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I once went five days without any sleep. Is that harmful?

Context: Had a bad cold and my nose was blocked. I've never slept with a blocked nose in my life. The moment you fall asleep your jaw muscles relax causing your mouth to automatically shut and since my nose was blocked it jolted me awake.

I can breathe through my mouth just fine when I'm awake, since I can voluntarily use my jaw muscles to keep my mouth open and prevent it from closing. Honestly the feeling of being so tired but it being literally impossible to sleep scares me a lot, I'm so paranoid around people with colds that my average time between getting colds is years. I still wear a mask everywhere I can and constantly sanitize my hands after touching anything.

I have Zopiclone to help me sleep but I didn't want to take the sleeping pills since I knew that as soon as I fell asleep my jaw muscles would relax causing my mouth to automatically close shut and the sleeping pills might've stop me from waking up when I can't breathe.I have this fear at the back of my mind that one day I'll get some disease that will cause my nose to be blocked longer than five days, maybe even weeks or months, and I'll end up dying from a lack of sleep as I haven't slept at all for weeks/months. I've had actual nightmares about that scenario several times.
(edited 8 months ago)
Yes that's harmful. Likely to experience some form of psychosis which isn't very fun
Could you try get your mouth wedged open somehow? Or get some over the counter medicine for clearing your blocked nose?
Reply 3
Original post by Bookworm524
Could you try get your mouth wedged open somehow? Or get some over the counter medicine for clearing your blocked nose?


Don't know. I have nasal spray but it only lasts a few hours and doesn't seem to work well when my nose is very congested so I don't trust it to sleep. I fear that feeling of waking up not being able to breathe, it makes me have a panic attack that lasts for hours.
Original post by Clara1995
Context: Had a bad cold and my nose was blocked. I've never slept with a blocked nose in my life. The moment you fall asleep your jaw muscles relax causing your mouth to automatically shut and since my nose was blocked it jolted me awake.

I can breathe through my mouth just fine when I'm awake, since I can voluntarily use my jaw muscles to keep my mouth open and prevent it from closing. Honestly the feeling of being so tired but it being literally impossible to sleep scares me a lot, I'm so paranoid around people with colds that my average time between getting colds is years. I still wear a mask everywhere I can and constantly sanitize my hands after touching anything.

I have Zopiclone to help me sleep but I didn't want to take the sleeping pills since I knew that as soon as I fell asleep my jaw muscles would relax causing my mouth to automatically close shut and the sleeping pills might've stop me from waking up when I can't breathe.I have this fear at the back of my mind that one day I'll get some disease that will cause my nose to be blocked longer than five days, maybe even weeks or months, and I'll end up dying from a lack of sleep as I haven't slept at all for weeks/months. I've had actual nightmares about that scenario several times.

:console:
No sleep isn't ideal but I don't think I would go without sleep for 3 days at some point because it's not sustainable. Any longer I think I would have phoned the doctors for a GP appointment.
Things to try in the future would be propping yourself up in bed so you're not completely lying down? it might help ease some pressure. Other things to try would be Vicks Vaporub or something a nasal inhaler, and vaseline. I found with things like freshers flu, day and night capsules worked wonders (there's cheaper variations of the brand as well).
(edited 8 months ago)

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