REM Fragmentation Disorder

I've had this for over ten years now. I used to have insomnia as a kid, but it's fallen apart into this.

I had a sleep study when I was 16, and the only advice they gave then was a lamp to help me get up in the morning.

My results at the time showed I was having conscious and unconscious wakeups throughout the night. My stages were normal until I entered REM. I had 12 minutes before that stage collapsed and I was kicked back out. According to them, I either woke up, or moved backwards to a different stage, causing waking brain activity while I still slept.

I kept trying to find answers to fix it but nobody had any.

I had another sleep test to update my results last year. They confirmed it was still happening, and had progressed.

I had a third to check for narcolepsy. It was negative.

When my brain scans showed normal, I was referred to a psychologist. She tried, but nothing substantial was showing. I now develop panic attacks when I'm told "Try sleep hygiene" (I do. I have. It's useless. And at this point it feels dismissive)

My regular therapist hesitates medication. Normal sleep medicine helps you fall asleep, but not stay asleep. I had a poor reaction to it. He also mentioned one to keep me asleep, but with my arousals, there's a risk it'll keep my body asleep, but not relax my brain. Aka... now I'm a sleep walker.

So no go.

I'm just tired of being tired. I don't even know if I want to keep fighting my disorder. I take medicine to help me stay energized throughout the day. I can only do the bare minimum all the time, so it's hard to go out and have fun, or try harder at work.

I fall asleep easily, but my bad nights have me waking up 4-5 times in the same HOUR.

Idk what to do, I just need to somewhere to vent about it.

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u/Anuyushi — 9 days ago
▲ 12 r/Quotev

Giving away two Quotev accounts

Hello, I'm a writer on Quotev!
While trying to change my main email to make my logins easier, I kept getting stuck on "existing email".
Following my confusion, I used that email to log in and discovered I had another account! Changing the email on THAT one led to a third!
I have no use for these accounts, and I don't want them. I'm giving them away to anyone who would like an old year on their account. One is marked for March 6, 2015, and one is December 23, 2014.
I'm not selling them; I just want to pass them on. They have no stories and no followers on them and are completely blank. I just logged into both and confirmed the credentials still work, so they can be logged into. Message me if you're wanting an account, first come first serve. I'd like two different people to get one, so I won't give anyone both.
I asked the mods before making this post and got confirmation this was okay to post.

The 2014 one was claimed :) The 2015 one was claimed!

reddit.com
u/Anuyushi — 29 days ago

[Acne] Keratin Plug Help?

I have a very noticeable keratin plug on the side of my chin. After multiple months of waiting and trying various products, I got desperate and used a pimple kit. I managed to get under the skin and find it directly. I partially drained it out, but even after it healed, it just filled up again like it never happened.
I spoke to my dermatologist, but she barely looked at it, since the appointment was primarily for something else, and didn't offer any support or advice about it. What on Earth am I supposed to do with this thing?

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u/Anuyushi — 2 months ago
▲ 11 r/N24

I have a different sleep disorder but can anyone offer their thoughts?

I have REM fragmentation. It's a sleep disorder that affects the sleep stages, and boots me out of sleep whenever I attempt to enter REM. Some wake-ups are conscious and I'm fully awake, and some aren't, which causes awake brain activity while I'm sleeping.

Because of this, my sleep is incredibly disturbed and I'm never fully rested.

I've tried everything doctors have offered me. Sleep hygiene, sleep medicine, sleep studies, therapists, psychiatrists, nobody knows why it's happening. All I know is I can't have a normal life when I can barely make it through work day to day.

I read through the sub information and it looks like many people here struggle with the same thing, including the consistent dismissal of peers of doctors. I've had this for over a decade and it's hard not to have waning hope of just a single normal night of sleep.

Do you all feel similar? What do you do to when things feel tough? I haven't lost hope in medicine THINKING they're trying, but I feel like for me, the research and knowledge isn't fully there yet. I don't really know where to go from here. I'm not going to ask where I should go next, since this isn't the sub for this disorder (I don't even know if there is one), but I'd like to hear other people's experiences with their sleeping difficulties and maybe how you're able to get through your day to day?

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u/Anuyushi — 3 months ago

Parent complains about volunteer's shirt at community parade event

This was short but it was bothersome. Every year, my family assists with the local parade and barbecue. We start with cooking in the morning and handing out free hamburgers for about 6 hours, then the parade starts in the afternoon.

I always volunteer to help out with them, and this year, I asked to help put together the hamburgers. The event is run by the local fire department, and every fireman is in uniform. If you're a volunteer and not part of the department, you can wear whatever you want, and there's no dress code at all. Pedestrians serving pedestrians, basically, except volunteers can only be family or friends of someone on the force.

I was wearing a horror themed shirt from the Terrifier movie. It had the movie title sparkled and bedazzled with gems, and a black and white silhouette of the movie's villain grinning. There's no blood or gore on it, one of my most sparkly shirts.

While I was working the hamburgers, a dad and son comes up. I can maybe estimate the son to be 10 or 11? I see them staring at my shirt while they're waiting for the patties to cook, but I ignored it to focus on what I was putting together.

Then the dad pulls his son closer and partially covers his eyes. Like, sheltering him, and his dad's response was causing him to stress out more than my clothing was. He starts telling me that my shirt was scaring the kids, and I was being unprofessional by wearing it while I was working.

I entirely ignored him and pretended he wasn't there, acting like I couldn't hear him. I was too busy and it was too hot to start something with someone in line, the line still had 150-200 people waiting behind him.

He continued to complain until the next batch of patties arrived, saying things like I was rude, reckless, hating kids for making them look, unprofessional, that I should hide or or go home and change. The kid didn't say anything, but his dad's ranting was making him look more visibly distressed.

As soon as I gave him his burger, he walked away like nothing happened. I didn't say a single word to the guy aside from a short "Here you go" while I handed it off. I'm not sure if he wanted to just start something, but we do this event every year. Hundreds of people attend and nobody has ever complained about the volunteer's street clothes before.

I'm not sure if this counts as an entitled parent or not, or if I was in the wrong, honestly? I know the smile on the shirt can be a bit creepy, but volunteers didn't have a dress code and we were giving out free food, I didn't expect someone would care that much. I guess let me know your thoughts?

reddit.com
u/Anuyushi — 3 months ago

Realized a new reason I don't want kids after holding a baby

I have always refused to hold babies until a little bit ago. A mom handed me her baby and asked me to just hold him for less than two minutes so she could plug something in (She couldn't reach down while holding the baby) so I was like sure whenever she's sitting right next to me and it's just a second.

But as soon as I was holding him I realized something. He was SO delicate and fragile. Like, if he slightly leaned the wrong way, he could've been hurt. If I didn't hold him perfectly right, something bad could've happened. He could've nodded off and if I don't hold his head in time, he could've needed a hospital.

And that was terrifying to me. I didn't want to be responsible for something like that. Like it could go from normal to omg I have lifetime guilt in ten seconds.

And that was a single minute. Feeling that every day, multiple times a day, for hours at a time, would stress me out more than I could handle.

reddit.com
u/Anuyushi — 4 months ago

In Oregon, thought I was wiping soap off a flower and I think I disturbed this little guy?

u/Anuyushi — 4 months ago

Visiting family for the first time in years leads to talking about baby poop

I haven't seen family since I graduated highschool. My grandmother has been looking after my baby sister in another state, and I've been busy at work, so it took a long time for either of us to make a trip, and I happened to be the one to travel this time.

So I'm with my grandmother in the car and we're talking about the past.

Things I remember growing up and visits I had with her when I was little. I mentioned sledding in her backyard which somehow leads into "I'm so glad you were potty trained back then. Imagine an accident while you're in the snow? You know, your baby sister still isn't potty trained. She's on normal food now so it SMELLS and sticks to her butt. No matter how much you wipe. You just need to give her a bath because it cakes on."

And I was just left in silence because... Didn't need to know any of that. Definitely didn't ask. I don't understand how people can casually talk about poop and dirty butts in normal conversation when it comes to kids. I hope to never be one of those people. Thank God I'm sterilized 😭 I'm a little frustrated the conversation was dominated by talking about the baby when I haven't seen her in so long, but the poop bothers me a lot more.

reddit.com
u/Anuyushi — 5 months ago