Before my injury I used to go to sleep around midnight and get up automatically without an alarm clock at around 7 am.

Post injury I couldn't go to sleep until after 3 am but still get up at 7 am. This lasted about 8 months.

Over the last 6 -8 weeks I have managed to get to sleep at midnight but now find it difficult to get up in the morning until 9 am. Why I don't know it must be the wacky world of brain injury

I can empathise with you all thats for sure. Daytime exhaustion, detatchment, frustration, mood swings, depression. We could go on and on. I have not had concusion of any kind but I am never refreshed no matter how long I sleep.

I would recommend a full sleep study, wire you up like a puppet and record your brainwaves while you sleep. They also track oxygen saturation, pulse, if you stop breathing for any period etc etc.

The brain is so complex I don't think any specialist can state that they have all the answers but the sleep study can give indicators for many conditions.

Have a look at the sleep apnea/ sleep disorder posts.

Just DON'T IGNORE IT (as if you can anyway)

I suffered form lake of sleep and still do from time to time,tere are some aromatherapy sleep oils that you can put in a defuser in your bedroom that will help you sleep better I do have some recipes if you feel that you would like to try a more natural way or you could try to find an aromathairapist near you

For me lack of sleep is a strong indicator that i overdid it in some way...

So I try to be aware of that fact and questioned myself about my activity level that day (both physically and cognitivley)

I think the main reason being that with fatigue comes anxiety and with a concussion it is like we loose a "filter" and are much more vulverable to stess...

Hope it helps you Chris!

I had a sleep study last week - will see what it shows. The place I had it specialized in sleep apnea and I do not think that is what is causing my sleep disturbance. In any case the technician said they coded 2 hours of sleep in an 8 hour period. I only remember being awake for the first 2.5 hours so not sure what happened during the study. I do know i was dead tired when I was awakended.

I know sleep disturbance can be associated with TBI but it takes extra monitoring of the brain waves to sort out the cause. The initial test are mainly to rule out apnea.

Anyone else have a sleep study and did the results lean toward a brain cause or something else??

I did sleep study about 2 years ago and they did test lot of things. Sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome etc., Interesting study but didn't show anything abnormal for me except mild snoring.

If you do have sleep apnea, it will show in the test which can be a great help in aiding your recovery through some good medical help.

Cheers!

I have probably mentioned this in a previous post somewhere but my initial sleep study pointed to mild/moderate sleep apnea but the CPAP prescribed did not cure the constant fatigue, a second sleep study showed that my body was active during REM sleep and therefore not resting. In Sept 2012 the specialist diagnosed REM Sleep behaviour disorder.

I have also some tremor in right hand and feet, so having the REM disorder may help my neurologist decide if I have Parkinsons, Lewy Body Disease, Multiple system atrophy or whatever. Glad I agreed to the second study.

Like yourself I would give a lot to feel refreshed and have more energy (any energy LOL)

Good Luck (get your thyroid checked)