George,
I can't speak for anyone else, but I get up several times at night
to empty my bladder. Six months ago, My Neuro sent me to a urologist to
diagnose my incontinence. After testing, he determined that the
semi-automatic functions of opening the bladder and squeezing to empty are
being disabled by PD. He prescribed self-catheterisation twice a day (the
last as close to bed-time as practical) to relieve my bladder. I have
found, when my "on" time continues late enough for me to dare doing it,
that when I empty my bladder just before bed, I only need to get up once
or twice instead of four or five times a night. Draining my bladder once
or twice during the day further reduces incontinence.
On a somewhat related note, during my nocturnal visits, I noticed
that my wife, who sleeps with her twitchy husband as a gesture of
solidarity, had an irregular breathing pattern. I mentioned it to her,
and when she got to the level of holding her breath for fifteen seconds,
then gasping for breath, she went to the doctor. He sent her to a sleep
clinic. In the first hour of the test, she woke herself up 138 times.
After that, they plugged her into a machine (phonetically spelled
"seepap") and she slept nine hours without further awakening.
Getting back to Sleep and PD. Other contributers may be able to
give you observations about sleep interrupted by tremor, stiffness or
cramping. Please keep me posted on your findings. Working for the
Cure, George
George Whitehead <[log in to unmask]>
Sent by: Parkinson's Information Exchange Network
<[log in to unmask]>
04/02/2003 09:22 PM
Please respond to Parkinson's Information Exchange Network
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Subject: Sleep and PD
Can anybody help me to find out why it seems possible to sleep only 4
hours at a time when you are living with PD?
George in Calgary
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