Sleep Patterns

[Robinia]

I see from a thread on Chatterbank that a few of us have disruptive sleep patterns.  At the moment I can't get to sleep at night but then I can't wake up in the morning  - it's now 10.15 & I can hardly think straight, it's so annoying.  I prefer to go to bed early & get up early especially in summer when the morning time is lovely.  (er, it's supposed to be!)

So if this happens to you do you have anything that helps to restore a suitable pattern?  (not sleeping pills though)

[sneezer]

Acupuncture is very effective in treating insomnia and its underlying causes and doesn't have the side effects of medication.

 If you live in London you can get it for �10 from one the student colleges by final year practitioners.

[smudge]

Hi Robinia, I didn't realise we shared the same problem & it drives me crazy too. If my audio story tapes don't work, I usually get up & do arrow word puzzles or cross words. I wouldn't like to start taking sleeping pills either.

It might be worth us taking sneezer's advice & looking into the possibilty of Acupuncture - you never know!

[Peri]

Melatonin tablets are a good way of restoring sleep patterns.  They are not addictive.  Clary sage is an oil that is good for sleeping also.

[Robinia]

Thanks very much all!   I've just been to the local shops, stood in a stupor staring at the shelves & came home with lots of choccy biccies!! 

andy I hope you settle down again soon but in the meantime there are plenty of people on here that need your excellent advice so do stay awake please!

sneezer I wouldn't have thought of that but I have something called fibromyalgia, (a part of which is disrupted sleep patterns) & have been considering acupuncture to help the pain.  So maybe it will help both - 2 for the price of 1!!  smudge it seems to be worth a try doesn't it?!

Peri - I was trying to thing of that the other day!  I've just looked it up & it seems it's good for slowing down the ageing process, so I'll have some of that too!!

[sneezer]

Robinia - acupuncture can also produce good results for fibromyalgia. I did a paper regarding acupuncture and arthritis and it can produce good results with regard to pain and the emotional side effects of the condition one of which could be your insomnia. I would definitely recommend it for either.

[Robinia]

That's fantastic sneezer thank you.  Someone who knows about fibro is quite rare - most people have never heard of it!

[Peri]

Hi Robinia. Fibromyalgia was only just mentioned to me yesterday.  Can you tell me does it show up on blood tests or any medical tests.  I have had joint pains coupled with fatigue for years.  Acupuncture helped, osteo also helped as my pelvis was out of line for years.  No medical tests have ever shown anything wrong.  I thought the osteo helped but not all the pain is gone and fibromyalgia was mentioned to me yesterday.  Would you know if it would have shown up on a test before now.

[sneezer]

No problem Robinia, I'm glad I could help, if you go for acupuncture let me know how you get on!

Also go to a british acupuncture council registered practitioner you can find one near you by putting in your postcode or town  -

www.acupuncture.org.uk

[Robinia]

Peri, no unfortunately it doesn't show on blood tests.  It's a case of blood tests to illiminate all other conditions.  I've had it for years & have constantly been told it's 'just one of those things' or 'an inconvenience'. I've wept buckets in exasperation & pain over the years & then by accident I caught a short report by some women on tv who were talking about FM & I thought 'Thats me!!'.  Fortunately a lot of doctors now know about it & after being refered to a rheumatologist again in May I was finally diagnosed (in about 20 mins & he was in no doubt!)

It's now a case of pain & energy management (what the hell do they think I've been doing for all this time? bit late to send me to Occupational Therapy now) & I'm waiting, as usual, to see a physio again. They did help with the back pain some yrs ago, oddly enough I had a wonky pelvis too!  The other obstacle are those cynics who, because you look ok, don't think there's anything wrong. 
There are lots of excellent sites for FM - the Americans seem very clued up on it but the UKFibromyalgia is a good one to start with.  Hope you get sorted!! 

[sarah charah]

you may have an active mind if u have alot of stuff to think about. you might think about it more at night, cos its just more fun. U need to not watch too much tv cos that can set u thinking. Find a BAD book force ureself to read it, hold it up in the air with ur arms and do the cycle motion with ur legs until u r very weak. Do things during the day that tire u out, ul feel like u have a good day and make sure there is nothing exciting to think about, so think ureself out all day. Then do the book thing and turn off all lights and anything bright.

[kazzee69]

I am having this problem. I can't get to sleep at night and tend to stay up till about 2-3am but then in the morning I find it hard to get up. I feel lazy but when I think about it I am still only having 7-8 hours sleep a night which is the average. I did break this pattern (but have slipped back into it again) but all I did was make sure I was out of bed at a early time every morning and do soemthing during the day to make me tired (nothing to draining) and then when night time came I was tired. Do this for about a week and you will realise your sleepign pattern will be restored.

[grannyg]

 Lavender oil on your pillow might help you to get to sleep. Try not to drink tea or coffee before going to bed have a mug of hot milk instead.

Sweet dreams

[Kay]

My sleep patterns have gone all to pot since I've been the AD Seroxat. SSRI's are notorious for upsetting ones sleep quality and moreso when one is reducing from an SSRI.

[MargeB]

You must not lie in or steal sleep during the day or evening. then get some exercise, go to bed at 10. that starts a pattern. I would put up with the sluggishness of tablets just to get that pattern back.

[shaneystar]

i am with Robinia on this.I used to be able to sleep like a log until...I had to pack up work after being diagnosed as having rheumatoid arthritis.This then burnt itself out and left me crippled up with osteoarthritis and ankylosing spondylitis in the spine.I have seen so many rheumatologists and physiotherapists and none of it is any help.Bone scans,bone density scans,cocktails of drugs.Tell me about it.No wonder we can't sleep.I have had acupuncture .It helps for a while but it's like a rollercoaster.I have given up on the drugs now and to be frank I have a couple of large drinks take myself to bed and hope for the best.If I sleep I do ,if I don't then I read or do crosswords.I hate it but have come to accept it now as a fact of life and getting older.It is really miserable sometimes.But...a lot of people are worse off.

[Mistopheles]

Yes - go to sleep with your curtains open. It resets your body clock. If it takes you a long time to go to sleep, you'll probably be tired for the first day, but it should help by the second day.

And try not to have naps during the day unless you are desperate, as this throws you out too.

General tricks to get to sleep:
Wind down gently, don't watch TV in bed, and do something relaxing before you go to sleep (e.g. read a nice book). Have a warm bath, and try a hot milky drink. Lettuce is a natural sleep aid, so try a lettuce sandwich about an hour or so before bed. Lavender is also supposed to aid sleep, so try lavender bath oil or incense.

In case you haven't guessed, I've had chronic insomnia ever since I was 7. Sometimes nothing works - not even sleeping pills. So if anyone's got any failsafe remedies, let's hear them!

[Robinia]

Wow thanks all - it went quiet on this thread & then about 6 of you all arrived at once! You haven't only just woken up today I hope?!

shaneystar I'm sorry to hear that you suffer, funny how you 'get to know' people on here without realising what they might be going through. 

It looks like the common advice from all of you is to avoid naps during the day - it's so hard when your eyes are like lead!!  And I'll try to get to bed early(ish) so if anyone spots me on here after about 10 please feel free to send an electric shock through the keyboard.  Oh no, that might wake me up!!

[Peri]

Thank Robinia.  At least I have something to work with. After 15 years of chronic pain and fatigue.  If the doctors cant see anything obvious you are told for example as I was by a specialist 'improve your posture'.  But the pain was everywhere from my jaw to my ankle.  Attacks can cripple for 48 hours.  I get bad headaches too which seems to be a sign.  Dont get me wrong life is good mainly helped by acupuncture.  Everybody is different and whatever gets you through the night.  I will definitely be researching all the web sites I can about fybromyalgia.  It is very strange that I was only speaking about it yesterday and today I log on and here you are.  Thank you.

[lindapinda]

I don't sleep well either,and generally resort to anti-histamines or a large red wine to do the trick.However,I had no idea so many of you had physical reasons to add to the problem.I think myself lucky now.A bit of low grade insomnia is minor in comparison.