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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Involuntary Scratching Of Head During Sleep, Find Blood On The Pillow In The Morning. What Could Be Wrong?

I have been, for some time, experiencing some strange happenings while sleeping. With increasing frequency (around once or twice a week now) I scratch my head while asleep. It is an involuntary scratch. And scratch is a fairly light way to put it. It appears I scrape my scalp (I am bald) with one or more fingers. Some scrapes are deeper than others. Sometimes it is just a small gash. Others it is a couple inch long scrape. At times, I wake up in the morning to find blood on my pillow. I never wake up when I do this and have no idea that I am doing it. I am keeping my nails trimmed as short as possible in hopes that this will help, but to no avail. What is wrong with me? Is this a sleep (medical) issue or a mental issue. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you in advance for your time.
Fri, 21 Dec 2012
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Neurologist,  's  Response
Hello,
It appears to be a sleep related disorder and not mental. You need to visit a sleep specialist under whose care you will need to undergo polysomnography. It is basically a record of multiple parameters of the body during sleep. The analysis of polysomnography will reveal the nature of this events in terms of the stage of sleep during which they occur and the other associated phenomenon which may be occurring which you have not noticed.
Good luck.
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Involuntary Scratching Of Head During Sleep, Find Blood On The Pillow In The Morning. What Could Be Wrong?

Hello, It appears to be a sleep related disorder and not mental. You need to visit a sleep specialist under whose care you will need to undergo polysomnography. It is basically a record of multiple parameters of the body during sleep. The analysis of polysomnography will reveal the nature of this events in terms of the stage of sleep during which they occur and the other associated phenomenon which may be occurring which you have not noticed. Good luck.