Sleep

[Glassmover]

Can you help me. I have been taking Prednisolone which was recently lowered from 10 to 9 mg for Polymyalgia Rheumatica. I have problems sleeping so my GP prescribed 10 mg of Amitriptyline which doesn’t seem to help. Any suggestions please. I am 78 years old and get very distressed when I don’t sleep.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Very common issue Have a look at this plus the replies from others-

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...

Also try the search option - unfortunately related posts feature which would have given loads more info are currently disabled

[suzy1959]

In the early days of taking Pred. I took Amitriptyline and it did help but only when I upped the dose to 35 mgs. It then worked for about 8 years, after which it seemed to stop working and I have had horrendous insomnia since.

I think it is worth persevering with it but trying a higher dose to see if that works for you. (By the way, even on the Amitriptyline I was getting up twice in the night.)

[piglette]

I used to be able to go to sleep in less than a minute. When PMR came along I was lucky to get to sleep in less than an hour and often the birds were waking up when I actually dropped off. I gave into it and discovered the BBC World Service.

[Louisa1840]

Yes, I too am on Amitriptyline to help me sleep. When my prescription ran out and I couldn't get in to see the doc for 3 weeks, I had awful insomnia so, I know they work! Itake two tablets around 8 pm ....... I agree with Piglette re the radio! There's nothing worse than lying there worrying that you can't sleep. So, try not to let it become an issue and either read for a short while until your eyelids droop or put the radio on if that's possible? If you're not still working (that's another issue) just tell yourself it doesn't matter and that you can nap the following day (I always have a nap around the middle of the day whether I've slept well or not ).

All the best.......

[oscarina]

here in US the go to med is zolpidem (ambien) for insomnia. its supposed to be short term, a few weeks, but most folks take it for years. Other similarly formulated medications work about as well but have the same warnings as ambien's, sleepwalking and foggy morning brain, and some short term memory issues. It has worked for me for twenty years , I started when my vascular tinnitus went from two hours a day to 24/7/365 and is louder of course when its quiet such as nitefall. Doesnt stop the UPT but puts my lights out till morning. There is some controversy about ambien being related to increased occurrence of cancers. I have written to our National Health Service to ask about it and they just referred me to the American Cancer Society that responded with "no conclusive findings".

P S:Ambien is a very big profit maker for the company that had the patent.

[technogran]

Hi there, I've been on Prednisolone for 5 years and have problems sleeping as well. I didn't find Amitryptiline helpful either. I am currently on 6mg coming down from 60mg a day but instead of tossing and turning for half the night I find reading is a distraction cos it makes you concentrate on something other than worrying about sleeping. Good luck.

[Glassmover]

Thankyou all so much for your replies re. Sleeping. It seems that worrying about sleeping is the worst thing. I shall read, relax and concentrate on anything that makes me feel loved and capable of caring for myself. I must also add that at first I found the chats on HealthUnlocked rather scarey but I now feel that there is a lot of love and caring around and that’s very holding. Thankyou

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Glassmover]

I think you are right that the worrying about it is the worst aspect. Not least, because that keeps you awake as well!