My first experience of insomnia was 3 weeks after my second son was born. Little did I know was this was an early symptom of post natal depression.
Over the next 5 years, my sleep was always very light, subconsciously listening for a crying baby, a teething toddler or a sick infant. In 1999, I went through an incredibly busy and stressful time after moving house, twice in 6 months, completing university exams, applying for jobs, then, once in work, having to work 2 nights a week.
After a busy Christmas, hosting family in our new house, I wasn’t too concerned about feeling fatigued. However my shift work continued, and exhaustion crept up me very gradually. In addition, I started experiencing pain in various parts of my body. I visited my doctor. She prescribed antidepressants and anti inflammatories. That’s when the insomnia started. I returned to her, she changed my drugs, several times. My bedtime experience was deteriorating rapidly, as I couldn’t get to sleep due to the pain. I ended up whereby I couldn’t sleep for more than 4 hours at a time, but I couldn’t stay awake for more than 4 hours either. Eventually, I was referred to a rheumatologist, 9 months after my initial symptoms. He diagnosed me with fibromyalgia and prescribed amitriptyline with good effect. I managed to maintain some semblance of normal life, and in 2011, I moved to the Deep South of America. Gradually my health started to improve, possibly due to sunshine and blue skies, and the hot environment. I started to reduce my amitriptyline very very slowly. Sadly, after 4 years of good health (the last 2 years I became a self employed dog walker), I had to return to live in the U.K.
I continued walking dogs, but my health gradually deteriorated. In March 2018 I retired due to ill health, I was only 56 years old.
My husband and I spent many an hour discussing what we could do to improve my health again. Our obvious choice was to live somewhere warmer and sunnier. After holidaying on a Greek Island, we decided to give up everything in the UK, and we moved to Greece 3 months ago.
I knew I had to find a doctor quickly before my amitriptyline ran out. Unfortunately, I found myself in a bad place, as Greece hasn’t been able to receive supplies of the drug since the beginning of this year. I tried to buy some online, but with no success. have tried to eke out my supply, and using CBD oil and chamomile. But for the last 2 weeks, I’ve only had 3 nights of proper sleep. When I do get to sleep, I suffer with extremely distressing nightmares.
It’s now 2:00am and I can’t get to sleep, and I don’t know how to get help. I speak very little Greek, so explaining to the doctor is is very difficult for him to understand.