How Many Hours Do You Sleep Per Night?

[icesktr189]

Lately I have been sleeping 13. I know that the lexapro does not help, but even before it I slept at least 12 a night. I wake up feeling extremely "hung over" and it takes hours before I dont feel so out of it.

I am seriously at the point of just starting to smoke again. I felt so much better when I did before and it gave me tons of energy. UGH. Thanks for hearing me vent :]

[Sallysblooms]

I sleep 9 or 10. That is the amount I need. Having CFS for many years, sleep was hard to get but finally I have good integrative MD's. Hormones are all balanced, I have excellent supplements working so I sleep great. So, healing can take place with the combination of supplements and good sleep.

I hope you can stop smoking and also not feel bad when you wake up.

[icesktr189]

Oh I dont smoke, I havent for a year and a half, but when I did I felt physically better. My POTS flair started when I quit, so I am always wanting to go back just because I felt so much better.

I actually get good deep sleep, but it seems it does not matter how much I get, I am always going to be tired the next day.

[Rachel]

Currently I sleep 10-12 hours per night. The number of hours has changed throughout my years with dysautonomia, ranging anywhere from 6-18 hours depending on how good or bad my health has been.

I had a sleep study several years ago that showed alpha delta sleep, which causes unrestorative sleep. No matter how much I sleep, I'm always still tired and sleepy in the morning.

Rachel

[juliegee]

Oh never enough! I got 9 hours last night & felt so much better today. My son leaves for college next year & the thing I'm most looking forward to- is sleep

Dani, nicotine is a potent vasoconstrictor, probably why you felt better. How do you do with caffeine? I wonder how concerta OR midrodine would make you feel. Just a thought & MUCH healthier than cigarettes!!!

Julie

[Yolaclover]

About 7-9 hours, I am so exhausted by 3-4pm!

[Birdlady]

If I oversleep I actually feel worse, so I try to make myself get up after 8-9 hours.

[icesktr189]

Hi!

Caffeine helps ONLY when my POTS is not bad, or else it increases my tachycardia without much added benefits. Midodrine is the same where I cannot take it alone anymore :[ I crash way too bad in between doses UGH.

I was looking into the patches or that smokeless cigarette just to get the nicotine. Its all SO frustrating because I would not want to smoke at all if it didn't make me feel better!

Im hoping after a couple more weeks on the lexapro that I will start feeling better, but last time it took awhile. Thanks for the advise :]

[icesktr189]

I too notice when I over sleep I feel worse, but if i try to force myself to get up, I get dizzy. So annoying when we cant find that perfect sleep number LOL

[icesktr189]

OH julie I tried to pm you but it wouldnt go through...

I saw in a previous thread that your son took an SSRI and started low dose... did he get to the full therapeutic dose? I am on a very small one with side effects and wonder if it will work again for me because last time I took the full dosing first. Thanks!

[sue1234]

I'm in bed for around 9 hours, but on average, sleep like this:

sleep 10:45-2:00 am

wake, bathroom, toss-and-turn 2:00-4:00

sleep 4:00-7:00 am

[faint factory]

My actual time intentionally sleeping is from 6.5 hours to 7.5 hours, but I spend a lot of time really tired and tend to accidentally fall asleep a couple times in the evening. So I reduce my proper sleep time because otherwise I'd be in bed 12 hours a day.

[HopeSprings]

I'm in bed for around 9 hours, but on average, sleep like this:

sleep 10:45-2:00 am

wake, bathroom, toss-and-turn 2:00-4:00

sleep 4:00-7:00 am

That is pretty much my exact sleep schedule too. I get those first few hours of good deep sleep then it goes downhill. But even on those rare nights when I sleep all the way through, I still don't feel like I got a good night's sleep. Oh and as far as smoking... I smoke. It's gross, it's awful, but honestly it does make me feel better. I quit twice for over a month and was extremely dizzy (non functionally dizzy) the entire time. Couldn't read, couldn't drive, couldn't do much of anything. I literally had no choice but to pick them up again. I don't know if it helps the POTS or if the withdrawal is just too much to deal with in addition to the POTS, but I can't physically handle what happens when I quit. If you can manage without them - I say GOOD for you!

[Victoria]

I feel lucky if I'm able to get 6 hours of sleep per night. Truth be told, I feel worse on the rare occasions when I get more sleep than that. Tachycardia, respiratory weakness and physical pain always push me out of bed in the mornings. But when I was young (and prior to perimenopause) I was quite the opposite — I couldn't get enough sleep. I'd go to bed at 7:00 pm and could sleep until noon or later and still take a good nap during the day.

[icesktr189]

That is pretty much my exact sleep schedule too. I get those first few hours of good deep sleep then it goes downhill. But even on those rare nights when I sleep all the way through, I still don't feel like I got a good night's sleep. Oh and as far as smoking... I smoke. It's gross, it's awful, but honestly it does make me feel better. I quit twice for over a month and was extremely dizzy (non functionally dizzy) the entire time. Couldn't read, couldn't drive, couldn't do much of anything. I literally had no choice but to pick them up again. I don't know if it helps the POTS or if the withdrawal is just too much to deal with in addition to the POTS, but I can't physically handle what happens when I quit. If you can manage without them - I say GOOD for you!

That is exactly what happened to me! As soon as I quit the fatigue and dizzy started up. I tried to blame it on my pregnancy, but even after I got worse and worse. For a year I was able to just smoke and be pretty good. I was on no meds at the time. I dont think its the withdrawl because I have been quit for over a year and still am extremely dizzy and horrible fatigue. It makes not going back SO hard. I dont want to smoke when I have a child, but honestly if I try everything and still am like this I will most likely. I cant keep living like this. It does not feel like Living, but trying to survive everyday. Im just plain sick of it.

Also before my relapse, I felt great with only 6 hours of sleep. I think the lack of sleep made me hyper. I ran on nerves and it worked for me then. Wasnt good for me in the long run, but i would rather do that than sleep my life away like I do right now!

[Lovebug]

I sleep 9 or 10. That is the amount I need. Having CFS for many years, sleep was hard to get but finally I have good integrative MD's. Hormones are all balanced, I have excellent supplements working so I sleep great. So, healing can take place with the combination of supplements and good sleep.

I hope you can stop smoking and also not feel bad when you wake up.

Who is the best person to go to for hormone checks? I really want an extensive workup on mine but don't want to leave my Dys doctor. And I've seen an endocrinologist to no avail. I have an appointment in May & June with my cardiologist and will be asking about hormones but don't know what exactly should be checked.

[stacdliw]

I normally sleep at least 10 hours nightly. Last night it was 12 hours. I've slept as long as 17-18 hours straight! Anything less than 10 hours of sleep and I feel horrible. Mornings are always bad, but if I get less than 10 hours of sleep, I normally have to go back to bed within 2-3 hours for a long "nap" because I'm just too exhausted to stay up.

[rach73]

Hi,

I sleep 9-13 hours any less than that and I have massive problems regulating my body temperature, blood sugar and I just feel awful.

Having a bad day today as I only had 8 hours last night plus I haDr's drs appointment at 850am! Thought I was going to nod off in my wheel chair!

Before I got really sick in 2007 I could cope with only having 4 or 5 hours and then working all day. You will be lucky to get me out of bed today!

Rach

[ladyt]

hi

When younger I needed a lot of sleep. I was an early riser though. If I didnt fall a sleep before 12-1 i would have a hard time getting any sleep at all, and i never could really sleep during the day. In my late teens i needed even more sleep. I wouldnt really sleep during the day, but i would try..

Then when my bladder stated getting more hyper my sleep got worse and worse, since i had to gett up all the time (even on meds). And then the growing pain made things worse, and the genarly icky low bloodpressure etc etc. So then i was an insomniac. And i have been so for years now. Last year i started taking phenegran evry nigth. I still dont sleep tropugh the night, but from not even getting an half hour sleep interupted it now depends on the night. I also take painmeds evry night and bladder meds..

Some weeks ago I had change in things, i got a higher bloodpressure all over. And as long as i took very strong painkiller i would sleep to 4-6 in the morning. And i would suddenly be an early riser again. Well not out of bed straigth away, but up much earlyer. Then it changed slowly back again. Now its lower during the night, and the poor sleep is back. I try to sleep before 10-12, but often iam ust feeling to ucky to manage that. And then i hope to sleep to 2, but often i dont. Then i ust hope to sleep the longest i can between interuptions.

Sleep is one of the things one really really miss when on dont gett it. If i gett 6 hours of interupted sleep that is great for me. better than 8-9 of interupted sleep...

I did a sleep studie, it showed poors sleep and i was diagnosed whit insomnia all around, in the begining of the night, during the night and the end of night. I had rem sleep, but very lilte deep sleep. But why this is so, the test didnt show.. I think my bloodpressure is a bigg sinner in this, but not the only one..

Hope u all gett a good night sleep...

[potsgirl]

My sleep schedule seems horrible to me, but at least I know I'm in good company. Good topic. I have periods of time when I'm just laying down because I just can't be up anymore, and times when I'm actually sleeping. My normal day is:

Up between 4-5:30 am

Bed, reading from 12:30 - 1:45, try to nap from 2-3

Up for an hour or more

Bed, reading from 5:30-6:30/7 pm

Asleep usually between 6-7:30 pm (puts quite the cramp on the night life!)

So....I guess that like a lot of you I sleep the best my first couple of hours or so, then it's toss/turn/restroom/etc. I have my fan on, the A/C down to 72, black-out blinds, and it must be quiet (except for my white noise fan). I just dread the thought of becoming bed-bound. I don't know how some of you do it! I tend to be housebound most days, so I suppose it's similar to that?

How do bed-bound people spend their time? Anyone want to comment?

Cheers,

Jana

[enko]

I sleep 9-10 or more by the night (plus I wake up frequently), and an an hour or so somewhere in the day.. sometimes more

[icesktr189]

Does anyone notice their POTS is better at night? I usually have a nap at 8 to 10 tgen the fun begins lol from there im up to 2 or 3 am. Mostly because that is the time I feel the best.

Also no matter if I force myself to stay up all day or not I can never sleep all.the way through the night. Fortunately I have a massive bladder so I dont have to get up and use the bathroom.

I notice if I dont get ten hours like most of you, I feel like death. It wouldnt be so bad if I didnt feel hungover.

[enko]

Dani,

I feel the same about the night (after 8 PM). But lately the feeling is more like that my brain is hyper, but body is on the verge of falling into sleep, he he..

[Sallysblooms]

View PostSallysblooms, on 27 April 2011 - 05:03 PM, said:

I sleep 9 or 10. That is the amount I need. Having CFS for many years, sleep was hard to get but finally I have good integrative MD's. Hormones are all balanced, I have excellent supplements working so I sleep great. So, healing can take place with the combination of supplements and good sleep.

I hope you can stop smoking and also not feel bad when you wake up.

Who is the best person to go to for hormone checks? I really want an extensive workup on mine but don't want to leave my Dys doctor. And I've seen an endocrinologist to no avail. I have an appointment in May & June with my cardiologist and will be asking about hormones but don't know what exactly should be checked.

My doctor for testing hormones is Dr. Dzugan. It is the Dzugan Program. You need a doctor that understands compounding hormones, supplements etc because Dr. Dzugan works with them. You join his program and answer about 200 questions, then get very thorough blood testing. Then he prescribes the hormones and supplements you need. Your doctor gets all of the information by email/phone from him. You update, get calls etc to tweek the supplements and compounded hormones. The hormones are mailed from Mississippi. The most helpful and sweet pharmacist I have ever talked to!

Between Dr. Dzugan and my CFS doctor, I am doing very well. I was unable to function at all not long ago.

If you want to know more, Dr. Dzugan has a wonderful book about hormones and supplements and the blood, what we need. You can google him also. The book addresses many problems. It is so wonderful to have these great doctors.

The program is expensive, but worth every penny. I am so happy my doctor suggested it and I wish I could have started it long ago.

[stacdliw]

Does anyone notice their POTS is better at night? I usually have a nap at 8 to 10 tgen the fun begins lol from there im up to 2 or 3 am. Mostly because that is the time I feel the best.

Also no matter if I force myself to stay up all day or not I can never sleep all.the way through the night. Fortunately I have a massive bladder so I dont have to get up and use the bathroom.

I notice if I dont get ten hours like most of you, I feel like death. It wouldnt be so bad if I didnt feel hungover.

I always feel better at night! Like you, I start feeling better around 8pm. My normal bedtime is anywhere from 2:30am- 5am. Considering I need 10 hours of sleep, the day is gone before I even get up!

Because of my sleep schedule, I NEVER schedule morning appointments! Early afternoon appointments often exhaust me as well, so I try for the 3pm slot.