Sleep Pattern

[emmie]

mine is out the window, i don't know what's going on. been awake since midnight, it's now 1.30 and can't get back to sleep. anyone else have this problem and what to do about sleeping through the night.

[emmie]

i know it doesn't help getting on a computer, but have tried lying down, to no avail. i went to bed early slept till 10, woke up and then back to bed, till the witching hour. and so the insomnia or whatever this is has really kicked in.

[JimF]

I completely empathise and sympathise in equal measure. I find myself wide awake in the middle of the night but desperate for a nap in the middle of the day.

[emmie]

me too, my head is wide awake, my body is knackered.

[JimF]

Absolutely! I'm fortunate in that I can chat to people all round the world if I want to. It helps pass the time - not much else...

[emmie]

i don't want to chat but to actually get a full nights rest, and for ages that has not been the case.

[Buenchico]

I just accept that I'm naturally nocturnal.

I usually go to bed at around 4am and get up at any time between noon and 4pm. It's no problem at all for me except when I've got a morning appointment for something. So getting to Ipswich Hospital at 9am this morning (or should that be 'yesterday morning' now?) was a bit of a struggle!

[Buenchico]

Does anything here help, Emmie?
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/sleep-and-tiredness/10-tips-to-beat-insomnia/

[emmie]

i am going to log out for now, Jim see if you can get some shut eye.
i am off to bed to see if i can't get some rest before boaty comes on with GMEB thread.

[JimF]

I absolutely refuse to take any pharmaceuticals. I'm sure that as soon as I took something like Nytol I'd take it for the rest of my life...

[emmie]

morning Chris, i do all the usual things, go to bed early, no computer, no tv in room, dark and bed is fairly comfortable. but bad dreams, and the pain i am in constantly wake me up and find that once awake like now it's hard to crash out as i want to do.

how are you by the way, have you started your radiotherapy.....

[emmie]

me too Jim, i absolutely refuse meds.

[Buenchico]

If you can find a way to beat the pain, Emmie, the insomnia might disappear too. Hospitals have specialist pain clinics. Ask your GP for a referral.

I'm basically fine, thanks. My appointment this morning (or yesterday morning, if you prefer) was for a CT scan so that they know where to aim the radiation when my treatment starts in about a fortnight's time. They also tattooed small marks onto me, so that they can line the beams up precisely. I've been wondering whether this could be the start of a whole new 'tattoo thing' for me. Perhaps I should get a big spider design covering my face? ;-)

[emmie]

awake again, given up after another hour, i am wide awake, yes the pain is certainly giving me hell. perhaps that's it a pain clinic, but i am frightened they will simply fob me off with more meds....

[Buenchico]

Pain clinics tend to look beyond drugs.

Quote:
"Treatments may include:
* medicine
* pain-relief injections
* manual therapy
* exercise
* TENS machines
* complementary therapy
* psychological therapy"

Source:
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/how-to-get-nhs-help-for-your-pain/

Many (most?) people are sceptical about psychological interventions, such as cognitive behavioural therapy, but it actually works for some patients.

What have you got to lose?

(I've just opened a bottle of beer, which might help me to get to sleep soon. Before you put me down as an alcoholic though, I'll mention that it's actually my first drop of booze for several weeks!)
;-)

[emmie]

morning again chris.

[emmie]

have done CBT in the past for mental health reasons, this is purely sleep off the rails would consider some other interventions, but CBT not again

[emmie]

its allowed to have a beer, i don't blame you one bit...

[emmie]

GP is referring me, though who knows how long it will take to a Muscular, skeletal clinic. suggest that injections work only for so long or so i am told. I have an early ageing body, wrecked by long years of dancing, tennis, cycling, and sundry other sports which has bashed my limbs, knees are basically fecked.

[Buenchico]

I understand the connection between sport and later lower limb problems, although it's usually my hips that I get pain from. I'm fairly sure that it's a result of refereeing several football matches per week for many years (which involved a lot of running backwards and sideways, to take up the best positions, as well as forwards), as well as running the equivalent of up to three half marathons per week to keep up my match fitness. (Running mile after mile on concrete paths doesn't do one's hips much good!).

I hope that you find a solution to your pain problems soon - and that you manage to get some sleep a great deal sooner!

[emmie]

thanks chris, i do too, Boaty will be about soon i suspect so will keep me company for a time.