I’m exhausted! And I’m 100% sure I’m not alone. Here’s my question. What helps you sleep better? This isn’t a medication question but more of a sleeping question. My mattress is either too soft or too hard. I’m either too hot or too cold. I get tangled up in the blankets. So then I tried using 1 blanket. Then I get super cold in the middle of the night. I just tried again using a sheet and blanket tucked under the mattress. That didn’t work. I can’t find comfortable pajamas that keep me warm or cool or that don’t hurt my skin. I’m not even talking about the pain I have throughout the night. What has worked best for you?
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Hi Freedom!
Get ya! I think it’s a question of finding and adjusting triggers in our environment.
I can very much relate - I have very similar problems with soft and hard, hot and cold, blankets, getting too cold at about 3 or 4, and the pains. I don’t know if you’ve seen my older thread on this, below?
Mattress: I need a hard mattress with a thin soft topper (a thicker one didn’t work was too soft), plus a lambskin under lower back and thighs (unrest and pain). Also 2 pillows and a hard cushion (see wakers-thread).
Hot/cold: I start with a cold shower to bring unrest and pain down, but hot water bottle if necessary, which i can place where I need it most (feet or between knees) and leave the rest cooler. (If I need a second one at night I heat the 1l water I need to a certain noise, not to boiling, so it’s faster and not too hot. I like its heat more than electric types and the synthetic materials that come with them). I need a thick duvet, usually wrapped under my feet to the middle and a thin duvet from the middle up. When I need less heat I push the thick duvet further down.
For the local pains I use various stretches and exercises in the daytime or before sleep or at night, plus arnica cream. For the Ache: cold shower (or wash) and the hot water bottle.
My own sleep challenge at the moment if you haven’t seen it on my blog already is the histaminey allergic symptoms in head, nostrils, burning sinuses, dry mouth, dry & sore throat, sometimes belly & nausea, which is a case of food triggers, taking the right supps (I’m managing without the antihistamine) and airing the room every time I’m up anyway…
Hi ! Do you use a real lamb skin? Are you able to use it in the summer? Is there a special way of cleaning it? Where does a person purchase one? How has it helped you?
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Ouch, living pretty vegan, and definitely vegetarian I hate the thought of leather around, but … yes: real lamb skin, and yes I do use it all summer (like my five pairs of socks…).
It’s under my bedsheet, so no direct contact, better for my skin, and not too warm, plus that way it doesn’t get out of place.
We air it together with the soft topper several times a month.
My wife got them in a cheap bed & mattress type store, pretty cheap, under 20€ (no, I don’t want to know what that might say about how they “made” it…).
It helps me by softening up the area around my thighs which tend to hurt and my lower back, as my tailbone is incredibly sensitive, even on the lambskin and often with duvet tucked under buttocks I can’t lie on it for longer than 5 minutes without causing an unrest there that prevents me from sleeping.
The size is so that I place it exactly where I need it, under lower back and thighs.
I’m not sure if it’s that important now that my thighs are much better and I’d actually now use my massage ‘gun’ for 5’ if I had pain there. But the other day I did have sudden thigh pain while in bed, so I spose it’s still helping to keep it down.
(I also have a pure straw mattress, which is also warm (but takes up sweat). I regulate the heat amount via the duvets. Before fibro I only needed one in the summer, I used the other case empty up top and a thinner one below. Now I need the thicker and medium one all summer. Not sure what a duvet means where you are, looking it up on wikipedia: In my case they are all from organic cotton outside and inside either cotton, wool or camel hair, about 1-2 inches thick. They don’t go down to the floor like blankets in the UK, about the same size as the bed itself. And I don’t need to pile them up and then have problems getting them off or arranging them as I remember British blankets to be. I just fling them where I need them. The warm one wrapped around my lower half, the upper one flexible.)
Long time sufferer of insomnia then throw the fibro on top & it’s a week of 2-3 hours a night. I have to take 25 mg of seroquel, prescribed, & 20 mg quick dissolve melatonin. For the bed I convinced hubby of adjustable base.…WONDERFUL! Found some Jersey cotton sheets to help with getting too hot & not being scratchy. Luckily, I don’t get cold until hubby leaves the bed. I also have an app for sleep that has sounds I layer together to help. Prayers for sleep.
Thanks for the suggestions! I do know what a Duvet is but I don’t know anything about the US/ Euro exchange. I can look that up. A straw mattress. That’s interesting. I don’t think we have them in the US??? What’s the difference between a pure straw mattress and a not pure straw mattress? I traveled all over Europe in 1988. I even visited your German City JayCS! I looked up lambs skin on Amazon. I only had time to read about one and the cost was $130.00. I do have an adjustable bed which I love. And I have some microfiber sheets that are soft. I cannot tolerate scratchy anything! 
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Wasn’t sure how clear “duvet” is, cos of the many types described on wikipedia… But helps you having been here! 
Straw mattresses are probably hard to get anywhere. Mine was tailored on demand for me. But I’m sure you have them somewhere.
Natural mattresses are usually made of several layers, like straw, natural latex, coconut fibre, horse hair, so a non-pure one which is still called straw often has a core with natural latex. That reduces their specific characteristics, so softer, less warm, lighter.
I’m not sure why you’d want a lambskin, but I tried looking (with shipping to US) and quickly found some at 40-60$, and I’m sure amazon is offering expensive ones first. The even more expensive ones, probably like the one you saw, are usually big, and that would make the whole bed too soft. I’m sure there’s an easier way to pad body parts, that was just something we had handy. (Putting the lambskin in the middle is possibly evening out the natural dip there due to the increasing straw compression.)
In my case it’s synthetic materials I need to avoid, plus anything itchy, like wool, also normal ‘perfumed’ washing powder…
Interesting, so you can add a “brook” and a “cuckoo” sound layer??
Prayers is a good one! Yoga Nidra isn’t prayer to me, but also extremely helpful either getting to sleep or substituting sleep, forgot to mention that to @Freedom. I prayed for myself and others during the last two acupuncture sessions. Need to do it more.
Lol don’t know if you can layer those 2 sounds on this one but am sure we could find one 
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I like to use a weighted blanket in the cooler months (I also have significant anxiety issues). I can’t use these during the Aussie summer so I ended up purchasing a bamboo sensory sheet. They are a loop around the whole mattress, so they don’t tangle and despite being sensory sensitive I don’t find the light pressure painful. Then I can use a quilt/blanket over the top if needed and just flick it to where it is comfortable without wrestling it all night.
I also use one of the “pregnancy pillows” (got that from my sister after her bub was born). This allows me to reduce pressure between my knees when they are sensitive, and keep a heat pack balanced in place when needed (I don’t respond well to cold).
I have tried melatonin with no noticeable difference. I use lavender and peppermint oils, or sleep mixes on the pillow.
I also use guided meditation/sleep music on The Honest Guys youtube channel, or ASMR background sounds to help with sleep. Sadly still waking between 2-11 times a night, but at least it’s something and I can usually fall asleep in a reasonable space of time.
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Hi Jess111, I have sensory issues too. My clothes need to be soft. One day a pair of socks will be fine, the next day I can’t wear socks. It’s very random. I had a weighted blanket but it, all of a sudden, became too confining and heavy. I found some microfiber sheets I like. But I only use the fitted sheet. I use a blanket on top that is either warm or cooler depending on the temperature. My skin hurts too. Ah! Oh, better go. My dog needs to go outside.
Sorry to hear that, good luck!