Insomnia

I've gone through some horrible periods of insomnia over the last few years (symptoms of Lyme and cos started exactly 3 years ago). When it happens I can't fall asleep no matter how exhausted I am. I just restarted malarone at a low dose, could it be related to that or the moon maybe? I take a million supplements at night including gaba and melatonin plus many others. The worst with insomnia is when i don't sleep one night I end up worriying it will happen the next night too and that just causes it to snowball, but it's so hard not to worry, especially when I'm so exhausted! There is nothing better then going to bed and falling right to sleep!!

Thank you!!! I'll check it out!

Thanks PDX!

BabsBunny said...

k07 said...
This is a horrible issue for sure. Mine seems to come and go but I generally have no issue falling asleep, just staying asleep. Gaba actually works in the reverse for me. Gaba and glutamate need to be in balance to sleep. Genetically, I seem to have an issue with too much glutamate. One of my favorite supplements is GAIA Sleep Thru (I think the magic ingredient is Magnolia Bark which has some effect on glutamate). They also have one that assists in the falling asleep stage.

This is a lengthy but good article on the complicated balance between gaba and glutamate:
www.holistichelp.net/blog/how-to-increase-gaba-and-balance-glutamate/

Starting new meds always caused insomnia for me. So maybe try increasing detox/binders.

Wow. As I lay here at 3 AM, also not sleeping with a major Babs herx, my entire body vibrating and my brain running a mile a minute, quite sure I’m going to lose my mind, I read this article and set off a ton of lightbulbs.

Looking into excess glutamate, I find that the Big 4 foods that contribute to glutamate (and depression, anxiety, seizures, ADD, etc etc) are THE four I have the biggest problems with: gluten, dairy (casein), soy, and CORN. Glutamate is present in corn derivatives. Which explains so much why I react to corn derivitives even though “all allergens have been removed” (if one more ignorant manufacturer tells me this I’m going to shove my glutamate up his gaba, if you know what I mean). Also why dairy-free products give me bad results when they sneak casein into the mix.

So this has yet to be discussed with my doctors, but the thought of having a breakthrough in treatment and calming all my Lyme craziness is making me so so so happy. What if it’s all about the glutamate? Thanks k07!

The body vibrations is a big issue for me - mostly when I am on abx. Right now I'm only on herbs and they are very light. But I have woken up in the past thinking the whole bed is shaking!

I hope you can get your GABA/Glutamate in balance! I have major issues with soy and I'm sure other foods that I'm still trying to figure out. The best way to figure it all out is to go on a super strict diet but I really struggle with that. I recently tried candida diet and only lasted a week. However, I noticed my lump in throat sensation was horrible during that time - and I was eating a ton of eggs. Now off eggs and it is gone. I'm going to reintroduce next week and see if it flares again. Scary how we develop all these food sensitivities that were never an issue before.

I do that at times as well, Xfmlg. Because of my adrenal issues, some nights I can just tell I need some more protein. A snack of even just a spoonful of nut butter can be very helpful!! A little bit of honey with it is really a nice treat.

The other thing I do at times is a spoonful of honey topped with some Himalayan salt. From what I've read this helps with burned out adrenals, so I thought I'd try it. Oddly enough, the first time I tried this, it was like it satisfied a long time craving I never realized I had!! But, it really does help some nights still. The more my adrenals heal, the less I've craved it though.