Sick, Prophet of the Night? 5 strange things appear when sleeping, be alert to the possibility of disease or cancer
Uncle Liu, who is over seventy years old, is an old smoker. Since last month, Uncle Liu began to have back pain, especially when he sleeps every night, he wakes up with pain. Lying down is uncomfortable , and he can only sit up to sleep. This situation continues. For a while, it made him sleepless.
It was really unbearable. Uncle Liu asked his daughter to accompany him to the pain department. After an MRI examination, he found that the back pain that had plagued Uncle Liu for more than half a month was actually cancer pain caused by lung cancer!
The image shows that the tumor in Uncle Liu's lungs has metastasized to the thoracic spine, and a compression fracture in the chest has caused him to have cancer pain in his back. Fortunately, Uncle Liu's condition is relatively stable. After surgical treatment, the pain into the bones disappeared, and Uncle Liu finally didn't have to sit and sleep.
In fact, sometimes, some seemingly "ordinary" symptoms that appear in the body during sleep may also be "early warning signals" from diseases or cancer, especially the following four situations. Don't ignore them easily.
1. Insomnia, pain, or cancer during sleep
According to research, more than half of cancer patients have symptoms such as insomnia and inability to relieve themselves. What is the relationship between insomnia and cancer?
Insomnia is a common clinical symptom, especially in the cancer population, the incidence rate is as high as 52.6%-67.4%, which is 2-3 times that of the general population .
A study published in Sleep Medicine shows that insomnia can plague cancer patients for a long time, from diagnosis to a year or more after cancer treatment.
In addition, pain is one of the common symptoms of cancer .
Generally, when cancer metastasizes to bone, pain occurs. Bone is one of the three most likely target sites for malignant tumors to metastasize, especially “bone-loving” tumors such as lung cancer, breast cancer, thyroid cancer, prostate cancer, and kidney cancer, which have a higher probability of bone metastasis.
Symptoms of tumor bone metastases vary from person to person, but the most common one is pain: the patient will feel persistent pain in the lesion, especially at night, which will prevent the patient from falling asleep, or be awakened by pain after falling asleep, which cannot be relieved even by pain relievers .
In addition to pain, bone metastases may present symptoms such as fractures, hypercalcemia, and weakness in the hands and feet . Therefore, when insomnia and pain symptoms often occur when falling asleep at night, you should seek medical attention as soon as possible to rule out the possibility of cancer.
**## 2. Sudden leg cramps during sleep, not necessarily calcium deficiency
In the folk, sudden leg cramps during sleep are mostly considered to be calcium deficiency, and more calcium can be effectively relieved, but in fact, leg cramps are not as simple as imagined.
Cramps are not the "muscles" of our body that are cramping. When a muscle is stimulated, the nervous system that originally controlled it will be abnormally excited , the brain will automatically contract the muscles, and the nerves and blood vessels between the muscles will continue to be compressed. , causing pain like tearing a muscle.
So why do cramps happen? Usually there are several reasons
Calcium deficiency : The excitability of muscles will be regulated by calcium ions. When the calcium ion concentration is too low, nerves and muscles will become excited, which will easily stimulate nerves and cause cramps.
Cold legs : When a gust of cold wind blows, our brain will send a signal to make the muscles contract, and people will shiver involuntarily. Therefore, when the legs suddenly get cold, it is very easy to cause cramps.
Overworked : When the muscles perform long-term, high-intensity work, a large amount of metabolic wastes will accumulate, resulting in the muscles not being able to relax effectively, just like a migrant worker who works 24 hours a day and will be exhausted.
Disease effects : Some diseases may also cause leg cramps, such as cardiovascular disease, liver cirrhosis, diabetes, thyroid disease, kidney disease, osteoarthritis, spinal stenosis, leg nerve damage, blood circulation disorders, etc.
What should I do to avoid cramps every day?
Pay attention to keeping warm. When you are outside in the cold, or when the air conditioner is turned on, pay attention to keeping your limbs warm, and do not get cold in part of your body;
Pay attention to the sleeping position, do not keep side lying, prone and other positions for a long time;
Proper calcium supplementation, especially for adolescents who are developing;
Do a good warm-up exercise before exercising, and add salt and water in time after exercising.
If the cramps caused by calcium deficiency, fatigue, sleeping position, exercise and other factors are excluded, and it lasts for a period of time, it is recommended to go to the hospital to check whether it is caused by the disease.
3. Sleeping with dry mouth, don't always think it's a lack of water
Sometimes, we feel that our mouth is very dry before going to bed, but sometimes it is still not relieved even after drinking water. What is going on?
Some dry mouth is actually a normal physiological phenomenon, such as a heavy taste, or the degeneration of bodily functions, while some dry mouth may be caused by some diseases, such as fever, diarrhea, glandular tissue destruction, upper respiratory tract infection, oral disease, etc.
If the above conditions are excluded, it is necessary to be alert to the manifestations of systemic diseases:
1. Diabetes
Frequent thirst, increase in urine output for no reason, and weight loss for no reason, should be alert to the possibility of diabetes.
2. Sjogren's syndrome
This disease is caused by immune cells attacking and destroying their own secretory glands. If you feel dry mouth, dry eyes, dry skin, and repeated swelling of the parotid glands for more than 3 months, you should pay attention to this disease.
3. Blood system diseases
Iron deficiency anemia, pernicious anemia, etc., may lead to atrophic glossitis, causing dry mouth.
4. Other diseases
In addition, diabetes insipidus, benign lymphoepithelial lesions, primary biliary cirrhosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease may cause dry mouth.
Thirst is a signal that the body is obviously dehydrated. In daily life, we should drink water at any time. Don't wait for the bitterness of the mouth before thinking of drinking water.
Fourth, sleep often drool, don't underestimate
It is easy to drool if you sleep on your stomach or on your side, but in some cases, drooling may also be a sign of disease:
Under normal circumstances, drooling during sleep is affected by the sleeping position. For example, sleeping on the side in one direction and pressing the parotid gland near the base of the ear will promote the secretion of saliva and cause the saliva to flow out.
In addition, if you drool while sleeping, you should also be alert to the possibility of the following diseases:
- arteriosclerosis
When arteriosclerosis occurs, the brain will relax the face due to hypoxia and ischemia, and the swallowing function will also decline, which is prone to drooling.
- stroke
During a certain period of time, there is a sudden occurrence of drooling while sleeping, accompanied by symptoms such as loss of control of facial muscles, skewed corners of the mouth, headache, slurred speech, numbness of limbs, etc., then the possibility of stroke is very high, and it should be taken as soon as possible. Improvements.
- rhinitis
In the process of sleeping, it is easy to drool and nasal congestion. It may be due to rhinitis. Rhinitis will affect the ventilation of the nose. Breathing through the open mouth will also cause saliva to flow out under the influence of gravity.
- gastroesophageal reflux disease
Gastroesophageal reflux is the backflow of stomach acid and other contents back to the esophagus and other parts. The process may cause excessive saliva reflex secretion. Therefore, some patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease will experience symptoms of excessive saliva.
If the saliva smells bad, it may be caused by oral problems. You must seek medical attention in time. At the same time, pay attention to gargle as soon as possible after meals, brush your teeth in the morning and evening, wash your teeth regularly, and keep your oral hygiene clean.
Through some abnormalities in sleep, we can " predict " some health problems. Do you understand it clearly?
References:
[1] "Half of Cancer Patients Have Sleep Problems?" ! Annoying, can't sleep, what should I do? 》. Medical Oncology Channel. 2019-05-09
[2] "Calf cramps when sleeping, is it calcium deficiency or sick? 》. Tencent Medical Code. 2021-03-29
[3] "Don't be careless if you drool while sleeping! Beware of these 4 diseases". Tencent Medical Book She Knows. 2021-02-19
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