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[newstart]

Hi Suzie Q

The thing that has helped me to sleep is Valerian root.  I got it from Holland and Barrett.  It's in capsule form and the directions say to take one or two.  The first time I did take two - I could hardly get out of bed the next day and felt slightly hung over till lunchtime.  After that I took only one capsule and made it into a tea will some hot water.  It's bl ....y marvellous! 

I think that Valerian is probably one of the ingredients in Kalms which I have also taken during the day - they work at calming me down, but leave me feeling a bit disassociated from what's going on - which is a bit of a disdvantage with my work.

Good luck with fnding something that works for you,

Patricia

[suzieQ]

HI Patricia - Thanks for the suggestion - I am always so amazed on this wonderful forum that ladies are so generous with their time, trying to help each other. I did try all the herbal stuff last time i had this and I seem to react quite badly to valerian - it makes me feel weird and a bit hyper in fact - the oppsoite of what you'd think! I am taking a small dose of amitryptiline at bedtime again on the GP's advice as  it is supposed to have the side effect of making you drowsy ( its a mild antidepressant but in small doses is used to help sleep problems) It just relaxes me but does not make me drowsy at all! I must just be wired up different to most people. I am just trying to do all the good sleep hygeine things and also I find wearing a blackout mask helps a bit. The only thing that works for sure is a half mild sleeping pill  ( zopiclone) but thats only in extreme need! I just hope this will right itself in a few days. Love Sue

[Squirrel]

Sue

Just wondered about the zopiclone, if you are starting, stopping, starting etc maybe this is not a good idea?

[suzieQ]

Hi Sleepless - I forgot I changed a while ago but not taken any recently - its actually zolpidem ( ambien in USA) and its only for short term use. My GP tells me to take one ( or half which I do) only when really needed. I've never taken it for more than 3 nights - I do find it harder to sleep the next night but it only stays in the system for 12 hours max and there is supposed to be no rebound if you take it as I said. I would much rather not take it at all but sometimes I just NEED the sleep. Love Sue

[Rosebush]

I too have to resort to zopiclone at least once a week, when my sweats are really bad, as i cannot function without sleep after about 5-6nights, on bad  nights i get 12 sweats in 8hrs, and just feel exhausted, but with the tab get about 3!..i  have never had any side effects, in fact i feel so much better, having had some unbroken sleep.  Also it does not effect my sleep when sweats finally calm down a bit, but as mentioned its not a pill i like to take.. Thxs for mentioning valerena Pat, i will give that a try made up as a tea...As for weird dreams i get them a lot, and sometimes they do wake me as well   Still the meno cannot last forever girls, or so i am told

[NineLivesBurra]

I haven't slept well for as long as I remember due to many reasons, not the least of which is that I seme to function better at night time. I can have a nap in the day time and work fine at night and when I was working I worked nights as often as I could because I did my best work then.

I now take Mirtazepine as I experienced some severe depression along the with other menopause symptoms and although it doesn't make me sleep, it does make me drowsy, not enough to get off to sleep though. I don't stay asleep well either, I wake up frequently due to the pain in my joints due to arthritis.

I use Kalms or valerian as well as lavendar oil. This last I put onto my pillow and occasionally, if I'm really bad, I'll put a few drops around my nostrils, directly onto my skin. Luckily this is one of the few things I do not react to.

[suzieQ]

Dear Ninelives - Thank you for your helpful post. I have not tried the lavender oil these past days when The problem re-occured - will try that agian. I find that if I am at least drowsy and very relaxed I may "drift and doze" as I call it  and that is at least restful. I concentrate on not so much getting to sleep as leaving go of consciousness and that helps a lot Love Sue

[Elliexx]

I have disturbed sleep.
I read if I wake.
I have never read so many books.

It is getting better.

I also have bad dreams.

[Sparkly]

Hi Everyone,
                 I don't get flushes but I do seem to suffer from feeling uncomfortably hot at night. I used to feel the cold so I feel this is a change. Back in the old days we bought a his & hers duvet, 10tog for him and 13tog for me! Recently this has become unbearable and I spend a lot of my time either throwing it off or using a sheet. Yesterday we bought a 4.5 tog duvet, bliss, what a relief!
Karen
x

[amandahh]

Hello, I am not sleeping at all well I take a natural herbal capsule but am a light sleeper I am so exhausted in the day. I have to care for Hugh, my disabled Hubby which doesnt help me at all at times. I feel as though I will run out of steam. I find it difficult to relax as well . Regards Amandahh

[KAT]

Sleep is in black and white for me.  If I'm contented with life I sleep like a baby but if I'm anxious or stressed its hopeless.

Kat

[juju]

I still do not sleep well or for any length of time,sometimes only 2 hours.But I do try to relax and rest my body.It always seems worse in the shorter days as it is such a long time to wait for daylight.Usually I think I do ok on it because I am not usually tired in the day....unless I sit down!though this last week or so I notice I have bags under my eyes.I think I have tried everything.I am on hrt and before that I had sweats.I still get hot but thats not what its about.I just think me and sleep have never really got on!

[Cazikins]

I suppose I average on about 5 - 6 hours sleep a night & that is with HRT - before HRT about 4 - 5 hours. Not much differnce but enough, however I still have to have a nap in the evening after dinner, only about an hour in bed but that is how I cope.
Weekends I could sleep for England, no work to get up for, housework will get done as & when - I just have to have a lay in on Saturdays & Sundays.
I am not looking forward to the clocks changing as I hate getting up in the morning for work & it still being dark - I just love my bed too much on a cold winters day.

[Numpty]

Hi, am totally new to this both the menopause matters forum and actually posting a comment.  I have been suffering with TATT for about 4 years now.  Have been checked for iron, MS, ME and various other things but nothing found.  When I mentioned menopause, I was told that I was not even perimenopausal.  Then last year, 2006, I was told that yes, I am now going through the menopause.  I coped with a lot of crap in my life, single parenthood, chronic sinusitus, acute asthmatic, over worked and underpaid and managed it all with a smile on my face.  The one thing I couldn't cope with, and still have not got right, is this blasted feeling of being tired all the time.  How is a normal woman supposed to cope with this constant feeling of tiredness?  The women I speak with, all report the same thing.  oh, it's just something you get used to.  Well, I'm sorry, I've got used to asthma, I've got used to not having any sense of smell or taste because of chronic sinusitus, I've accepted the fact that as I'm not particularly ambitious and am pretty much a nice person, that I will probably continue to be a "lowly paid" administrator BUT I HAVE MY LIMITS and being TIRED ALL THE TIME is above and beyond my limit.  It's not poor sleeping, I could doze off quite happily at any moment of the day. It probably is because my sleep is not the good heavy sleep but the light sporadic sleeping that includes several night toilet trips and tossing and turning to find the cool spot.  But at this moment in time, I totally blame those blasted feminists!  Without them, I'd be kid free, tied to the house all day and blistfully ASLEEP!!

Yours snoozily

[suzieQ]

Hi I have not posted for a while ( just manically busy since the start of term and now its nearly half-term!) I have posted extensively on this forum about my sleep difficulties, but what I would now say is that I agree with Juju and Cazikins. We just don't sleep as well - even with HRT- as we did and sleep is a lighter, less restful thing than it used to be and much more prone to being upset by many factors ( like stress, temperature, etc as Kat says) My problem has always been falling sleep easily and quickly, so you have to work on strategies to help that but also be patient and learn to lie awake just resting as Juju says. If you have had all tests done and there seems no obvious reason for TATT symptoms like anaemia say, then maybe you don't get enough just rest and "off"time . Easier said than done, I know! Sorry - its a big subject to most of us menosisters and seems no easy answers. I have spent most of this year chasing solutions and now I just try to enjoy life on the sleep I get and not stress about the sleep I miss. but thats different to chronic tiredness so I would keep on trying to find what can help you. Hav eyou thought of acupuncture - or relexology. If you can afford a trial session it might help, who knows?
Love and sympathy Sue