AHH! Steroid Insomnia - HUMOR ME!

I hate steroids for ALL kinds of reasons! ALL kinds! My recent severe flare has landed me a nice course of 40mg of steroids and I'm tapering by 10mg weekly, but I forgot ALL about the INSOMNIA! Even with a pain pill, am I tired? No way!

So, humor me.... what do you do during those sleepless nights? My daughter will be up at 6am which I'm guessing will be about 2 hours after I finally find a way to fall asleep. Sudoku and Nick & Nite used to be my keys, but no ambition for either right now...tho the TV is on....

Might not appeal to you but on the nights I find I can't get to sleep I try deep beathing then stretch my toes,legs,body,arms even face and more often than not fall into a nice peaceful sleep, give it a go I hope it helps

Are you taking the PRED first thing (as early in the morning as you can)? I was always told to take it as early in morning as possible to avoid some of the sleep disturbances. It usually worked when I did it that way. If not, I think you might need to contact your doc about something to help you sleep.

Another thing I wanted to point out, going down 10 mg is a little fast. You might want to talk to your doc about that. I have always reduced by 5 mg a week and never had in problems weaning down when I did it that way.

Good Luck!

I would take an ambian and sleep 'til 4 am, then I would watch a movie

I know how you feel, Im currently on 100MG of pred a day for the last 3 weeks, and my docotor says hes only going to taper by 5's every other week starting in 2 weeks..haha. Forget about sleepless in Seattle its sleepless here in Pittsburgh for me. Keep your head up, hopefully it will all get better soon =)

Hi I used to get up in the middle of the night and go on HW for a hour or two and then go back to bed. I am very glad to see your home. lol gail

As mentioned above, pred very first thing early in the am will likely aid with any sleep issues.

:)

Yup, taking Pred at around 8am when I get up and get something on my stomach, otherwise it makes me ill. It's 1am, and uhm, yeah, round 2! I started to get tired, and then my mind started running, and well, I just cleaned the bathroom, had a snack, and cleaned up my daughter's toys. I forgot this feeling! Seriously. I remember when I was on 60mg, I slept maybe 3-4 hours a night and I cleaned the other 20 hours of the day! (Not really a joke!). I also remember reorganizing everything in our house. I just cleaned out all the dust bunnies from our furnace tonight too. Oh boy! THe OCD has set in!!! My docs have always tapered 10mg, but it's typically 10mg every 2 weeks. Since this was a quick boost of Pred to aide the Remicade to kick in (went to 10mg/kg from 5mg/kg just 2 weeks ago), they are weaning me off quickly. I mean, we'll wean slowly, but I've always weaned 10mg at a time in the past with no trouble. I simply battled a LOT of insomnia and hunger seems to get me too. I really battle most of the side effects: Eye pressure increased (I have a good opthamologist - hence they want me off as quick as possible too - I've had a retinal detachment so steroids are only in extreme situations), moon face, oily skin (really bad - I literally use an acne wash and the alcohol and my skin is still oily), weight gain is questionable but usually get a hunger increase, nausea (a reg. coke helps curb it), insomnia, hmm.. am I missing something? I don't get mood swings with them... But I'm on Lexapro too.

I might try my Lexapro in the evenings. I think what didn't help too is I switched from Bentyl to Librax because the Bentyl was making me so so so sleepy. The doc said that was a common complaint and really the Librax is a temporary thing too - 2-3 weeks just to keep my body calm.

I have some Ambien from when I delivered my girls (I REALLY didn't sleep then - I woke up every 15 minutes for 2 or 3 days thinking it was 7am and time to get up). I might try that. I'm skeptical to take pain meds and sleeping meds whenever I need to care for my daughter though. If DH didn't have to work bright and early tomorrow morning, I'd consider the Ambien to get the sleep. Luckily, I have some things I've been working on on my laptop through the night until I can wind down...

Thanks for the tips tho! Hoping I can get a few hours of shut-eye tonight! If not, tomorrow will be another long-long long day!

crikey, kaycie- i am still about 2 hours behind you. i have a job interview today and i feel asleep at 2 ad woke up at 430. i will probably be manic during the interview and fall asleep on the way home- clutching my 3rd breakfast of the day as i am perpetuallly starving. but the house is clean, right?

When I was on really high doses my neighbors offered to leave me their keys so I could come over and clean their houses in the middle of the night cause after a week or so, mine was DONE. Your cleaning story brought that back to me!

Its been a while, but seriously, if it continues, you do need to get some sleep. While you are sleeping is when your body is healing and repairing. So, if you are not able to sleep without some help, talk to your doctor. Ambien long term is addictive, but oh it works so good. Lunesta doesn't work as well but doesn't carry the risk of addiction. Whatever works best for you and your situation given the length of time you will be on prednisone and the time it will take you to taper. Just don't go too long without sleep. I'm sure as a new Mom you are used to lack of sleep, but seriously, talk to your doctor, please.

Hi Kaycie I slept much better from 20mgs down so hopefully you"ll soon be weaned down . Best wishes on your daughter's birthday. lol gail