The weirdest thing that happened to me with chronic vertigo is it made me insanely sleepy. I assume because it is draining for the brain to focus that hard through all that dizziness and vertigo. On bad days I could barely move and on good days it was hard to focus on anything. For a long time, I couldn’t read or write.
Until I was put on medication to suppress my vestibular system, and still the pattern of it being better in the morning and worse as the day goes on persists. But there are times when it is better. And times when it is severe. It comes in waves.
My previous sleep pattern
Like most people with chronic pain and fibromyalgia. And actually for my entire life- I have been a horrible insomniac. Chronic insomnia. I couldn’t get to sleep no matter what time I Went to bed I fell asleep around 2-4 am. I was constantly sleep deprived when I worked because I had to get up early and that simply did not work with my brain’s sleep cycle.
This of course triggered horrible migraine attacks. Which led to daily migraine attacks. Which led to worsening sleep. I mean, even when I finally got to sleep I still tossed and turned due to pain.
This was obviously not healthy at all. And I really do not recommend this. But I liked being a night owl. My productivity at night was better. I wrote a lot at night. I loved being awake later. I just didn’t like my inability to sleep given I had to get up early, and how this then impacted my pain.
My sleep pattern after chronic vertigo
This is by no means normal. Vertigo can really mess up sleep. Vertigo at night is like a roller coaster ride you did not get on willingly. In no way does anyone want to sleep like they are falling and spinning and falling and spinning.
But having vertigo that worsens as the day progresses made my brain sort of shut down as the day went on. So as the evening came on I was drained of all energy. Instead of getting more energy. I was extremely exhausted and could barely even keep my eyes open. Instead of wide awake and thinking a thousand thoughts. So tired that if I didn’t go to bed- wherever I was would Become the bed. I would just shut down and sleep regardless. That is how tired I got. And I am talking early. 9 pm. Shut Down.
And then 3 AM boom awake. My brain reset with no vertigo and start over. Sometimes 2 AM. It is difficult to sleep longer due to pain. So really my insomnia reversed itself. But the vertigo is what did it. I find it insane how it just knocks me on my ass like that. Going from a night owl to a early bird. And I do not like being an early bird. I don’t like getting up insanely early and I find it hard to be productive that early in the morning. But it Would have worked for society- as it it would have been beneficial for the workplace. Even if I still didn’t get enough sleep, I would be awake and alert way before I needed to get to work.
To think of all the things over the years I tried to help with sleep and not a thing worked. And this is the thing that did it. You can’t overthink for hours and hours when your brain just decides, hey, times to just shut down here. I couldn’t stay awake if my life depended on it.
The quality of this sleep is insanely good. Insanely good. It knocks me on my ass and out like a light. Until recently due to increasing pain. But for a while, it was out like a light for the entire time. I have never felt that before. Just blink and the entire night is gone. No tossing and turning all damn night long. That is a strange experience for me. But the pain when waking up that way is intense.
And it still happens just not as often because pain still interferes with that. But it doesn’t for the first couple of hours. That insane fatigue wins there. And then I wake up in pain from not moving- being in one spot like that is quite painful. So tossy turny for the rest of the night.
I still get my 7-8 hours of sleep. I get up for three or four hours and take a nap to compensate for the missed time. But for insomnia it isn’t as bad. Not like I am getting only four hours a night or something. 5-6 is pretty decent really.
Even in times when the vertigo is not severe sometimes my brain is quite used to this sleep cycle. So, yeah, my sleep cycle is quite different because of this. I have had vertigo prior to this chronic vertigo and never experiences this crash of sleepy fatigue after. It is still strange to me. Even in the beginning when it was just a few seconds at work (Just like starting to tip as everything sort of whirled), after it was over I could barely function because of the concentration problems and fatigue it caused for hours after. I think those smaller ones triggered vestibular migraine attacks and that is what made diagnosis and treatment tricky. Either way, longer bouts and constant dizziness is draining for me. I function a lot better in the morning.
Chronically Nikki 
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