Not sure if this should be under medical or in the general bit. I was wondering if taking something such as nytol would counteract the insommnia effect of pred. i ahvent slept more than two hours a night for the past five nights and am getting shattered now. One of my friends suggested it but was unsure if it would have an adverse effect on my chest but also if it would help. any info would be great.
Olive
Have you tried taking pred at a different time of day? I've been advised to get up in the middle of the night before so that the effects at bedtime aren't as bad sounds mad but did help when on really high doses.
I don't really like drugging myself in case don't wake up when wheezy but have resorted to switching antihistamines to piriton before.
Also is it definitly the pred keeping you awake or is your asthma still a bit unstable and adding to it, i usually instantly blame pred and then realised later when better that asthma symptoms weren't helping but then i'm a pred head idiot!
Please be careful, especially if you are taking aminophylline/theophylline - a lot of these herbal remedies can interact or otherwise have nasty side effects.
I also find taking pred at about 4 in the morning helps - sounds mad, but wears off more by evening then! Theophylline/aminophylline can also cause insomnia - I find taking it at 6 and 6 helps.
Having said that, you may now find that you can't sleep because you're waking up at different times in the night to take tablets!
Hi
thanx for the advice. i ahve the cons tomorrow so may ask. i hate taking stuff but my friends suggested. i take theophylline so think i will stay clear of anything until i ahve spoken to the cons. was just wondering if anyone had any little tricks. i take my pred when i first get up. have tried taking it at other times but doesnt work aswell. i get the most benfit from it when i take it in the morning.
i am reluctant about taking anything to make me sleep aswell coz i always worry i wont wake up if i get wheezy. think it may also be coz my chest is worse that i am not sleeping aswell as the pred- think i sometimes blame the pred before i admit that my chest is worse-one of my downfalls.
thanx for the help and advice- will see what the cons say tomorrow.
olive
x
Not a sleep remedy but ""KALMS"" tablets help take the edge of the Betamethasone hypers lately for me lol
They contain:
hops powder
extract of valerian
extract of gentian
And you take 2x tablets upto 3 times a day lol
They do help ease night-times for me and I have NOT reacted too them and I get mine from local Co-op store too lol
They DONT sedate you so I find them safe !!
Another one to look at is Rescue Remedy. Its like KALMS in that it doesn't make you sleepy but it can help to calm you down without sedating at all. Its a liquid (either spray or drops) that you take when you need to.
Jo
I occasionally take Valerian and although It doesn't induce sleep, makes you calmer and less like a horizontal tumble drier if you are having a restless night.
I haven't had any problems with it interacting with Theophylline but I do take it at least 2-3 hours after the Theo.
Kate
Have to say, like many here, I wouldn't dream (sorry) of 'taking' anything.
However, I swear by a warm soothing drink, like Ovaltine, or hot milk, or hot choccie, or an Options type things and a couple of plain biscuits or rice cakes to line stomach usually helps. Plus make the bed inviting with pretty fresh sheets and plumped up pillows, and I have a real thing about a well aired room too, no matter what the hurricane force conditions are doing outside (pollen excepted though!).
Nobody would want to sleep in a stale room or an unmade bed. Sometimes the best sleep can be induced by the right atmosphere. Big psychological factor for me!
I tend to put the TV on the sleep setting with Sky news or something particularly droll on, if I really can't drop off, but have to agree with the others that if my body/mind really can't sleep it is generally because it knows the asthma monster is going to rear its ugly head.
I was awake at 4am this morning as I was in such a stew about my GPs appt. Got the ironing done though!!!
Hope some of this waffle helps!
Sus xx
The Bach Resue Remedy in the spray is brilliant !!
Just few sprays on ya tongue calms me down !!
Just I can only get the spray from Boots which is in town here and further for me to walk !!
So KALMS have been my saviour last week or two eith the 12mg of Betamethasone !!
Hellooo!
Further to my posting below, I forgot to mention that I don't take valerian at if my asthma is giving me any problems. I have occasional sleepless nights for other reasons - usually worrying about something!
Also, I have my radio on low all night tuned to Radio 4 / world service - I have got used to this as I find it a calming distraction to my noisy neighbour.
Kate
Kate lol
The radio thing Im kinda the same except mines a tv on low lol
I cant sleep without the background noise lol
And now actually I cant sleep with ANY windows shut have to have little and big one open regardless on weather lol
I just need noise guess being on busy hossie wards (ya know the noisiest ya can get usually with me) but I hate silence it drives my crazy badly lol
I totally hear you on the pred insomnia. I've been known to do the cleaning at 3am when on pred as I just couldn't settle!
Like Wheezer says, Kalms are very good and have no affects with asthma meds. Other things I've found really helpful (feel free to laugh at me!)
- I have a cd of a thunder storm. I got it on ebay, its 30 mins long and its fantastic! I find the sound of rain very relaxing, this really works for me.
- If you can't sleep, get up, go and read a book or go and watch tv for a little bit and then try again. There is nothing worse than lying in bed thinking I can't get to sleep over and over again.
- Make a consistant bed time routine. Likes been said about the freshly made bed etc, all these factors do have an affect. Go to bed at about the same time, make sure you have wind down time at the end of the day be it a hot bath, milky drink and book etc.
- If you do wake up and can't get straight back to sleep, go to the loo! You may not need to go, but the getting out of bed, going somewhere and coming back psychologically says ""I'm going back to bed""
I'm sure theres quite a few of us sharing you pain here... I hate taking pred for this very reason, and whilst cleaning the house was necessary, the novelty wears off pretty quick at 3am....
Thank you so much for your recommendation of kalms tablets, i got some last week and began to feel the efffect straight away!! am usually a right moody maddam with PMT but even then things didnt bother me!! Cant wait to see if they still work when on iv aminophyline!!!!
Deep breathing laying on back, palms up. Breath out and out and out till you are squeaking from pushing the last bottom of lungs air out...then suck in big TRULY FULL lungs of new air...don't rush to breath it out and don't hold it in unnaturally either...let the air start to escape in your own time until you're blowing out those last remnants of air from the bottom of your lungs again...then breath in again...repeat one last time...stay on your back. Feel the deep rhythmic breathing flowing in and out on its own as you lay (pillow less) on your (feeling-funky) relaxed back...ZZzzzzzz
Wild lettuce grows nearly everywhere. It looks like a tall dandylion, with multiple small heads. It is the key ingredient of Nitol herbal. The white sap inside can be harvested, make tea with the stem and leaves, dry the weed on a radiator in a paper bag to store...m.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ing...
Try phenergan. They are fab and I wake up feeling ok and get some sleep
Can't sleep..steroids
theophylline absorption
