Undiagnosed Conditions

[irkeith]

i have a problem i am having difficulty getting properly diagnosed..for about 4 months i have had very disrupted sleep..generally i will sleep for about 2 hours and wake up..then i may sleep for another two hours and wake up again..the waking times are consistent..i wake a minimum of two times and as many as 5 times during a night..shortly after waking i have had panic attacks and anxiety attacks..though lately these have diminished in frequency and intensity..often i am awake for up to 3 hours when this happens..my range is back to sleep between 15 minutes and 3 hours after each waking incident..

because i had an apnea incident i was able to get a polysomnography done..this was done on july 3, 2008..that was the first night in about 4 months that i did not have any of the anxiety/panic sympthoms going on when i woke during the night and i woke two times but went immediately back to sleep each time..first waking was right on schedule at 2:25am..

when i spoke with the doctor on thursday july 17, 2008 he told me that the test was perfect and i had no problems..i was finally able to get a copy of the test results today..there is a notation on it that no REM sleep stage was detected..so there was partial diagnosis of a loss of cyclical sleep..

i do dream and dream quite vividly often remembering the dreams..during this polysomnography i dreamed..when i wake during the night it seems to be immediately at the end of a dream..most often the dreams from which i wake with the anxiety/panic sympthoms are quite benign to good dreams..

i would like to know if i really have a problem..what the problem is and is the lack of REM sleep dangerous..i have read at various times that it is and that waking someone while in REM sleep causes psychological disorders..but what about when no REM cycle occurs..

i am 62 years old and take 1/2 of a 0.5mg xanax when i have the anxiety/panic sympthoms going on if i cannot resolve them by simply thinking..i have tried taking a half xaxax before going to bed and i still wake at the same times..

and thoughts and help would be very much appreciated..

thanks

keith