How Does MS Affect Your Sleep?

Fatigue is one of the most common and frustrating symptoms that comes along with multiple sclerosis. In MS there is both fatigue and what is known as lassitude. While fatigue can itself feel debilitating, lassitude is the more severe type of MS fatigue. Lassitude is defined as, “A state of physical or mental weariness; lack of energy.” Nationalmssociety.org gives several examples of lassitude and how it is different from the type of fatigue experienced by people without MS. Here are the examples of lassitude and how it affects us that they have listed:

My biggest symptom and largest hurdle with MS is my fatigue, and sometimes lassitude. It has always baffled me how I can be so incredibly tired all day long, and as soon as I climb into bed my mind won’t shut off enough to let my body rest. I have had trouble sleeping for as long as I can remember. Cue the counting sheep-in fact, many nights I have to count as high as I can until I finally drift off. Many things can affect your ability to sleep, but side effects from medication and stress were once my biggest issues. I no longer have issues sleeping because of those things, but it is still extremely difficult for me to close my eyes and fall asleep like any other person. I often have to take an over the counter sleep medication just to fall asleep, otherwise it will take me hours trying to do it on my own. I have heard from several doctors that MS and insomnia are not directly related. However many MS symptoms, such as spasticity, frequent trips to the bathroom, temperature dysregulation (hello, hot flashes) and medications can most certainly disturb your sleep. It is also noted that damage to our key neurological functions can disrupt our basic physiological processes, including maintenance of regular sleep-wake cycles.

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