Terrible sleep issues

[Willie51]

So now I’m 10+ weeks into treatment consisting of Lupron+Abiraterrone and have completed 5 of 20 radiation sessions. In many ways things seem to be going very well. My PSA numbers have gone from 8.4 to .2 and still falling. My side effects have been minimal , only lately have I seen some mild hot flashes. No side effects yet from the radiation. But I’m suffering terribly from very poor sleep. I’ve had sleep issues for a long time, sleep apnea, actually now use a BIPAP machine regularly and have typically managed ok. But now, I sleep very little and when I do the quality is very poor. Seriously for the last month I go to bed about 9pm and usually fall asleep pretty quickly, but wake up at 11:30 & 1:30 & 3:30 & 4:00, don’t sleep well or much in between , and usually get up exhausted by 4:30. It’s really taking a toll and can’t be good for my health or PC treatment. I’ve tried EVERYTHING….all the benzo meds, over the counter sleep meds, exercise, therapy and nothing works more than a couple times. My medical team says it’s due to the hormone treatment. I’m desperate ! I don’t think everyone with PC has this problem but are there many others out there that do and what have you done to fix the problem ? What scares me is I’m probably going to be on this hormone treatment for a few very long time. In the past I’ve tried cannabis but everything that’s been recommended to me has screwed up my head all night long. Are there cannabis or CBD products that really work just for sleep? Almost everyone I’ve asked for advice in a dispensary has been under 25 and only know what works to get you high. I know everyone is different but I appreciate any advice. Thanks

[Tall_Allen]

Do you take prednisone only in the morning? What about Ambien CR?

[Willie51 in reply to Tall_Allen]

Yes prednisone only in the morning an hour after Abiraterrone. Yes I’ve tried Ambien CR at even a higher dose and it worked a couple times then stopped working. My Medical Onocology team says there’s not a lot of evidence that hormone therapy causes insomnia. But my Radiation Onocologist (they work great together and are both the best) says it’s typical for hormone treatment to cause sleep problems.

[spencoid2]

I have found that CBN works best among the canabinoids to promote sleep. I bought some overpriced gummies with just 10 mg of CBN per dose and I thik I have slept better until I ran out. CBN (not CBD) is a natural product of the decomposition of THC so any pot stored badly (exposed to oxygen and heat) will eventually convert most of the THC to CBN. Unfortunately I stored all of my pot well using light proof bags, oxygen absorbers and kept out of high heat areas so it is just about as strong as it ws 6 years ago

I Considered various ways of aging pot. I have all sorts of tools and equipment to choose from including laboratory equipment. I have a vacuum oven all sorts of pumps, oxygen cylinders etc etc. I finally decided to use UVB (not UVA or UVC) to accelerate aging. In the mail today is the last part needed, the actual 12% UVB tube. These are hard to find, most are lower percentage UVB. They are sold to keep pet reptiles happy. In a few hours I should have my aging box set up and will see what it does. Where I live almost everyone grew pot for years and with legalization now have literally tons of the stuff. I can get all the old pot I want for free and still have some of my own.

Other methods included controlled heating in an oxygen rich atmosphere which I could do in my vacuum oven but a fire or explosion is more likely than using the UVB lamp so that was my choice. Also overheating or too much oxygen can degrade other components that you might want to keep. So the UVB approach sounded like the best.

You can buy gummies with CBN any place where it is legal. I am not sure of the legal status of CBN and if you can get it separately where THC is not legal. Also I am under the impression that CBN for sleep should be taken together with some THC and CBD? The gummies I tried had equal amounts of all three.

I tried all of the recommended pharmaceuticals for sleep and nothing worked for me. And one (i forget the name) gave me horrible nightmares. I do tolerate lorazepam and that might help with any anxiety that is one of the contributors to lack of sleep but do not like combining it with morphine so I reserve that for just when I have my head ins a clamp for radiation to the head I have high hopes for the CBN and will report back after I make some of my own and test it.

I also have a good supply of high strength resin that I will try aging to CBN to be able to make edibles. It is too bad that anything cannabis is so overpriced.

[Willie51 in reply to spencoid2]

Wow dude you have way more expertise than me! I will try to buy CBN. I have a low tolerance for pot (I considered than a great thing while getting stoned) so even a small amount of THC makes my head spin all night.

[spencoid2 in reply to Willie51]

yes THC keeps my head spinning and i cannot sleep. I did a test yesterday and put some ground up old pot under UVB for 8 hours. still working on details. took a bit last night maybe a gram? about a small joint's worth. swallowed it. did not get stoned at all and i think i slept better than usual but that is really hard to judge because there re so many variables. i realized that i had not decarboxylated the pot before aging it so i just did that and will try the new stuff tonight.

i have a week of radiation next week and staying in a hotel. that will be the test

[Willie51 in reply to spencoid2]

Thanks

[PrettyUnhappyGuy]

Weed has NEVER made me sleepy. Just the opposite. When I can't sleep I take hydroxyzine two hours before bed, and then an Ambien immediately when I get into bed. But I'm careful to only do this, at most 2, rarely 3, days a week because these drugs will stop working if used too often.

I had sleep problems before cancer and went to a sleep doctor. Here are some of the non-drug things that work for me:

I bought a "sunset" lamp that simulates a sunset over 20 minutes by getting gradually dimmer and more orange.

I go to bed a full hour before I plan to try to go to sleep and read a book. NOT a screen. Screens will keep you awake.

I have full blackout shades on my windows so that ZERO light gets in. All the little LED's on things like the computer are covered with electrical tape so they don't give off light. I found an alarm clock that stays dark unless it's tapped so I don't even have the light from the clock.

I set the bedroom temperature to 65 degrees. Colder temperatures are more conducive to sleep.

I have five pillows I surround myself with.

After reading for an hour, I start the sunset lamp.