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Sleep, Oh Sleep, Where Art Thou? - ChronicBabe Forum
So I am sure there are many of my fellow CB's out there that can relate to this one.
Sleep seems to evade me these days.
Not completely, but falling asleep is torture!
I dread 10 pm or so when my husband and dogs fall blissfully into a nice peaceful sleep.
I however, don't.
I just lie there in bed going crazy!
Listening to both my black Lab and my husband snore in unison (luckly my three Chihuahuas don't snore!), but this just makes me a little bit crazier for sleep too!
I've tried getting on a "sleep schedule," no electronics an hour or so before bedtime, hot baths, showers, lavendar, medication, herbs, tea, reading, you name it, I've tried it!
But I just can't seem to fall asleep until 1 or 2 in the morning.
Most evenings - if I'm lucky (ha!) - I have my pain under control, so it isn't the issue.
Luckily, the nights I do fall asleep, I do stay asleep but sleep late, which is not such a big deal because I'm not working right now due to my illness, but of course as a type A personality and not used to waking up at 10 am since college, I do a good job of beating myself up about it everyday!
I know I shouldn't but it just doesn't feel like me!
Sick or not! However, I do know that if I don't take advantage of this sleep my symptoms go up ten-fold and we all know that sleep can be the best medicine sometimes.
However, I'd LOVE to get on a more regular sleep schedule.
So I pose a couple of questions to my babes:
1) Whose up "chatting" on CB at midnight MST?
:-)
2) Any thoughts on how best to use my "time" during those hours (10 pm and 1 am) when I can't sleep but will still promote sleep at some point (the type A in me coming out)?
3)Any suggestions as to how to fall asleep more quickly at an earlier time?
And anyone else dealing with any sort of sleep issues or have any sleep suggestions, info or thoughts chime in!
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Set an alarm and get up, do not nap during the day, no matter how tired you feel.
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It also might be your natural sleep time.
If not working, I do stay up later, and sleep later.
I am a day person, or a night person, just not an evening person.
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Kelly,
Have you tried listening to any guided meditations when you go to bed at night?
Especially ones that focus on scanning your body and observing your breathing?
There's a lot of different meditation techniques and you might find one that really works for you.
I find that they are very good for slowing down my mind chatter and helping me deeply relax all the parts of my body.
Plus I just know that they are incrediblly good medicine for my nervous system.
Alot of people I know say that they can't get through a whole meditation (usually lasting 25 minutes) without falling asleep.
For them, it's frustrating because they want to stay alert enough to complete the meditation-- but for you, falling asleep would be a triumph!
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I'm usually up that late!
My husband doesn't get home until well after midnight, so I try to stay up to see him.
I rely on muscle relaxers (per my doctors' direction) to get regular, good quality sleep.
It really does help.
I don't exactly like relying on meds, but I can't get good sleep without them.
Some ideas of things to do while you can't sleep:
- read
- take a bath
- do some gentle stretching to prepare your body for sleep
- do a guided relaxation (I can mail you a CD with some I like if you're interested)
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Diana, I'd love the CD.
If it isn't too much trouble to send it to me!
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I find it hard to fall asleep sometimes.
I like lavender and drinking Sleepytime tea.
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My problem isn't so much falling asleep as it is actually getting restful sleep.
I've been reading up on Alpha EEG Anomaly, and I'm about 90% certain that that's the problem.
(If only we could afford a sleep study...) So far, I haven't come up with any really great ideas...
Anyone else have that problem?
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I am going through that right now can't fall asleep and if i do fall asleep...it is around 12 or 1 at night...but i have noticed that i have to do alot durning the day to get myself nice and tired so i walk my 2 dogs...2 miles each....try to saty moving thorugh-out the day and not sitting around to much...but ya its hard to do all of this when i am in pain...and ya...NO napping at all no caffeine at all....not eating two hours before bed....warm bath or shower....reading a book....and i also try not in get to involved in anything that will get my mind to busy....like paying bils or watching a sad movie...or talking with hubby about deep things....know what i mean :)
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This might not be the same for you, but I've been dealing with sleep issues since I was a little girl.
I've found that the more I'm able to think before I fall asleep, the worse it gets and I take even longer to actually fall asleep.
The stress of the day, or the worries of the next day, or the fact that I just can't fall asleep freaks me out enough that my mind starts racing and sleep becomes impossible.
Distraction has been the strategy that has worked best for me.
I listen to books on my mp3 player or music.
Don't let anyone tell you that it has to be classical music for it to work, that's completely not true.
If classical music does help, great!
Keep going with it, but if it doesn't, don't be afraid to try something else.
Also, any book will do.
(Hard rock works the best for me) Most mp3 players have a sleep timer so it will shut off after a certain amount of time.
When I started, I set it for an hour and sometime would still be awake when it turned off, but I just turned it back on.
Now I'm at the point where I have it set for 15 minutes and I almost always fall asleep before it turns off.
It's just enough of a distraction to let my mind calm down and fall asleep.
I'm in college and have a roommate, but I wear headphones so she doesn't hear it.
I have no idea if this will work for you, but I'll be praying that somehow or another, you'll get some sleep soon!
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I used to have trouble falling asleep...
My secret weapon is melatonin, 3 mg.
:oD
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Unfortunately, I rely on meds for sleep.
If not, I cannot fall asleep and if I do...I don't stay asleep.
I take steroids for my conditions and steroids=no sleep.
I take my meds, put the timer on my TV for 15 minutes and usually drift off.
I sleep at least 10 hours, and must take a nap during the day due to weakness/fatigue.
Oh well...that's life
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For a long time I was resistant to perscribed sleep medication, but have come to understand and realize how important sleep is to healing - even if what we have is a chronic condition.
I know that I feel like a completely different person both mentally and physically depending on both the qualitity and amount of sleep I get.
I think as CB's we tend to be very hard on ourselves and when we can't sleep it is one more thing we beat ourselves up for, but we shouldn't, especially if we are taking a variety medications or aren't able to be as active as we want to be - these things affect our sleep!
For example, due to a brain injury I sustained I have to take a medication 2x a day that stimulates brain activity - so in thinking about it this med certainly isn't helping me get any zzzz's at night.
So, after thoughtful consideration, I went back to my doctor and told him that the medication he perscribed just wasn't doing it for me (even if it worked for 1/2 the world's population according the TV commerical!) and got a new Rx - and it is working much better.
But even with the med, my nights are not perfect, but some sleep is better than nothing.
I think for those of us used to living in pain, we may not be aware that although we fall asleep we may not be sleeping that great if our body is hurting, right?
Also, to Laura's point, I am a pro when I get in my non-sleep cycle of stressing out or panicing when evening arrives because I start to worry about not being able to sleep before it is even time to hit the sheets!!
So my mind hits overdrive when it should be winding down.
Everyone's feedback has been great and many have helped me think through where I've been coming from with my own sleep habits as well as adding some new routines to my day and evenings to mix things up a bit!
So thanks to everyone....I'm sleeping a bit better these days!
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