Sleep Routine

[roxie]

Do any of you have any routines that help you fall asleep? Or anything to sleep through the night?

I have sleep trouble but really don't like taking meds to help me sleep.

For awhile now I've been taking a bath and soaking in it before bed and that has helped some. Any other ideas?

[Christy_D]

My son had gone to a sleep psychologist after having a sleep study done. She said don't use the computer at least an hour before going to bed. The bright light that the computer gives off makes your brain think it is still day time and then it takes longer for the brain to start producing the melatonin that it uses to help fall asleep(something along these lines).

She recommended a dim lit room reading or relaxing for at least 30 minutes before getting into bed. Also TV in bed was a big No No. Of course a lot of this is hard to follow,as there are only so many hours in a day. Sometimes the only time left in the day to get anything done on the computer is right before bed time.

[Kujiforo]

I sometimes have to take hydroxizine to knock me out if I'm feeling particularly bad with pain symptoms that day (I get widespread pain). Other than medication occasionally, I usually can't sleep well without having on some musick playing in the background. I guess musick helps me relax and drift off to sleep easier. Also laying on my right side helps me sleep better, as I always have the problem of being able to feel my heart throb strongly in my body, which can keep me awake. Laying in a certain position (for me, on my right side) lessens that sensation, and helps me sleep.

[potsgirl]

Every night before bed I read for about an hour or so with my bedside lamp on, which is not too bright, but has enough light to comfortably read. I also take Klonopin for my anxiety/ANS at night, which helps me sleep. If I'm too wound up, I take a Benadryl and that almost always does the trick. I have problems falling back to sleep if I wake up around 3-5 am, so once in a while I'll take another Benadryl at the point, so I can sleep until 6:30 or so. I simply cannot function without decent sleep!

[Guest humanb4monitor]

Sorry to tease as I only posted on the sleep page but I promise I am going to come back here and talk talk talk WITH all of us about this.

Believe it or not, I think more happiness helps. Not much of that in many years. Even though sleep is lifeling problem and caused things, when I had joy in my life and my mind was not full of so much pain, I slept better.

Now all the disturbances are of a trauma nature which is 100000% more dibiltating.

I have decided to stick ONLY to Klonapin because mixing things exasterbates the dreaming and fitfullness.

The Klon. seems to prevent SOME SOME of the constant thrashing around.

Am tryinga scedule again because things are more serious which is why I came back here after many many years!

I need to figure out where to post what that is.

[mynagirl]

I've seen a couple people on this board mention Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (link here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_sleep_phase_syndrome), and boy is that me. And near as I can remember, bad sleep started when my autonomic stuff started.

I try EVERYTHING to get good sleep at night but it just doesn't help, or it helps only marginally. My "good" sleep starts at about 6 am - which is a bummer, because I get up for work at 7:00 or 7:30 am . Naps are also very deep sleep for me, unlike overnight sleep. Again, I have no idea why other than possibly DSPS, which I've known about for all of 24 hours. When I did a sleep study it showed I roused 30+ times and came fully awake 14 times by 2 AM (the doc just stopped counting at that point). No apnea, but almost no Stage 4 deep sleep.

Sleep issues seem like a common problem for us ANS-ers, yes? The only good sleep I've ever had since all this started is either medicated to the eyeballs on something like Versed, Valium or Ativan (I used to look forward to hospital diagnostic tests because I'd sleep so well afterward!!) or once after a Kirtan chant. (And I've tried duplicating the chanting experience at home, doesn't work). Of course all of the meds are a no-no right now with the pregnancy, so it's basically occasional benadryl and mostly just suffering and napping when my schedule allows it. My cardiologist never liked the benzos though, but after baby and breastfeeding I might bring it back up again, since several people seem to have success setting their sleep schedule at night with some low-dose benzos.

There is something called "binaural beats" (it's an audio thing) that's supposed to help put you into deep sleep. There's a company called Acoustic Sheep that sells headphones you can wear to bed, and they also offer downloads of white noise or waves with binaural beats woven into the sounds. I think that's actually what happened "live" to me with the Kirtan chant. It's not a cure-all for me because I have to sleep with earplugs b/c of my husband's snoring, so the headphones can't be an all-night thing. But maybe it would be worth a try for you!

Good luck with getting good sleep!!

[Rachel]

I go to bed at 8pm each night. It takes me a long time to wind down each day. I have to have a few hours where I am lying still in a fairly quiet room before I can go to sleep at night. Then around 11pm or 12am I take my melatonin, and I can usually fall asleep about half an hour after that. I can't sleep at all without the melatonin. And if I don't get my 3 or 4 hours of quiet time, then I can't usually fall asleep until 2 or 3am. Quiet, rest, and melatonin are all three necessary for me.

I hope you can find a night time routine that helps you.

Rachel