Dr Claire Ellender (Sleep Fellow) and Dr David Cunnington (Sleep Physician) from Melbourne Sleep Disorders Centre discuss common sleep problems seen in pituitary disorders.
From childhood, I've always had trouble falling asleep. It takes about 45min-1hr to fall asleep each night. My older brother and father also have this same issue. I never once awoke feeling rested and had lots of trouble staying focused in school. As a child, I would often sleep walk, have sleep conversations with no memory later, etc. I had a sleep study done when I was 18. The doctors said it took me a long time to fall asleep but everything looked normal once asleep. Well, when I was 22 I began taking a SSRI called Atomoxetine (10mg) once daily which somehow caused a miraculous change in my sleep function. I could fall asleep in almost any condition or place in 8min or less. Even if I was not tired I could lay down, try to sleep, and I would. I would wake up in the EXACT position I fell asleep in...Not a finger had moved. I also no longer needed an alarm clock! My brain would awaken 10-30 seconds before my alarm went off. It became such a regular occurrence that I eventually stopped setting an alarm. When laying down to bed I would think about what time I needed to arise and like magic I would awaken within seconds of that time with my body not having moved an inch the entire night. Somehow my brain had become a finely tuned computer doing exactly what I told it to do. My body was a robot and it would remain still until I commanded it to move. Upon waking I would feel incredibly rested, in a positive mood, ready to take on the trials of the day. My dreams were vivid and productive and I could recall them with ease. I would solve many daytime problems by thinking about them while falling asleep. Within the dream I would find solutions and upon waking I would write them down. I began writing a dream journal and sharing it with friends asking if they had such incredible dreams too. They did not. I began to store and recall memories photographically. I was taking an Anatomy and Physiology class in college at the time and could remember entire diagrams of human anatomy. Before the drug I was a C student at best. On the drug I passed that class with a 96.4% average which was the second highest in the class. The only other person to beat me was a student who was already an RN nurse who scored 96.7%. So yea, I felt super smart all of a sudden. Memory recall was as quick and effortless as breathing. After 1.5yrs the drug seemed to have a weaker effect and I began waking not feeling as rested. Soon, I was back to my old habits of laying in bed with my eyes closed for 45min-1hr, tossing and turning all night, waking feeling unrested with no recollection of my dreams. I tried every other SSRI and NDRI in existence but none had the same effect. I even tried stopping all drugs for 7 years then trying Atomoxetine once again....Nothing. Despite being called a SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) Atomoxetine indirectly causes a much higher increase in agonists of Dopamine receptors than it does Serotonin. Does anyone have any ideas of how a drug that increases dopaminergic signaling in the brain could affect the thalamus/hypothalamus or sleep cycle in general? Any hypothesis that could explain the memory and sleep characteristics mentioned above?
Hi, I have a terrible natural sleep cycle and experience a combination of daytime tiredness, insomnia, and hypersomnia (and sleeping through alarms or sleeping 12+ hours) in addition to also sometimes only needing 3 hours of sleep. I have a circadian rhythm disorder diagnosis but my insurance doesn't cover sleep studies and I can't afford one out of pocket and won't for a long time. I also have hypothalamic amenorrhea which started at age 16 after having a late puberty compared to my peers (which I am being treated for with a progesterone IUD and estrogen treatment) in addition to low FSH and LH... my thyroid, cortisol, and testosterone levels are consistently normal though, although my blood sugar seems to fluctuate between prediabetic to normal to having low glucose depending on the day, as well as having trouble regulating my body temperature and always have cold hands and feet unless it's over 70 degrees farenheit. I'm active and have never been obese (I have been thin for most of my life and in good shape most of my adult life, though I've gained about 30 lbs since getting the IUD, putting my BMI at around 24 although my abs are still visible, and have gotten too exhausted doing 3 hours of exercise a day like I used to, I've whittled it down to 10-20k steps a day and 30-60 minutes 4-5x a week). Basically, I'm wondering if these might be connected because I've never made this connection... got an MRI for severe headaches several years ago (turns out it was due to a sinus blockage) so it's not a pituitary tumor... I've had sleep issues since childhood that have just gotten worse over time and now as I get older (I'm in my early 30s) it's harder to compensate for things like tiredness physically than I could from 14-24. But even though some of my pituitary hormones are naturally very low, the hormones you mentioned aren't the ones that are low (except LH in men, I'm a woman). I've tried to go to bed and get up at the same time, and either severely oversleeping through my alarm, *or* not being able to fall asleep or stay asleep have ruined it every time.
if I have insomnia does the pituitary gland still release hormones? I ask this question because I'm a bodybuilder and I I want to know if I'm wasting my time.
From childhood, I've always had trouble falling asleep. It takes about 45min-1hr to fall asleep each night. My older brother and father also have this same issue. I never once awoke feeling rested and had lots of trouble staying focused in school. As a child, I would often sleep walk, have sleep conversations with no memory later, etc. I had a sleep study done when I was 18. The doctors said it took me a long time to fall asleep but everything looked normal once asleep.
Well, when I was 22 I began taking a SSRI called Atomoxetine (10mg) once daily which somehow caused a miraculous change in my sleep function. I could fall asleep in almost any condition or place in 8min or less. Even if I was not tired I could lay down, try to sleep, and I would. I would wake up in the EXACT position I fell asleep in...Not a finger had moved. I also no longer needed an alarm clock! My brain would awaken 10-30 seconds before my alarm went off. It became such a regular occurrence that I eventually stopped setting an alarm. When laying down to bed I would think about what time I needed to arise and like magic I would awaken within seconds of that time with my body not having moved an inch the entire night. Somehow my brain had become a finely tuned computer doing exactly what I told it to do. My body was a robot and it would remain still until I commanded it to move. Upon waking I would feel incredibly rested, in a positive mood, ready to take on the trials of the day. My dreams were vivid and productive and I could recall them with ease. I would solve many daytime problems by thinking about them while falling asleep. Within the dream I would find solutions and upon waking I would write them down. I began writing a dream journal and sharing it with friends asking if they had such incredible dreams too. They did not. I began to store and recall memories photographically. I was taking an Anatomy and Physiology class in college at the time and could remember entire diagrams of human anatomy. Before the drug I was a C student at best. On the drug I passed that class with a 96.4% average which was the second highest in the class. The only other person to beat me was a student who was already an RN nurse who scored 96.7%. So yea, I felt super smart all of a sudden. Memory recall was as quick and effortless as breathing.
After 1.5yrs the drug seemed to have a weaker effect and I began waking not feeling as rested. Soon, I was back to my old habits of laying in bed with my eyes closed for 45min-1hr, tossing and turning all night, waking feeling unrested with no recollection of my dreams. I tried every other SSRI and NDRI in existence but none had the same effect. I even tried stopping all drugs for 7 years then trying Atomoxetine once again....Nothing.
Despite being called a SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) Atomoxetine indirectly causes a much higher increase in agonists of Dopamine receptors than it does Serotonin.
Does anyone have any ideas of how a drug that increases dopaminergic signaling in the brain could affect the thalamus/hypothalamus or sleep cycle in general? Any hypothesis that could explain the memory and sleep characteristics mentioned above?
Hi, I have a terrible natural sleep cycle and experience a combination of daytime tiredness, insomnia, and hypersomnia (and sleeping through alarms or sleeping 12+ hours) in addition to also sometimes only needing 3 hours of sleep. I have a circadian rhythm disorder diagnosis but my insurance doesn't cover sleep studies and I can't afford one out of pocket and won't for a long time. I also have hypothalamic amenorrhea which started at age 16 after having a late puberty compared to my peers (which I am being treated for with a progesterone IUD and estrogen treatment) in addition to low FSH and LH... my thyroid, cortisol, and testosterone levels are consistently normal though, although my blood sugar seems to fluctuate between prediabetic to normal to having low glucose depending on the day, as well as having trouble regulating my body temperature and always have cold hands and feet unless it's over 70 degrees farenheit. I'm active and have never been obese (I have been thin for most of my life and in good shape most of my adult life, though I've gained about 30 lbs since getting the IUD, putting my BMI at around 24 although my abs are still visible, and have gotten too exhausted doing 3 hours of exercise a day like I used to, I've whittled it down to 10-20k steps a day and 30-60 minutes 4-5x a week). Basically, I'm wondering if these might be connected because I've never made this connection... got an MRI for severe headaches several years ago (turns out it was due to a sinus blockage) so it's not a pituitary tumor... I've had sleep issues since childhood that have just gotten worse over time and now as I get older (I'm in my early 30s) it's harder to compensate for things like tiredness physically than I could from 14-24. But even though some of my pituitary hormones are naturally very low, the hormones you mentioned aren't the ones that are low (except LH in men, I'm a woman). I've tried to go to bed and get up at the same time, and either severely oversleeping through my alarm, *or* not being able to fall asleep or stay asleep have ruined it every time.
if I have insomnia does the pituitary gland still release hormones? I ask this question because I'm a bodybuilder and I I want to know if I'm wasting my time.