Some symptoms I often hear from people with PFS with neurological symptoms are:
- severe insomnia
- impossibility to relax and find rest
- stress intolerance
In summer I was lucky to find a competent sleep doctor who is doing her own research on electrodermal activity. This is nothing different that electrodes at your feet and palms which measure stress response like it is done with lying detectors.
I had to wear the gear together with a normal EEG and breath sensors during the night as well as a 24h recording of the electrodermal activity (EDA).
The results were devastating:
- It showed 0% REM sleep which is a necessary sleep stage for recovery and physiological functions
- It showed no heart-rate variability (HRV) during sleep, but only while being awake (it should be the other way around).
- It showed crazy EDA-stormings (that is super high electrodermal activity peaks) during all sleep phases including the deepest sleep stage (which is one of the reasons why sleep is rather stressful than recovering). EDA-stormings are probably the reason for nightly awakenings
- I also had insane stormings (higher than she had ever seen) during relaxed day activities. It especially spiked after coming home from groceries and climbing a bunch of stairs.
The results show:
- no REM sleep is absolutely insane (but had already been linked with finasteride)
- it explains nightly awakenings, unrecovering sleep
- it objectifies that many patients with PFS are stress intolerant (exceeding stress response to normal daily activities)
EDA-storming is a very young and still somewhat experimental field of medicine. I would like to encourage you to undergo similar testings. They could help to objectify the insane stress intolerance in PFS patients and could lead to biomarkers that help to recognize this illness.
I would also like to encourage you to discuss the results. The stress intolerance is in my view the result of the changed cortisol metabolism under 5ar-deficiency.