Sleep? What's that? [continued]

[Joealt]

Woke up at 3 AM again. At least I'm punctual. Depression rears its ugly head. I've been pretty spaced out today. Lots of hand and jaw tremors. I don't know if it's a sleep issue or a PD issue. I try napping but, is it good to spend that much time in bed? Besides that, once I go back to bed I can't get myself back out of bed [poor me]. I feel sorry for my wife. Too much drama!

[wacodave]

Suggestions from someone who's been in your shoes: chewing gum helped my jaw tremors, teeth grinding, etc. Squeeezing a cush or tennis ball helped with the hand tremors. I take a 2mg Klonopin tablet before bed to reduce anxiety, and I have a white noise generator as well. I get as comfortable as I can in bed, then starting at 100, I count backwards the number of breaths I take, and I've never gotten past 50 before I go to sleep. I usually sleep 8 or so hours. A nap in the early afternoon is OK if it doesn't interfere with your overnight sleep. I also found that I do not take Requip well; turns me into an absolute zombie. Above all, make a list of at least 25 diseases htat would be far worse than PD and you'll see how lucky you are. Best of luck, Dave

[Joealt in reply to wacodave]

Thank you for your input. My white noise this morning was the sound of the garbage truck out in the alley. On top of that we live on an ambulance route. Some nights there are back to back sirens. It sounds like there's a war going on out there. A car alarm goes off every morning a 6:30. I find myself listening for it. That's my cue to start getting out of bed. For some reason Thursday is my weekly "bad day". I usually feel much better by 3 in the afternoon.

[Susie01]

I have always had sleep issues, I have a very hard time falling asleep. I also take 2 mg of Klonopin before bed. I do not like taking it and have talked with my doctor about gradually reducing it, tried and could not sleep.

Ambien worked well until I had a big problem with amnesia, that was before I was diagnosed with PD. Looking back it could have been the PD or the Ambien because I still have amnesia and am not taking Ambien! I have a goal of decreasing the meds I take, but don't guess that is going to happen!

[Joealt in reply to Susie01]

It seems like every med that has ever been prescribed to me has some sort of side effect. My antidepressants make me depressed, my PD med makes me shake. Now I have this new insomnia thing. I wake up and find myself thinking about a song over and over. I don't even know the lyrics. Once I had a Beatles song going thru my head a couple of nights, but it sounded muffled. I wish that I knew what the song was so I could play the record. [mommy. What's a record?]For the past week it's been "I've got the world on a string sitting on a rainbow..." It doesn't even have to be a song I like. Once I got obsessed with "I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus...". Oh no. Don't get me started!

[Dannny]

I take Magnesium 500mg it helps with pain and you will sleep better..helps in the bathroom too.....Epsom salt is good for soaking and it's magnesium...

[Joealt]

New Record: 2:30AM. But it gave me time to solve all of The Worlds Problems. I get up and read now.