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[Peroxideblader]

Hello I've ready posts on here regarding insomnis in the peri stage but it mainly seems to be waking up once you're asleep either due to sweats or hormones..but I'm different I just cannot get to sleep...this is my 3rd year of insomnia but until the last 12 months I had 5 bad days out of 7 but for the last year it's literally EVERY NIGHT I can't get to sleep...spent a year having blood test after test only found iron  low so I take iron daily..I've tried magnesium citrate it kept me awake even more tried cbt for 16 weeks no good tried books cds  literally everything..I've get zopiclone now and take half a 3.75 every night which means I can be asleep by 3_4am but without it its up all night...my thyroid is normal and all that is left is peri the doctor thinks. I have had all the symptoms of peri for 3 years but it was never mentioned as I still have periods albeit erratic...I'm just asking if anyone found any benefit to chronic insomnia on hrt as most I read says it barely made a difference and I don't want to go on hrt with all the risks and side erects if it doesn't help..my life is awful right now but I could put up with the other list of horrid Peri issues but this 3 hours sleep a  night for the next 15 years will kill me

[Fedupofallthis]

It did help me a LOT. But I think a lot of my insomnia was to do with hot flushes and night sweats - duvet on, off, on, off etc and window wide open even in the middle of Winter. Then when the sweats wear of you freeze so I think this probably had something to do with it!!

Hubby and I had to have separate bedrooms because of this problem.

We are all different but HRT was the best thing that happened to me.

[dazned]

Hrt didnt help with my insomnia,I now take low dose mirtazapine each night which has helped.

Interestingly there is a television program on tonight itv all about sleep issues might throw up some help .

[dazned]

Think it was ITV at 8 o'clock 

[Janice68]

 I have chronic insomnia too! Hrt didn't work for me either it made it worse for me and horrible horrible side effects too. But hrt does help others though.  I've had no luck either I've tried everything so at the moment I'm on what your on but  half a dose. I'm lucky if I get 2hrs sleep on it and then I persevere through the night to see if I can get any natural sleep very hit and miss. Im always tired but I just take one day at a time it's so hard but the sleeping pill actually dosent do its job my hormones are waking me up I hate insomnia but I don't think to far ahead anymore! 
The programme is on 7.30 on itv
Take care Jan x

[CLKD]

"I don't want to go on hrt with all the risks and side erects if it doesn't help ……. "

What risks would those be?  What have you been reading that is different to the new Guidelines for GPs?  However, some GPs aren't up to date either  - nothing needs to be taken for ever, if something works/eases symptoms, stick with it!  It's the Trial and Error that is so tiring.

I had years when I didn't sleep well: until the night I thought "Well it ain't killed me yet, I'm managing my work load OK" - from then on I slept well.  Occasionally I have nights when I can't drop off so I read.  Or I take 2 Nurofen which can help, in the past I have used anti-sickness or anti-histamine tablets ……. to break the habit of not sleeping.

The more you worry, the less likely you are to drop off!

[Lizab]

I'm apparently outnumbered here but it did help me! Once I fall asleep I am usually out for the night. I just couldn't get to sleep. The only sweats and flushes that I know were waking me were early in the morning so not too much trouble. Since starting hrt I feel much more relaxed and sleepy at bedtime. Before, I may as well have drunk a pot of coffee before lying down to try to force myself to sleep and I was exhausted all the time.

[CLKD]

If I drop off in the arm chair, then I stay there - no one dares to disturb me  .  If I fall asleep in the shade of the patio, again, leave me be. 

[dazned]

On now ,apparently it's a major public health concerns

[Peroxideblader]

I've seen the programme on tonight it's been on on sky before...I can't take anti histamine they make my restless legs worse same with over the counter sleep aids...plus mirtazapine and amiltryptolene they made me ill and I still didn't sleep..as for the bad side effects I mentioned I mean the risk of diabetes and stroke as I'm borderline diabetic it's in my family and heart problems too...so there's a lot of risk me starting hrt...don't get me wrong if it made me get normal sleep back I'd risk it but I find most people it doesn't seem to help..that's why I wanted people's opinions..😊😊

[CLKD]

I used to wake through the night to see whether I'd been asleep    .  Do you drop off anywhere else?

[Smokey]

Have you tried any of the lavender sleep sprays, I've got the Avon one which helps me drop off I think there are several on the market at the moment recently Gmtv had one on the this morning program and the reviews were really good, that was last week you may be able to find the name of it online .or maybe on catch up tv if you have it.

Have you tried the hormonal sleep tablets called Valerean the are quite good and are quite cheap in boots I think.

How about Kalms there meant to be good.

Good luck

Ann x

[dahliagirl]

I get nights where I fail to go to sleep - just stay in that state of almost dropping off, but not quite.  Then I feel myself dropping off and the excitement wakes me and so I try again. Then the birds start.  Usually drop off an hour before the alarm.

It is definitely much less of a problem when I am on HRT.  It only happens once occasionally instead of phases of 2 or 3 days.

[dahliagirl]

Is it worth trying something like oestrogel and separate uterogestan for a trial 3 months, as these seem to be the lowest risk option.

[Dana]

Insomnia was my worst meno symptom. It was just the total inability to get to sleep - at all. I went for three nights with absolutely no sleep at all before I resorted to sleeping tablets - and that was the worst thing I could have done. Peroxideblader please do not get comfortable taking zopiclone every night. That stuff, like benzos, is horrible horrible stuff once you become dependent, and dependency can happen very quickly for some people. It happened to me and it made my life a nightmare for about 2 years while I weaned myself of diazepam.

Anyway, the best thing I ever did was start HRT. I now sleep like a baby every night. There will be the odd night here and there where I will have trouble sleeping, but that happens to everyone. On those nights I will take a very small dose of doxylamine (an over the counter antihistamine) or a low dose of an amitriptyline AD. Both work very well for me at low doses (no more than about 10-15mg).

As CLKD pointed out above, what risks?  If someone is leading you to believe there are supposed risks and side effects then they are using seriously outdated information. Your health will suffer far more from lack of sleep, and by taking zopiclone regularly, than it will by taking HRT.