Sleeplessness

[Granbonny]

Ann

Ann

You posted on your reunion thread..that the guy you made out with last year.. was nearby...Yes, I think you should call him (bad knee and all)..maybe he is a night Owl, too..and yall can get together for a late-night scrabble game.( And I don't mean the board one.. ) Bonnie

 

[Superbob]

I came in yesterday 37 minutes after Rob posted the first past of the thread. Here I am again next night (4:00a.m.) and he hasn't posted, so he must been sleepin like a baby. Wonder which remedy helped?

I will try a book soon. that usuallly helps me.

Warm milk and an oatmeal cookie.

Actually I didn't go to sleep until 4 a.m., about my usual time. As far as Mary's remedy, s-e-x, I'm still trying to remember what that is. However, in the mists of a foggy memory I seem to remember it keeping me up all night, not putting me to sleep.

Maybe a two-hour massage from a tall blonde German masseuse....

 

[Ross]

As far as Mary's remedy, s-e-x, I'm still trying to remember what that is.

It's not something I've forgotten at all, just something I can't seem to do anything about. No one volunteers.

 

[Nan]

Hi, just a word of caution about using benadryl (tylenol pm) etc. If you have any tendency toward restless leg syndrome this can make it MUCH worse!

I started having trouble sleeping after my AVR and took benadryl to help and now have a refractory case of RLS/PLMD which along with sleep apnea make it almost impossible for me to get a good night's sleep.

This was not the case prior to the AVR.

I really think the overuse of the benadryl did me in!

 

[KAJ]

Rob,

I have always been a light sleeper. That was only made worse by the surgery. However, since I started cardica rehab, I am worn out. I found that I sleep much, much better on the days of caridiac rehab. Now that I am finished with it, the trick will be to continue the routine.

Karl

 

[Superbob]

Karl,

I just finished my 36 sessions of cardiac rehab, too. I believe I benefitted from it in terms of getting stronger but not, alas, in sleeping better. Of course we are going through a move right now and the stress from that may be contributing. I think if I survive the move, I will have passed my graduation test for cardiac rehab.

 

[Superbob]

Hi, just a word of caution about using benadryl (tylenol pm) etc. If you have any tendency toward restless leg syndrome this can make it MUCH worse!

I started having trouble sleeping after my AVR and took benadryl to help and now have a refractory case of RLS/PLMD which along with sleep apnea make it almost impossible for me to get a good night's sleep.

This was not the case prior to the AVR.

I really think the overuse of the benadryl did me in!

It's really hard to know when our meds are helping us more than hurting us, isn't it? That's something I wonder about all the time.

 

[hensylee]

Karl, I'll be checkin on you in the wee hours..............

 

[Guest]

*shakes head*

I'm starting to feel sleeplessness since I got home from my trip. (BTW, Rob, sorry I missed you in Northern Virginia....)

I've had so much to "catch up on" and with my work hours being different now, it's hard to adjust. So, I can't sleep ... and yet, I'm sssooo exhausted.

Wish I could try that one remedy .


Cort, "Mr Road Trip" / soon2be ex-"Mr MC", 31swm/pig valve/pacer
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"I'm fading away" ... Simple Plan ... 'Untitled'

 

[Superbob]

Don' t you hate it: when you're so exhausted you could just fall asleep -- only you don't? Instead, you just lie there wider awake by the minute, while the pain of fatigue grows more and more acute...like right now.....Araid even Mary's remedy wouldn't work right now.....

 

[Ross]

*shakes head*Wish I could try that one remedy .

Yeah me too!

 

[rbl1999]

Well, here I am at 3am, got my usual 3 hours sleep, this sure is getting old!!!!! I will try to spend the rest of the night in the recliner but find that I don't really go back to sleep. And I start cardiac rehab tomorrow, I will probably fall asleep on the treadmill!! I have been taking a valium and a xanax at bedtime, which put me to sleep, but obviously not for very long. Maybe one of us will come up with a magic cure.. At least I know there are lots of us out there with the same problem.. My poor little dog gets so confused, he thinks because I am up that it is time for him to eat! Sweet dreams Rose

 

[Superbob]

Insomniacs of the World, Unite!

Insomniacs of the World, Unite!

... and here I am at 3:40 a.m. Finally fell asleep about 5 minutes ago and my dog Sadie demanded to go out. Think my very irregular sleep patterns have disrupted hers. Oh well I am so sleepy now, surely I will go back to sleep, surely.....

 

[hensylee]

I just woke up and can't believe I slept the whole night through without getting up even once. (course where I really live when I am not on vacation, it's an hour earlier than here) but even that would be a good hour to get up. Daughter and I usually rise at least once during the night, go sit on the porch a few minutes and then go back to bed and read til we fall asleep again. We never get up at the same time, tho. We're like those ships that............. Weird.

 

[terryj]

Very rarely do I sleep more than a few hours every night and that is usually sleep an hour, wake up and then sleep another hour,etc. I have to get up at 5:30 every morning to leave for work. I tried sleeping pills and most of them warn you that you need to devote 7 to 8 hours to sleeptime. That means going to bed by 9:30. That is usually impossible or me. 5 years til retirement and then maybe not sleeping will not be so big of a deal. My husband, the one with the AVR sleeps like a baby nearly every night. He says its because he goes to bed to go to sleep and turns his mind off everything else. I go to bed and worry about everything in the world. Isn't that a womans job to worry about everything?

 

[Yaps]

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Health/story?id=1056004&page=1

Aug. 21, 2005 ? Large numbers of Americans suffer from insomnia, and many either wake up tired or pop sleeping pills to help combat the problem.

But there may be an alternative solution that, in the long term, actually works better than sleeping pills.



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A study out last year showed that cognitive behavioral therapy ? a sort of talk therapy that actually trains your body how to prepare for sleep and stay asleep ? is as effective, or may be more effective than sleeping pills.

Just what is this therapy, and how does it work? Sleep expert Dr. Paul Glovinsky, a clinical psychologist, joined ABC's "Good Morning America Weekend Edition" with tips for sleeping through the night, not the day.


Therapies

Cognitive Behavior Therapy

Cognitive behavior therapy teaches a patient to recognize and change patterns of thought and behavior that contribute to sleep problems. "It makes people feel like they can do something about their insomnia," Glovinsky said. A lot of people feel helpless tossing and turning, so they turn to a pill, which may or may not work. "This is something people can do themselves to take back their sleep," Glovinsky said. For example, a patient will be told to go to bed at a later time, because getting six hours of sleep out of six-and-a-half hours in bed is more beneficial than that same person getting the same sleep spread out over nine hours in bed.

Relaxation Therapy

Relaxation therapy focuses on relaxing the muscles, and it teaches people to identify the times of day and night when they're stressed and tight. "Believe it or not, you can really go through the day without realizing how tense you are, so we teach people how to relax," Glovinsky said.


Sleeping Tips

Sleep Hygiene

"Your night of sleep is determined before you get into bed," Glovinsky said. You can't be tense all day, and drink coffee, and then expect to fall into a deep sleep immediately. Work out these issues during the day before you turn the lights out. Basically, prepare yourself in advance for sleep.

Keep a Sleep Journal



Keeping tabs on your sleeping time may reveal more than you think. "Everybody thinks their sleep is totally haphazard, and there's no rhyme or reason," Glovinsky said. "But if you step back and log for a week, you start to see some patterns." Perhaps you sleep better in the morning, or you can fall asleep right away but wake up four hours later. Once you figure out a pattern, you will know how to avoid endless tossing and turning.

Exercise or Take a Bath




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Exercise or take a hot bath three or four hours before night time. "The point is to raise the body temperature before bed time," Glovinksy said. Hitting the right timing is the secret to clocking in solid hours of sleep, so heating up the body in a "wave of activity" will allow the body to wind down slowly but surely a couple of hours later. In other words, jolt the system a couple of hours before bedtime to ensure that you catch the "ZZZ wave" later.

Plan Worry Time



"Instead of laying in bed and worrying, sit in a chair before going to bed and worry then," Glovinsky said. Get your to-do list on paper so your mind is clear and you're not doing a mental checklist of errands in bed.

Find the Right Bedtime



Train your body with a regular sleep schedule. "You have to find the right bedtime and stick to it," Glovinsky said. Yo-yo sleep schedules can be the doom for getting quality pillow time. On the weekend, if you want to sleep in, sleep an extra hour, not three extra hours.

Control Light Exposure



If you feel like you are sleeping too late in the day, let the sun shine in and wake you up ? so that you push your sleep cycle earlier. If you're going to bed too early, get bright light exposure in the evening so you mentally trick your body clock to fall asleep later.

 

[Ross]

And when you've done all the above and still cannot sleep?

 

[Mary]

And when you've done all the above and still cannot sleep?

Start over, and do them again!

 

[rbl1999]

Good one, Ross!!!!!! I was standing in my bedroom this am at 3 actually getting angry because my husband was sleeping, how pathetic is that!!!!!

 

[terryj]

I get mad at my husband a lot because he falls asleep so easily and sleeps all night. Sometimes I am up and down all night and go to the living room to read for hours and then fall asleep a half hour before the clock goes off and he wakes up all rested and ready for the day and I can barely drag myself out the door at 6 A.M.