Hi!

I used to sleep fine (9 hours a night). Then, on 10/11/08, I started waking up 4 or 5 hours after I went to sleep. At first I didn't pay attention to the change, but it stayed that way ever since. Eventually I started to feel as if my sleep isn't restful, but I can't seem to take naps during the day.

Now, during the day, my heart rate is regularly elevated to over 100, and I am running a low-grade fever (99.5-100.5). My insomnia is no better. I am having constant anxiety ad panic attacks, and I have become completely 100% impotent. Sleeping medications (Ambien CR, Trazodone) have done nothing, though Ativan helps with the anxiety. I have no trouble GETTING to sleep, it's the STAYING asleep that I can't do.

I've been reading online, and there's a rare disease called Fatal Insomnia. It comes in a familial form (which I don't think I have), and a sporadic (i.e. random) form. It's a "prion disease" like Mad Cow, and the only way to really detect it is with a PET scan. I've brought it up with my doctors and asked them for a PET scan, but they've all refused. My blood tests and all other tests are normal, though I haven't done a sleep study.

What should I do? Is there anything other than Fatal Insomnia that could be causing these severe, sudden, persistent symptoms? Has anyone ever had anything like this and recovered? I've read a couple other posts on this board describing similar symptoms, but they only posted once, which seems like a bad sign.