Are you awake a lot

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kmpisces

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Are you awake a lot at night? It takes me so much time to get to sleep. I can never stay to sleep. I typically do not end up getting much sleep at all. This does not help my fatigue.
 
Before taking sleeping herbs I fought terrible insomnia, despite fatigue. I would lay in bed for hours before sleeping, and would wake easily. My sleep was never healing me because it wasn't quality. But my naturopath has me taking melatonin, Kavinace, and two different herbal mixtures. I take 11 pills total 20 min before bed, but they knock me out. It helps significantly! The strongest herbs for sleep are Valerian root and skullcap. You could try taking 3 of each every night and see if they help. When fighting major sleep issues you really need to take a lot in order to overwhelm your system, otherwise your brain can fight the effects of the herbs.
 
Unfortunately this has been happening a bit lately. Although it's not gotten out of hand yet. I'm often awake between 12-2am, but sometime it has gotten to 4am which is ridiculous in my book. Certainly doesn't do any good for either my sleeping patterns or general energy.
 
Yes, insomnia is one of my main problems. I've been drinking some calming tea like chamomile, hibiscus, valerian roots. They seem to help a bit, maybe you want to give those a try.
 
I used to struggle with sleep because I used to work so much and I would stay up until late and wake up really early. I did this so much that I had messed up my sleep patterns and I hardly could fall asleep easily. Sometimes I would stay up for the whole night just working and working and working until morning and then I would get like 2 hrs of sleep. That messed me up really badly and was a really rough time in my life. I did the same thing by drinking calming tea and another thing that I also did was try to get in my bed like 4 hrs before I normally used to. Also meditation is a good practice and praying at night.
 
I am an insomniac, and I agree, it messes with the fibro and auto-immune issues I have. Melatonin doesn't seem to touch it. I'll have to write down the other herbs and see whether those help. I'm on a bunch of different heart meds, as well as steroid for colitis flare, and anti-inflammatory and cymbalta for the arthritis and fibro. I wonder if they are compatible?
 
Seems like one of a main symptoms or cause or maybe it's both for maybe fibro and CFS. Do whatever you have to to fix it, because without sleep it's hard for your body to heal regardless of what medication or treatment you are getting. Much easier to say then do though I understand. I am still struggling.
 
Sometimes. I started taking Trazadone to help me fall back asleep because I'd wake up in the middle of the night and twiddle my thumbs until about 7am. After that, I could sleep like a log. However, Trazadone does nothing to help me fall asleep in the first place. The last two nights I've been able to fall asleep right away but, for god knows how many days before that, I was getting maybe 3 hours of sleep. I could be drop dead tired but as soon as my head hit the pillow I couldn't sleep. I ended up sleeping all day Sunday because I was exhausted. I thought I'd be up all night for sure but I wasn't. I slept and I slept Monday night too.

I hope I can sleep tonight as I'm tired. I laid down after dinner because my back was killing me. I left the light on in the bedroom so I wouldn't fall asleep. However, a power nap might have snuck in. If I did fall asleep, I hope it didn't wreck my chances of sleeping tonight. It seems if I nap in the day, I can't sleep at night. However, I'm not 100% sure of this so I'm trying to not nap and see how things go. Then I'll nap and see if I can sleep at night.
 
I had some insomnia before this nightmare started but it was cyclical. Now I have real trouble. I'm taking 2 herbal mixtures; "Revitalizing Sleep" and "Sleep Tonight". It is working fairly well and understand it works even better after 28 days.
 
Yes.

I laugh at Alberta's version of disability suggesting that I'm able to work on that aspect of my life alone. I am rarely asleep before 3am. I could be barely able to keep my eyes open and yawning non-stop at 10 or 11 pm, decide to go to bed and wake right up. It's quite frustrating. Between 4am and 10am I can sleep pretty darn good (with Trazadone's help). 6 hours of sleep isn't enough for me so I hit a slump around 3pm. However, if I nap you can push the good sleep time back to 5am.

They all say getting better sleep can made drastic improvements on the disease. Fine, but you can't blame us for not wanting to rely on herbal concoctions or addicting sleep medications.
 
RE: "I am an insomniac, and I agree, it messes with the fibro and auto-immune issues I have. Melatonin doesn't seem to touch it. I'll have to write down the other herbs and see whether those help. I'm on a bunch of different heart meds, as well as steroid for colitis flare, and anti-inflammatory and cymbalta for the arthritis and fibro. I wonder if they are compatible? "


I can tell you right now being on a steroid (medrol dose pack, or a steady daily dose of prednisone, dexamethasone, et al.....can CAUSE "insomnia" all by itself, and can cause horrible mood swings. It can also cause "Roid Rage" which is when ya get out of conrtol and flip an entire room upside down as your whole family watches in horror, apparently lol. I have to make light of it, it is one of my worst memories. But yea the insomnia from steroids (oral/IV/intrathecal) is horrendous...once I painted a mural on my foyer wall, took me 5 sleepless nights and very obsessive days, but I tried to turn a negative into a positive I guess. Cymbalta makes you drowsy so take at night with docs permission. Anti-inflammatory is a toss up and I have no clue about heart meds.

Good luck to you

Karmakitten
 
The steroid is a timed release capsule that only releases into the gut. My gastro specialist says it's in the system so little, it really only absorbs into the intestinal/colon and is the only option for the type of colitis I have.
 
In order for your fatigue to be controlled, you must get rest at night. I would suggest forcing yourself to lay down in the bed by a certain time every night. Turn of all devices such as the television and your phone. You can play some nature sounds if that make you feel more tired. Drink a soothing drink such as warm milk or sleeping tea. I drink any mint tea at night to put me to bed and black tea in the morning to keep me from feeling so fatigue. Hope everything gets better.
 
I am glad I am not the only one with sleeping problems. I am so tired before the day even starts because lack of sleep. It would help us all to be able to sleep more. I am a mother and so taking medication to sleep really is not an option.
 
Sleep? Whats that? Ha. Insomnia is in my top 5 symptoms! If I get to the point that I really want to sleep, I take Benadryl but I get immune to it very fast so I try not to take it too much. For awhile I took it every night. It really helps.
 
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