-2, D3, Omega-3 Fish oil with high concentrations of EPA and DHA, testosterone and DHEA to my already extensive daily supplement routine.

My sleep will predict my function level during the day. If I twitch and such, I will have a bad day. If I have stressful dreams, I will also have a bad day.

I can also have a bad day without these sleep problems the night before.

Good sleep hygiene is highly advised. No caffeine at all. Limited intense sugars. Low glycemic index foods should be primary nutrition from dinner and on.

I do well with peanut butter and cinnamon on crackers or toast as a after dinner snack. It sticks with me through the night. Cinnamon can help stabilize blood glucose.

Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCT's) can be helpful as they help establish ketones that some injured brains metabolize better. Do a google search for MCT oil. MCT's are a primary focus of a ketogenic diet used for some epileptics.

Hi Nancy,

As Mark says, TBI dreams can be disturbing. However, dreams of any kind are a good sign as dreaming requires quite a lot of brain activity.

I asked what kind of dreams to differentiate between REM and non-REM dreams. While REM dreams tend to be abstract, non-REM dreams tend to be a more literal working through of the days event. The former requires even more brain activity than the latter and should be viewed as encouraging.

Hey Mark,

Thanks for the info on that oil. I'm going to give it a whirl.

Cheers

You all are a great source of information! In all of my sleep research (I've pretty much research anything to do with my daughter's issues), I never realized that you could dream in non rem sleep too.

She's definitely has some pretty bizzare and intense dreams. They don't freak her out, but the content is a little disturbing at times. I think they are being less so, as she hasn't mentioned strange ones in a while.

I have an appointment scheduled with a neurofeedback guy. He the first person willing to help her with her sleep issues. I hope it is helpful.

There was a really interesting documentary on sleep on PBS (I think) not long ago. There was an informative section on brain damage and it's effect on sleep and dreams. If I think hard, maybe I'll be able to remember the title of the show.

Cheers

PBS has a web page for NOVA that list the sleep issues. It may have some video clips of the broadcast.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3410/01.html

Here is a link to an interesting article about the Ketogenic diet. The kids on the 80% fat diet have minimal cholesterol problems but excellent response in reduce seizure activity.

http://wcco.com/health/high.fat.diet.2.1436243.html