HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Restful sleep days

Support Forums
>
Fibromyalgia
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 12/28/2014 7:30 AM (GMT 0)
I encourage other fibromites that are not sleeping well check into the following ideas. My sleep has improved so much! I use to think I couldn't afford the things I mention but I manage to obtain them. I got a new I comfort memory foam bed. My hips never hurt anymore. I just melt in my bed at night. Then I had a sleep study done and my results were terrible. My oxygen was only 80 percent and stop breathing lots. So that has improved so much! Then I take a muscle relaxer with antidepressent at night. I rarely wake up in pain and feel good in the morning.

I just know there are fibromites out there that have put off these things. Having sleep apnea can cause depression and memory fog. So I wanted to encourage others to make an effort to help themeselves in feeling better.

We got a short payment loan without interest and bought my bed. I pay $25 monthly for about a year on my sleep machine. It was all worth it. I just wish I did it many years ago. My excuse was I couldn't afford it, but I was wrong.
Posted 12/28/2014 1:20 PM (GMT 0)
I'm so glad you are doing so well! I tried the memory foam but would hurt my back trying to roll over or get out of bed. I have other spine problems that were causing that...not just the fibro.

So I bought a fiber bed topper. That's like a feather bed but it can be washed. So...I have a pillow top mattress with a foam egg crate on top of that and then my fiber bed on top of that! Now, THIS works for me, LOL I've lowered the Princess and the Pea Symdrome this way. turn

I do take the muscle relaxer, too, and that helped me so much...like it has helped you. If we sleep better, we feel better.

Thanks for letting us know what has helped you so much! This gives people ideas as to how to help themselves with this illness.

Sherrine
Posted 12/28/2014 3:11 PM (GMT 0)
This is an interesting thread for me, as my sleep has been TERRIBLE the last couple of nights. I have caved in to using Ambien over the years, but as we all know, we get habituated to it and it doesn't work so well after awhile, which I'm sure leads to addiction if one isn't too stubborn to let it--which I am, fortunately.

My doctor suggested taking two Neurontin with the Ambien, and that helped a lot, but only for a few nights. Then I started Cymbalta, which is supposed to help....but I think it makes things worse. I really need to get off the sleep stuff, and yes, ak angel, I should have a sleep study.

We did purchase a memory foam bed, a king-sized one, which has made quite a bit of difference to my hips...oh, that Princess and the Pea thing....!

But here's my big issue: my darling husband snores like a bullhorn!! He's tried everything, and sometimes things improve for a time, but seems like they always start again. He uses the Neti Pot faithfully, he uses the nasal strips....but of course allergy seasons always set him off again. He DID have a sleep study, and it showed exactly nothing, except that he snores. I tend to wake up about 3:30 every morning, and toss and turn from then on. Many nights he ends up in the recliner or the guest room, as I can't sleep anywhere else; nice guy, but I miss him.

Question: would taking a muscle relaxer tend to have a depressant effect? I never thought of that one.

Thanks for helping me think about all this!

Cimorene
Posted 12/29/2014 5:55 AM (GMT 0)
Glad you're sleeping better, Angel :)

I don't know, Cimorene....my hubby sounds like a buzz saw when he sleeps, and refuses to get a sleep study because he sleeps fine, wakes up feeling fine, etc. etc. Very stubborn man. After many years of waking in the middle of the night and staying awake, as you do, I finally took my sleepy self down the hall to one of the kids' old rooms....this was about 5 years ago, and I'm still there. Now I sleep like a log all through the night. (I still can't say I wake feeling spectacular, but that I attribute to Fibro.)

I do take Nortriptyline and Clonazepam (the latter of which I'm trying to cut down on and then cut out, but it's slow going) before bed. Even with them, I couldn't sleep through my hubby's loud, irregular, jagged symphony!

It does make me sad that we sleep apart, but hey - at some point, I have to put me first! He will wear a strange contraction (he calls it his Hannibal Lector mask) that he got online if we go to a motel and sleep in the same room. It keeps his mouth shut and so cuts down on the noise a lot, but it's too uncomfortable to use regularly.

My brother, who has sleep apnea but can't tolerate the C-pap machine, has discovered that if he runs a piece of tape down from under his nose to under his mouth, he can keep his mouth closed. Problem solved. But my husband has a mustache and beard, so that's out.

Sweet dreams, everyone!

Debbie
Posted 12/29/2014 6:12 AM (GMT 0)
I tried the memory foam bed out and it hurt my back too much. So I've got a foam topper on my bed. I'm thinking about adding another one on top of that one to soften even more. I love a boggy bed to sink into.
Cpaps are tricky to adjust to, but I found out if you need one you better use it. Not using it can lead to stroke, heart attack, or even death. My BIL had a stroke from not using it and still refuses to use it.

Achy, earplugs don't help?
Posted 12/29/2014 6:17 AM (GMT 0)
I am struggling with this right now myself. I did a sleep study and have my happy Fisher Paykel with the mask. The doc gave me Ambien because I was awake on the machine. Better oxygenated, but still tired. They gave me Lyrica for the Fibro and Modafinil for the day. When it all works, i am generally at least functional. We discovered that I am a Stearns and Foster girl. My husband had hip surgery this year and needed an adjustable bed. We found an adjustable and found that most mattresses work with them these days. So he got adjustable and I got my S&F. In winter, I add some heating to help. Husband is snoring terribly. The doc is moving him from cpap to bipap supposedly. Problem is, it is taking forever. I messed up by not staying completely involved and the dates keep sliding because he cant remember much.
I cant wait to have my husband back.

Meantime, i am in such pain and numbness after about 4 hours, that I am up by 4 or 5 am every morning. I am up until the TENS can make it bearable and then I crash for a few more hours. I cant function if I dont.

Anyone else experience this? It seems largely on my right side. Sometimes there us a lump by my shoulder blade and sometimes tingling and pain all over. It seemed like frozen shoulder, but when I wake up, there is a bunch of fluid on the muscles.
Posted 12/29/2014 6:25 AM (GMT 0)
Cimorene- I had to stop the ambien thing too. They are considered a benzo and can become very addictive. They work like Valium plus they stop working well after long term use. If you decided to stop always titrate off them. They can become very dangerious in stoping them quickly. Expect very little sleep for several days when stoping ambien. Muscle relaxers can be abused but I don't seem to have trouble with them. I only take them at bedtime because I get tired on them if I am not sleeping. I use to wake up at night tossing and turning with pain or my mind racing with thoughts. So the antidepressent helps calm my racing thoughts. If ambien doesn't work for you maybe a muscle relaxer would. I know several that have switched with great results including me.

I use to snore horrible until I had my sleep study done. Now the cpap has taken care of this. I sometimes wonder when I hear people have normal sleep studies but snores bad if it was accurate sleep study. I know on my second sleep study is where they found all my low oxygen
levels. I was able to fall in a deeper sleep the second time. The first study I was to awake because of all the wires and different bed.

Don't feel bad my husband moved out of my room because I was keeping him awake too much. I miss him too. It took awhile to accept he needed a good night sleep for work. Now I am bettter about sleeping, but I sometimes will take off cpap in my sleep and began to snore. So we still sleep in seperate beds.

Post Edited (ak angel) : 12/28/2014 11:28:28 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 1/6/2015 4:31 AM (GMT 0)
Glad you are sleeping better. Yes we can really tell it when we don't get enough rest. I too did the sleep study but didn't show anything. Was hoping that it might so I could get some relief from all this fatigue.

Haven't tried the bed thing.... Will have to check it out. Thanks for the tip.


3yellwdaisy

Fibromyalgia, herniated disc, lumbar chronic pain, degenerative arthx, two pinched nerves, migraine ha, depression, anxiety, PTSD
Posted 1/6/2015 1:01 PM (GMT 0)
I'm going to look into these things.. I sleep horribly and wake up feeling worse then I feel before going to bed. Tired of the morning stiffness and pain! Do you have problems with fatigue during the days and if so, has it improved? Im always tired and exhausted :(
Posted 1/6/2015 4:52 PM (GMT 0)
Nooneknows- the cpap has helped so much. I had improved my fatigue, thinking better and depression is better. I am not sure if you had your thyroid checked lately. I was having trouble with lots of hair loss. My dr. Rechecked my thyroid and it was low again. Low thyroid will cause fatigue. I don't wake up stiff too much anymore. I truly believe it's my subutex the long acting pain med that makes a big difference. I remember those days feeling like a Mac truck hit you. Lol

I do still get fatigue some especially toward the evening. I am in bed early. No partying for me.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply