Sleep!

I just need a place to vent. I haven’t slept well most of this week. I end up going to work, coming home and then sleeping a few hours during the evening. Which means I don’t sleep at night. I can’t stay awake in the evening half the time. It’s so frustrating. My husband is frustrated cause he likes having his arms around me a night but I don’t want to keep him up. The lack of sleep makes me forgetful, irritable and clumsy - a few things I really can’t be when working with dogs.

HI Killian,

"It's all from chronic pain, the lack of sleep, lack of concentration", and those are the words of my Rheumatologist. Been to one yet/lately? I highly recommend it!

I hope you can get some relief with the pain and get some restful, refreshing sleep very soon!

SK,

I haven’t been to a Rheumatologist yet but I’m seriously thinking about asking my dr to write a letter to my insurance letting them know seeing a specialist is medically necessary.

The funny thing is that I really don’t feel painful right now. Maybe my body is so used to it now that I don’t really feel lower levels of pain…

How about when someone pokes you and you don't see it coming? You had all of the fibro 'hot spots', right?

I don’t have all of them, I have most of the ones from the hips up on both sides. The ones below my hips are hit and miss sometimes when pressed they are painful, other times not so bad

I am curious if/what anyone has found to help sleep. I researched this topic like crazy & know that Americans are terrible, overall. I should be sticking to a regular schedule, not being online/t.v. for a few hours before bed, regular mealtimes to set the body clock, etc, a protein snack before bed, peaceful thoughts....but all of this just seems too much right now. Oh, and I also completely blocked the (electric street & day) light by covering my windows with foil (very tacky looking ...sigh. the neighbors may be thinking you're growing pot or something weird, but the foil does work) at one point in my quest for relief & sleep.

I just talked to my (very gifted) chinese herbalist & will be going back on my herbs. These helped me sleep. But it is 1. impossible for me to remember to order on time 2. a pain to cook them. 3. in my fibro clumsiness one day i broke my glass jars that i stored the tea in :( etc....!!! jeez. lol.

I know that I can't take Valerian- it has the opposite effect, wakes me up.

But are there any other magic potions or tricks to sleep?

I've been on remeron for a year & i hate it...but tonight is a prime example, if i don't take it, i am still up at 2:00am. or i wake often at 2:00am :(

I've also taken ambien at times & it works for 4 hrs (for me) no bad after effects. my current doc is resistant to giving me more- afraid of addiction. i do not have addiction problems & am more worried about the nasty effects of no sleep

but i would like to stop the chemical soup altogether & have some healthier alternatives...