sleepless in NJ

What so you guys do to get some decent sleep at night?  I'm exhausted all day and can't get to sleep at night and no I'm not taking any long naps.  Feeling cranky.

Should I ask my PMD for a sleeping pill?

whoa!!!!!!!! Joy...make sure you tell your doctors you're taking melatonin!!!!!!!!!!!
Melatonin makes autoimmune diseases WORSE!!!!!!!!!
look closely on your bottle, it should have that statement in print. that or either...DO NOT USE IF YOU HAVE AN AUTOIMMUNE CONDITION.

i purchased a few bottles & had to toss them all due to that.

let me know what your pill bottle says. ask your pharmacist too.
i'm just watching your back.
take care
erin

Erin, OMG no my bottle doesn't say anything of the sort! Thats scarey! I will most deffinately talk to my Dr. and Pharmasist. Didn't even have a clue about that. Just hate the thought of having to take another script of meds that have the bad drug altering effects. I promiss not to take another homeopathy without consulting my dr first!! Thank you so much, Joy

Sorry you are having trouble sleeping :( Are you taking prednisone?? And yes it is true what Erin said about the Melatonin..I actually looked at my bottle thinking that could not be right, our body MAKES melatonin for crying out loud!! and sure enough on the bottle it says if you have autoimmune disorders do not take. When I was taking them, and I would take 4 or 5 of them to sleep, I was feeling crummier on them and could not figure out WHY. I actually take tylenol pm's to help me fall asleep.

Also if you take the MTX and are just starting out it can keep you awake or at least it did for me and gave me very vivid and strange dreams.

I don't know how I didn't see the insomnia post until after I posted about gabapentin-  so I am sorry if I am being redundant!

 

I can TOTALLY relate to the insomnia thing!  It had been months since I have slept the whole night through.  Last night was the first night I did-  and it was after taking my first dose of gabapentin 400mg that my PCP prescribed.  BTW-  the two docs, my PCP and rheumy ARE communicating and my PCP is going to manage my ADHD and fibromyalgia, the rheumy will manage the meds for RA.

 

I've tried benadryl and had no real success except that I felt 'hung-over' the following day.  Gabapentin seems to have worked like a miracle for me!  Of course it's primary use is for controlling seizures, my PCP says it helps with neuropathy and nueralgia, too.  Maybe it's a coincidence but I slept like a baby and the Rx did say to take it at bedtime.

 

I don't know if any of you watch TV in your bed at night but I really found that watching TV before I fall asleep actually made me have goofy dreams and I seem to wake up a lot.  I really noticed it after I had to euthanize my beloved old dog, Britt, two weeks ago....   I was very upset that night and turned on the TV because I couldn't sleep.  There was this documentary on about the Jim Jones mass suicide in Guyana that I watched...   I woke up in a cold sweat from a nightmare that *I* was in Guyana with Jim JOnes and I was injecting the euthanasia drug into little kids with big sad eyes-  just like my old Britt's!  I woke up screaming, I tell you!  THAT was when I decided NOT to watch anything screwy like THAT before bed.  A few days later it occurred to me that maybe watching anything while I was in bed about to go to sleep was detrimental.  SO..   I am trying to eliminate TV when I am in bed as a means of helping me fall asleep-  I am sure it does the complete opposite.

 

iMarzz-  do you use TV to fall asleep?  Just curious....

 

Holly in PA

Thanks for all the responses, the warnings and laughs. Have moved my prednisone dose to the morning since I think it makes me jittery and very hot! (sweat like a man hot) I'm also 50 and perimenopausal (Thank God), can't wait 'til thats over with.

No I don't use TV to help me fall asleep - actually I hardly ever turn the tv on because then I have to watch it and I get nothing else done.

Think I'll wait and see how things are going when I get on some steady medication doses and then if it's still a problem I'll ask my PMD and see what he recommends.

Mary

Post from the bear in cavesville in downtown Apsley. Interesting posts re sleep or the lack of it. Nowus bears are great foragers and out there in the woods are a number of plants which, amongst other properties, are relaxants and soporfics. One of which, closely related to the hemp lpant, is woonderful for inducing sleep. Unfortunately it is illegal but there are similar substitutes which are not and easily available by mail order from a variety of 'head shops'.

Beinga socalled sufferer of pd this bear often has restless legs syndrome, particularly at night which does indeed keep me awake and so i go foraging in the woods of the stash cave and lo and behold sleep comes. Being a natural substance it doesn't interfere withmy meds. Don't get me wrong here, I am not encouraging anybody to breaak the law but merely saying what works for me. Going to get my wrists smacked by the thread police here no doubt.

In fact there is a legitimate debate going on inthis country regarding the medicinal use of said hemprelated plant and I have my own slant on why it apears to help, not rocket science or nuclear physics, just goo ol' observations. The reason why hte wacco bacco appears to assist in many neuro/auto immune conditions s simply by inducing a relaxedbody and mind there is less tension and stress which both exacerbate said conditions - reduced stress > relaxed state of miind and body > less liklihood of anxiety based flares in our condition. Now sleeplessness, remember sleeplessness? It's a thread about sleeplessness. There can be nothing worse at night that lying there wondering when sleep will befall, and then you start counting the church bell tolling out the hours etc etc [that's when I either go foraging or logging on to the thread in the middle of the night.]

That's how bears sleep at night folks, only just some of the time, now and again, once in a while, every now and then, once every Preston Guild.

Sleep Well y'all.

The Bear