Does anyone have any night time routines that help them to relax and get to sleep? I am usually tired when I go to bed but It sometimes takes hours for me to get to sleep. I get comfortable then within about 5 minutes I have to change positions. I finally get warm and the next thing I know I am sweating and have to get out from under the covers. Then over course once I am comfortable again I am cold. Next my hand and shoulder are tingling as though they are falling asleep but they are better as soon as I move them. I take 7.5 mg of mirtazapine before bed and I have tried taking it at different times. Before I started taking it I never slept, in fact I would get up and clean house! Mirtazapine is an antidepressant but in small doses it acts as a sleep aid.
I take tramadol and flexeril and that seems to help me get to sleep.
I don’t have a routine. I wish I did. I take .5 of xanax before bed. Sometimes I fall asleep sometimes like tonight I don’t. Have to be up in four hours. Looks like tmrw is going to be a struggle. I have been tossing and turning done 11. :*(
I take a hot bath and sleep with an electric blanket on low, it feels like a towel just out of the dryer…wonderful!
HELLO, EVERYONE DOES NOT KNOW OF ME YET. I HAVE ANSWERED SOME OF PEOPLES PROBLEMS. I JUST PRAY THAT WHAT I SAY IS WORKING SO, PLEASE EMAIL ME IF MY SUGGESTIONS WORK FOR YOU OR YOU HAVE A BETTER SUGGESTION THAN WHAT I WOULD DO!!!!! OK WHAT I DO IS I GET MY KINDLE FIRE HS AND I PLAY CHECKERS. WHEN I START LOSING, I KNOW IT IS TIME TO GO TO BED. WHEN I GET DESPERATE I TAKE VALUIM 10MG. AFTER THAT, WELL I PRAY ALOT AND HOPE THAT MY HEAVENLY FATHER IS COMING SOON BECAUSE I CAN NOT TAKE SUFFERING OF COMING DOWN WITH ANOTHER DISEASE OTHER THAN WHAT I HAVE ALREADY.(LUPUS, FIBRO, MS, CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE) LATELY, I CAN NOT EAT OR DRINK ANYTHING(SWOLLEN) GLANDS MAYBE. WELL I WAS SENT A REFERAL TO A SPECIALIST FOR EYES, NOSE, AND THROAT. I CAN NOT TALK, WITHOUT BEING HORSE(PAINFUL). I JUST DID NOT GO TO THE DR. BECAUSE I CAN NOT TAKE ANOTHER DX. OF SOMETHING ELSE IS WRONG WITH ME. SO, WE ALL LOOK FOR OTHER AVENUES, TO RELIEVE A PROBLEM. TRY READING, CHECKERS OR SOMETHING TO DISTRACT THE FACT THAT YOU ARE TIRED. THE GAME TELLS ME, GIVE UP AND GO TO BED UNTIL TOMORROW..
BEST WISHES AND SLEEP WITH THE ANGELS
Ahh. Sleep. The big issue. I struggle with this nightly and am blessed not to get up in time to go to work as I am able to stay at home. I take a hot bath about an hour before bed, and a 15 mg capsule of restoril along with 10 mg of melatonin. I read my nook until I can finally find a good painless position and pray to nod off fairly soon. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. I have more difficulty with waking up in the early a.m and staying awake. UGHH. Good luck with this and God bless.
I take Melatonin, as well as Trazadone and a muscle relaxer (Xanaflex). I play solitaire before I go to be until I'm very sleepy. I turn off all electronics and make sure the room is as dark as possible. A routine is essential to getting to sleep.
Hi Shaylynn - in reading your post you are describing me perfectly, I have found that many people on this website go through the exact same things that I do. A long time ago I just gave up on trying to get a good night's sleep. I, too, will get into a comfortable position and sure enough, here comes the pain! Last night was rough for me - as I was in pain all night long, no matter what position I was in. I am on Trazadone - it's an anti-drepressant and a sleep med. Sometimes it works but it doesn't take care of the pain. Laurie
For years I took 6 mg of OTC melatonin which helped me get to sleep. Also try to go to bed at the same time every night. Unfortunately, many of the medications we are on disrupt sleep according to my sleep doc. ( I have apnea so am on a CPAP). Since I got off of the OxyCodone and started low-dose Naltrexone I don’t have any trouble falling asleep. But I often wake up between 2 & 4–if I don’t go right back to sleep I take a Valium–which lets me sleep but does interfere somewhat with deep restorative sleep. We Fibros are in a Catch 22 regarding sleep!!! :>}
Sweet Dreams
Yes, this routine works best for me but is not fool proof.
Recommended items:
Dry body brush
Organic Jojoba oil mixed with essential oils of your choice....lavender, chamomile, frankensense are relaxing.
Relaxing/Meditative music.... I like a free download that is offered by Christopher Lloyd Clarke called "Enlighten Me". It's full of beautifully arranged beats/sounds that have been proven to promote relaxation. You can also find some more on sights like beliefnet and meditation pod cast.
Heated mattress pad
Ok, I start by getting the shower warmed up. Then dry brush the body. This isn't the most comfortable thing but I've found that it's worth it. I start at my feet and work the brush against my skin in small circles and sweeping motions towards my heart. Brush the whole body, some redness can be normal. Then take a hot shower and let the heat relax the muscles. after about 15 min I get out and after drying off immediately put on the Jojoba oil. Apply it all over the body, gently massaging it in. I then return to my bedroom, turn on my laptop which I have ready to go with my free download or podcast and get into my pre-heated bed. I close my eyes and listen to the podcast while doing controlled breathing. Usually before I know it, I am asleep.
Sometimes I change it up and while i'm listening to the laptop with headphones I will do some stretching over the bed.
All of this is done of course after taking my bedtime meds....zanaflex, vistaril, lyrica, lortab and/or ambien as needed.
A good place to get some quality body products is sweetpskincare.com She is great! I used to live in Tucson and know her and her products very well. You could mention my name if you'd like.
Hi Jackie - nice to meet you!! You may be right in suggesting that our meds may be interfering with our sleep. I have noticed that in the late evening, that's when the members come out of their 'dark place' and get onto this website. I know that they can't get to sleep just like me. I, too, have sleep apnea and use a CPAP as well. I have xanax to take sometimes, but I am very careful with it. I wake up sometimes at night, and really do have trouble falling back to sleep. You described us Fibros perfectly, when you said it's a Catch 22!! Damned if we do and damned if we don't. We can't seem to win!! Laurie
Have you tried Ambien? I have the same issues with sleep, but take Ambien and I sleep through the night and wake up after about 7.5 hours. Seems to work for me. My doctor is OK with me taking it regularly. However, if I am lucky and have a good physically active day I can usually fall asleep OK. But I have been using Ambien for a couple years now and it has helped increase my sleep effectiveness. Would be nice to not have to use it at all though. Good luck! Oh yea, a temperpedic bed has done wonders for my pain issues too.
Yes, I was on Ambien regularly aswell. After about 8 months of it I started to have strange side-effects and these were the days when I worked full-time as a massage therapist. It is a lot to go through but I personally believe that the less medication I have to take the better I will be in the long run. My liver and my kidneys will thank me. The dry brushing is good for lymph drainage, and numbing the skin.The jojoba oil is good for the skin which is your protective barrier. The essential oils and meditation music has so much research behind it for promoting relaxation and clearing the mind. But yes, if it comes down to it and I absolutely can't sleep, I will take an ambien. I am in nursing school and need my sleep at night.
my bedtime routine is kinda crappy, but it works for me.
First of all, I got myself a large nursing pillow. I like the feeling of having a barrier around me, it calms me for some reason. Also, the tiny styrofoam thingies inside take whatever form I squish them into, which helps finding a comfortable position easier.
I have a small plush fox which I can't sleep without, his head is usually squished beneath my cheek, so fluffy 8D
I usually shut off the lights really soon, like... around 8-9ish. That's also when I move to the bed. I only have one room, so I usually continue to watch TV or be on the internet for a few hours. I don't ever do much else than that, so my body and mind have time to calm and settle and at some point I am tired enough to roll over and fall asleep. I'm kind of afraid of sleeping, which is why I tend to stay awake until I'm really tired. So once I do decide to go to sleep, I fall asleep rather quickly. It's mostly the way up to that point that's taxing.
That, and staying asleep.
so, broken down: I try and give myself a few hours to settle, calm and prepare myself for sleep, get comfy pillow and my foxy, be in the relative dark and distract myself with tv, internet, music or whatever until tired enough to fall asleep
Dwaggi - your thing about the nursing pillow soundsl like a really good idea! I might try it! Laurie
I love it, I sleep sooo much better since I have it. But I'm sleeping on my side, so it's a double bonus XD I can also push it between my knees when my hips hurt, to get some pressure off it.
I love the idea of the brushing. I had rockwool embed in my skin about 10 years ago and am really just getting to the very end of it now. I know some people do well on ambien . For me, it was a disaster. I walked to a neighbors house, walked right in and made myself comfortable. One of the most embarrassing experiences of my life. My mother also sleep drives and sleep eats on this med. Maybe it is a genetic thing, but I have heard of other people doing wacky things, so just make sure you have someone watching out for you the first couple of times.
Hi enuf - I was prescribed Ambien a few months ago. Never again! On the first night of taking it, apparently I 'woke up' in my sleep and cooked a complete meal and ate the darn thing! When I finally woke up the following morning, My memory was really screwed up. It took about 3 hours for me to get back to my normal self. That was the end of Ambien!! Laurie
Wow and I though it was just me! Thanks for all the suggestions. I am going to create a routine from the things everyone has said that sound the most soothing and appealing to me. I like the idea of a heated bed, I think I will pull out the electric blanket just to heat it up not to use all night. My bedroom is about 50 degrees at night, I keep the door shut to keep out the dog and cat. Will any kind of body brush do? Like the kind you use in the shower? I am interested in learning some self massage techniques to try to relax the tense muscles. I know with fibro it doesn't always work but it's worth a try. I am off to the pool for a long swim then a soak in the therapy pool, just wish is wasn't 3 degrees outside right now.
I have sleep issues also. There are a lot of pillows on my bed, along with a body pillow. Once I get settled with pillows bracing anything that might fall out of position. I start tensing and relaxing any muscle that doesn't feel totally relaxed. I didn't realize this until I read a post on an EDS forum but I have a lot of muscles that I almost unconciously hold tense in order to keep joints in place. So I tense and relax muscles until I'm relaxed against with the pillows holding the joints in place. Ehlers Danlos Syndrome is a genetic connective tissue disorder that causes the body to make bad collagen. This is why my joints pop, crack, sublux (partially dislocate) and dislocate fully at the drop of a hat.f I still am wide awake I do one of two things. I start at my toes and go up saying relax and that body part (toes, ankles, etc etc three or four times in my head. I don't usually make it past my hips or so. Or I make up some sort of pleasing story in my head, such as taking a trip somewhere and go over only positive aspects in my head, or I envision looking at flowers and tell a story in my head about that. Anything pleasing and comfortable usually works. I think of only the positive aspects of the story. These usually work for me.