I recently read through my sleep study report and came across something I did not understand and I hope someone might know. One of the statements was "He had no periodic limb movements, but did have alpha intrusions throughout."
Does anyone know what alpha intrusions refers to? Seems to me alpha intrusions would have something to do with alpha brain waves. Any comments would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Ken
Alpha intrusion
3 posts
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Alpha waves occur when awake so you shouldn't normally have them during sleep. Don't know what happens when they do-my only guess is it messes up your sleep which you already knew.
Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.....Galbraith's Law
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Guest
yes, i know what alpha intrusion is, and it's not good. i have heavy alpha intrusion, too. doctors typically see it in patients who have fibromyalgia or some form of chronic pain syndrome. people with alpha intrusion tend to stay in the less deep forms of sleep. they have great difficulty, if not an impossibility, getting to stage 3 &4 sleep, which are the deepest levels of sleep; they hang out in stages 1 and 2, mostly stage 2. this has nothing to do with REM sleep, which is dream sleep, but many people think is deep sleep, which it usually is not.
my sleep study doc hoped cpap would help ward off the alpha intrusion, but he was not optimistic. docs will easily hand out sleeping pills to people with alpha intrusion, but again, they are not optimistic that the pills will help. if you know you have an underlying condition such as fibromyalgia which is causing the alpha intrusion, the best thing to do is to treat the underlying condition, which also helps get rid of the alpha intrusion. but sometimes you can treat the underlying condition and the alpha intrusion does not go away. there is also ideopathic alpha intrusion, which just means they have no clue what is causing it.
i haven't had a sleep study done since the alpha intrusion findings but i think cpap possibly can eliminate it. in my case, i have no underlying condition than i am aware of; the doc said it was not my deviated septum, which he first diagnosed. i know that when cpap works, i feel a deeper level of sleep. i have no idea whether people with alpha intrusion have a more difficult time achieving satisfaction with cpap. if you talk to your doc, i'd appreciate hearing what he or she has to say about that.
caroline
my sleep study doc hoped cpap would help ward off the alpha intrusion, but he was not optimistic. docs will easily hand out sleeping pills to people with alpha intrusion, but again, they are not optimistic that the pills will help. if you know you have an underlying condition such as fibromyalgia which is causing the alpha intrusion, the best thing to do is to treat the underlying condition, which also helps get rid of the alpha intrusion. but sometimes you can treat the underlying condition and the alpha intrusion does not go away. there is also ideopathic alpha intrusion, which just means they have no clue what is causing it.
i haven't had a sleep study done since the alpha intrusion findings but i think cpap possibly can eliminate it. in my case, i have no underlying condition than i am aware of; the doc said it was not my deviated septum, which he first diagnosed. i know that when cpap works, i feel a deeper level of sleep. i have no idea whether people with alpha intrusion have a more difficult time achieving satisfaction with cpap. if you talk to your doc, i'd appreciate hearing what he or she has to say about that.
caroline
3 posts
• Page 1 of 1