Question: Hi, I’m a 19 year old female. My family and friends have made me aware that I am extremely aggressive when there is a disruption in my sleep. I am a very light sleeper and do not usually stay asleep for more than 3-4 hours before waking up and sometimes going back to sleep. I have insomnia and usually won’t fall asleep until around 4 am on my own.
I was prescribed trazodone 50 mg and that helps me fall asleep and wake up feeling well rested. It hasn’t helped with the aggression. If someone or something happens to disturb my sleep, I lash out terribly. Apparently I swear, make threats, say horrible things, and even hit if I am touched. The severity of this depends on how close I was to the normal time I would have woken up if left undisturbed. The only thing that doesn’t cause this aggression is waking up on my own or to an alarm that I have set myself. I have a very stressful home life that causes a lot of anxiety in addition to the sleeplessness. Also, I often have extremely violent, sexual, or emotionally disturbing dreams. During the more “nightmarish ” dreams I am often aware that I’m dreaming and sort of in a paralyzed state unable to come back to reality until a sound or touch from the real world wakes me up.I’m not sure if these two conditions are related but both are very disturbing and make it nearly impossible to have a healthy sleep cycle. Any advice, suggestions, or theory would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.