Cold Sleep
Dec. 29th, 2003 09:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydyI wish that real doctors were like the doctors in books or even some of the ones on television. The fictional doctor considers information about the patient holistically. Past diseases, unexplained events, current symptoms, and voila! an obscure diagnosis which sets everything to rights. Cue heroic music.
In fact, doctors aren't like that at all. They look for what they're looking for. If they do review your chart, they do it while in the room with you, often in between a bit of chit chat, or asking the standard questions to which you give the standard answers, and neither one of you appears to be paying attention.
I'm not a doctor, don't play one on television, have no medical training or aspirations of any sort, so what do I know? However, it still seems to me that they simply ignore relevant information because it's not what they're looking for. The one that's bothering me just at the moment is the fact that immediately before a "nap attack," I get a chill. I am very cold, although not shivering or chattering. My hands become colder than usual. Sometimes, adding a jacket or sweater seems to help, but not always. I start to fall asleep, unwillingly. I'll pull blankets over me, if I'm on my bed, ignoring basic issues like my laptop being precariously perched on the edge of the bed. At work, I'll curl up tightly on the couch in the lounge, trying to conserve heat that way. Eventually, I'll wake up. If I feel warm, I usually feel wakeful. If I'm still cold, I tend to go back to sleep.
Most sleep specialists are cardio-pulmonary doctors. They don't seem to see that the chill is relevant. I did see a neurologist, last time. Dr. Muhulwold, a world-famous sleep specialist. I believe that he's working with binge-eating while sleeping. (While I was at the Hennepin County Sleep Center, I met a young woman who was being tested and observed for that disorder. I can see why it would be a fascinating field of study.) When I asked him about the chills, he said, "They probably mean something, but we don't know what." Then he went on to say that what I needed was nine hours of sleep a night, agreed that there wasn't any way I was going to get that on a regular basis, and suggested a lot of coffee.
Now, personally, it seems that all this is probably related to the fact that I have never had a properly functioning internal thermostat. In the winter, if I am out long enough that my thighs are ice cold when I get in, I'll be miserably cold for hours. The only known remedy is a hot bath. I become cold easily, and warm up slowly. Additional layers of clothes help a lot less than they should, once I'm already cold. My shrink has checked my thyroid, several times, but it seems to be in good order. So what's happening is a mystery, and nobody but me seems to care. Me, it's winter again, and I bloody well care. January is just around the corner, and the weather is likely to turn brutal then.
This is the latest biochemical grouch, brought to you by Oscar, Inc.
In fact, doctors aren't like that at all. They look for what they're looking for. If they do review your chart, they do it while in the room with you, often in between a bit of chit chat, or asking the standard questions to which you give the standard answers, and neither one of you appears to be paying attention.
I'm not a doctor, don't play one on television, have no medical training or aspirations of any sort, so what do I know? However, it still seems to me that they simply ignore relevant information because it's not what they're looking for. The one that's bothering me just at the moment is the fact that immediately before a "nap attack," I get a chill. I am very cold, although not shivering or chattering. My hands become colder than usual. Sometimes, adding a jacket or sweater seems to help, but not always. I start to fall asleep, unwillingly. I'll pull blankets over me, if I'm on my bed, ignoring basic issues like my laptop being precariously perched on the edge of the bed. At work, I'll curl up tightly on the couch in the lounge, trying to conserve heat that way. Eventually, I'll wake up. If I feel warm, I usually feel wakeful. If I'm still cold, I tend to go back to sleep.
Most sleep specialists are cardio-pulmonary doctors. They don't seem to see that the chill is relevant. I did see a neurologist, last time. Dr. Muhulwold, a world-famous sleep specialist. I believe that he's working with binge-eating while sleeping. (While I was at the Hennepin County Sleep Center, I met a young woman who was being tested and observed for that disorder. I can see why it would be a fascinating field of study.) When I asked him about the chills, he said, "They probably mean something, but we don't know what." Then he went on to say that what I needed was nine hours of sleep a night, agreed that there wasn't any way I was going to get that on a regular basis, and suggested a lot of coffee.
Now, personally, it seems that all this is probably related to the fact that I have never had a properly functioning internal thermostat. In the winter, if I am out long enough that my thighs are ice cold when I get in, I'll be miserably cold for hours. The only known remedy is a hot bath. I become cold easily, and warm up slowly. Additional layers of clothes help a lot less than they should, once I'm already cold. My shrink has checked my thyroid, several times, but it seems to be in good order. So what's happening is a mystery, and nobody but me seems to care. Me, it's winter again, and I bloody well care. January is just around the corner, and the weather is likely to turn brutal then.
This is the latest biochemical grouch, brought to you by Oscar, Inc.
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no subject
Date: 2003-12-29 08:01 am (UTC)I don't have any theories, but I suspect that you are in fact on to something.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-29 08:03 am (UTC)I have the same thermostat issues, I guess you could call them. My parents are always warm, I'm always cold. I just was outside to take out the trash and put seed in the birdfeeders; I know I'll be chilled for the rest of the day unless I take a hot bath. It doesn't matter how many layers I put on or if I go curl up in a ball while wrapped in a down comforter (well that might do the trick eventually, but it'd be a matter of hours not minutes).
no subject
Date: 2003-12-29 08:45 am (UTC)A friend of mine recently started treatment for low thyroid, after years and years of misdiagnosis. She found a doctor who did not accept the standard tests as definitive. Apparently, the "normal range" of thyroid function includes hormone levels that are low enough for some people to be sick and miserable all the time. A few doctors are now looking at a list of hypothyroid symptoms (which I believe include depression and excessive sleepiness) and average body temperature. Patients with persistent low temperature and many of the symptoms, get to try thyroid supplements to see if the symptoms improve. (Even if measured thyroid levels are in the normal range.) Sometimes it helps. My friend is feeling much, MUCH, better.
I am concerned about my own internal thermostat, which became massively fucked up 2 years ago, when I started taking Topamax. Medical professionals don't seem to believe this. I may post my own rant in a few days.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-29 09:02 am (UTC)Side note - some years ago I worked at a company where a salesman was learning to fly light aircraft. His instructor refused to take doctors on as students because he said "I've lost too many friends (other instructors) to crashes while teaching doctors" The instructor said that the doctors just didn't listen to the instructor, and doing something stupid.
I have a friend that tended to get cold, it their case it just seemed to be a sensitivity to cold rather than anything wrong - their temperature stayed at normal and all that To handle those short trips into the cold, they made a long cloak with a hood, sandwiching a layer of aluminized mylar ( "space blanket" ) between the outer and inner layers of the cloak. The outside was something fairly waterproof, the inner was fluffy and warm. Between the reflective layer bouncing back heat and keeping air from moving through the cloak it keep them warmer than more standard layering.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-29 10:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-29 10:41 am (UTC)See my immediately previous post for a rant on the topic. The short form is: there isn't enough time in the day. When I get home from work, I have 3.5 hours in which to eat dinner, and accomplish anything else that I might want to accomplish, including housework, socializing, reading, email, etc. I don't get to bed at 9:30, like I need to, but more like 11:00, which leaves me in a constant state of muzziness. I hate it.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-29 10:59 am (UTC)My ability to regulate my internal temperature has gone all to hell over the last few years. I'm far less sensitive to winter cold than I used to be, but I overheat dramatically easy. As you know Bob, I'm both hypothyroid and have at least 2 neurochemical problems. I take meds for both and ghu knows how all that ties in together to affect things. Oh, and the whole hormonal thing happening right now too.
In short, all I think it is is your body trying to get that sleep. I wish we could find a well to do sugar daddy for you so you could go parttime at work or even quit and get your sleep. Sigh.
MKK
no subject
Date: 2003-12-29 11:07 am (UTC)I think you once told me that your blood pressure is pretty low. One of my meds for doing that has a specific warning about how it makes one's extremities cold and one should "dress warm." (WARMLY! WARMLY! There, that's better.) All of them also list fatigue and drowsiness as side effects. Now, it may be that artificially lowered blood pressure is achieved by completely different mechanisms than the natural sort, but it might be worth thinking about.
Pamela
no subject
Date: 2003-12-31 12:48 pm (UTC)Pamela, you've also just explained why gingerbread and Timprov's polenta (containing ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cayenne) are some of the best things to get me going in the morning.
Aha!
Date: 2003-12-29 12:09 pm (UTC)I found what Rivka had to say very interesting, about sleep and temperature regulation both coming from the hypothalamus. I'm on an antidepressant now, which changes my sleep patterns (I sleep more heavily and dream a lot more). I hadn't realized it till your post, but the thermal control problem is gone as well. So it seems very likely to me that the two issues are closely related. I wonder if melatonin would help.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-30 01:02 am (UTC)I'm cold too, as a rule. My husband keeps promising me a fin of my own so I can turn it to the sun and absorb more heat. And I wash dishes in really really hot water when I'm chilled if a bath isn't possible. I wear long johns nearly all the time, in the winter. But I can warm up to the point of taking off layers and sweating and the whole bit if I am moving around some. Why not try walking a few flights of stairs when you next get cold? You'll be gently surprised, I bet.
K. [you said you wanted to get more exercise in, so maybe this would be a doubly good activity]
Cold Sleep
Date: 2004-01-25 03:36 pm (UTC)Winter is icumen in, lhude sing Goddamn.
Date: 2004-11-04 02:34 pm (UTC)I know it's been almost a year since you posted this, but I'm similar enough that I wanted to say, "Hey, me too!" I've got chronic fatigue immunodysfunction syndrome and my own thermostat is pretty crummy; it looks like I've got a touch of secondary Raynaud's disease, which seems to be pretty common in people with immune system wonkinesses. Anyway, I've noticed a very similar pattern -- my core body temperature plummets, and then *pow!* The Nap arrives. I wake up a few hours later, sometimes not quite sure how I made it into bed.
I don't want to be hinting that I think you have CFIDS -- I reckon it's pretty safe to say you don't. I'm just saying, "Yes, there sure does seem to be a connection for me as well, and probably for an awful lot of people." I'd love to know how these things are connected; oh, well.
In any case, I'm seeing a naturopath these days, and I've gotten a surprising amount of relief from the herbal tincture she recently concocted for me. It's largely ginger, hot pepper, and rosemary, plus a few other herbs. Sometimes I call it "hot bath in a bottle". It took a little getting used to, but it sure does work. It may be too early to tell, but it seems to be stabilizing my temperature in general, not just giving me relief when I'm half-frozen. Whether that's related to my general improvement in not getting slapped down by The Nap, I can't say, but it certainly makes things more comfortable.
Another wonderful thing: a couple of tablespoons of ground ginger in the bath on extra-cold days. In my experience, it handles the cold even better than does a hot bath alone.
Good luck in this coming winter. Brr.
Cold sleep
Date: 2005-03-02 07:05 pm (UTC)Re: Cold sleep
Date: 2006-04-02 11:45 pm (UTC)