Dana you really do understand what I'm going through I could cry...no one understands the stress and devastation it causes and trip out the old wives tales and nothing works when it's hormonal we know that...I only cling onto the 1/8th dose of zopiclone because I know for the first week I stop totally I can expect NO SLEEP AT ALL...and I don't think my body or mental state could take that right now...I'm only worried about the hrt with so many people saying it didn't help at all but I know I'll put weight on..I've got a lifelong eating disorder which is in remission but a lot of Weight gain and still no sleep I couldn't cope with...but honestly Dana i feel so relieved you know what I mean how bad this big problem is when doctors will not agree that it's anything to do with peri....as for strong meds the other lady mentioned..what can I try to get sleep or are they all going to be too addictive x
Yes I definitely know what you are going through. I also know that's cold comfort and doesn't help you sleep any better, but at least you know that when people look at you as if you're making it up, or that all those "sleep hygiene" things are all you need to do, you know it's all crap.
The lack of estrogen is an actual barrier that prevents you from sleeping. It's got nothing to do with just learning to relax, or stopping caffeine (although caffeine certainly won't help the problem), or having a hot bath, or reading a book, or exercise, yadda yadda yadda. I've heard it all.
I also find it funny (in a sick kind of way) when people say "you'll never die from a lack of sleep" and that the body will eventually give in and sleep, but what they don't tell you is that it can take a long time before your body "gives in". I've gone 3 days with absolutely no sleep at all, and the only way I got my body to give in was to give it a drug. People don't realise just how long the body can actually continue to function with practically no sleep. While this is happening, you are suffering from anxiety, depression, brain zaps, mental breakdown etc. So while you may not actually die from insomnia, you can die from the anxiety and depression that comes with it. Many were the nights when I thought about just taking an overdose and ending the whole thing. Had I not had two fur babies that needed me, who knows what I might have done.
Sadly any of the prescription sleeping medications (whether it be a benzodiazepine, tranquiliser, z-drug or whatever you want to call it) are all highly addictive. They affect the GABA receptors in the brain, and that's where you can get into a lot of trouble. They are good as very short term remedies, but none of them should be used continuously for more than a couple of weeks. Not everyone will have problems with these drugs. I used to mentor on a support forum for people wanting to come off these drugs and I know that lots of people could take them for an extended period of time and have no problems coming off them, but it is estimated that at least 30% of the population has a sensitivity to these drugs and will become very addicted very quickly, and I was one of those people. You may not be, but the problem is you won't know whether you will be affected until it's too late.
I know you have already said that you can't take antihistamines, but the things that saved me during my 2 year taper and 2 year healing process was an over the counter antihistamine called doxylamine (it comes under a number of brand names, depending on your country, like Unisom, Sleep Aid, Dozile, Restivit). This has a very effective sedation effect at very low doses. I never really needed to take much more than about 10mg, so maybe such a low dose may not effect you too much. It tends to cause restless legs when used at higher doses.
The other thing that really helped me was an amitriptyline antidepressant. The one I used was called Endep, but I'm in Australia so I don't know what other countries that one is available in. However, any kind of amitriptyline AD does have a sedating effect. Once again, it works best at low doses, as higher doses can cause restless legs. I never took much more than about 15mg and it worked really well.
Neither of these meds have the same addictive problems of sleeping tablets, although because I never wanted either of them to lose their effectiveness, when things would be really bad I would take one of them for 4-5 days and then I would switch to the other one for another 4-5 days, and then switch back again, and I never had any problems with stopping either of them.
To be honest, I think you will find far more people saying that HRT helped with their sleeping problems than those who say it doesn't. If you're like me your problem is a lack of estrogen, and you will be getting extra estrogen in the HRT. So hopefully it should really help you.
It is also definitely not inevitable that you will gain weight. We all like to blame other things for why we gain weight, but it's really our own fault most of the time. I'll admit I gained weight, and I blamed age, menopause, HRT, metabolism for it. I would blame anything other than myself, but after joining Weight Watchers last year I have now lost 20 pounds. I'm still on HRT, I'm still getting older, I'm still menopausal. The only thing that changed was I started being more aware of what I was shoving in my gob.
At the end of the day though, even if you do gain some weight, wouldn't you much rather be a little cuddlier, but be sleeping better? I really think you need to stop delaying the HRT, as hopefully it will help your problems. What's the worst that can happen? You really haven't got anything to lose.
