Korean Job Discussion Forums

[whitestboyalive]

So, I think I'm onto something here. I've been having crazy sleep problems the last few months, ever since I came to Korea. And the problems always seem to go away when I stay at another person's place, or in a motel, or whatever. SOMETHING in my apartment is seriously disturbing my sleep... giving me this weird feeling, which I'd say is a mixture of irregular heart-beat, numbness in various parts of my body including my tongue, legs, and chest, tingling sensations in my arms, pain in the chest, and general anxiety. Sometimes nothing happens, sometimes it is really bad, or weird. Recently I had one episode where I was trying to sleep, and suddenly my heart started racing for no reason! I'm especially feeling heart palpitations practically every night. I sometimes have to get out of bed, walk around for a bit, to get this weird feeling to go away... and then after feeling better, get back into bed and try falling asleep. I just think it's odd how if I continue to stay in bed, the weird feeling lingers. But if I get out of bed, stand up for a bit, the weird feeling goes away.

I discovered some things that make the situation either go away or not be so bad. If I open the window all the way, I seem to be better off... less weird sleep-feelings. Also, I should note that my apartment smelled VERY VERY bad (a chemical smell) for the first two weeks I lived there. I practically had the windows open 24-7, even though it was cold, and suffered... but nothing was worse than that horrid smell. The smell kind of went away, but not totally. It still lingers, I notice. Now, I don't think it's left over food, or sewer gas. It's really more a glue-smell. I was wondering if they used toxic glues for the wallpaper or something. Could it be some weird chemicals in the air messing with me?

I even have thought about staying in a motel for a week just to see if this weird feeling I get before falling asleep goes away. It's really cutting into my life, making me miss hours of sleep...

Another possibility I thought of the other day was when I noticed my fridge is not grounded. When I touched the top of it and ran my hand over it, I felt a strange 'vibration' almost like an electrical current. But it doesn't hurt or anything. What is that weird 'vibration' feeling? Even when the fridge is not running, I still feel that strange sensation with running my hand over top of it. Could it be some weird electrical surge in my apartment? I honestly have no clue. Is there anyone else out there experiencing similar symptoms???

[eamo]

It's probably just stress.......

.........but Sick Building Syndrome is a real thing too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sick_building_syndrome

[whitestboyalive]

^

Don't think it is stress, because the worst it ever got was during vacation. I stayed in my apartment quite a bit during the winter, and that was definitely the worst period so far. I wasn't working, life was grand, just went out meeting friends, having a great time... watching movies. Was totally stress free. But man, did it get bad...

Now that it is warmer outside, I open the window and that seems to be really helping.

There isn't much mold in my apartment. Just some black bits on the air conditioner that don't look too bad. I do notice, however, when I leave food sitting out the mold rapidly over-takes it in the more moist seasons like summer. I dunno if it is mold, unless it's underneath my wall paper or something.

[eamo]

[whitestboyalive]

[Zyzyfer]

Tried sleeping in a different room/area of your place? Like *cringe* try the floor far from your bed for one night. If it's fine, try moving your bed and sleeping on the floor in the space where it had been. If that's fine, try sleeping on your bed in the new spot. Isolate the problem between bed or apartment.

I don't think it's due to mold. Mold will make you sick but I don't think it makes your heart race like that. Sounds like a scary problem. Hope you figure out what's up.

[sadguy]

i can't offer any help, i can only empathize.

sounds a bit creepy. has anyone stayed at your house? have you spoken to your neighbors?

[myenglishisno]

Are you having panic attacks, too?

Some of those symptoms could be caused by your apartment and those very symptoms could cause anxiety which would lead to heart palpitations, chest pain, sweating and various other anxiety-related symptoms.

[derbot]

Maybe, it's subconscious anxiety; what am I doing here? When will I go home? What will I do when I get there? Or maybe you just need more comfortable bedding. Make sure your apartment is clean as this can bug me when I try to sleep. TV and gaming before bed can also cause problems.

On my sleepless nights I find the worst thing I can do is let it piss me off.

[red_devil]

It could be the glue used to put the wallpaper on, it could be plaster mix, at the worst it's leaking gas or carbon monoxide. You should get some home testers and get some fans and throw open all your windows for a weekend and just super ventilate the place out. Wash any rugs, sheets, etc.

[murmanjake]

Anybody remember that thread that got deleted? That girl that claimed people were harming her with electronic devices? Symptoms sound similar. Hope the OP isn't the target of some massive government conspiracy....

Seriously though, that does sound worrying. It could be mental. Not that you are mental, but once you recognize something strange it's easy to sort of re-create it. I remember my heart pounded out of control a lot in college. It always got worse when I thought about it.

Then again, maybe you're right about the blood pressure thing. Could be your bed is too soft, or too firm? Try sleeping on the floor?

[myenglishisno]

[CtotheB]

I'm gonna wager a guess here and say it could be a bad, unseen mold problem. Since it's only in your apartment and there's a bad smell, it could by a fungal problem somewhere. Talk to your landlord about checking the place out for mold. Move appliances if possible and try to look in the nooks and crannies of your place for somewhere where water might build up and cause a mold problem. I know a dentist who bought a house and his daughter had similar problems that made her REALLY sick, because she was unknowingly sleeping under a roof area that had a huge mold problem in the attic. I seem to also remember him saying something about heart problems as well. She complained of poor sleep, sick stomach, tiredness and breathing problems.

The chemical smell makes me think that maybe someone bleached the place in an attempt to kill the stuff before you got there, but didn't quite get it all and now it's back. When you open the window you might be letting the spores out and your air isn't so contaminated.

Check behind the fridge, washer, between cracks in your counter... anywhere and everywhere. Ask your coworkers to help you talk to the landlord if Korean is a language barrier.

[matthews_world]

I can't believe that Eamo didn't mention this to the OP since he had a thread on it a couple years back but I wonder if the OP uses some sort of mosquito repellent that you stick into the outlet with the gel pack. That can cause night sweats.

Maybe it's just the pollution and yellow dust that you're not used to. Are you in or around Seoul, Incheon or Kyunggi-do and sleep with your windows open?

Try taking a Tylenol before bed and see if that helps.

[PatrickGHBusan]

Sounds psychosomatic to an extent.

The mind can do weird things. If you convinced yourself consciously or subconsiously that "something is wrong" with your appartment then you could be getting all these symptoms based on that.

If you are really worried, check your appartment or have someone check it for mold or some other thing that may make you sick.

Still, your subconscious can play tricks on you and make you sick all by itself if you are not careful.

The stress you dismissed may be from living abroad and it may be some sort of domino effect stress where your get stressed before going to sleep thinking "oh no I will be sick", that starts things off and down go the dominos.

Hard to say anyway as none of us live in your appartment!