Sleeping problems!

[Rachael23]

Hi, I've recently had my medication changed and I'm now on 50mg of pred, I'm struggling to sleep longer than 4/5hours a night. Does anyone else suffer with this? Any advice? I will be bringing it down next week so hopefully that will make a difference!! Thanks x

[PMRpro]

Most people who are on high dose pred find difficulty sleeping - it should improve as the dose reduces though. But for some people any pred just means little sleep. Try not to worry about it - I know it is easy to say! If you can, learn to lie there and relax and if not, get up and do something else - so you don't associate bed and lying awake as then it makes the return to sleep even harder. Most of us try to nap when we can during the period on high doses - but then, on my forum, where we are ALL on pred as it is the only thing that deals with our symptoms, most of us are older and haven't got children or a job to fit in as well.

[Rachael23 in reply to PMRpro]

When I was on less pred I wasn't too bad so hoping as they go back down I'll sleep. I've been off work for a few days but back tomorrow, not sure how I'll cope on barely any sleep. Thanks for advice x

[LUPUSadmin]

Hi Rachael23,

Sleep can be a problem for people who are taking steroids. It might be worth taking a look at some sleep hygiene techniques to help you sleep. You can find a couple of techniques and some more information from the sleep foundation: sleepfoundation.org/ask-the...

If you're light sensitive, obviously exposure to natural light as they suggest, will be unhelpful but otherwise there are some really great tips on that page.

George

[RhondaB]

Hello, Part of Lupus is either you caint sleep or you caint stay awake. I"ve been told to take my Pred as early as possible because it can keep you awake. so I take mines with my morning (1st set) meds. Hope this helps and you can get some rest. Are you on 50 mg a week or a day?

[Rachael23 in reply to RhondaB]

I take it with breakfast to get it out the way! I'm on 50mg a day until next tues then down to 40mg. It's just cus I'm in a flare up at the minute. Normally I can't stay awake so this is a new experience for me ha x

[Diagnosed2012]

Hi, I struggled to get any sleep when I was on 40-60g of pred. I just lay there listening to 24hr news on TV with my eyes closed, so at least my eyes did get some rest even though I wasn't actually sleeping.

[Gillykay46]

You need to take the prednisolone as a single dose first thing in the morning. This mimics your natural steroids: you shouldn't take them any later than midday.