Coping with sleeplessness!

I have chronic insomnia. It became exponentially worse from the point of my biopsy. Proper rest is essential for healing. I also have bipolar disorder and lack of sleep is my fast track to mania, so it was extremely important for me to sleep. I had my doctor order something to help me sleep.

Best decision ever. My treatment took about 12 months and included lots of anxiety and PTSD. I would never have made it without medication.

My insomnia worsened the night after live chatting with my HR people. Just when I'm about to fall asleep and I'm in a neutral place mentally, WHAM! Thoughts crop up about the day's conversations and what hasn't happened yet. Call it anxiety, but it really bothered me to the point where I would get up and try to read some more of Dr. Susan Love's B Book. After reading some of her dry, scientifically based passages, that would get me back in the mood to sleep. If not, I catch up on letter writing while listening to music (not delta wave, mind you...I should check that out!). Another thing, I've learned that there's no point in trying to start a load of laundry past 7:30 PM. I have these HE machines and they're anything but fast; the times displayed are off too.

Whatever happened to my being able to stay awake until midnight without any fatigue? I think that went out the window almost three months before I discovered the lump. So, the best sleep that I've been getting is when I'm tired. Around 9 PM I'll switch out the clothes to PJs and just crash. For some reason, I don't experience awake brain or thoughts of that kind. Then, around 1:30 or 2 AM, I wake up because my dog says that I forgot to let her out (cold wet nose in contact with my hand or elbow along with a mournful groan coming from my 2 year old lab). After she goes out and lays down, I either try to go back to sleep or drink a little water first and check to see if I forgot to take some of my meds (pill organizers do help).

Also, two doctors want me to consider a sleep study. Obviously, not now since my treatment starts in 4.5 days. None of them have suggested anything to take, but I'm going to bring it up at education/orientation in a couple of days. More sleep will help me with work and at home too. I'm also going to try my best to stay away from any soda pop. That is/was one of my vices, that and chocolate. Carbonation and sugars, no good (the way I do it). Small meals or snacks, more steaming of veggies, YUM, and trying not to continue my bad habits with greasy/deep-fried foods.

I think I may try a little beginners yoga too for relaxation. There are free videos that I can access on my roku and TV. I also sleep better when it's cooler in the house so I'll tip toe downstairs and turn the temp down by a couple of degrees; makes a difference when there's circulation in the house, IMO.

So for anyone who wants to look at a (non-prescription) option to aid in sleep, there actually is a relatively new product on the market called dream water. There are 3 main 'active' ingredients. Melatonin is the first. That is a compound that is naturally made in our bodies, although levels naturally decline as we age (which leads many elderly people to sleep less). I remember (quite a long time ago) studies were done to see if ingestion of melatonin would have similar effects to naturally produced melatonin. Thankfully, the answer is yes. Some people experience a bit of fogginess upon waking from melatonin, but I do not. I love it. It is not habit forming (other than sometimes people are reluctant to stop taking it if they've had episodes of insomnia and are anxious about it returning). In our natural state, melatonin levels start to go up when we near bedtime and help us initiate sleep. (they also go down during the night as our wakefulness hormones start to increase)

The next active ingredient is GABA (gamma aminobutyric acid). I love this too, and have taken it with great effect when my mind has been too active and unable to shut down at night. So, our bodies have an excitatory response, the Glutaminergic system. This is the system that becomes active when we are anxious and keeps us awake and restless. Glutamate is the most common of those neurotransmitters. The opposite response is represented by the Gabanergic system. (GABA is a neurotransmitter) This is the calming or quieting system in our bodies. So GABA sort of tells our mind it's time to slow down, time to rest.

The combination of the two of them means that your body is getting the hormonal signal that it's time to sleep and that your brain is winding down so that you are able to engage in sleep.

5HTP is the last ingredient. That is a precursor for Seratonin - and an effective way of increasing serotonin in the brain, which leads to regulated sleep and anxiety.

I don't suppose there is a spare bedroom where you or hubby can go so your sleep is undisturbed? I get it, I think I got some of my worst sleep when I was married. Now my pets are the ones waking me up!

My radiation will be done tomorrow. I found it helpful to give myself a strict bedtime of 10pm and wake up at 7am. I needed that extra hour to recover from all of this, I figured it out after needing naps in the first few weeks. But the naps were inconvenient for my schedule.

I also worked out throughout radiation, which meant I was often falling asleep on the couch before 10!

I was prescribed Xanex as a sleep aid and have been taking it combined with melatonin about 20 minutes prior to bedtime for about a week now. My problem has not changed: I'll sleep for a couple hours then begin waking every 1 1/2 to 2 hours throughout the rest of the night - even on these products. I've started taking another melatonin around 3am but the problem still persists.

I've read that Magnesium can help with sleep issues. Anyone have experience with it? I'm feeling like a walking zombie and am about to start radiation which I understand will cause even more fatigue.

I'd appreciate any advice.

MTwoman - Taking the melatonin at 3am does not change the way I feel in the morning, but I'm so used to waking up tired anyway. If you try it, please let me know how it affects you. Thanks for the tips on combining calcium with magnesium and GABA. I'll give them a try. It would be so nice to sleep through an entire night, just once or twice a week.

I’ve found that melatonin lasts me about 1.5-2 hours at most, so as long as I take it with more than that amount of time before needing to wake, I have never experienced a “hangover” effect. It’s better at getting me to sleep than keeping me asleep. Exercise helps more with that.

I have suffered from insomnia for years. Recently, I was prescribed Ambien Extended Release. It's been helpful. Even when I wake up at 2:00 am or thereabouts, it's not hard to fall asleep.

Best wishes to you all! Insomnia sucks.

Thanks, MTwoman. I was aware of those side-effects before I began Ambien. I have had one episode where I ate something without remembering eating it. But, that was after I'd been to a formal reception where I had two glasses of wine. Since then, I've been very careful not to drink while on Ambien, and nothing has happened since. My aromatase inhibitor -- Aromasin -- has some steroids in it. I will probably always need some help falling asleep while I am taking it.