Health
Disrupted sleep, plus nightmares could be linked to autoimmune diseases, experts say
Those who experience vivid nightmares and odd hallucinations might have an underlying autoimmune disease, a new study suggests.
An international research team led by scientists at the University of Cambridge and King’s College London explored the potential link between nightmares and hallucinations and systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases.
The study, published in March in the journal eClinicalMedicine, included 676 people with lupus and 400 people from the medical field, as well as interviews with 69 people living with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases, SWNS reported.
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Those with autoimmune diseases were asked about the timing of their neurological and mental health symptoms, such as disrupted sleep, hallucinations, depression and loss of balance.
Of the 29 symptoms listed, the participants were asked to rank such symptoms in the order in which they occurred relative to their disease flare-ups.
The study looked at not only the issues surrounding sleep, but also when the issues for participants began. (iStock)
The study found that three in five people experienced “vivid” and “distressing” nightmares that involved being trapped, attacked or falling — resulting in disrupted sleep.
One-third of those immune-compromised participants said they noticed the trend over a year before their lupus onset.
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Lupus is defined as “a disease that occurs when your body’s immune system attacks your own tissues and organs,” according to the Mayo Clinic.
One in four participants stated that they noticed hallucinations — although 85% said they didn’t experience the symptoms until the disease onset or later.
The study linked patients with an autoimmune disease, such as lupus, to disrupted sleep — including nightmares. (iStock)
Three in five people with lupus and one in three with other rheumatology-related conditions said they noticed an uptick in sleep disruptions just before their hallucinations would begin, according to SWNS.
The lead author of the study, Dr. Melanie Sloan of the University of Cambridge, noted in the study that in many cases, patients and doctors will not discuss mental health or neurological symptoms in relation to these diseases.
Three in five people with lupus noticed an uptick in sleep disruptions just before their hallucinations began.
“It’s important that clinicians talk to their patients about these types of symptoms and spend time writing down each patient’s individual progression of symptoms,” she said.
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Misdiagnosis was also mentioned in the study, as some participants said lupus and other autoimmune diseases were overlooked at first, SWNS reported.
For example, a participant from Scotland was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder at age 18 before being diagnosed with lupus at 19.
The study found that three in five people experienced disrupted sleep with “vivid” and “distressing” nightmares that involved being trapped, attacked or falling. (iStock)
“It was all very close together,” the participant said — noting that it was just a six-month period between “when my borderline personality disorder got under control and my lupus got under control,” SWNS said.
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Dr. Raj Dasgupta, a California-based chief medical adviser for Sleepopolis, was not involved in the study but shared reaction to the findings with Fox News Digital.
Dasgupta, who is quadruple-board certified in pulmonary, sleep, internal and critical care medicine, said the study supports the perspective that a “high prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms, such as headaches, mood and fatigue” are commonly linked to patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
Dr. Raj Dasgupta said that sleep issues among patients with SLE need to be discussed in order for people to achieve a better quality of life. (Sleepoplis)
SLE is a “chronic disease that can affect any organ, including the nervous system,” Dasgupta noted.
“This study also supports the fact that patients with SLE are subject to complications of its treatment, including steroid-related psychosis,” he added.
Misdiagnosis was also mentioned in the study.
Sleep issues are common in people with SLE, said Dasgupta, with over half of patients experiencing restlessness, poor sleep quality and difficulty falling asleep.
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“These issues can be caused by pain, medication effects and the disease’s impact on the brain,” he said.
Fox News Digital reached out to the eClinicalMedicine journal for further information.
Sleepoplis consists of a team of writers, product reviewers and sleep experts who provide reviews and sleep health content, per the company’s website.
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As GLP-1 weight-loss medications gain traction, the peptide market is experiencing a surge in interest.
A variety of peptides — commonly marketed for weight loss, muscle building, injury recovery and other uses — have emerged as largely unregulated drugs sold through both licensed compounding pharmacies and unverified vendors.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is set to evaluate whether to loosen regulations on several peptides during a meeting this summer.
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Peptides are short chains of amino acids — the building blocks of proteins — that play key roles in biological functions, according to the National Institutes of Health. Peptide drugs are lab-made versions of natural molecules in the body that are designed to mimic or influence biological signals to treat disease, experts say.
GLP-1s are “incredibly effective at what they do when it comes to changing body composition, benefiting metabolic health, cardiovascular health [and] neurologic health,” the expert said. (iStock)
Though the peptide market has been described as the “Wild West,” demand remains strong, potentially challenging pharmaceutical giants that dominate the GLP-1 market.
Dr. Alex Tatem, an Indiana-based board-certified urologist with expertise in men’s health and peptides, discussed how “life-changing” GLP-1s kicked off the rise of peptides.
“These were all medications that were designed to help people live well and live as healthy as possible.”
“They are incredibly effective at what they do when it comes to changing body composition, benefiting metabolic health, cardiovascular health [and] neurologic health,” he said. “These are truly miracle compounds, and as a result we’ve seen an explosion of interest – not just on the pharmaceutical side or the doctor’s side, but from the general public.”
According to Tatem, the challenge is that nearly all commercial GLP-1 products are administered in a single-dose weekly pen, which works for the “overwhelmingly majority” of patients, but not for everyone.
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“There are patients I can prescribe tirzepatide to and they can do OK with a once-a-week [dose], but they end up developing nausea with that initial injection – and then by the end of the week, they’re hungry again.”
Because some patients respond better to smaller, more frequent doses — an option not offered by commercial drugs — compounding, or the customization of medications, has grown in popularity, Tatem said.
Several GLP-1 weight loss medications have been approved by the FDA with positive results from consumers. (iStock)
“We’ve had compounding pharmacies that have now developed compounded versions of semaglutide and tirzepatide that allow that sort of dosing flexibility,” he said.
“The reason compounders had to do this was because there was so much demand for GLP-1s that there was actually a national shortage.”
Current legislation allows compounders to step in during widespread national shortages, according to Tatem, prompting the industry to invest millions of dollars into developing and manufacturing these drugs.
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Once commercial pharmaceutical companies could catch back up, compounders continued making these medications in smaller batches for custom doses, allowing for more patient accessibility.
“That creates a huge clash between commercial pharmaceutical companies and compounders, because commercial pharmaceutical companies view that as an infringement of their property,” Tatem noted.
The expert noted a “huge clash” between pharmaceutical companies and compounding pharmacies in peptide production. (iStock)
Tatem raised concerns about the FDA’s regulation of compounding pharmacies, warning that it could limit patients’ access to customized medications.
“That is a real concern for clinicians like me who really care more about patient access, making sure we can get the right medication to the right patients at the right time,” he said.
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Some peptides have been widely administered for more than a decade without major health complications like toxicity or cancer, according to Tatem.
“These are compounds that haven’t gone through the full FDA approval process that you would normally see for a commercial drug, [yet] we didn’t see anything adverse,” he said.
The FDA plans to consider loosening restrictions on several peptides during a summer 2026 meeting. (Issam Ahmed/AFP)
In September 2023, the FDA “quietly” tightened regulation of 19 peptides, making them illegal to manufacture and cutting off patient access.
“They seemed to be working and seemed to be efficacious for patients, and all of a sudden they were banned, which inadvertently ended up contributing to this surge in interest,” Tatem said. “We kind of saw the same thing happen with peptides that we saw with prohibition.”
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While the rising popularity of GLP-1 drugs has fueled growing public and regulatory interest in peptides, most of the so-called “trendy” peptides still are not available by prescription, according to Tatem.
They may help with injury recovery, skin rejuvenation, sleep improvements and boosting of natural growth hormones, he said.
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“These were all medications that were designed to help people live well and live as healthy as possible,” the doctor told Fox News Digital. “And in reality, that was also their downfall in the American healthcare system, because if you are going to get a drug approved and to market, it has to treat a disease state.”
“These were all medications that were designed to help people live well and live as healthy as possible,” Tatem told Fox News Digital. (iStock)
Tatem confirmed that he’s seen a shift in patients confronting more than just baseline ailments, seeking advice on how to feel their best through new modes like testosterone therapy.
“The desire to function at our highest level is something that we all feel,” he said.
While nothing replaces the fundamentals — getting eight hours of sleep, eating a high-protein diet and maintaining a fitness routine that blends resistance training and cardio — Tatem said individualized treatments such as peptides may help support those healthy habits.
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“If you end up pulling a tendon or pulling a hamstring, and you’re just now starting to get some momentum in the gym, that’s really where peptides start to step in,” he added.
Experts advise consumers to avoid gray-market products, to work only with qualified physicians and reputable pharmacies, and to treat peptides as part of a broader health plan — not a shortcut or risk-free supplement.
Semaglutide (GLP-1) weight-loss drug Wegovy, made by pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, is designed to treat type 2 diabetes, but is widely known for its effect on weight loss. Picture date: Wednesday, October 16, 2024. (James Manning/PA Images via Getty Images)
In a statement shared with Fox News Digital, a Novo Nordisk spokesperson said the drugmaker is committed to working with regulators, law enforcement and “other key stakeholders” to ensure “affordable access to safe, effective and FDA-approved GLP-1 obesity medication like Wegovy and to protect patients from unapproved and untested knockoff drugs.”
“The desire to function at our highest level is something that we all feel.”
“Novo Nordisk supports FDA’s recent thorough scientific analysis and conclusion that there is no medical basis or clinical need for the continued mass compounding of unapproved semaglutide and liraglutide drugs,” they went on.
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“The agency’s decision reaffirms that compounding is meant to be a rare and limited exception to FDA’s gold-standard drug approval framework that ensures that medicines in the U.S. are safe and effective.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the FDA and Eli Lilly for comment.
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During a recent episode of her podcast, Gwyneth Paltrow spoke with neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman about retatrutide, a new advancement in GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1) therapies.
In recent years, GLP-1 receptor agonists have become a major focus in discussions around biohacking, longevity and wellness – but they’re not without a multitude of side effects.
Huberman noted that while first-generation weight-loss drugs curbed users’ appetites, they frequently plunged them into massive, rapid caloric deficits.
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Without aggressive resistance training, a high percentage of that lost weight came directly from lean muscle. “People would lose a ton of weight, but they would also lose muscle mass,” Huberman told Paltrow.
In clinical trials, retatrutide is administered as a once-weekly subcutaneous injection. (iStock)
That is where retatrutide comes in, he said. Unlike older single- or dual-action medications, retatrutide is a triple agonist.
That means it activates the body’s receptors for glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP), glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and glucagon – three hormones involved in regulating blood sugar, appetite and metabolism.
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“Retatrutide is a more mild agonist of GLP-1,” said Huberman. “It also increases glucagon and … GIP. So, it hits three different pathways, each a bit more subtly.”
In clinical trials, retatrutide is administered as a once-weekly subcutaneous injection.
Without aggressive resistance training, a high percentage of lost weight can come directly from lean muscle mass, said Andrew Huberman. (iStock)
Because of its balanced, multi-receptor approach, Huberman said the drug has a “lower side effect profile” while still allowing people to lose up to a third of their body weight “across a year or so.”
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Most importantly for fitness and longevity advocates, the doctor pointed out that retatrutide seems to have “some muscle sparing effect.”
Because the drug is still moving through official pipelines, a massive gray market of compounding pharmacies and online peptide suppliers has cropped up to meet the growing demand.
Retatrutide is an investigational molecule that is legally available only to participants in Lilly’s clinical trials, according to Lilly’s website, and the company is currently “evaluating its safety and efficacy” in these clinical studies. (iStock)
Huberman issued a strict warning regarding these unregulated online sources, noting that these options “can say 99% purity, but that 1% means there could be some LPS,” referring to lipopolysaccharides, a type of bacterial toxin.
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“LPS will cause inflammation,” he cautioned. “One injection isn’t gonna do it, but multiple injections over time, I could see where that could become problematic.”
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Paltrow echoed the safety concerns, comparing the current “wild-west” peptide craze to the landscape of supplements in the 90s, “where there’s really no third-party testing and it’s kind of word of mouth.”
“Multiple injections over time, I could see where that could become problematic.”
Both agreed that anyone exploring these therapies should avoid unverified online sources and prioritize working with a medical doctor.
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Retatrutide is an investigational molecule that is legally available only to participants in Lilly’s clinical trials, according to the manufacturer’s website. The company is currently “evaluating its safety and efficacy.”
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The drug has not been reviewed or approved by any regulatory agency, and no one should consider taking anything claiming to be retatrutide outside of a Lilly-sponsored clinical trial, experts advise.
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