Better sleep: 30 wakers & stoppers

[JayCeon]

I was asked for my list of "20" things that wake me up at night. Or 30... ;-). I had to analyze them to be able to try to start working again... so here goes (this is a public post, so best start a new thread if you want to say something private):

Like many, I have to sleep more (+1h = 9h) than before fibro, with more waking up & trying to get to sleep again, 3-8x per night, 30'-4h. (Sleep lab said: reduced slow wave sleep phases, otherwise OK. They measured 78% snoring, but I don't (audio check), so it was my nose problem, see below.)

Some of the stuff I unsuccessfully tried was Willow bark, glutamine, valeriana, passiflora, tryptophan, 5 HTP, progesterone, lavender, Swiss pine. What helped getting me back to sleep for a few months, but too harmful (8 adverse effects): amitriptyline. 9mg of 10% CBD oil for a week made me tired in the daytime, but not at night. (Neither reduced pain.)

Aside from my pain diary, I started a sleep diary. Getting pains down (with osteopathy, acupressure, yoga) helped sleep a lot too. The Ache in the daytime is more of a problem and harder to keep down, but is strangely hardly a problem at night, only sometimes, when I overdo it, cold showering before going to bed helps me. These basics allowed to pinpoint, analyze and treat/trick the various sleep symptoms more and more. I make it a habit now to immediately do something about every little bit, never waiting for a small pain to increase.

Self-discipline with writing a sleep diary, even abbreviated, and using it, is necessary. It may cost 1' every time, if you have a lot of things one after the other, it may throw you out completely for one night, but it's worth it in the end. Keep it in balance.

***Sleep hygiene***

* Try changing sleeping time. I always tend to sleep better before 10pm, more like 9:30 or 9pm.

* Shut yourself down / go into sleep mode at least an hour before. Incl. anything that could trigger your thoughts, like computer (even if you have that in night shift mode, i.e. without the blue light.)

* Try not to sleep at daytime. Power nap under 20mins at most.

***Ears-Nose-Throat:***

* Light: blackout curtains or blinds till every single ray stays out.

* Noises: Ear plugs if you can (try all the various types). Noise reducing headphones. (Water-noises.) Change room/bed.

* Nose congested or crusty at about 4am: Sinupret (herb pills) works best (seems to liquefy), hot pad on !feet is very good too (sometimes sinuses or forehead, move it round), changing sleeping sides (sometimes the congestion is best on the upper nostril, sometimes on the lower). Nose strips help breathing, but careful if you have sensitive skin, take it off after 3 hours. If it's crusty (heating in winter): ointment (best before the night). Keep room air damp with wet towels on the heating (not above 60%, to prevent mold) (plants and other things don't help that much). Use various acupressure points. Pull tip of nose long for a few minutes. Breathe intensely a while thru the congested nostril. Breathing exercise. Cold shower. Hot/cold shower. One doc I know assumes it's a fibro thing, but I haven't heard this from fibromites online. My ENTs suggest a laser-operation, but I'd rather not (they say 5 weeks feeling like you have a cold; but that's not counting fibro-amplification...)

* Soft palate noisy after a few mins. lying on back: turn head.

***Bladder / Urological:***

* Peeing: Drink earlier in the day, only soy drink, only small sips at night.

***Gut/Stomach / Gastrointestinal:***

* Gut: Find Your Diet. Don't eat later than 7pm. Psyllium.

* Hyperacidic stomach burning: Find Your Diet. Sip of drink (in my case soy). Gastritol (herbs). If unaviodable eat something light and quickly/not "chewable", like yoghurt. Preferably with lights out/very dim and with no stimulating smells, suitable temperature.

***Muscles/Joints//Tendons/Fascies/"Bones" - (Orthopedic)/Physiotherapeutic (from bottom to top)***

* Everything: Try out different mattresses. I need a hard one for my middle back, but just putting a thin soft topper on it helped loads. Or a fur under sensitive part of the body (e.g. lower back) might. Hot pads / water bottle. Stretching by lying twisted/askew. Burning feeling: cold pad?

* Stabs: Hot water bottle, arnica cream, massage, trigger points, acupressure points.

* Thigh: Twisting leg outward at knee or foot (outside or in bed).

* (Calf-)Cramps: Stretching (turning) (early enough). Drinking enough? (For some: Magnesium)

* Lower back: Back exercises, Yoga back exercises. Daytime. At night: cold showering.

* Elbow / wrist etc.: When cocked: straighten. Tendons, not joints!?! Pins’n’needles.

* Middle back: Small hard cushion under it.

* Clavicle: Trigger pointing. Arnica cream.

* Neck: Wedge a small pillow/cushion under forehead & half of my face, so face-down. (Face-up is a problem because of my palate noise, but sometimes it's OK.) Even better might be a ring cushion with breath-holes... Something like a higher mattress next to yours.

***Mind / Psychological:***

* Thinking this/Notes: Pda (palm) next to bed if there is a lot happening.

* Dreams: Breathe, autogenic training, turn dreams round in a pleasant direction (practice while drowsing).

* Ideas: My ruminations are usually positive ones about my music or work, so I call them - positively - "ideas", but they still disturb my sleep. Either way: Sometimes I have to get up and just write things down/compose for a certain time. However long (I try to get it under 10mins.): Cold showering gets me tired again afterwards.

***Lungs / Pneumatological:***

* Lying on chest: Sometimes obstructs oxygen-need. Sometimes place pillow and blankets so it's less.

***Teeth / Dental:***

* Inflammations: Marigold Essence. If sipping necessary: not on that side.

***Skin / Dermatological:***

* Itchy: Less water on skin. Lotion. Wash hair in time.

* Bites: Plaster to prevent scratching.

***Dunno / Everything / Misc.:***

* Sleeping together: Don't be "considerate" ;-(, do what body needs, i.e. move. Not too long. More intense contact / quality time at day.

* Hot: Air room before/during/in between sleep, swap blankets & pyjamas earlier. Cold shower.

* Headache: Drink, eat, deep breathe. Mint oil. Massage, acupressure points (various possibilities)

* Awake / restless (you don't have to have restless legs/RLS to feel restless O.o): Enjoy drowsing if that feels right. Count it as sleep!!! Don't get uptight about it. And I keep plugging it: I sleep like a baby, for 2h-4h about 10' (seldom 20') after a COLD SHOWER (2x1', starting with legs)! It stops a part of my thoughts, the Ache and the pains. Or hot 1' then cold 2x1'. And keep hot pad etc. ready in case necessary.

[Sketch2019]

Yes I’m on it and it’s helped me a lot and recently been told to take three tablets due to recent spinal probs and being in pain to this I take them about 7 pm so I can sleep properly I did notice when I first started taking them i went sleepy after few hours be careful they may not suit everyone but they help me

[JayCeon]

Update:

Going back to work a bit and even more:

TCM/acupressure have improved my sleep even more. Now I manage almost 9 hours almost every night.

Using arnica cream (Traumeel) on my back spasms worked immediately, like it does on my elbows, wrists and calves.

I use a third duvet and/or a long-sleeve T-shirt in the wee morning hours.

Cold showering (20-40'') still works a treat for unrest in mind or body, but now I warm my toes at the end either with water or a hot water bottle. Don't need it that much any more, but in some nights it may be twice. And it always sets me of for 2-4 hours, inside of about 10' cuddling in.

As well as autogenic training I now use a kind of immediate self-hypnosis. Usually in the last hour, which I still need - I'd be glad to be back to 8 hours, but no chance...

[JayCeon in reply to JayCeon]

This doesn't seem to be helping anyone here, but all the same, just for the record...:

Working on my sleep even more now, I've just had a spree of ideas, which seem to work:

Firstly I'm surprised, not sure yet, but taking an afternoon nap of 45' has been followed by a very good night's sleep with only 3 short breaks.

More sure about these, to do in bed while trying to get (back) to sleep:

Feeling hot: not changing blankets (too much effort), just turning them, cold side in, as much as nec..

Restlessness, esp. from the lower back:

Cobra-position as long as it takes, but that takes some effort, so wakes you up a bit.

Cat-/cow-position, arch and round back, but just lying on your side or back, so no big effort, 2x4x (= 4x each way).

Lying on 1 leg, twisting the other to the back and to the front, 2x4x.

Super-Twist: Lying face-down, keep legs there, but twist torso as far as possible "180°", 2x4x.

Stiffness: A game-changer?

Before changing position (mainly "getting up" after sitting or lying down):

Twist both arms and legs outside and inside 2x4x. Careful tho, doing it too strongly may be too much.

This has helped me before getting up from lying at night, from sitting (used it first time in a bus yesterday), makes back exercises easier in the morning, etc.

The difference of my way is doing it without getting up in any way, just turning while lying (or sitting) down, plus keeping it quick & short.

wikihow.com/Do-the-Cat-Pose...

I wanted to summarize these ideas as micro-yoga, seeing as they are quick & short, but that's already taken, so perhaps nano-yoga ... Oh no, that exists too... and is still longer than what I'm talking about, so: piko/pico-yoga? That just seems the name of a few yoga schools...

melissavsfibromyalgia.com/2...

yogasimplified.com/7-sukshm...

selfgrowth.com/articles/nan...

My inspirations: realizing that everything I do needs to be quick & short, reading somewhere to stretch 5' before doing something, can't remember exactly, the idea of my acupressurist to let my knees fall to each side a few times and then rock the spine, which didn't work tho, trying the cobra at night a couple of times against the seemingly restless legs/back (hope this saves me from having to try Levodopa). The fast-twisting to alleviate stiffness came to me in a bus, self-consciously sitting on the disabled seats for 30mins...