N0 sleep

tina coyle

No sleep i oly get about 4to5 hours sleep a night, l find it so hard to relaxe before falling asleep that most nights i fall asleep watch tv. Then when i wake up i try not to get out of the bed becauce if i do there is no chance of me dropping back off, but i usally have too go the loo and then i end up in the the kitchen drinking coffee and smokeing. Leg craps or back pain stiff neck or burnning in my feet are just some of the things that wake me up. I take 50mg of Amitriptyline at night along with my pain medds and i still cant sleep. I would just love a good nights sleep or even a lie in .Any one with the same problem.

tina coyle

I have tryed the lavender oils before and i did find it relaxing, but i have never herd of this magnesium suppliment and the epsoms salt bath. I will take a look in too that and thankyou for your suggestions. The smokeing i did try too give up last year i lasted about 2months, i am trying to cut down at the momment ,good for you 3 years off the ciggs.

AllMetal

I too have had past sleeping issues back related and still do occasionally. I find melatonin helps me stay alseep. I don't use it every night, only when I've had a few nights in a row of terrible sleep. It is relatively safe, but I'd still call your nurse and double check that it won't interfer with any of your medications. If I am having lots of trouble falling asleep I sometimes take tylenol PM successfully. Again, something you want to double check with your doctor about before hand, but it is something you can get at the store without a rx. I agree with keytan about the lavendar and the epsiom salt... AND I'd like to add I use them together sometimes in the same tub of hot water. Very relaxing. Last I'd also like to mention reducing anything "stimulating" close to bedtime. Two obvious items are smoking (increases heart rate, so I'd try to cut down as much as possible near bed time) and caffeine. There is also TONS of research related to sleep and TV, specifically going to sleep watching TV or near bedtime. I know I use to tell myself that I ONLY could go to sleep watching TV, etc because that was what I was use to. However, after I "retrained" myself I have noticed I do sleep so much better if I don't fall asleep to the TV or watch it right before bed. I suggest taking your nice hot lavendar/epsom salt bath and then getting directly into bed. Reading isn't nearly as stimulating to the brain as the TV is in terms of sleep. I know and understand COMPLETELY the boredom one can experience laying in bed waiting on sleep, and its compounded when all you can do is lay there and think about the pain (which of course is why I would watch TV to take my mind off the pain), but again... try giving that up for a couple of weeks and see if it helps. If you don't like to read, maybe you could find something to else to do. Good luck! I hope you get some quality rest soon.

Oh, and my grandfather use to drink a glass of orange juice with salt added before bedtime. Gross I know, but when I'm having lots of cramps, I salt my OJ and swallow it down and it does help. If you have high blood pressure you might want to.... you guessed it... ask your doctor first....lo.

tlewis

You said you take amitriptyline,which is an antidepressant. I tried that a few years ago when my brother was a marine deployed to Iraq and I had a lot of sleepless night that really didn't work. I tried that after ambien and lunesta. My primary the had me try trazodone and it worked like a charm. I took it about 20 minutes before sleep. If I took it and didn't go to bed, I'd get like this anger of wanting to fall asleep. Very hard to describe, but it worked. Talk to your doctor, though, of course because it is a prescription. It helps you fall asleep and keeps you asleep to some extent. It is also an antidepressant that has insomnia listed as one of its uses. You also want to stay away the stimulants like nicotine and caffeine as mentioned earlier, but I used to smoke and drink caffeinated drinks all day and night and had no sleep problems.

One final thought is pain meds before bed. They help us fall asleep and take pain away so we can be comfortable, but I've been told that opioids and opiates may prevent us from getting a deep, restorative sleep. But as always, talk to your doctor. Good luck and keep us posted.
-Tim

tina coyle

Thanks for all your advice, i will take it on board the caffeine i dont drink because i have bladder damage due to my spine damage .The amitriptyline can also be used for some types of pain and thats why i take it at night time with topiramate 50mg of both and other pain meds through out the day. I also take 30mg of cilalopram for my depression in the morning , i have talked to my doctor about this he did say some of the things you have said about the relaxsion before sleep turning off the tv cut down on the smoking stop over thinking, i have not tried any sleeping tabs just yet but i did go to my doctor yesterday and she has disided to up the dosage of my pain killers and see if this helps and go back in a week. Just thanks again for your comments mean alot..

dilauro

Sleeping is a key ingredient in the overall recovery process. A REM sleep is what really helps ( REM, or rapid eye movement sleep, is the fifth of the five stages of sleep most people go through each night.)

This was a post I just made to Nick_Murphy

dilauro said:

For a while, I was taking over 3/4 of my daily dosage of pain medication between 8:00pm and 3:00am. Those were the times, I just couldn't get things under control. With the worst time after I went to bed. After trying a few combinations of
medications, my doctor decided to put me on Nortriptyline 30mg before bedtime. This drug is in the tricyclic antidepressant family, but is always frequently used to help with chronic pain.
Now that I am taking Nortriptline, I am waking up less and generally do not need any pain medications after I go to bed.

I have also incorporated aroma therapy using essential oils to relax you, along with relaxation music and a tea blend of
containing jasmine flowers, valerian root, passion flower, linden and organic lemon myrtle.

Put them all together and I do get better night sleeps.

Take a look at these Spine-Health articles Sleep

tina coyle

Just like to say thankyou for all your advice i will take it all on baord thankyou.