Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
2:58 am- and here I am in insomnia land…seems fitting somehow
Like the OP I have dealt with insomnia in some for or another most of my life and have always been a night owl prefering late nights to early mornings for many various reasons. I took their post….well the questions in it, not their responses so I could answer their questions but tell what works for me. Hope it's OK to do my post that way, so much faster & will let me get through my answers before all my meds kick in.
1) Am I comfortable? The importance of the best bed for you can't be understated. I have a queen size sleigh bed with a very good matress and box spring topped w/ my feather bed & a mountain of various pillows that I can arragnge besed on how I feel & what I need that particular day or night. Also of importance to me is finding the best sheets and comforters for me as my skin is super sensititive to touch & texture. My must haves are good quality 100% cotton or bamboo sheets & a med weight down comforter for most of the year. My bed is like sinking into a fluffy cloud but also supports my trigger points since the featherbed adjusts to the various levele os pressure. Due to multiple conditions my bed is also my haven wher I retreat to read, relax, write, or just be alone.
2) Am I injured? Define injured. Do I hurt? YES, esp through shoulders and hips & that is the where lupus & fibro like to give me trouble. Thankfully having the way I have my bed and my meds help with this.
3) Have I been exercising regularly? I need to get back to the gym but have been so caught up in school and other things I haven't been in months.
4) How's my health? Ummm……well I have lupus, fibromyalgia, and nerve damage among other chronic issues but other than that it's OK I guess.
5) What am I eating? I am an insomniac lupie who is a full time student so caffeine is definitely on the list of things I ingest regularly. I do like to eat alot of fruits and veggies though and am not fond of most things fried so other than coffee and the occassional ice cream I eat fairly well.
6) Am I stressing? see above I am a full time student w/ chronic illnesses & it's almost finals week.
I have alot of tricks that help me sleep better (or at all for that matter) but being as comftorable as I can be and not stressing over the things I can't control along with a warm bath before bed help alot. And I try to put the insomnia to use by using the sleeplessness as time to blog or study instead of worrying about the fact that I can't sleep. Knowing that if I don't get enough sleep at night Starbucks is on my way to school or pretty much anywhere and I can nap when I get back home helps too.
Benadryl. An anti-histamine. A former therapist recommended I try it. It works pretty well. However I dislike using it very much because something about the fact that I'm using a drug with a whole other indication just to benefit from a side effect rubs me kind of the wrong way.
C) Sleep medication.D) Other medication.
I have 7. The most recent is actually a cover up of the oldest so if you count one layered over a diff one then in a way I would have 8 but only 7 that are visible
Some of them sound silly but they all have a reason & special meaning to me.
An Orca splashing out of the waves on the inside and front of my right ankle.[attachment=7:orca cover-up – Copy.jpg][attachment=8:Mobile pics 030.jpg]
A 1950s era Mickey Mouse w/ the “pie Eyes” on my left ankle
Tinkerbell on my right sholder
A Cardinal head w/ an Old English L on my left shoulder
A dolphin jumping from the water around my belly button
A white ink Japanese Kanji on the base of my neck that I designed w/ help from my artist. It says Yume which means dream (I studied Japanese and made sure to get the proper symbol and stroke order for my meaning)
[attachment=9:Yume.jpg]
A purple butterfly almost in silhuette w/ a purple awareness ribbon angled just below the stem of the butterfly as a symbol for lupus awareness which I try to promote as actively as I can.
[attachment=6:lupus piece.jpg]
I'll try to add pics of the others as well if ya'll would like to see them, just don't have them on this computer.
I am working on a plan for a new piece but haven't got it quite worked out in my head yet.
I am working on my pre-reqs for pharmacy school…..assuming I survive the end of the semester. The one thing the insomnia is good for is studying and doing research. I think I am nocturnal by nature because I seem to work better and get more done at night than I ever do durring daylight hours. lol
I have tried several different things, both otc & Rx. I have multiple diagnosis & have found that if I slack off in managing one they kinda start to feed on each other…especially the insomnia & fibromyalgia. Just to give ya'll a bit of background before mentioning my pharmacy worth of meds I have I'll give you just a short list of some of my disease collection in addition to 3 different types of chronic insomnia (I never realized that insomnia wasn't just insomnia til they told me that diagnosis!). I have had debilitating migraines for over 20 years, chronic cervicular radiculopathy (my root nerve that comes through between the c-6 & c-7 vertebratae has no cushioning around it, just 2 pieces of bone laying stacked on one another), I have fibromyalgia, multiple severe allergies, some more severe than others (i.e. latex, spiders, bees, & many laundry products cause severe reactions), also sciatica, arthritis (I'm 36 & have probably had this since my teens at least), and lupus.
Obviously to most of us I think, chronic insomnia deosn't mix well with chronic pain so some of the medicines serve more than one purpose as do many of my non-medicine adjustments I have med. The first & one of the most beneficial things for me both sleep & pain-wise was investing in making my bed perfect for me. A high quality bed & matress first, then my featherbedwhich helps to cushion my pressure points & molds itself to how I am laying that night. After the featherbed came the pillows- lots of them of varying firmness & fluffyness so that I can kinda customize the cushion to how I feel that day. Add high quality, super smooth 100% cotton sheets & my light but fluffy & warm comforter & I have a sanctuary for bad days & nights.
Being spring, I take 50-100mg Benadryl (Helps w/ sleep 60% of time) so that I don't wake up congested & sneezing durring the night. I take 50mg Elavil at bed time as a migraine preventative, 50mg Imuran for lupus related issues, 60mg Cymbalta for the fibromyalgia. For nueropathy I have 600mg Nuerontin which works great for nerve pain & can help w/ sleep but if you don't sleep til you wake up w/out an alarm it will cause the grogginess. I take ambien & restoril alternately & as long as I pay attention to what I take & in what doses.
More so. SwI have much more to share but my bed is calling my name.
