[Chris2828]

In the last weeks I noticed that I start to shake my head a few times and only for very small distances. I had this problem a few months ago but only occasionally. Now it happens almost any night due to my very bad sleep.

Has anyone else troubles with that? It is a very unpleasant feeling as it should absolutely not happen to an injured brain.

[Mark in Idaho]

I suggest you ask the doctor for a sleep test. You may not be breathing properly when you sleep and this can cause the nightmares and shaking. I'm would not be concerned that the shaking is injuring your brain. I would be more concerned about the risk from not breathing. There is a take-home sleep test that is often done to minimize cost.

[Chris2828]

My insurance would even pay a professional sleep test.

Why do you think the breathing is wrong? I personally think that the nightmares are a result of my mental condition. The shaking makes it even worse.

[Mark in Idaho]

I used to struggle with Central Sleep Apnea. It would cause nightmares and body shaking. My wife knew to wake me up if she saw that I was not breathing properly and tell me to go sleep in my recliner. My jerking and sometimes, stressful mumbling (talking in my sleep) would wake her and she would notice I was not breathing properly. One time she just watched and I stopped breathing 16 times in one hour.

My sleep apnea appeared to relate to my upper neck. If I did not sleep with straight neck posture, I would stop breathing after a 1/2 hour or so. It's much better now but still occasionally have apnea.

If you have someone who can observe your sleeping, they could watch or just check on you to see if you are breathing. You can also buy a pulse oximeters with alarm functions and recording functions that you wear on your finger as you sleep. Google pulse oximeter.

Do you wake frequently at night during sleep ?

[Chris2828]

Yes, very often.

My sleep looks always like this: I sleep very deeply for about three hours without waking up. At about 3am I start to struggle. I wake up every hour or even less. In summary I wake up at least 5 times each night. My sleep is also very shallow then and I wake up without having nightmares. During the day I feel completely exhausted, but I cant sleep. Any time I am about to fall asleep a part of my body jerks. I developed anxiety now that prevents me from sleeping during the day no matter how tired I am. In the evening I have to focus very hard to fall asleep and without amitryptiline it would take hours to nod off.

All this started 3 weeks after my concussion in november. It got the worst about 1-2 months ago due to severe psychological problems.

[Mark in Idaho]

It sure sounds like you need a sleep study. A take home sleep study means you get to show what happens in your normal environment.

[Chris2828]

How can I do a study at home, just with this oximeter?

You said you had a breathing problem because of your neck. How can this be detected? I had a normal xray scan, but no MRI.

[Mark in Idaho]

I know it was my neck because if I rested or slept with my head and neck bent over, especially to the right and forward, I would eventually stop breathing properly.

Doing a home study with the pulse oximeter will help you point to breathing/oxygenation as a problem. The take home sleep studies use an oximeter, a band around your chest to measure chest movement and a microphone to record the sounds of your breathing. Some even collect more data by other means.

[Chris2828]

Do I have to buy all this stuff? Or should it be provided by a doctor?

[Mark in Idaho]

A sleep lab can provide a take home system for at home testing before you do a study in their lab. Ask your doctor for a referral.

The recording pulse oximeter is $100 to $150 if you want to do a very basic test at home. Some medical supply/rental companies rent them with a doctor's referral.