I am on 40 mg prednisone for CGA. My sleep has not improved from the lower dosage.
When I get sleepy, I lie down and sleep for 2 hours. Wake up very alert and 4 hours later am sleepy again. I lie down again for another 2 hours and the same cycle goes on all day and night. I take about 4 two hour naps during a 24 hour period. I can't sleep longer than 2 ours at a time.
Melatonin does not help, even at 20mg. Anyone with helpful tips. Will more ormal sleep return when I taper down more. I can reduce by 10mg every 2 weeks if my blood work ELSR and CRCPis good.
Groda
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Groda
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My son who works shifts uses a Valerian, Magnesium and Lionshead mushroom, supplement called Relax that he says really helps, it has a number of other helpful ingredients. You could experiment with what Canada has to offer always checking for contraindications with your meds. I have success with Audiobooks that I fall asleep to surprisingly easily. Try your primary health provider if this issue becomes extreme. Zopiclone can work temporarily, if all else fails.
This is a tricky one but good advice already been offered.
From my own personal point of view, I've always been a very light sleeper, waking frequently and struggling to stay asleep.
When I was first prescribed prednisolone and on the higher doses, sleep definitely eluded me, but unless absolutely necessary, I would try to avoid sleeping during the day (no matter how tired I felt) as this would then almost guarantee me a good night's sleep the next night.
I'm on 3½mgs now but still find sleeping a challenge at times and seem to go through phases of poor sleep followed by better sleep.
I find listening to the Woman's Hour podcast that's normally broadcast during the day on BBC Radio 4 really helps.
The voices relax me and then lull me off to sleep and when it's finished my phone automatically switches off. It definitely helps.
There are so many different strategies you can try to help you experience better sleep quality....from the medicinal to the practical.....and of course not everything helps everyone. Unfortunately it's a case of trial and error till you find something that works for you.
It took being much lower than 40mg to achieve normal sleep. From what I can remember 20mg wasn’t great either. I saw some lovely sunrises and existed on naps for a while. On higher doses Pred caused me to feel uncoordinated and sluggish so I took it for bedtime. So I got to sleep but not for longer than 4 hours. I can’t remember when I got some improvement but for most things nearer 10mg was much better.
Do you really mean you can reduce by 10mg every 2 weeks if you bloods are ok?
As SnazzyD mentions, you may be able to reduce more quickly when on higher doses, but every 2 weeks is too quick..it can take that long for a flare to appear [and even longer for bloods to show issues]...so 3weeks at least at each dose, and once you get to 30mg maybe 5mg a time..
Metatonin isn't recommended with pred - it can make the adverse effects of pred worse so could actually be making the effect on sleep worse. As it is - you are probably doing the best approach, catching naps when you can. If it is too bad, speak to your GP because we don't function well with really poor sleep and you need to break the pattern now and then.
Because of my terrible insomnia( from the pred.) I have been prescribed melatonin and Zolpidem which I alternate every few weeks, because they stop working after a while.
I checked with my Rheumy before taking the melatonin and he said he couldn’t see a problem with it. It certainly helps me, but I still wake up to pee 3-4 times a night. It really helps me to get off to sleep- without it, it can take 3-4 hours, sometimes more.
Having experimented with Melatonin dosages, I find the lower doses such as 2 or 3 mgs much more effective than 5 or 10mgs.
It should gradually improve a least a little as you reduce pred. I take occasional sleeping tablets to give a bit of respite, but at high doses of pred I took them every night for a while.
Not having a daytime nap does not work for me. We are all so different it is worth trying anything and everything to find what helps you. Heron NS found that taking a calcium tablet at bedtime helped a bit.
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