Do sleep medication or sleep aids support PEM recovery?

[bobbler]

I find myself quite annoying when I'm in that state. I feel like a not very funny clown.

Me too

 

[DHagen]

But often somewhere before all of this or around it is a stage where you feel strangely great. And that’s where the thru the wall has kicked in.

This also sounds familiar to me, even in my PEM confusion. I find it is not always feeling "great" or excited or energized (though it may be any or all of these things), but I have identified a specific moment in which I have the thought "I almost don't feel tired any more." Over-doing things cognitively doesn't seem to cause this very often - I skip straight to the deterioration most days - but physical exertion often does.

I am not entirely sure that it is the same thing, but I found a while ago that taking a hot shower will trigger something like this state almost immediately. I can get 2-3 minutes of feeling "normal" - (mostly) clear-headed, no desire for sleep, no heavy limbs when standing under scalding hot water and breathing in the steam, but then everything comes roaring back in an instant and I get hit with the absolutely necessity of lying down NOW. I've stopped doing that, but those 2-3 minutes are so heavenly, the temptation is always lurking at the back of my mind, like the siren call of a cigarette or maybe just one drink following years of sobriety....

 

[Kitty]

But often somewhere before all of this or around it is a stage where you feel strangely great. And that’s where the thru the wall has kicked in.

I've always thought this needs explaining. It feels like a warm-up or second wind effect, where once you've broken through the wall and built up some momentum, you can keep going.

The really strange thing is that my pronounced limp partly disappears. My gait's closer to normal; I'm no longer walking almost straight-legged and using my hips to swing my legs around because it's painful to raise my knees to lift up my feet.

I have the thought "I almost don't feel tired any more."

Once I've established the momentum I don't feel fatigued. I still have OI, so if what I'm doing involves standing at the sink or the hob I do keep having to sit down, but not because I'm tired. Eventually I'll become extremely tired, but it feels more like the tiredness healthy people get when they've been on their feet all day than ME/CFS-tired.

But by that time I'm being driven by the , so I can't stop anyway.