Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => All things menopause => Topic started by: GypsyRoseLee on November 17, 2014, 07:33:05 PM
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I've always been great at sleeping. If sleeping was an Olympic sport I would win gold medals. I started suffering with peri menopausal symptoms at the start of the year and ended up on Amitriptyline. My physical symtpoms were only slight, but it was the anxiety/low mood which was so horrible. The amitriptyline worked but I felt quite groggy. Obviously, my sleeping was deeper and in the mornings it was quite hard to break out of the sleepy dozey feeling it gives you.
About 8 weeks ago, I decided I had enough of feeling so groggy so stopped taking the Amitriptyline over night. Was worried about side effects but I have been absolutely fine. No anxiety or low mood, except for a day or two around AF arriving.
But I HAVE noticed that the quality of my sleep is very different. I no longer seem to get really sleepy, as I used to. I still go to bed at the same time, and I do fall asleep as normal. But I can only seem to manage 6-6.5 hours a night. And I don't wake up slowly feeling nicely drowsy. I seem to wake up instantly and just don't feel I have had good quality sleep.
Last night I barely slept 45 mins all night, because AF was due and this seems to have become a bit of a pattern over the last few months when AF is due.
So, I can't say I have insomnia (except when AF is due) but the quality of my sleep is very diluted and feels quite 'thin' if that makes sense, and not satisfying.
Does anyone suffer with the same weird sort of sleep?
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Being thick here - ::) - what's AF :-\
If I am going to sleep I usually sleep well until I need a bathroom visit. Then I may/not go back to sleep. If I'm going to be awake for hours then it is for hours …….. tossing, turning, mind racing >:(
Generally I have slept better since retirement and I no longer need to listen for that alarm clock ;D
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I don't know what AF is either ::)
I sleep ok just not as well as when I was younger.
I never wake thinking that it was a great night's sleep but it's a whole lot better than the night sweat days.....although I still get a few of those.
It is said the older you get the less sleep you need.
Honeyb
x
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I dreamt a lot last night - that can alter my sleep pattern!
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;D
Thanks for asking about AF. I think it was write in another post as well and I didn't want to ask for sounding stupid.
So what is AF?
(Probably monthly bleed)
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Yes, sorry it's short hand for your period (it means A Friend, I think?).
I was wondering if it was just that I was getting older and that's why I wasn't sleeping as long and well anymore. But it's really odd that I get these horrible sleepless nights when my period has just started.
Last night, everything was fine and went to bed as normal. Read for a while, and thought 'Well I should turn the light off I guess' even though I didn't feel that sleepy at all. But I was slipping away okay when this nasty jolt of anxiety/adrenaline hit me. Tried to drift off again, but had another jolt. Then I knew I was in for a nightmare night and it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy :(
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I thought it was atrial fibrillation?
I am on HRT but still don't sleep very well. I wake up lots of times through the night (after the first bout of deep sleep) and toss and turn and usually I'm thirsty. My husband says I snore quite a lot now so that's probably waking me up. One of the downsides of decreasing oestrogen I presume - and I'm not fat, as I know this can lead to snoring!
I always wake up in the morning really tired and heavy and went to the doc but they did blood tests and fouind nothing and doc said I can't help with vague symptoms like tiredness - now if you had a tumour I could deal with that!!!! Made me feel great!
Hurdity x
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I think it stands for Aunty Flo (flow) as that's what a friend of my mum's used to call it.
Taz x
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Another vote for aunt flo here
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Sleep for me comes & goes. I have spells of 6/7 hours a night, then get hit with sleepless nights, where I toss & turn for hours.
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My sleep pattern is the same as yours and always worse around period time. I wake up between 430-530 and I am instantly awake and brain just starts chatting away which makes it impossible to go back to sleep so I get up. I now go to bed at 9 pm so that I at least get 7 hrs. This has been happening for 3 years now and you can count on 1 hand the times I have managed to sleep thru till 630.
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I've never heard it called Aunty Flo before :)
This weird sort of sleep has only been happening since I stopped taking amitriptyline about 8-9 weeks ago. I wonder if that drug has just really messed up my sleep patterns because when you're on it you sleep like a log (never any dreams either). But I would have thought after 8-9 weeks it would be fully out of my system by now?
Managed a better night sleep last night thank God so feel much more back to my usual self this morning.
I can highly recommend wearing ear plugs for those women who OH's snore. They make quite a difference.
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I need to get my husband some ear plugs then ;D
Hurdity x
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I know AF as Aunt Flo it's an American term I think. I get a really bad sleep pattern the 2 days before my period it's restless & not very good quality. Must be a scientific reason like I always get a cold sore a day or two before as well. The start of meno brought very poor sleep for me every night so I was given zopiclone as I can't function without sleep. I never had to increase the dose & it was a low one. I think your body is adjusting to not having the medication. Is there anything else you could look into to help be it herbal or prescription. I am hoping once my hormones balance out again natural sleep will resume. I also get extremely tired when my period starts almost like I am drugged, I never get much done as I feel exhausted for a few days. Hormones definitely affect us in many ways. B xx
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I can relate to many of you posting on this thread. My bathroom visits usually mean I can't get back to sleep again particularly if it's after 4am. I so hate lying there doing my mediation, relaxation etc. and still not able to get back to sleep. I also find I have a bunged up nose in the middle of the night and I can't sleep if I can't breath through my nose. The lack of sleep is the toughest meno symptom for me.
As for the vivid dreams - well don't get me started!!! :-\ DG x
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Since taking HRT, I have been sleeping much better, though I have the odd night, where I barely sleep at all, maybe once every 2 weeks. Also, my husband, evacuates to the spare bed after getting up for a toilet run. He feels he sleeps better as well and doesn't have to worry about disturbing me. Yes, and he snores as well as becoming restless. So we have found a way to suit both of us, though he tells me off if I don't kick him out if he doesn't wake up and disturbs me! Still when sleep completely eludes me, I get up and watch some Greys Anatomy or some equally unchallenging programme!
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I had a night recently where I failed to get to sleep until nearly morning (including several toilet visits). I finally drifted off for a very short time but dreamt I had been sunbathing in the garden in the middle of the night, as one does, and someone grabbed me by the leg as I was trying to get back in and was trying to murder me. I couldn't sleep after that until just before the alarm went off. I have been watching The Fall, so had better try Gray's Anatomy instead, I think.
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As I said, something not too challenging on the intellect ! ;D
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I cant even watch programmes with music Rock/Pop ect before bedtime as it stimulates my brain too much. I so need my sleep, I cannot function without it. I can, however, watch Grand Designs