Can anyone help with my sleep anxiety?

[IvfStruggler]

This is my fourth round and I found something new. During my last rounds I was able to take significant time off work. Now I'm retraining as a teacher, working full-time and my colleagues are giving me lots of stress (they are not nice people). I cannot take too much time off. I was told I was only able to start with ivf in a couple of months time but then I was so lucky that they allowed me to start much earlier than expected (I'm nearly 39 with low AMH). But now I feel unprepared. I'm at day 4 stimming and I'm sleeping so bad. There are nights I just cannot fall asleep and mornings when I wake up extremely early. I feel so much pressure in terms of growing good eggs and as I'm worried about how little sleep and stress is affecting them, I get so stressed that I cannot sleep. I know it sounds really stupid- it's like a little circle of self-torture. I'm trying to stick to a bed time routine, I'm waiting for a counseling appointment, use meditation apps and yesterday I even had some melatonine tablets (as I heard they are not bad for egg quality) but it's still awful. My partner is really depressed and absolutely no support at all. I'm just really hoping someone can say: I slept really bad and I still had good eggs and got pregnant. Or any other advice really.

Thanks for reading. Big hugs for everyone xx

[RhinoCat]

I think the hormones affect this and maybe cause it? I was like this on my first cycle during sims but I just told myself to chill out.... I was going to wake up early and that was that.

I tried to use mindfulness apps at night to unwind and put my phone down an hour before I went to bed.

Then if I woke id put on headphones in with the Calm sleep stories and just focus on that. Sometimes I slept. Sometimes I didn’t.

I’m a teacher too. My staff are horrible . They are judgemental and nosey and defo not supportive.

You might need to see your gp and get signed off ..... for something close to ivf / like stress / gynae or whatever they would be kind enough to suggest.

Put yourself first.

If you broke your legs tomo you’d be off and a sub would be employed.

Do what you need to do!!!!!

This and you matter the most! You’ve waited long enough!

Love and hugs of utter understanding!

[IvfStruggler in reply to RhinoCat]

Thank you so much for your reply. I used to have a terrible problem with sleeping. It started as a child. But the last few years I've was doing so much better (even during previous IVF cycles)- until now. I have been thinking of getting signed off but I do love working with the children and I need the distraction. I am really going to try to put my phone away before bed- this is something I really struggling with. Thanks again for your message xx

[RhinoCat in reply to IvfStruggler]

I also tell myself off 🤣 I literally tell myself to shut up 🤐 and ficus on my breathing and every time a deep thought of worry comes I bad it away and focus on my breathing again. It’s hard to to think about anything but I find the effort to do this eventually gets me over. Have you another bed you could go to when you wake up? Maybe the change would get ya over? I did that too and sometimes it worked. If you read time side effects it makes sense that your thought patterns and sleep are interrupted. 😘😘😘😘💐

[Alice4090]

Try Valerian root tablets

[jengi]

Awh lovely I’m sorry you are struggling. The hormones will impact on your sleep but your stress won’t help sleep either. Could you try some accupuncture, massage or reflexology to help with stress/sleep. You have to put yourself first. If taking time of work is the best thing to do & won’t cause you more stress by being off then do that. I found the calm app really good and would listen to sleep stories in the middle of the night to help me get back to sleep. Look after yourself lovely. I hope your counselling appt arrives soon. Counselling and this forum were my saviour through IVF. Xx

[Faith9582]

MELATONIN 👌🏼 5g every night before bed . They are recommended for egg quality and also gives you the best sleep without hanging on you the next day . I’ve taken them all through my stims xxx

[Londongirl84 in reply to Faith9582]

I second this 🙋🏽‍♀️ and also took it during stims.

[Purpledoggy]

How much melatonin are you taking? Because too much will stop you sleeping. I can't tolerate more than 2mg a night, 1-1.5mg is optimal for me. It is one of those things where less is more. I take 1.5mg every night starting 1 month before planned EC. I do find stims make my sleep worse, though, so some of it is undoubtedly hormones as well as stress.

One massive revelation for me was that vitamin D deficiency causes insomnia (who knew). I now take 4,800IU a day (4,000 vit D, also 800 in pregnacare) all of time time because I had mine tested last year when I was getting plenty of sunshine and on 2,000IU a day, and it was 68 nmol/L (75-100 is recommended for TTC). I had severe insomnia 2 years ago in late October and a friend flagged vit D deficiency up as a possible cause. As soon as I started supplementing I noticed a difference. Just an extra thought if you aren't taking much or you haven't had it tested.

My last suggestion that helped me when my insomnia was really bad was an app called Mindset. There are some insomnia sessions on there that are brilliant to listen to before bed. xx

[try2020]

The Mindful IVF app has an excellent 1 hour sleep session, helped me pretty much every time I couldn't switch off, good luck with the rest of your cycle 🧡

[Hidden]

Hi, I just wanted to say I slept really bad, got good eggs and I’m currently 16.5 weeks pregnant. The meds were a nightmare for me. I had so many side effects including poor sleep and fluctuations between feeling really anxious, angry, depressed etc. I got put on a double long cycle due to Covid so had to do 42 days of Buseralin injections.

I would wake up between 3 and 4am every morning boiling and dripping with sweat. I was exhausted the whole time. I got 18 eggs collect on that cycle and we ended up with 4 embryos. My fresh transfer failed from that cycle but I’m not surprised as my body was so stressed but I did a natural FET 3 months later when my body had returned to normal and got a BFP.

My sleep patterns haven’t been much better since getting pregnant so can only assume it’s all hormone related. I try not let it bother me and tell myself I can’t do much about it. I try and work with whatever sleep pattern I’m stuck in. This week I’ve had to make myself go to bed between 7:30pm and 8:30pm because I’m so tired but I will only sleep 6.5 hours maximum. So I’ve been waking between 2am and 3am twiddling my thumbs. If I don’t get to bed I fall asleep on the sofa at that time, wake up 2 hours later and then don’t sleep all night . 🤷🏼‍♀️Sometimes I read, other times I eat a small bowl of non sugary cereal or move room/beds. Unfortunately my body just wants me awake, so if I can, I wait until at least 5am and then I might do a few hours work or do some exercise. If I get tired later in the day and can fit it in around work I take a nap. If not, I just don’t think about it as it will make you stressed. I don’t feel stressed by anything at the moment so it must be the hormones at play.

I wish you the best of luck with your next cycle and would also recommend councilling for both you and your husband if you have not tried it. If you need to take time off, do it. Do what is best for you. Xx