Print

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

[Shell babes]

Sorry to hear about your problems with sleep.  Once insert that you wrote about feeling panic 'OMG I'm not sleeping again', I could have written myself, especially about almost feeling traumatized about so many nights with zero sleep and almost jeopardizing your chances of sleeping because you are so concerned about it.  I think the thing that helped me was getting the correct level of oestrogen (easier said than done) which enables you to start getting some deep sleep again and also reading a book on insomnia called 'The Effortless Sleeper' by Sasha Stevens.  She talks about the 'fear' getting in the way and preventing you from sleeping and how to lose the fear and get back to effortless sleep.  It made me feel like I was not alone and it can be normal to feel so worried about sleep when you have suffered so many nights without.  Sasha had an insomnia problem for 10 years so she is talking from experience so definitely worth a read.  I totally get what you have said about sleep because I have been in the same boat so many times.  I'm sure that things will improve for you and it could well be just a blip which normally you wouldn't pay any attention to, had you not suffered from lack of sleep previously. x

[VictoryV]

Hi Ella, I feel for you, not getting sleep is a nightmare. I’m a long term insomniac, built a life around managing insomnia as I didn’t find a solution.
Can you shift morning commitments until the afternoon to remove getting stressed throughout the night when you wake? This approach, even for a few days, buys you a bit of breathing space and extra time in bed if required.
I hope it passes soon, try not to concentrate on it as doing that held me back for years.
Victoria.xx

[EllaAurora]

Sorry to hear about your problems with sleep.  Once insert that you wrote about feeling panic 'OMG I'm not sleeping again', I could have written myself, especially about almost feeling traumatized about so many nights with zero sleep and almost jeopardizing your chances of sleeping because you are so concerned about it.  I think the thing that helped me was getting the correct level of oestrogen (easier said than done) which enables you to start getting some deep sleep again and also reading a book on insomnia called 'The Effortless Sleeper' by Sasha Stevens.  She talks about the 'fear' getting in the way and preventing you from sleeping and how to lose the fear and get back to effortless sleep.  It made me feel like I was not alone and it can be normal to feel so worried about sleep when you have suffered so many nights without.  Sasha had an insomnia problem for 10 years so she is talking from experience so definitely worth a read.  I totally get what you have said about sleep because I have been in the same boat so many times.  I'm sure that things will improve for you and it could well be just a blip which normally you wouldn't pay any attention to, had you not suffered from lack of sleep previously. x

Thanks so much Shell babes! I will check out the book, it sounds helpful to balance the situation and decrease stress about insomnia. Exactly like you say, normally I would not pay attention to a few nights of bad sleep, but now it has become the center of everything and not in a good way. All this started with perimenopause, before I was fortunate to never having to worry about sleeping (other than whether I'd have a chance to sleep long enough in the mornings

[EllaAurora]

Hi Ella, I feel for you, not getting sleep is a nightmare. I’m a long term insomniac, built a life around managing insomnia as I didn’t find a solution.
Can you shift morning commitments until the afternoon to remove getting stressed throughout the night when you wake? This approach, even for a few days, buys you a bit of breathing space and extra time in bed if required.
I hope it passes soon, try not to concentrate on it as doing that held me back for years.
Victoria.xx

Hi Victoria, thanks for the advice. I'm working and my mornings tend to start at a fixed time which is often (but not always) beyond my control. So I may not be able to shift most of the morning commitments, but there should be at least some that I can adjust, which could already be helpful. Thanks for your support and hope you're in a better place now with your own sleeping routine! xxx

[Justjules]

Hi Ella. I can fully recommend Phenergan nighttime tablets, Dr prescribed them for me exactly what you’re going through for insomnia. You can buy them over the counter at the pharmacy. They’re a form of anti histamine but aren’t addictive like sleeping pills. I’ve since recommended to friends and they’ve helped enormously.
Nothing more awful than not being able to sleep with anxiety 😥

[EllaAurora]

Hi Ella. I can fully recommend Phenergan nighttime tablets, Dr prescribed them for me exactly what you’re going through for insomnia. You can buy them over the counter at the pharmacy. They’re a form of anti histamine but aren’t addictive like sleeping pills. I’ve since recommended to friends and they’ve helped enormously.
Nothing more awful than not being able to sleep with anxiety 😥

Hi Justjules, thank you for the tip! Sounds good! Do you feel OK in the morning, not drowsy or sedated?

[EllaAurora]

Hello again, returning here to update the latest. After I initiated this thread I had one good night sleep and a few nights of OK'ish sleep, so I thought maybe it was just a blip and I'll get my sleep back. But then, last night was a disaster again. First I struggled hours to fall asleep though I was very tired (which is unusual as normally even on a bad night, I fall asleep but then wake up too early), and when I finally fell asleep, woke up in an hour and after that couldn't get back to sleep at all.

I cannot understand why this is happening, and have been now again thinking if it can be Utrogestan causing this -though until now I've found it beneficial for my sleep. Maybe I am developing some kind of 'tolerance' and it no longer works in the right way. Or could this be due to having done heavy exercise yesterday. I've noticed overall that my body is not what it used to be in the tolerance to high intensity sports and yesterday I felt overall I was an overdrive in the evening -fast heart rate, warm skin etc.. even though I did my exercise in the morning and had the whole day to recover.

Thankfully I have an appointment tomorrow with my GP, I will ask something to help with the sleep as I will need to wait a few more weeks before my next HRT review and I'm hesitating to stop Utro without talking to the doctor first.

Hope you are all feeling well today. xxx

[CLKD]

It's because your brain is focusing on not sleeping.  So even when you drop off, it's whirring away - I used to wake: 2 C if I had slept 

Hormonal upset can cause us to be aware of symptoms that mayB quite 'normal'.  Have a list to chat with the GP about?

[EllaAurora]

It's because your brain is focusing on not sleeping.  So even when you drop off, it's whirring away - I used to wake: 2 C if I had slept 

Hormonal upset can cause us to be aware of symptoms that mayB quite 'normal'.  Have a list to chat with the GP about?

Yes CLKD, that's exactly the thing. Just that, how can I get my brain to NOT focus on not sleeping..  I'm sure that if I got, say, 2 weeks of good night sleep, I'd forget that I have a sleeping issue and then an occasional bad night would not be a reason to panic. At the moment I'm just all wired up and alert and don't know how to break the cycle. Hopefully my GP will have some ideas here. I wouldn't like to take sleeping pills, but maybe just having them at hand could already be helpful.

[CLKD]

Get out of bed and make a cuppa.  Do some ironing.  Focus the mind on 'not' sleeping.  Read until you drop off naturally.  Relaxation from toes upwards.

[Wrensong]

Hi again EllaAurora, sorry your sleep has not improved as we'd hoped.

Or could this be due to having done heavy exercise yesterday. I've noticed overall that my body is not what it used to be in the tolerance to high intensity sports and yesterday I felt overall I was an overdrive in the evening -fast heart rate, warm skin etc..

  Yes, this is what I meant when I posted earlier about finding that excessive exercise counter-intuitively began to worsen my sleep when things all began to go haywire in peri.  I never exercised close to bedtime then & don't now.  I think it's the physical stress of exercise on the body that has adverse effects on sleep, just as psychological stress can.  I get that some women find if they get tired out through a good workout that improves their sleep & same applied to me when younger, but frustratingly that has changed with age.  I'm certainly not saying don't exercise, but could you maybe experiment with a less punishing routine to see whether that helps?

Simply being too warm at bedtime may have stopped you dropping off - it does me.  Don't forget progesterone raises body temperature too, so I do wonder whether your hefty 200mg daily Utrogestan dose is perhaps detrimental to your sleep.  Even 100mg makes me way too hot.
Wx

[EllaAurora]

Get out of bed and make a cuppa.  Do some ironing.  Focus the mind on 'not' sleeping.  Read until you drop off naturally.  Relaxation from toes upwards.

I will have to try these. So far I've tried to stay in bed and not do anything, as it felt like if I get up, I'll give up on sleep altogether.. but I guess that's exactly the trick, right, to accept the insomnia -no matter how difficult it is.

[EllaAurora]

Hi again EllaAurora, sorry your sleep has not improved as we'd hoped.

Or could this be due to having done heavy exercise yesterday. I've noticed overall that my body is not what it used to be in the tolerance to high intensity sports and yesterday I felt overall I was an overdrive in the evening -fast heart rate, warm skin etc..

  Yes, this is what I meant when I posted earlier about finding that excessive exercise counter-intuitively began to worsen my sleep when things all began to go haywire in peri.  I never exercised close to bedtime then & don't now.  I think it's the physical stress of exercise on the body that has adverse effects on sleep, just as psychological stress can.  I get that some women find if they get tired out through a good workout that improves their sleep & same applied to me when younger, but frustratingly that has changed with age.

Simply being too warm at bedtime may have stopped you dropping off - it does me.  Don't forget Utrogestan raises body temperature too, so I do wonder whether your hefty 200mg daily dose is perhaps detrimental to your sleep.  Even 100mg makes me way too hot.
Wx

Hi Wrensong, I'm the same, I need my body to be cool before I can sleep. I always know if my skin is hot/warm, I will not fall asleep. I also need a low bedroom temperature, which fortunately I have. Hadn't thought about the impact of utrogestan on body temperature, but that's true of course.
Maybe that is the reason..? I'd love to switch to 100mg, but as I tried it before it didn't have any impact on me and also blood test showed low progesterone even though I was taking 100mg daily. I've also tried utro during days 14-26, but the fluctuations seem to be the worst for me and I felt really bad on the no utro days. Now I'm more calm and feeling better otherwise, but the sleep is just getting worse again. 

I used to get great night sleep after exercise and before this peri madness really kicked in, I was always doing exercise in the evening with absolutely no negative impact on sleep (on the contrary). So strange how the hormones change everything 

[CLKD]

It's 'the change' 

[VictoryV]

Hi Ella, sorry to hear about sleep being a problem. I used to stay in bed and relax even if I couldn’t sleep, mediation is good to have nearby.
Do you feel better on or off Utrogestan please? I’m asking because on it I feel better but hungry 24/7 and off it I feel sad, it feels like a withdrawal which many others have posted about but I wasn’t aware of.
Thanks,
V.x