Posted by sb417 on September 11, 2004, at 0:11:12
In reply to Re: Trouble sleeping - please help » sb417, posted by KaraS on September 10, 2004, at 17:06:11
> > Both trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. Trazodone made me feel nauseous and it didn't go away even after a couple of months. Neurontin I only took once or twice and I just remember that I felt awful the next day. Maybe it's worth trying a smaller dosage. I wish I remembered how much of each I had taken but it was a long time ago.>
Hi Kara,
You and I have similar reactions to some medications. I felt awful after trying Neurontin also. In fact, I felt awful for several days after taking it. I had a paradoxical reaction to Trazadone.
> > Delayed sleep phase syndrome - is that when you keep going to bed later and later because your natural clock is much longer than the normal 24 hours?>In the delayed sleep phase syndrome, I want to go to bed later and get up later each day. If left to my own devices, I would probably do just that. I do remember reading about some studies done a few years ago in which the subjects were in a cave, deprived of all external cues that would indicate the time of day. There was no sunlight, no clocks, etc. If I remember correctly, I believe the subjects ended up on a 25 hour cycle, or perhaps it was even a bit longer.
>
> > > These days I'm so exhausted and out of it until later in the day. There's no way I can make myself move in the morning. I know it would be great for me so maybe once I start to feel better... I can do it.>I feel like that in the morning until I exercise. It takes nearly superhuman effort to get myself to the pool, but once I've done my exercise, I really do feel better. I've come to believe that one reason I hate to go to bed at night is that it takes so much effort to get to a point where I feel good and productive that I don't want to let go of it by going to sleep because the next morning I have to start all over again.
> I've been taking a high carb snack before bed but think it's probably good advice to have my dinner be high carbs as well. (Sugar gives me blood sugar problems so tends to disrupt my sleep.) >Yes, you're absolutely right about the sugar. I shouldn't have mentioned that except that when I have PMS, I find a bit of sugar seems to help. Too much makes it worse.
Oh, another thing that seems to help at night before you go to bed is to have very few lights on, and use very low wattage light bulbs. This helps me wind down. If I use any bulb above 60 watts, that keeps me up later. Even 60 is too much. Also, if you wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, try to use only a flashlight or a nightlight. Turning on the lights for even a moment can wreak havoc with melatonin.
poster:sb417
thread:388936
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040909/msgs/389499.html