Crosswords0 min ago
Sleep Patterns
I see from a thread on Chatterbank that a few of us have disruptive sleep patterns. At the moment I can't get to sleep at night but then I can't wake up in the morning - it's now 10.15 & I can hardly think straight, it's so annoying. I prefer to go to bed early & get up early especially in summer when the morning time is lovely. (er, it's supposed to be!)
So if this happens to you do you have anything that helps to restore a suitable pattern? (not sleeping pills though)
Answers
No best answer has yet been selected by Robinia. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.Hi Robinia, I didn't realise we shared the same problem & it drives me crazy too. If my audio story tapes don't work, I usually get up & do arrow word puzzles or cross words. I wouldn't like to start taking sleeping pills either.
It might be worth us taking sneezer's advice & looking into the possibilty of Acupuncture - you never know!
Thanks very much all! I've just been to the local shops, stood in a stupor staring at the shelves & came home with lots of choccy biccies!!
andy I hope you settle down again soon but in the meantime there are plenty of people on here that need your excellent advice so do stay awake please!
sneezer I wouldn't have thought of that but I have something called fibromyalgia, (a part of which is disrupted sleep patterns) & have been considering acupuncture to help the pain. So maybe it will help both - 2 for the price of 1!! smudge it seems to be worth a try doesn't it?!
Peri - I was trying to thing of that the other day! I've just looked it up & it seems it's good for slowing down the ageing process, so I'll have some of that too!!
Hi Robinia. Fibromyalgia was only just mentioned to me yesterday. Can you tell me does it show up on blood tests or any medical tests. I have had joint pains coupled with fatigue for years. Acupuncture helped, osteo also helped as my pelvis was out of line for years. No medical tests have ever shown anything wrong. I thought the osteo helped but not all the pain is gone and fibromyalgia was mentioned to me yesterday. Would you know if it would have shown up on a test before now.
Peri, no unfortunately it doesn't show on blood tests. It's a case of blood tests to illiminate all other conditions. I've had it for years & have constantly been told it's 'just one of those things' or 'an inconvenience'. I've wept buckets in exasperation & pain over the years & then by accident I caught a short report by some women on tv who were talking about FM & I thought 'Thats me!!'. Fortunately a lot of doctors now know about it & after being refered to a rheumatologist again in May I was finally diagnosed (in about 20 mins & he was in no doubt!)
It's now a case of pain & energy management (what the hell do they think I've been doing for all this time? bit late to send me to Occupational Therapy now) & I'm waiting, as usual, to see a physio again. They did help with the back pain some yrs ago, oddly enough I had a wonky pelvis too! The other obstacle are those cynics who, because you look ok, don't think there's anything wrong.
There are lots of excellent sites for FM - the Americans seem very clued up on it but the UKFibromyalgia is a good one to start with. Hope you get sorted!!
And try not to have naps during the day unless you are desperate, as this throws you out too.
General tricks to get to sleep:
Wind down gently, don't watch TV in bed, and do something relaxing before you go to sleep (e.g. read a nice book). Have a warm bath, and try a hot milky drink. Lettuce is a natural sleep aid, so try a lettuce sandwich about an hour or so before bed. Lavender is also supposed to aid sleep, so try lavender bath oil or incense.
In case you haven't guessed, I've had chronic insomnia ever since I was 7. Sometimes nothing works - not even sleeping pills. So if anyone's got any failsafe remedies, let's hear them!
Wow thanks all - it went quiet on this thread & then about 6 of you all arrived at once! You haven't only just woken up today I hope?!
shaneystar I'm sorry to hear that you suffer, funny how you 'get to know' people on here without realising what they might be going through.
It looks like the common advice from all of you is to avoid naps during the day - it's so hard when your eyes are like lead!! And I'll try to get to bed early(ish) so if anyone spots me on here after about 10 please feel free to send an electric shock through the keyboard. Oh no, that might wake me up!!