another sleepless night

flossy47

Looks like I'm in for another sleepless night. Feet, hips and hands playing up at the moment. Not good when I have to be up early to get ready for my arthritis education session tomorrow. Hope I can get there ok.
Good thing I went to the library on Monday and got plenty of books out. I seem to spend alot of time reading these days.

skezier

Hi Flossy,

I am sorry your can't sleep and so understand what thats like having done a huge stretch of sleepless nights through pain.

Mine (for now at least) is 'cured' by more tablets well strengthening the ones I already take and I wonder can your gp help at all? Maybe they could change what your on to something else cus there are many types of tablet and you don;t always find the one that works first time.

hang in there and I hope you will sleep son. Cris x

flossy47

I've got an appointment on Thursday.

Tried tramadol, naproxen and diclo. None have agreed with me. Think the pain and sleepless nights are things that will have to be the norm for me. Time to give up if doc can't help me.

Sleepless nights have been a problem for quite a while now ( about 5 years) so I should be used to it by now. Pain has only been a factor for about 2 months.

hileena111

Hi Flossy
If pain has beeen a problem for a couple of months but sleeplessness for years......why do you think you arent sleeping?
Most of us {or a lot of us anyway} its pain that wakes us up or stops us getting to sleep.
If your GP is anything like mine he'll want to know why you think you arent sleeping.....if its pain he will probably prescribe meds but if its something else...well thats different.
I would think that you should sit down before tomorrow and have a good think about what you think it is. This will make the most of the appointment you have.
Mine said that he would treat the cause but not the sleeplessness and had me thinking about WHY I wasnt sleeping.....if i had done that beforehand it might have been a more productive appt.
Good Luck
Hileena

flossy47

Thanks hileena.

I will have a good think later. My mind doesn't seem to have an off button anymore. Too many nights worrying about my husband before he went into care but not sure why it's still doing it.

dreamdaisy

I've been thinking about this and I am wondering if it could be put down to habit: you struggled for so long when you were looking after your husband, now he is being cared for but not physically with you and that could be fretsome, add pain onto an established pattern of disturbed sleep and here you are in this current predicament. It's very easy to lie there and focus on not being asleep (I reckon we've all done that from time to time) and that in itself can inhibit the act of 'dropping off'.

I think your GP needs to re-think about how to help you with this, tablets may well not be the full answer. When I was a child and struggling with asthma I used to eat an entire head of cos lettuce every night, lettuce is a natural soporific (that's why the Flopsy Bunnies were always drowsy!) so that's a natural approach, as is the traditional hot milk at bedtime, a warm bath before that, no telly or computer just before bed time, and the use of relaxation techniques. This is not an easy problem to solve is it? It self-perpetuates, it's a vicious circle of stress, fretting and utter weariness. I hope you can find an answer soon. DD

flossy47

I think you're right that I have got into a habit of not sleeping. I've tried the lettuce idea before but I don't think that worked. I don't drink milk so a hot drink wouldn't work either. Warm bath might work and probably a little gentle exercise earlier.
I've just got back from the arthritis education session and that is all about keeping moving to help the pain. We are all using pedometers to see how many steps we take on average per day. Also they are teaching us Tai chi. I'm hoping that this might help to relax me a bit.
Going back to the sleep problem I think I will ask if the doc thinks some form of counselling may help.

dreamdaisy

I never did the hot milk thing as I was lactose-intolerant as a child, so what about an instant Horlicks? It's made with added hot water, I had one when we were away once and I did sleep better, whether that was co-incidence or not I don't know! As for the lettuce I ate loads every night, I was very young and didn't know why I was doing that but I DID know that I just wanted lettuce at bed time!

I had a rough night last night, even my tried and tested alphabet lists didn't help, so in the end I got up for a while and read my Kindle (one of my favourite Winnie-the-Pooh stories in fact - grown up? Moi? ) and by the end of it I was yawning. I toddled back to bed and eventually dropped off.

I do sympathise Flossy, I think for you it's all caused by a nasty combination of stress, pain, and habit. It could well be that counselling could help but how about trying the hot bath idea, relaxation techniques, no telly before beddy-byes and let's see if that helps a little. I hope it does. DD

flossy47

I've had quite a long day today and I'm actually quite tired. Just running the bath now. I've got some instant horlicks so I might try that afterwards. Don't watch the telly that much. My bad habit is reading in bed and once I start I can't stop. I'll have to force myself not to do that tonight.

tjt6768

Hope you have a good night's sleep tonight Flossy..

bubbadog

Hi Flossy, I have nights where I can't sleep so I go in our guest room and lie on that bed and read or do word searches, I try and have short naps through the day, not to long so it would effect my sleep pattern. I have increased my Amityptaline to 70mg and I still do have the occasional interupted nights but not as many.
Hope you do get a better nights sleep soon.

flossy47

I had a slightly better night but still only about 4 hours. Going to docs this afternoon. Fingers crossed(painful today) she will be able to help.

flossy47

Doc has given me Amitriptyline. She said it could take up to 2 weeks to see any benefit. I'll give it a go. Also told me to start eating properly as I don't at the moment.

frogmorton

Hi Flossy

doc gave me 25mg amatriptyline and the first night l took it at bedtime and didnt wake up till 2pm the following day!!!

I am ok now and swear by it to be honest. l now take it around 8pm.

the only side-effect l have had is increased thirst, but that one is easily remedied by an extra cuppa or two

Do let us know how you get on

Love

Toni xx

flossy47

Only on 10mg so I'll let you know.

dreamdaisy

I'm not on it as yet but I do know that those who are tend to take it quite early on in the evening so as to avoid too much 'muzziness' the next day. I really hope this med helps you Flossy, and yes indeedy my girl, sort out your food habits too! That's easier said than done, I know, but sooooo essential. Here's to a better night's rest, yes? DD

flossy47

Going to take it @8pm. Just had a lovely dinner so I'm trying to sort my eating habits out too.

bubbadog

Hope you had a better nights sleep flossy? I ended up going to bed early and sleeping in the guest room as I could hardly keep my eyes open yesterday early evening. But I had been poorly with my stomach all afternoon and evening and just wanted to sleep afterwards. Nevermind sleep is a good healer as they say!