my brain constantly feel as though I have not slept for a week and it is simply exhausted. Is this brain fogginess? I constantly feel drugged up (taking no medication), or groggy or hung over. I feel like a cold shower will wake me up, or sleep will restore the fatigue, but it is constant. When I wake up from sleep, I feel the same as when I went to sleep. Is this what they call "things do not feel right"? What is this? I am having trouble even articulating what I am going through...

When I try to think I get almost a sickly feeling. a bit dizzy and as if I have a fever. What is this feeling? Does anyone else have this? (I know TBIs affect everyone differently, but I feel trapped and I just want to wake up. looking for support...)

I don't know what to call it but I get it from time to time. Sometimes, I can beat it by taking a caffeine tablet (80mgs). It is like a weak cup of coffee and can help.

My doctor told me it had something to do with not getting proper REM sleep. One way to tell you're not getting proper REM sleep is if you wake up and remember the dream you were having vividly. That's what I understood him to say.
The nights I take Ambien extra strength, Xanax and Flexeril, I might sleep as much as six hours and feel ok. I dint recommend that combo but I was a little desperate and doctor threw me a bone.
When I wake up during a Vivid dream, I know im going to be tired When I don't, I don't feel so bad

Recovering from Mild TBI
Mary Ann Keatley, PhD, CCC and Laura L. Whittemore, Brain Injury Hope Foundation
Chapter 3 - The Important Role of Brain Filters

Down the bottom there's a small section called "Changes in energy reserve after injury".

So basically they're saying you need brain rest and at the moment if you're not sleeping well or overdoing it during the day (even though you may think you're taking it easier) you're not getting it and you are left with this foggy brain feeling.

I have to say though, the days my vertigo is worse are the days when I feel foggy brained and blah... sort of a heavy feeling.

I remembered this link about Vestibular Migraine and I'm a person who gets Migraine with Aura from time to time in my life and often wondered if my residual vertigo is actually a vestibular migraine. http://vestibular.org/migraine-associated-vertigo-mav

The days when my vertigo is worse as I described above and feel gross as described are very like I feel when recovering from a migraine. heavy and flat Often takes some days for that feeling to go.

Remembering of course that one doesn't necessarily need the headache component of a migraine for it to actually BE a migraine.

I get this daily. Only way ive found to rid it is take a caffeine pill or drink a dark coffee.

Its basically not getting rem sleep I think. I rarely get this. The only time I dont get this feeling is when I dream. Which is a rare occurrence

I have two different experiences of this sort. There are the days when I do not get good sleep and am groggy all day. The only solution is to take a nap. I can take a nap in my recliner and get decent rest and feel much better.

There are also days where I have this mental and emotional lethargy that is not the same as feeling groggy. Taking a nap does not help. Those are the days when a caffeine pill helps.

Remembering dreams is a sign of NOT having REM sleep? Interesting, I figured remembering dreams was evidence that you were in REM sleep, since we dream during REM sleep.

Hmm maybe im wrong but I was under the impression you remember your dreams during good rem. i could be totally wrong on this.

Im also under the impression dreams equal rem?

http://www.greensleep.com/Europe/Gre...pe-slaap.asp#6

The REM sleep, also called Rapid Eye Movement sleep or paradoxical sleep, is the sleep that is vital to our mental health. Our body temperature decreases and blood streams to our brains.

During REM sleep, our eyes follow so to speak what we see in our dreams. If we are wakened up or awake in this stage, we can remember what we were dreaming.

Usually, if you remember a dream vividly you woke up during REM, which is a bad thing.

Interesting. I guess I've been getting worse sleep than I thought! Perhaps that explains why I always have bags under my eyes when I wake up after 9 hrs of sleep...