Does anyone suffer from Insomnia?

I've also suffered from insomnia.. for almost 2 years. For me it started when I weaned my twins, and I am completely convinced it was hormonal. I feel like I'm gradually getting a handle on it now.

I do think the advice you're getting is worthwhile. I don't know if it will fix things, but I think it's a good first step. Your body needs consistent rhythms and cues... I try to go to bed at the same time each night, keep it dark & quiet before bed, and wake up at the same time each morning, don't eat or drink close to bedtime, etc. I also try to avoid napping unless I'm really really exhausted (I did nap when recovering from surgery though - I needed it!).

On the other hand, when I visited a sleep specialist she assumed it was all about my sleep hygiene, and I was rather offended by that. For me my insomnia came on suddenly, when I went from sleeping easily whenever I wanted to not being able to sleep at all... I did have great sleep hygiene (they couldn't find a thing I did wrong), and my babies were sleeping through the night so they weren't waking me. So while I think hygiene is important, it might not help every situation.

I have also used some drugs to help. A bunch of things didn't help and maybe made it worse... Ambien was a nightmare - it didn't help me sleep much better, and made my sleep quality much worse and I did not feel rested. Ativan helped me relax short-term but was addictive and didn't help long-term. Unisom helped a little. Progesterone (prometrium) actually helped quite a bit, but I had to stop with the BC diagnosis...

Right now I am using Rozarem. It mimics the hormones that help you to sleep, so your sleep is more "natural" than a sedative. They claim it's safe to use long-term. It's mostly focused on getting you to sleep, so may not help for waking up frequently. I take one at bedtime and I am currently sleeping 7-8 hours and feeling rested and alert during the day. One night recently I didn't take it, but I thought I had, and I was up until 2 am - the first time this happened in months. I found the pill the next morning out of my pill box - until then I was completely puzzled about my sudden sleep issue.

A lot of people take Melatonin, which is a similar "natural" solution. I tried this but it didn't help me and gave me weird dreams. But it's worth trying.

One other thing you might consider is whether you have apnea. It might be worth doing a sleep study. I think this is a pretty common cause of night wakings.

Good luck to you. Sleep is probably our biggest weapon for staying healthy & happy, so I hope you find it!

I suffered from insomnia about 2 years prior to my BC diagnosis, BC just made it worse. I usually have little problems getting to sleep but I wake up 3 hours later. Sometimes I'm up for good. Other times I will go back out but continue to wake up every hour until morning.

I have Ambien, Ambien CR, Lunesta, Ativan and Xanax. None of these works alone long term, I need to switch them up every few days.

It's very frustrating