Sleep Sleep Sleep

Good topic, and I agree 100%. Thanks to suggestions here on BCO, I tried melatonin (with my onc's permission). I was one of the fortunate ones it worked for - I can honestly say it was a life changer for me. After 2 years of never sleeping longer than 2 hours at a time, melatonin has allowed me to string 4 -5 hours of straight sleep together, and also as importantly, when I do wake up in the night (hello, hot flashes) I can get back to sleep very quickly. What a difference it has made to my QOL to get a good night's sleep on a consistent basis!

If melatonin had not been helpful to me, a prescription sleep aid would have been next. Absolutely talk to your onc and/or PCP if sleeplessness is an issue. As dlb says, sometimes it takes a fair amount of trial and error, but when you finally find what works for you, it's a life changer.

I may have to try one of those hypnosis ones. I've always been interested in that anyway and it would be good for relaxation.

I've found a sleep routine that works really well for me and it's mostly even gotten me through these nights of worry and I slept like a baby on the night of my dx. About 1/2 hour before bed I take my Ca and Mg pills and I also take a C vitamin b/c it would interfere with a med I take earlier in the day. By taking it at night, it does interfere with the amphetamine and helps me to sleep and dream. Then I settle in with a good book that I can easily put down, or a sudoku puzzle. Then a chewable melatonin and lights completely out. No night lights and I even turn the clock face away from the bed. The addition of the vitamins to this routine really helped though--so much so that I can't hardly open my eyes when I get up to go to the bathroom. I'm one of those women who can't sleep when I'm hormonal and was up every night when I was pregnant.

This will seem odd, but several years ago I went to a benefit dinner & the entertainment was a hypnotist who would bring people up on stage & get them to do silly things. Well, after his show, he was selling CDs; improve sports skills, lose weight etc. through hypnosis. One of the CDs was titled, 'Reduce Stress and Tension plus Power Napping'. They were cheap, so I bought one & it truly knocks me out (I forced myself to stay awake and listen to it once to make sure he wasn't giving me messages to run naked through the streets or something!). I bought the same CD for my sister, who also really liked it, and have reordered it for myself a time or two when my old one starts skipping. The website is www.FrederickWinters.com the CDs cost $9.99.