Sleep Problems Are Common Among People With HIV

[Jim Allen]

Sleep, what's that?


Article on POZ.com in full https://www.poz.com/article/sleep-problems-common-among-people-hiv

In Brief:

Sleep Problems Are Common Among People With HIV

Poor sleep quality, sleep apnea and daytime sleepiness were linked to mood disorders and cardiovascular risk, but not to specific antiretrovirals.

Mazzitelli’s team performed a study of sleep problems among 721 HIV-positive people receiving care at Padua University Hospital. A majority (72%) were men, the median age was 53 years, and they had been living with HIV for a media of 15 years. All were on stable combination antiretroviral treatment, and most had an undetectable viral load; the median CD4 count was above 600. Two thirds had comorbidities (most commonly high blood pressure, obesity and elevated blood lipids), and 20% were taking multiple medications (known as polypharmacy).

About half of the participants were taking antiretrovirals that could potentially affect sleep, mainly integrase inhibitors; less than 1% were on efavirenz. In addition, 20% were using various hypnotic, sedative or other sleep-affecting drugs, including benzodiazepines, corticosteroids, opioids for pain relief and antidepressants that can affect sleep-wake cycles. All told, 61% were using medications that could impair sleep.

Overall, 77% of participants were found to have sleep disorders. A majority (60%) had scores indicating poor sleep quality, followed by sleep apnea (31%), insomnia (31%) and high daytime sleepiness (8%). A small number had other sleep problems, including somnambulism (sleepwalking) and restless leg syndrome. What’s more, 28% had anxiety and 16% had depression.

“Emerging evidence has suggested that abnormal immunological function may contribute to poor quality of sleep,” he wrote. “Thus, an unmet need in the field is the evaluation of the microbiome and biomarkers of bacterial translocation and immune dysfunction in people with HIV in association with independent sleep disorders scales and cardiovascular risk factors. Assessment of both sleep and mood disorders in people with HIV may improve the overall assessment of these patients in the clinic but is often neglected in clinical practice.”

[BubbaPat]

Isn’t 4-5  hours average?


Bubba hugs!

[Loa111]

I have not had a good nights sleep for years, like one where you go to sleep say at 11pm & sleep right through, soundly, until 7am.

I really do not know why, it is out treatment (I take pills in morning), is it my age, or is it just me?!? Who knows? Tired all sorts of tweaks & changes but makes little difference to me. I do tend to feel tired during the day but push on.

What I am slightly envious of is people who can get a solid nights restful sleep.

[Jim Allen]

Isn’t 4-5  hours average?


Bubba hugs!

  5 hours of sleep is about what I get on average.

I have not had a good nights sleep for years, like one where you go to sleep say at 11pm & sleep right through, soundly, until 7am.

I really do not know why, it is out treatment (I take pills in morning), is it my age, or is it just me?!? Who knows? Tired all sorts of tweaks & changes but makes little difference to me. I do tend to feel tired during the day but push on.

What I am slightly envious of is people who can get a solid nights restful sleep.

Getting older and HIV meds are certainly two factors that can cause sleep changes/issues for some.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30899113/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5841578

If you are feeling tired during the day, I would say it's time to talk to the clinic.

In my case, it's a lifelong issue. Slept about 4 hours a night until I hit my 30s and then started getting 5 hours a night. Now in my 40s, I have started to have naps some days just after lunch.

Did have two periods in my life that it was different. Firstly because of AIDS, I was sick and fell asleep all the time and exhausted. The second time was with Truvada, I could sleep 16-18 hours a day and wake up exhausted, and it just didn't get better until I switched treatment and after that, I got back to sleeping 4-5 hours a night as is normal for me.

[Tonny2]

             ojo.                 Hi everyone!





I study having sleeping problems when I started to take raltegravir in January 2007. Since then, I don’t know what a good night sleep is even taking Ambien to help me sleep. When I take Ambien CR 12 mg, I sleep around four hours. For example, last night I just slept two hours, from 4 AM to 6 AM. During the day I feel so tired but I can’t even take a nap in the afternoon. I guess it is a price to pay for staying alive after 28 years of living with HIV/AIDS…hugs

[leatherman]

When I was 21 and in college, I thought everyone but me must have had african sleeping sickness or something. My sleep requirements seemed to be 5-8 hours while everyone else seemed to need 8 or more hours.

when I turned 24, which was more than likely the year after I was infected with HIV, I began to sleep at most 6 hrs a night. Back then I didn't think twice about it as a problem because the problem of not sleeping was from working too much, partying too much and staying up too late to get laid too much.

During my time dealing with AIDS (well, the time surrounding when I was hospitalized two separate times with pcp and not the whole 12+ years when I had cd4<200), I slept even less. like 3 to 6 hrs. (lovely. I got to be awake even longer those days to contemplate my probable impending death)

By the time I finally got stabilized on treatment (UD, CD4>300) after 15 yrs of HAART, and then in my late 40s, my sleep also stabilized to 6 hrs a night.

On the other hand, my hubby Larry can sleep and sleep and sleep. He sleeps 8 hrs a night during the work week. (while I lie in bed beside him and our sleeping dogs reading books on my tablet for several hours) 3 to 4 days a week he gets 1-2 hrs nap after dinner; and on the weekends, he can sleep up to 10 hours before waking up. So even though we've both been living with HIV for the same amount of time, our sleep habits are very different.

Oh! and I NEVER nap. It leaves me VERY disorientated and nauseous. I have napped during the day only twice, and proceeded to vomit upon waking both times. I've never risked that again.

If you are feeling tired during the day, I would say it's time to talk to the clinic.

In my case, it's a lifelong issue. Slept about 4 hours a night until I hit my 30s and then started getting 5 hours a night.

at one point, when I was thinking I shouldn't be burning the candle at both ends and in the middle along with having hiv/aids, I had an epiphany: I felt fine and did fine with just 6 hrs of sleep a night. So now I have that positive attitude about it all. I simply don't need more sleep than that no matter how much everyone is sleeping.

[BubbaPat]

On the other hand, my hubby Larry can sleep and sleep and sleep. He sleeps 8 hrs a night during the work week. (while I lie in bed beside him and our sleeping dogs reading books on my tablet for several hours) 3 to 4 days a week he gets 1-2 hrs nap after dinner; and on the weekends, he can sleep up to 10 hours before waking up. So even though we've both been living with HIV for the same amount of time, our sleep habits are very different.

Oh! and I NEVER nap. It leaves me VERY disorientated and nauseous. I have napped during the day only twice, and proceeded to vomit upon waking both times. I've never risked that again.
at one point, when I was thinking I shouldn't be burning the candle at both ends and in the middle along with having hiv/aids, I had an epiphany: I felt fine and did fine with just 6 hrs of sleep a night. So now I have that positive attitude about it all. I simply don't need more sleep than that no matter how much everyone is sleeping.

My husband is the same.  By 10:30..he is headed to bed, and that's late.  I'll stay up till 2 or 4 on the computer or watching anything or trying to read. I'm up by 8:30 to 9.  As for napping, I can't.  If I nap, I sleep and that's because I'm usually running a temp.

Bubba hugs.