How do you all manage to sleep at night? Have you developed tolerance to sleep aids? Which sleep meds work better and what are the costs? I would appreciate your input on this since getting sleep has become impossible. It is the most painful thing to be dead-tired and not being able to fall asleep until 5am! or waking up every hour! I even feel severe pain during my short sleep cycles (which triggers nightmares of being tortured)- the pain is worse than when I am awake. I manage pain and fatigue much better during the day when I am working(teaching) but it's a total nightmare at night!
I've been taking Ambien for more than 3 yrs and it seems that I've developed tolerance to it, so it doesn't work anymore. I wonder if my current pills were defective since this batch of pills look different from the last one. I am considering getting a different type of sleep medication because I don't want to increase the dose.
What supplements work for sleep?? I've tried melatonin but it made me itch and anxious. I've tried 5-HTP but didn't feel any effects. I can't drink any tea before bed- Celestial Seasonings' "Sleepy Time" tea made me pee all night and couldn't sleep. I got so mad that I got my Sharpie pen and corrected its name to "SleePee time"!!
sleep is an issue for us all. I personally will not take any prescribed sleep aid as they can become habit forming and as the body develops a tolerance to them, you have to take more for them to work, not a good scenario in my mind...
I have also tried melatonin and not effective...I tend to feel that valerian is a solid effective sleep aid. I take it in tea but it stinks something awful! Doesn't taste as bad as it smells, so I make a concentrate and hold my nose and chug. It also comes in a concentrated drop and in pill form so that you can avoid the potty runs all night. What good is falling asleep if you have to get up in a few hours to pee? Occasionally, I have also taken an antihistamine, allergy med like Benadryl or if your doctor will write, Phenergan, that one is known for its sedative side effect, but I also have constant nausea problems so that helped my doc to write it. I wont take the antihistamine more than two days in a row to avoid any chances of my body getting used to it in my system.
Now, my last remedy is a little secret weapon that I learned abroad...totally natural and it works. It just takes a little prep time in the kitchen. Boiled poppy seeds in warm milk. Think about it, poppy seeds are the source of opium and all of those other opioids and combined in a cup of warm milk with a little sugar, and you are out like a light! Just, try to not take it if you have to pee in a cup any time soon or you may have some explaining to do.
To make this you will have to take about a teaspoon of poppy seeds, white or black, which ever is easier to find, and soak them in some water for about a half an hour or more...you can drop them in a cup and leave them till later. Drain the water from them, if you have a small grinder or food processor, add some milk to the poppy seeds and smash them up a little and then pour milk mixture into a pot and bring to a boil, add some sugar if you like and drink. It is very tasty and this really really works.
Thank you for the poppy secret! Does it have to be milk (I am not supposed to consume daily)? Can I just eat after grinding them? So, it seems that melatonin doesn't work for FM insomnia.I'll also try Valerian capsule or tincture- I've tried it in the past and can't remember if it worked. It seems that my body has forgotten how to sleep. I don't know how I manage to stay alive. I work part-time, 6 days/week and I don't take any naps at any time. I wake up around 8:30-9:30am everyday except Sunday.
You can take them in any way that you want...I have actually made candy out of them in the same way that they use sesame seeds! I am very lactose intolerant :-( . Can you try Almond milk? You may like to make some kind of spread with them almost like putting them into a hummus or tahini! I am getting ideas right now! THANX!
I totally understand being sleep deprived...trust me, I am known for not getting even two hours cumulative each night and going on that way for months and months...I know that it sounds weird being I am giving you some tips on what I know works but I also have severe PTSD and often am averse to wanting to even try to sleep. However, I do use these remedies a little more often now to save me from hospitalization and I know they work.
Hi I also find it difficult to sleep. I’ve been like this for a very long time I’ve been taking 15mg of zopiclone which is a sleeping tablet for over 4 years and they worked for the first few weeks but then they just stopped working. I find every night I could be awake until 4 or 5 in the morning. I find the more stressed I am the more pain I’m in and the harder it is to sleep. But I wouldn’t recommend sleeping tablets because they are very addictive your body gets used to them and for them to work u need to have them increased. But I’m in a high dosage so my doctor won’t increase them. But I’ve been told by a specialist sleep disturbance is one of the main problems of fibromyalgia. I hope you sort your sleep out soon and this information is useful to you
mmom1 - I just thought of peanut butter and poppy seeds! I don't think I am lactose intolerant but my doctors recommended to stay away because it contributes to FM symptoms (dairy causes systemic inflammation and promotes candida overgrowth). Yes, I can drink almond milk - I take detox-nutritional supplement powder with it. My holistic doctors told me not to consume any soy products because they are GMOs (which aggravates FM symptoms).
I also have suffered PTSD (I don't think I have symptoms now) from severe abuse and other traumatic experiences. I wonder if that's affecting my sleeping pattern. My abusive/psychopathic boyfriend would stay up all night and I couldn't trust him, so I could not sleep. I've always had nightmares/terrors when growing up and was afraid of the dark, so I could not sleep well even as a child. I still have nightmares/terrors that I am often afraid to fall asleep. I wonder how many people here suffer from something like this.
Bethany- Thanks for sharing your experience. I trust information coming from other FM suffers more than the info I find online written by some doctors or pharmaceuticals trying to sell their drugs. They say that their sleeping drugs are safe but I wonder if they are telling the truth. I think it's ok to use sleeping meds when you really need it but it's not ok to be on it for years. I try not to take it when I don't have to get up early in the morning because I need the sleep to function at work the next day.
Funny, that you also stay up until 4-5am - I am like that, too. I wonder if our bodies are all synched to some unknown alternative clock. I keep hearing that FM people can't sleep at night but they can sleep during the day. I asked many doctors but they had no idea. It seems that our circadian rhythm is completely shifted. Does anyone know why this is??? I have easier time falling asleep during the day (if I don't have to work) when it's warm and sunny. It's so difficult to sleep when it's dark. It's a mystery. Am I a cat or an owl??
You know in all the years now that I have had sleep problems, not one single Doctor of mine has ever prescribed sleep aids for me. I have asked them about this, and they have replied that it really isn't a sleep problem, it is a pain problem, or a muscle spasm problem, so that is what they aim for. Sometimes I sleep, and sometimes I only wish that I could!
It's NOT a sleep problem when you can't sleep? Really?! I think the pain problem becomes a sleep problem if you suffer from chronic insomnia. We all know now that pain keeps us from sleeping but sleeping also increases pain level. Symptoms are all related to what's going on in the body, so I don't think you an separate problems. It sounds like your doctor didn't want you to get hooked on sleeping meds (which is a good thing). I wish I didn't take any sleeping meds but I wouldn't be able to work if I don't get any sleep. I used to go without sleep for a few days without any coffee or any stimulants.
How do you manage to sleep without any medications? Do you just stay awake??
Oh, I take medication, just not sleep meds! Well, my GP gave me Xanax, but the Rheum said Valium would be better, but still would be awake for days sometimes, so now it's Tizanadine, but I also take Morphine, so I don't think they want to mix a sleeping med with a narcotic? Just not sure. I also have to take Phenergan 30-60 minutes before the Morphine, and I seldom go a night without taking it. I am to the point that I can no longer sleep in my sides at all, and my lumbar is the worst part of my back, so even though it is very painful, sleeping on my back is the only way I can sleep. I have imagined buying a Chiropractic table, I can sleep on those on my stomach, cannot sleep in a conventional bed on my stomach, for one thing it hurts my feet too much.
Sk- wow, I can now understand why your doctor didn't want to give you any sleep meds. I also have some Xanax in case Ambien does not work. Xanax tend to make me very groggy and sleeping the next day, so I don't take it often. I am sorry that you can't sleep on your sides. It's difficult to sleep in one position. When I was forced to sleep on only my left side after my right shoulder injury for several months, I developed soreness and pain on my left shoulder from sleeping on that side all the time.
I also have imagined getting those massage table so I can sleep on my stomach to relieve neck pain. I think we could all benefit from that. I always feel better from just lying on my stomach on those tables. I don't even need a massage therapist - I just need that table.
