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[Trey]

I developed the habit of checking my three year old diabetic son every two hours during the night to be sure he was asleep and not unconscious.  I would find him in diabetic convulsions on occasion and this prompted me to start this monitoring.  It seems that I cannot break this habit and again I had to do same for OH with brain damaged induced sleep apnea, which thankfully has passed.  I cope with it by turning on the computer until tired and checking on m/m and then getting sleepy and hopefully back to sleep.  I have learned not to fight it...........and I do have fibro and I see the connection.

[cutey1]

Yes Taz, it is good when you get good company, but after a certain time in the evening when socialising I start to wake again!   So then when I go to bed, whatever time, I still wake up at the same time every morning!

I am now learning that when I wake up - and cannot get back to sleep after 10/15 mins, I get up - as if I fight to get back to sleep then do, I get into another deep sleep then wake up feeling like a Zombie!  Then I feel 10 times worse!

Plus - alcohol - no matter if one, two or three glasses, really makes my sleep pattern suffer, so I am making a concious  effort not to drink it now - I was never a big drinker anyway!

I am also not myself feel guilty for just doing what I want to do, when I want to do it - I know it helps that I work from home and somedays I don't even set foot out of the front door, I always made myself feel guilty for not going out to a work place everyday and only working a few hours a week - but as my husband so truly reminded me - I am now such a much more relaxed person and not as anxious I used to be - hence a stone and half heavier than I ever have been - but I will address that soon and I know exercise will help!  I feel lucky that I have the life I have and am around now when my husband is home and not our working like before and not able to spend time with him!

Oh boy - I rambled on a little there - sorry! 

[annabelle]

I have found that the HRT has really helped me.  I have been on it for 3 months and in the last 2 months I have slept better than I have for the previous six years.  I had terrible insomnia before. 
As well as avoiding caffeine (rarely coffee and at most 2 cups of tea a day and none after 4pm) I find doing deep breathing helps as does yoga when I get a chance.  On days when I feel very tense I use Kalms and or I take a calcium and magnesium supplement - but to be honest none of these things really worked until I started the HRT.

Hi everyone,
I started HRT Climagest 1mg 5 days ago, I went to my GP with racing heart and palpitations. The palpitations kept me awake for 2 to 5 hours, it has been a nightmare. I was given Propanalol a beta blocker, and await a 24 hour ECG tracing in 2 weeks! random ecg,s werenormal. In desperation I am taking night sedation to help me drop off, so far 2 nights I have had 6 hours sleep, each time.
It goes against all my principlesbut I was getting panicy.
I am praying HRT will kick in soon and the palpitations will stop.
My blood pressure is normal now, I do very little in the day, off sick from work, and cooking!
I am 52 and never imagined it would be this bad.
This forum has been reassuring, and I want to offer my support to all you women, I must confess I wish I had been born a man!
thanks for reading.

[Bette]

Hi annabelle
 
Palps is a common meno symptom but it's still wise to get them checked out. 
Why not introduce yourself on "New Members"? Newbies can get missed in the middle of existing threads and others will want to welcome you. 
Bette x

[jax]

 
hey...The reason I went to drs 3 weeks ago was because I was/am getti g night sweats and palpitations which were/are leaving me feeling like I have a hangover or flu most days :-(
tomorrow I have my bloods done to confirm that I am in peri meno.
If that shows positive my dr is going to discuss HRT with me but I have gathered on th forum that ist often the case that hormone levels can come back normal in which case I expect a fight on my hands.
Since seeing dr she has taken me off BCP and I can feel almost daily things getting worse,ie more weepy, angry, foggy brained,forgetful and the night sweats and palps are worse too....
On saturday afternoon I felt so crap I went to bed for a sleep but spent most of it crying ... its difficult to make allowances for my varying daily probs. I have tried explaining to people close to me that if I had flu I would just be ill for a few days then its over but this doesnt go away. In another post entitled...what will i be today i described how I can lie in bed before getting up and wondering what day it will be?...intollerant, weepy, sweaty,palpitations or foggy brained.
keep fingers crossed for test results next week :-)
feeling very miserable about it all...
Jacky x

[Bette]

Sorry to hear that you're feeling rough, Jacky.  Many gps are happy to by symptoms rather than blood tests results when prescribing HRT. This is from the Green Menu:-
The diagnosis of menopause and the menopausal transition should be made from a combination of factors with most emphasis being placed on the pattern of periods and presence of menopausal symptoms. In the late 40s, early 50s, the absence of periods or infrequent periods along with symptoms such as flushes and sweats can alone be used to diagnose the menopausal transition and blood or urine tests are unnecessary.
Try not to assume the worst but also go armed with a list of symptoms and be prepared to fight your corner if neccessary! 
Bette x

[oldsheep]

I hate having to take sleeping pills and who knows if I'll ever not take them and sleep. I have to go private for them, due to the NHS's recent attitude of refusing to prescribe them. They not only control my fibromyalgia and M.E by giving me 5-6 hours sleep most nights (we are talking therapeutic doses here; stable doses - although increased at the onset of menopause when nothing worked).
What I have noticed is a great decrease in my pain and a strengthening of my immune system. On no sleep or just 3-4 hours a night, I was in constant debilitating pain, miserable and stuck at home all the time, and caught every virus or bug around.
So lesser of 2 evils for me and I just wish the NHS would rethink its prevailing orthodoxy or 'one size fits all' prescribing and fatwas. They do not think there is any legitimate use (having over prescribed them in the past).
It's like M.E. When I first fell ill, in 1988, I took a lot of abuse from doctors/NHS, accused of all manner of inventing symptoms and shirking work etc. I got told I was 'depressed'. Now they seem to diagnose anyone very fatigued with M.E.....i just wish we'd be treated as individuals, with individually tailored treatment.

Sufficient sleep is 100% essential for good or better health. End of.  Interesting that in the last year I've seen a number of different specialists (tum&bum, heart/physician) and they are far less prejudiced than the GPs when the issue is explained.

[oldsheep]

Hi Susan

100% with you on that. I hope you can get enough sleep and feel better as a result. Hope you have a really good Xmas.
xxx

[Robyn]

Insomnia is the bane of my existence, and has been for almost 2 years.  I have been on and off sleeping tablets for that entire time.  So far addiction hasn't been a problem for me. While I'm on a treatment that is working I can easily stop taking them, but then I have to go back on to them when that treatment stops working.

I've been off the sleeping meds for as long as nine months during that time, but currently I've been back on them now for a bit over a month. I swapped over from taking Tamazepam because that type if very hard to do a gradual reduction from without getting really severe withdrawals, and I'm now taking Diazepam (valium). It can still be as addictive, but because it has a much longer half life in your system you can do a gradual reduction without suffering too many withdrawal symptoms (at least I hope so)

I have a feeling that, at this stage anyway, stopping them won't be too much of a problem for me. Last week I was trying a new HRT and the first three nights were great, my hot flushes had reduced, and I didn't take any diazepam at all, but then it stopped working and I had to go back on to them again. 

I hate it and I hate taking them, but I try to take no more than 4mg each night, and less if I can manage it.  I also take melatonin and sometimes that can help as well. I've talked at length to my GP about taking these tablets and she never seems too concerned because she said I'm keeping my dosage very small. She tells me I'm beating myself up too much about it, and I've just got to go with the flow for the time being until I can find an HRT that will work for me, because I need to sleep.

I've always been an early riser, so I usually aim to take my meds by around 8.00pm, so I can be in bed by around 8.30pm. Then if it takes me a few hours to get to sleep at least I can still manage around 5 hours sleep. This has had an impact on my social life because I find I avoid going out at night because I stress if I get to bed too late.

What really bugs me if that while I'm watching TV my eyes will get really heavy and I'll be yawning like mad, but as soon as I turn the TV off it's like I get an instant adrenalin rush and I'm wide awake again. If I manage to go to sleep fairly early I will usually wake around 2am and not be able to go back to sleep, so I find that if I turn the TV on for an hour or two that will help me go back to sleep for a couple of hours.

Herbal and over the counter sleeping aids never work for me.  I've got a cupboard full of the things and they've been a complete waste of money.

[Taz2]

If I went to bed at 8.30 there is no way I could sleep beyond 1 a.m. I used to go to bed at around 11 and then lay awake or, worse, drop off to sleep until 4 and then be awake for good. I reasoned that my body was saying five hours was the longest I could sleep. I get up at 6 so it seemed logical to go to sleep at 1 so this is what I do. Since then I have slept much better - only waking up two or three times in those five hours - and I feel much calmer about it all.

How much sleep would you like to achieve Robyn? I have found that what is a good night's sleep for one person is an absolutely dreadful night's sleep for another. Most of the women I work with go to bed around 10 as they need their eight hours if possible but I have never been a good sleeper which is probably why I developed fibro. I would find it really restricting to go to bed as early as you have to - 8.30 is often when we are partway through our evening meal!

I hope that you find an HRT to help you soon. Is it sweats which wake you up by the way? I found that HRT did help in this way but didn't change my sleep pattern in any other way.

Taz x

[Trey]

Up since 1am again wishing I had answers.  Just want to go back to sleep. Getting panicky.  May try Taz's method tomorrow.

[Taz2]

I think the difference is that my sleep pattern has always been like this - well since I was in my teens anyway. I can recall five nights when I have slept right through and that is all. One of them was only two years ago and it was such a weird feeling to put my head on the pillow and then it was morning! I never have to get up to go to the loo so I am lucky there.

The nights can go on for ever sometimes and I lay there waiting for the alarm to sound! My eldest son is the same as me, unfortunately, and had real trouble sleeping as a baby which is also the same as me - I drove my parents to distraction with my inability to sleep properly. I feel that I am doing fine on my five hours but do wonder what a power-house of energy I would be on say seven or eight!

Taz x

[JustRenee]

I recently read somewhere, don't ask me where , that doing a crossword puzzle or a sudoku before bed would help you to fall asleep. My immediate reaction was that this could not be as surely these would stimulate the brain. But being the gullible soul that I am I decided to try it. The first night I did a crossword puzzle and slept like a baby. The next I did a sudoku and the same result. I have been sleeping so well this past week and all because of puzzles!

I do know that watching TV last thing at night is horrible, all those flashing lights. You might think you are vegging out in front of the TV, but your brain is still very active - alpha brainwaves or something.

Sorry I am not in a very profound, scientific frame of mind today, so this post is rather vague!

[Robyn]

How much sleep would you like to achieve Robyn? I have found that what is a good night's sleep for one person is an absolutely dreadful night's sleep for another. Most of the women I work with go to bed around 10 as they need their eight hours if possible but I have never been a good sleeper which is probably why I developed fibro. I would find it really restricting to go to bed as early as you have to - 8.30 is often when we are partway through our evening meal!

I hope that you find an HRT to help you soon. Is it sweats which wake you up by the way? I found that HRT did help in this way but didn't change my sleep pattern in any other way.

Taz x

Until all this menopause stuff started I was always a really good sleeper. Ideally I would love to get around 7 hours continuous sleep, but it's been a long time since I've had that. Even before my insomnia started, I was one of those women who needed to pee about every two hours, but because I was such a good sleeper I would only half wake up, go to the loo and be back in bed and asleep within minutes.  The first time I was on HRT I found that the constant weeing thing did improve and lately it hasn't been as much of a problem either for some reason.

The HRT also really helped my sleep patterns and I slept like a baby, until the HRT stopped working. I think most of the time it's the hot flashes that's making me wake up. If I can get my insomnia and hot flushes under control, my ideal sleep pattern would be to go to bed around 10pm and get up around 5.30-6.30am, depending on whether I'm going to the gym or not. That's the other thing that has really upset my life. Because my sleep has been so crappy, I've really lost interest in exercising, and that is a Catch 22 of course. Hopefully I can get back to my exercise routine in the next couple of weeks. That would make me really happy.

[Robyn]

I recently read somewhere, don't ask me where , that doing a crossword puzzle or a sudoku before bed would help you to fall asleep. My immediate reaction was that this could not be as surely these would stimulate the brain. But being the gullible soul that I am I decided to try it. The first night I did a crossword puzzle and slept like a baby. The next I did a sudoku and the same result. I have been sleeping so well this past week and all because of puzzles!

I do know that watching TV last thing at night is horrible, all those flashing lights. You might think you are vegging out in front of the TV, but your brain is still very active - alpha brainwaves or something.

Sorry I am not in a very profound, scientific frame of mind today, so this post is rather vague!

Hmmmm – I might just try the crossword puzzle thing. I like doing crosswords, but I haven't done one for years. Like you, I would have thought it would “activate” the brain too much, but it's worth a try.

Interestingly, having a TV in the bedroom has never been an issue for me. I know people always say it's an absolute no-no, but for me it has never been in a problem, and in fact it actually helps me get to sleep sometimes. I guess everyone is different, but if I wake up during the night, and I feel wide awake, I will be able to get back to sleep a lot more quickly if I flick the TV on for a while, than if I just lay there tossing and turning.