Poor Sleep

[AmandaH1774]

My Dad is struggling to get more than 3 hours sleep each night. Has anyone got any ideas to help him? I think the lack of sleep is getting him down. Bless him x Thanks

[Paul_and_Sue_Wood]

Amanda,

His lack of sleep is due to something thatust be waking him up and that's what needs resolving.

This could be one or many things that have it be treated separately.

Is it physical? Pain? Discomfort? Shakes? Toilet? Breathing?

Is it of the mind? Bad dreams ( common with MSA) Bad thoughts?

All of these issues get treated differently. I would suggest a long chat with you doctor / consultant or specialist nurse or someone at MSA Trust.

I hope you get to the root of the issue and get that important sleep.

Paul

[Hellebelle]

Hi Amanda, my dad also has MSA and has struggled with sleep. He now sleeps better with his head slightly raised (he has a profiling bed) and he gets very hot at night so he has cotton sheets and duvet covers and his bedroom is not too hot. We also found out that he has pain at night so he now has pain killers before he goes to bed. I am sure there will be other suggestions here, but I think it is partly about finding out what might be preventing him from sleeping and/or waking him. It would also be worth consulting the MSA specialist nurses as they will have considerable experience of this problem. I hope you manage to find some solutions. Love to you all.

[Yanno]

Hello Amanda

Paul makes good sense in his comments- try to understand why your Dad is not sleeping. Jax was plagued by night terrors- she didn’t even know she was having them, but screamed and shouted, thrashed and punched, but when woken didn’t even realise she had been doing it. I used to say that it was her way of giving me a right hook for my sins of the day before and pretending she didn’t know about it!!!

Jill, our fantastic MSA Nurse, suggested Clonazepam which acts as a mild seductive and stops the night terrors, well at least till the early hours when she still gets a chance to beat me up!!

I hope you find a solution, Happy New Year,

take care, Ian

[JillMSA Moderator Staff]

Hello Amanda,

There is an article in Issue 43 of the MSA Trust magazine about sleep which you may find helpful

msatrust.org.uk/support-for...

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My wife suffered for at least 20 years with lack of sleep and night terrors before the onset of the Parkinsonism symptoms. She is now quite advanced and finds sleep her biggest problem. She gave up trying to sleep in a bed years ago and now sleeps on a matress topper lined riser/ recliner chair. She has problems with dystonia in her legs and once awake finds it difficult to go back to sleep. I often have to get up and help her move to easy the dystonia give her pain killers and resettle her back down again. We find that taking 5htp supplement tablets help a lot and gets things back to getting a good nights sleep. They get the sleep hormones back on track and allow her to get 6 of 7 hours sleep a night. 5htp tablets are seratonin supplements and available from holland&barrett or ebay. she takes 1 tablet about 20 mins before sleeping and they seem to knock her right out. Problem then is the kidneys can work harder with the extra sleep and her catheter bag is nearly bursting the next morning so rehydration is then very important or blood pressure dropping becomes the biggest problem then.

Kevin

[tingates]

Amanda.

As Ian said, my husband has found that clonazepam has transformed his sleep. You MSA nurse will be very familiar with it. John was prescribed it after tests at the sleep clinic as I think it can be a problem with severe sleep apnea. Ask your nurse.

Amanda

[SamanthaMSAT Moderator Staff]

Sleep problems are common in MSA. This can be caused by sleep apnoea, REM sleep disorder, frequent visits to the bathroom to pass urine, or general stiffness and aches and pains. Initially I suggest you discuss with your local Parkinson's Nurse Specialist (they are very knowledgeable and cover MSA as well as PD) or the Neurologist. They will be able to take a full history and advise acordingly.

Kind regards, MSA Trust NS.