Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[panda762]

After years of sleep woes I think I've tried most things...

The banana idea may well work for some (not me) but I do find a bowl of porridge for supper occasionally helps me settle (hit & miss as it can also keep me awake!) Hot milky drinks lead to the inevitable bathroom trips, as do all the herbal teas I've drunk over the years (and alcohol).

When I begged my GP for a few tamazepam to help me get a couple of decent sleeps she just told me to look into my 'sleep hygiene' (!)

I have lots of aches and pains, along with pins & needles, so can't lay on one side more than an hour without being woken (I take ibuprofen & paracetamols before bed to try to combat this). My sleep pattern tends to go along the lines of: 30 mins, up for the loo, 20 mins, hot flush, roll over, 45 mins, roll over, 15 mins, snoring wakes me so I move rooms, 30 mins, hot flush, trip to the loo, 60 mins, roll over...... It's no wonder I get up feeling shattered!!

I've tried Kalms nights (which initially worked but now make me too sluggish in the mornings). I was on amatriptalyne for a couple of years but had the same problem.

I've doused myself in lavender oil / chamomile oil / ylang ylang etc but that doesn't work (room smells nice though, lol).

Like others have mentioned, OH snoring doesn't help (luckily we have a spare room!)

Glad I'm not alone

[Taz2]

Panda - after reading all of the things you have tried I feel exhausted! I think that you will just have to, like me, accept it. Once I stopped fighting it I felt much better and it is surprising how well you can adapt to little sleep. Definitely I felt much worse when I was worrying about it and trying all sorts of things - the very act of trying something put the thought of "I'm not going to sleep" in my mind and so it was impossible to then relax.

Ibuprofen always keeps me more awake by the way.

Taz x

[panda762]

Hi Taz2,

I tend to agree that I have no choice but to accept my insomnia, although I still try 'remedies' from time to time in case something works.

I don't always take ibuprofen, especially before bed, but it's the only thing that helps with my joint pain (been through all the usual NHS pain-relief options without success).

I did find that white noise sometimes helps (I have a tape machine thingy by my bed) as it gives me something to focus on other than pain / hot flushes / needing the loo / OH snoring etc.

Just glad to know I'm not the only woman suffering this (can feel very isolating at 3am when it seems as if the rest of the world is fast asleep).

Karen x

[Bette]

A lot of that sounds as if it could be hormonal, though, rather than insomnia as such. I think that you're still trying to get your HRT sorted, panda?  Maybe that will help.
I didn't have any sleep problems before peri but then found myself jerking awake with adrenaline surges. Also developed back ache in bed, was woken by night sweats and needing the loo. I have to say that all that has been much improved by HRT.
Bette x

[panda762]

Hi Bette,
I do hope your right - that HRT will help (once it starts working).
Was on tablets (1mg) but the patches seem to be better (although the Evorel 25 was too low and I got flushes again).
Karen x

[panda762]

Hi Susan,

I even started taking anti-histamines (drowsy ones) but they didn't help (and possibly didn't mix well with other meds!!)

I do need to accept it....but that's easier said then done when you're on the 3rd night in a row with zero sleep

Against my better judgement I've started having a few daytime naps, just so I don't fall over in a heap.

I've had bouts of insomnia all my life (up and down all night when the kids were small became a habit after a while) but these past 2-3 years have been rough.

Meno specialist I saw last week said the testo implant and higher dose of Evorel will help with sleep. Won't hold my breath, lol.

xxx

[pixie]

Hi Taz,

I think you are right about accepting it. The more we worry about it the worse it is!  Last night after the 4 small glasses of red wine, banana and melatonin, I listened to a relaxing CD, which helped, finally went to bed at 12.45 and slept until around 4am, then got up at 7.30 and have been to work, feel fine. That is a good night.  I have tried sleeping tablets in the past, which are great for giving you a standard 8 hours, but I feel knackered all morning instead!! P X   I can't drink too much at night, as I will be in the toilet up to 5 times, so if I do, I sometimes have a horlicks around 9pm, to give it chance to get through before I go to bed.  Also it tends to make me very hot if I have it too late!!!

[Bubbles]

Hello All,
I'm new to this forum and have been suffering from the most chronic insomnia for two years or more which has not always been related to night sweats.

I became desperate after trying everything out there (20 plus remedies) and finding nothing that worked. My GP initially said I should try Prozac, but I knew I wasn't depressed and opted to have counselling instead, as a result of which I really felt the problem was a physical one.  On my next visit to the GP (a female this time!) I was advised that I could't have melatonin until I was 55, another 6 months to wait! However I was prescribed Tridestra (6 days ago) and it is beginning to have some effect. I feel more able to drop off to sleep than I did before, although I am still having hot flushes.

I have also suffered with restless legs in the past and I know only too well the misery it causes. My doctor, after years of suffering, linked it to anemia and as long as I take ferrous sulphate I am ok. I have tried all sorts of things to help RLS in the past, but nothing worked very well. Some pills the doctor gave me actually make me feel faint so I had to stop those although they did work! It does help me to get up and give my legs a really good stretch by trying to touch my toes for 30 seconds and then carefully stretching back up and also stretching my leg muscles. I find this helps me to sleep if I fall asleep within a few minutes of returning to bed.

I have great sympathy for your suffering and know only too well what it is like to have to go to work after little or  no sleep the night before. It feels like you haven't been able to shut the door properly on all your yesterdays.

Best Wishes and don't give up.

[CLKD]

If I sleep too deeply and my bladder is full I dream about trying to find a loo 

[pixie]

The NHS is getting very tight with prescribing, as we know!!  You can buy melatonin over the counter in the US or even on-line.  I buy the Natures Bounty one, that my sister got for me when she recently went to New York.  I take a 1mg tablet, but don't take it all the time.  I don't need it so much in the darker autumn and winter months, as sleep improves.  Just off to make horlicks and banana snack and turn off the bright computer screen to try and wind down for the night.  I hope you all have a good nights sleep tonight.  Its like winter here, so we might all have a better night.   

[silverlady]

Taz, ibuprofen depletes melatonin and interferes with sleep, better to take paracetamol at night if needed.

I am still sleeping like a log, if I do wake up to go to the loo I go back to sleep straight away.

I think once you start sleeping again, after a few days the habit comes back and when you go to bed you stop worrying about if you will sleep or not, you just do.

I use to take zopiclone to help me sleep and it worked very well, but I found it effected my memory and my moods ( making me feel slightly paranoid sometimes) also suprizingly my ability to type , thats if I took it more frequently, its fine to take one in a while.

I was determined to stop relying on it and it took about a week , and then I started to sleep without it, you do feel much different once you stop, and much more happier and the world seems a brighter place . I use a couple of sprays of melatonin at night ( melatonin is for much more then sleep) and the natural sleep has kicked in.

I still have half a packet of zopiclone tucked away, its almost like a security blanket, I am hoping though I won't need then again.

The only thing that does stop me sleeping is strong coffee, If I have a cup during the day or after lunch, I feel wired and know that sleep will not come until the caffeine in out of my system, so its decaff for me.

silverlady x

[JJ]

Can anyone explain melatonin , how it works and where you get it? Thank you

[panda762]

ibuprofen depletes melatonin and interferes with sleep

I had no idea about this!!!!
I take it every day for chronic back/neck pain so maybe I need to think about stopping it for a while to see if that helps.....(paracetamol on it's own being the alternative).

xx

[JJ]

Thanks Susan , funny how some countries sell things and others not. Maybe I need to factor in cherries as well as bananas!

[silverlady]

Here is some of the latest information about melatonin

http://www.naturalnews.com/melatonin.html

http://www.frontiernet.net/~batory/articles.html

Melatonin can be bought from BIOVEA UK.

I first tried melatonin way back in the nineties, when it was discussed on "This Morning" Richard and Judy were keen on it.

silverladyx

There are quite a few ladies on power-surge who take it.