Sleepless nights

How does one stop waking up at 04:00 every morning

[Eiram50]

Now there’s a question I’d like the answer to!

[Hidden in reply to Eiram50]

It does not matter what time it crash and I do badly. If I go to bed at midnight I am still fully awake by 04

[sylvi]

If you find out Minty let me know darling,as i keep waking up early,5.30 this morning.xx

[Hidden]

I think I'd sleep better if my disease was better controlled. My bloody dog always wanders in and out of my bedroom too. He checks up on me constantly. Sometimes he's like a really annoying, overly attached boyfriend! I'm afraid he got roared at at 5 am this morning and shoved in living room.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

I do want a dog

[Ruth12345]

Ive know idea but would really like to know. I could say about all sorts of ideas ive read about and it all sounds logical. Has made know difference to me. I now accept waking up and am usually awake between 1 and 2.5 hrs. Thats when I think and just accept my body is resting. My rheumy said poor sleep is fairly common with RD and if it got too bad would review meds.

Hopefully someone on here has a solution.

[Hidden in reply to Ruth12345]

I am fed up as don’t know which joint is going to wake me up next, if only I could get some quality sleep I could manage this crap. I am sure someone up there has put me in the wrong body for a laugh. I do not want to add sleeping pills to my med collection but I have managed to sleep six hours and still have a few left

[frechfield in reply to Hidden]

CBD. may help.

[Simba1992 in reply to Ruth12345]

I started with LDN right after RA diagnosis. Had very much trouble with sleeping before this. First two weeks had strange dreams but after this very restful sleep. Another thing that has helped me is making sure I have enough fuel to take me through the night, in other words I always take a snack before bedtime. Waking up at 3 or 4 at the time when your cortisol is beginning to rise and you need more fuel. Taking a couple pieces of chocolate may put you right back to sleep.

[Gigi71]

I always wake in the early hours, for a comfort call, if I take a paracetamol I manage another hour to two. I always take two paracetamol at bedtime anyway, not sure why it works for me. X

[Hidden in reply to Gigi71]

No more pills for me, I have had enough of them

[Gigi71 in reply to Hidden]

Needs must. X

[Shalf]

Just seen GP yesterday about this very subject! Increase the amitriptyline was his suggestion. Unfortunately this drug doesn't do much for my symptoms as I have tried increasing it before. Doesn't do much for Fibro muscle aches either. I could sleep like snow white in the Steam Room though! 8 hours would be suffice and woken up by a kiss from a handsome prince would also be nice 😁. We can dream...... If only we could sleep first! X

[PFKAAde]

‘Friend’ of mine has been suffering from full-on insomnia recently. Either can’t get to sleep for (literally) hours, wakes up at some ungodly hour and can’t get back to sleep, or both 😡

‘He’ has recently been lucky enough to try a full-plant (indica strain) cannabis extract, taken sublingually an hour or so before bedtime. He swears this has been a revelation for him and first time he used it he had his first sleep of over 7 hours in months. It doesn’t get him high (particularly) and he is asleep anyway so meh.

It has also helped with various other issues that the only standard treatment for would be benzos, muscle relaxants and sleeping tablets (zopiclone works), but all of these are highly addictive and come with a slew of side-effects that could end up being worse than the thing they are supposed to treat. 🙄

Unfortunately, in the UK where he is based, this is still illegal and so finding a reliable supplier of said extract is not so simple and finding one that produces high-quality products intended for ‘medical’ uses is even harder. Growing and producing it himself is an option, but takes time, money, knowledge, space and of course a not inconsiderable amount of risk.

Whilst I realise this is not a practical solution for most, I just thought I’d put it out there - the more people learn about the positive side of medical marijuana (and he is / I am now convinced that there is one) the more people will start to realise that it genuinely does have some benefits that can’t be easily gained from the more common pharmaceutical approach. ‘He’ has convinced me to advocate (carefully😉) for its use / legalisation. Even if only for medical uses, although recreationally it is still way, way less problematic than alcohol, some would say.

Oh yes, chamomile tea also seems quite relaxing 😎 not quite the same though.

🙏🏻

[Hidden in reply to PFKAAde]

Don’t have a problem with that at all, like to keep an open mind. Your first paragraph could be me. Zopiclone came with warning from gp as highly addictive: only 2/3 nights a week as is tramadol etc, so all these pharmaceuticals aren’t necessarily safe. I ve noticed since off MTX I am sleeping much better and it isn’t to do with lack of pain as hand still flaring, weird eh? Even rheumatology who do courses on sleep etc aren’t sure whether drugs or disease that causes sleep problems but clearly a common problem for lots of us 🙂

[PFKAAde in reply to Hidden]

To be honest when my RA has been active a lack of sleep isn’t the problem I have - quite the opposite 😴

It tends to be in my head that the ‘problem’ occurs.

MTX helped with nothing for me, including sleep.

Prednisolone definitely didn’t help though.

🙏🏻

[Hidden in reply to PFKAAde]

Similar, I put it down to anxiety about disease in early days, not so sure now, does make you wonder bout cytokines/inflammation effects tho? X

[PFKAAde in reply to Hidden]

I’m sure that for some there are physiological effects that don’t help with sleep. For me the pain, night-sweats etc combined to mean lower-quality sleep, but probably more of it. I used to sleep for a couple of hours in the day and still be out like a light at 10pm.

Also I find with RA / joint pain i can usually wrap myself up in the duvet and a million pillows and get sort-of comfortable, but since having spine issues (and associated sciatic / nerve pain) I found that far worse. There is no escaping sciatic pain, 24/7 no drugs even touched it. Truly horrible.

It can’t help with the fatigue side of things though, can it!

🙏🏻

[Hidden in reply to PFKAAde]

Sorry to hear that, sciatica is awful x

[PFKAAde in reply to Hidden]

Ah no worries. I’m one of the ‘lucky’ ones because after 2 lots of surgery, 6 nerve root block injections and a lot of hard work in the gym, I can (sort of) walk again and don’t have the constant pain that some are left with.

It’s not ideal, but I get the benefit of increased understanding and empathy that we all have from our own, personal suffering - without the ongoing agony some are forced to endure.

It’s all part of life’s rich tapestry.

🙏🏻

[Anitasmith]

I have very bad insomnia, takes hours to get sleep. Normally get sleep at 4 am and wake up 8. I tried everything, exercises, sleeping pills, tea, cbd nothing. If someone idea how get better sleep would like know. Mine last favorite and at least helps entertained if you not get skeepy ,3is learning new

language in bed. At least makes me sleepy

[Hidden in reply to Anitasmith]

Not so long ago I took two sleeping pills when getting on a plane. I was asleep before take off and only woke on landing some 16 hours later, the best flight of my life.

[Shalf in reply to Hidden]

Haha - Very good Minty! X

[hatshepsut]

I have had major problems with sleep for years. When all else failed, I was put on zopiclone sleeping pills, after long conversations with my doctors. I am very aware of the addictive nature of zopiclone, but lack of sleep can be more harmful

Even with this medication, my maximum sleep is 4 1/2 to 5 hours. Sometimes if I eat, I can go back to sleep, but usually I listen to the radio/watch tv until a reasonable time to get up.

What I have learnt is that worrying about it is completely counterproductive, so I try to accept that this is me, and as long as I can relax and not worry about it, I am, to some extent, rested.

Another of the joys of RD!

[Hidden]

My OH has never struggled to sleep. A few years ago even on an evening safari, being thrown all over the place, he could sleep. RA has definitely caused him to sleep more and me to sleep less! I understand that back in time it was considered normal to sleep in two phases, so being awake in the early hours is quite natural. However,It doesn't fit into our lives conveniently now. I regularly have a small bowl of cereals at 4am. Sometimes i then go back to sleep, if I can, but it feels close to 6.30 when the alarm goes off. I go through the whole thing of bedtime ritual, cool bedroom, blackout curtains, no blue lights from monitors etc. etc. Aside from the cereals, I try to feel very heavy in the bed and bore myself to sleep counting backwards or silently singing the National Anthem as slowly as possible. It is a problem for many and if you are in pain its really difficult. Sympathies!

[Lyneal]

Hi, mine is around 3am, mind working overtime Wake for about 2hrs or maybe 3, it’s horrid.

[Hidden in reply to Lyneal]

I have been awake since 03:30 this morning. Stomach cramps.

I dare not get up as daughter will be awake, she is a light sleeper.

the rain falling on the thatch sounds lovely. The windows upstairs are open and it is so nice to see the rain running down. I can feel the temperature dropping sharply as winter is on the way

[Lyneal in reply to Hidden]

Hi Minty, I have had to stop my MXT injections because I have had two eye infections, so stopped for two weeks, had perfect sleep since stopping MXT, that’s interesting, see what happens next week when I go back on my injections.

[janeywaney63]

I've got the same problem, mostly 4am but sometimes 3am, and then I'm awake for a couple of hours. This morning was worse as my husband started snoring at 1am so that woke me then too. Then if my bedroom windows are open the blinking noisy seagulls and the local cockerel start competing with each other. Arghh!

[dbestdeb]

I add lavender essential oil to my nighttime moisturizer and have been sleeping better ever since.

[sconnor10]

Ask Google or Alexa, they should know. jk. goto bed later or take melatonin.

[attatel]

I find it so difficult to get to sleep and haven't slept for more than 4 hours at a time for ages. I am a side sleeper, really, but pain in my shoulders makes that tricky. I get restless legs too. I usually sleep for an hour or two then wake. I find a snack helps, but I thought that was just me so I'm interested to see so many people saying the same!

Apart from that, and painkillers, I have an audiobook on quietly. Enough to take my mind of the sleep problems but quiet enough not to keep me awake.

Very glad to see the back of the hot weather too!

[Hidden in reply to attatel]

Yes we are not alone in our sleeping habits. Do you take a nap 💤 in the day?

I am missing the warm weather

[attatel in reply to Hidden]

I dont nap as such, but if there's any chance of getting a late couple of hours, I don't get up! 🙂 I know I should stick to a routine, but I think it's important to sleep whenever you can because you never know when sleep will come again!

[Hidden in reply to attatel]

I managed to stay awake all day until I went to bed. For the whole day I laid on the settee under a cover as I was feeling sore,