[aquillen]

Finding I am having trouble making an introduction. It's not like my family, co-workers and students (particularly after an incoherent lecture) don't notice when I become a zombie. So why am I shy to a strangers? I have been able to sleep for the last two nights so I am pretty coherent today (and the sun came out and I ran around outside in the sunshine and snow!) But maybe as soon as the clouds and rain roll back in again …. more sleepless nights. Not sure what else to add.

-Alice

[aquillen]

After browsing here at this great group here (and now that I don't *have* to post any old thing here I am adding something), I found a bunch of interesting articles about menopause and insomnia at the menopause journal. At least I can read the abstracts. Even though they are working in public health (and as is obvious from this site, lives are involved here), this journal is managed by an evil publisher (Kluwer) and so you can't reach the articles without subscription. Nevertheless the abstracts (the ones available online) are pretty encouraging. If anybody wants the articles I can probably get them at the university — I will see tomorrow if they have a subscription.

Insomnia may peak at late peri-menopause! That's like a light in the darkness for those of us who think our insomnia might be due to our raging hormones (or lack of them) as it suggests that life might get a little better in a few years (though I think everyone agrees that sleep is never as good as it was when younger). Somehow this is extremely encouraging to me — some kind of *hope* (though it would not be to those reading here who are men or are young or old enough that they are not associating their insomnia with menopause — sorry!)

The rate of women in perimenopause reporting insomnia might be as large as 50% (seems high to me based on my friends). Not sure if I find a 50% level reassuring or not. And not every article relates that to sleep indexes, and I haven't yet read up on those anyhow so don't yet know what they are about. Is the 50% just mostly women who are a couple of hours short of sleep every once in a while or seriously without sleep chronically.

I guess I am now more interested in managing bouts. I read about things like soy (and yes an article about that in the menopause journal too and other places, with mixed or weak findings). My experiences so far are that insomnia lasts longer than a migraine (36-48 hours) but about the same length of time as a period. All three for me are (or mostly were for migraines) probably hormonally triggered (I could be feeling shame about that, but why not be clinical and just suspect it?). I think I get insomnia when I come home with extra energy, and I feel hot– not hot flashing but feeling hot, not needing a sweater or socks or blankets hot. And it last for 3 or 4 days. It's like PMS with extra energy but no sleep. I wonder during that time if there is anything I can do to help me sleep. Or I can just think: it's like a migraine and maybe nothing is going to help, I just need to wait until it ends.

I have read quite a bit about various medications for sleep but am wondering is hormone replacement therapy a better bet? Medications for sleep all have problems. Hormone replacement therapy has a cancer risk.

Irritatingly I don't see any pointers on the *oodles* of menopause sites about insomnia, sure it's listed as a symptom but that's it. No lifesaving pointers. All these health experts seem oblivious to the fact that insomnia is a life threatening condition and that 50% of women going through menopause are reporting some kind of insomnia — I guess the health profession is just full of idiots. Hormone replacement therapy I have never seen anywhere said that it is prescribed because of insomnia (reasons given are bad hot flashes, and osteoperosis, and early menopause and menopause due to other things like surgery). I mean could I go to the doctor and report that my brothers all have osteoperosis (true, unfortunately) and go on hormone replacement therapy to try and see if it gets rid of my insomnia?

Well hormone replacement therapy seems kind of extreme. If I only have to deal with 3-4 day bouts of insomnia at a time because of some kind of remnant hormonal dip or peak, then medications that stop working might help. They only have to work for 3-4 days at a time right? When they wear off then you don't need them anymore. This might work if the 3-4 bouts were widely separated (that might happen if a true monthly cycle were causing them) but might not be so helpful if the 3-4 bouts are separated by very short periods, say 2 days. So far I haven't had that happen, bouts don't come on a cycle but seem separated by at least a week (at least so far).

Go to go, interested in comments if anybody has any…

[deblevey]

I've been off of trazadone for several weeks now, also bouting several viral and bac infections ( i have chronic asthma and gerd as if insomnia wasn't enough! ) I am not sleeping straight through as before, but find little trouble falling back asleep, and so much more alert during the day it's been worth it. Mostly waking up due to cough, or because my sinuses have plugged up. Going to talk to my doctor about getting nose done again…had cautary and outfracture surgery 16 years ago it did a lot of good then, hopefully will work again.

Although off the trazadone, my doc added prilosec for the gerd. Took it about a week, then stopped. We raised the head of the bed about 30 degrees that has helped the coughing some. Just wanted everyone to know i'm still looking for the perfect combination, but doing ok without the trazadone…better, in fact!

[Martin Reed]

Welcome to Insomnia Land, Alice. Thanks for introducing yourself, and then coming back after taking a browse around the forums. I trust your initial experience of the community was a positive one.

In my research for the Insomnia Land blog, I often come across mentions of insomnia and menopause – yet there seems to be no accepted remedy; it's simply an association and there appears to be no widely accepted cause-effect theory.

If you do speak to your doctor about going onto HRT specifically to see if it helps your sleep, please let us know what happens. I'd be really interested to know what your doctor thinks, and, if you are prescribed HRT, whether it helps you get to sleep. Perhaps you could start a dedicated discussion topic for this in the insomnia forum.

Anyway, I better draw this post to a close. I look forward to reading more of your posts and getting to know you better!

—

If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Clarity program.

The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.

[MarinaFournier]

'deblevey' wrote on '01:

Mostly waking up due to cough, or because my sinuses have plugged up.

Is that ever familiar! I haven't found anything yet that really unplugs my nostrils, or stops the drips that can lead to a truly pheonmenal cough (probably like yours). Head does have to be elevated more than usual at those times. The coughing I can't control short of 8 oz of inexpensive whisky, because I'm allergic to codeine/vicodin, and no one seems to put any other drug in cough medicine. I am waiting for a form of theobromine to be added to them, especially since it stopped coughs better than codiene!

When I'm plugged up enough so that I have to breathe through my mouth, and if I'm likely to drool, I put Kleenex (they do it best–will not use any other brand!) folded in quarters under my mouth, so that the wet bits can be tossed instead of trying to avoid them.

[MarinaFournier]

'aquillen' wrote on '31:

I am pretty coherent today (and the sun came out and I ran around outside in the sunshine and snow!) But maybe as soon as the clouds and rain roll back in again …. more sleepless nights.

Have you been screened for Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)? Originally, it was just a HappiLite for me (10K lumens of full-spectrum light that you put behind or to the side of you). It's useful to me, even when I'm facing a window, on a dark and foggy or stormy day.

Then OTT lights, which have an FS halogen light tube in them, became easier to look at (first ones were uuuuhh-glee!), and now there are some that are nive to look at, and less expensive (if you want one, find a quilting site or joann(s?).com, where they are perennially about 50% off. I bought my first one, a goose-neck floor lamp, for doing needlework after a certain age). You can use one in a dark room and not feel depressed. I also discovered “daylight” and FS fluorescent tubes, which are goo in your kitchen or garage, if you have tubes there already.

If you use these already, and get no relief on dark and cloudy days, I'm out of suggestions.

[MarinaFournier]

'aquillen' wrote on '31:

Insomnia may peak at late peri-menopause!

Oddly enough, that's the time when I began sleeping more, especially in daylight. Some of it was simply not being able to wake fully.

Quote:

I feel hot– not hot flashing but feeling hot, not needing a sweater or socks or blankets hot.

My experience was that elevated temperature–someone called it “my own personal summer”, which for me in summer, is my own personal tropics or Arabian peninsula!–all the time now for about a decade.Now that I've croned completely, I've still got it. Ain't no justice in that.

Quote:

And it last for 3 or 4 days. It's like PMS with extra energy but no sleep.

or like a hypomania, for a bipolar. I'd get the sleeplessness, no extra energy but rarely, but I always resented not being able to sleep, not glorying in it.

Quote:

Irritatingly I don't see any pointers on the *oodles* of menopause sites about insomnia, sure it's listed as a symptom but that's it. No lifesaving pointers. All these health experts seem oblivious to the fact that insomnia is a life threatening condition and that 50% of women going through menopause are reporting some kind of insomnia — I guess the health profession is just full of idiots.

Yes, they are. For the most part, women are still second-class study subjects.

[Author]

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