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'AuraTodd' wrote on '06:

My doctor mentioned a sleep clinic. what ever that is.

A sleep clinic is where they hook you up to wires and cameras and watch you sleep. They figure out why you are having problems staying asleep and even getting to sleep. I've been through on once and I hated it. But my psychiatrist wants me to do one again and actually finish the set of sessions. EEK. I might do it but I'm trying to avoid it if possible. But I guess I should do it if this new medicine I'm on doesn't work. I haven't picked it up from the pharmacy yet. I'll pick it up today.

Sleep clinics are also used to see if you have sleep apnea and other sleep disorders.

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'sleepy wrote on '23:

My GP told me today I might have CFS.

Is there anyone on the forum who has the same problem and can shed some light on it?

Currently I have very various symptoms.

One is of course the insomnia.

I'm always exhausted but I still can't sleep at night.

During the day however, I sleep countless hours. I have to set my alarm-clock to get any work done.

I have frequent headaches and difficulties with concentration.

I also seem to have developed allergies to shampoo, shower-gel, fabric-softener & deodorant.

And my throat hurts a lot.

So if anyone here has tips or advice, could you let me know?

I have CFS (aka Fibromyalgia). I have insomnia, too. But I've been thinking it's my Lexapro that is causing it. Mostly for me I just have muscle fatigue after a few movements like folding clothes, stuff like that. I used to have headaches almost daily but since I started taking Relafen for bursitis (which I really believe is my fibro acting up not bursitis…) the pains went away other than when folding clothes and using my arms more than normal (or any body part for that matter).

I never knew fibro could cause insomnia. Hmm. I know the pain can keep a person awake but I'm not sure about typical insomnia caused by fibro. I'll have to look into that.

Have you tried taking allergy medicine? Like Allegra or Zyrtec? or even Benedryl? For some people benedryl makes them drowsy enough to fall asleep. I myself am immune to that effect. Unfortunately.

Good luck to you!

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'Martin' wrote on '30:

It works differently when self employed as taxes aren't automatically witheld from your earnings. You also have to pay estimated tax based on what you think you'll earn the following year.

Aren't those in poverty already suffering with paying income tax – or are you talking about people with earnings so low they are exempt? If items other than basic foods etc were taxed, then surely only those with higher incomes would pay the most tax? Currently, as a proportion of income, I believe it works out that the richest people actually pay the least tax.

I think it's an interesting concept, but of course it has flaws, as you rightly pointed out.

OH self-employed. Ok. I really don't know much about the subject other than from the mistakes I've made. My dad would know much more about it than me. He's lived longer. 😉 I'm only a month away from being 27. So I haven't learned much yet.

I meant the people whose income was too high to be exempt and too low to be helped financially from any organization or from the gov't. When I was working I made too little to be helped but too much to be exempt. It's a crappy hole that is. But I don't work anymore due to mental and physical issues. Luckily I have very loving caring parents who I live with. I'm trying to get SSDI but they keep denying me. GRR

I don't know if I would have to file taxes if I got SSDI. That I will have to ask my attorney.

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I'm not sure a higher sales tax would work for those who are in poverty or near poverty status. I know I've been there and always had to count pennies for the excess charge that sales tax created. I wouldn't recommend higher sales tax. I think taxing the wealthiest people would be an appropriate step in the right direction. But even then that can be harmful to them, so I think setting up a fund for people to donate to that only goes toward supplementing the government's defecit would be better if you are worried about our national debt.

Income tax, if set up right on your W-2 (or other form) shouldn't be too much of a bother if you file your taxes right the following year. For me, I'd select 1 deduction and file for 1 deduction. That way you dont owe taxes and may get some back. I always got back $ when I was working and filed 1 deduction. It may not have been much but at least I didn't have to pay.

I did file 3 one year thinking that I was allowed to due to my status as head of household (one person, me in the household), and 2 others that fit me. Well I owed taxes that following year so I learned my lesson to only file 1.

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I am taking 2 capsules of Sonata. I'll try again tonight but it didn't do a darn thing for me last night. Not the tiniest bit tired. 🙁

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Yep it quit working. Crap. I did fall asleep (without taking my pills) around 11pm and woke up at 1am. Been up since. GRR! This bites. I'll have to call the psychiatrist when he opens today. This is really frustrating.

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Well I guess drinking caffeine no later than 5pm isn't helping much after all. But the sleeping pill my psychiatrist prescribed seems to help some. I've been waiting later and later to take my pills at night seeing if I get tired without it and I don't. So hopefully it'll continue to work. In about a half hour I should be tired enough to go to sleep. I think the pill is called Sonata. It's in the same class as Lunesta and Ambien but the doctor said it works a little differently. Those other two did nothing for me. My doc has me on the max dose of 2 pills per night. So I'll check back later and let you know if it continues to work or if it stops working. 🙂

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'MarinaFournier' wrote on '26:

In the early eighties, I think, I tried it, but as usual, didn't work for me. There was a problem in manufacture with some of it, and it was pulled from the market, but not before a number of people had serious medical problems, including one man I knew.

I believe that was fixed before it could go on market again.

Husband and his mother can drink caffeine sodas all day with no problems getting to sleep. Genetics?

My dad can drink diet coke right up until he lays down and he's out like a light in 30 seconds, but my mom can only have caffeine in the morning or she'll have a hard time getting to sleep at night. I guess I finally turned into my mom. 😛 I have lowered the time to 5pm as the cutoff for caffeine because I noticed that I was still staying up rather late, like around 2am. I'm now usually asleep by midnight. I would have been asleep earlier but mom was watching tv till midnight and that kept me up. I'm about ready to go to sleep but I'm hot and I can't sleep when I'm hot. So it'll take me a while to get to sleep… Grr.

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'mariamoody1985' wrote on '22:

I just read my first post back and realised it sounded really nasty but I had just had an argument with my neurologist on the phone earlier that day and needed to get the thoughts out of my head! lol

Here's a better introduction…

My name is Maria, I am 26. I live in Dundee, Scotland, with my fiancée, Lena. I love everything about my life, except doctors!

I have had MS for 4 and half years now. Without that I would never of met my girl so I can cope with that! 🙂 I have many other problems too but this isn't a medical board so won't tell you any more! lol

I love my car, it's got big batman sticker on the bonnet! I am a big kid! lol. I have lots of children in my family so it gives me an awesome excuse to act like one! haha

I love comedy! Could watch stand up shows all day, everyday!

I love going to the cinema too! Films are awesome way to escape from 'real' life! 🙂

I'm sorry for my initial post being quite horrible, but I needed somebody to rant at and my Mrs goes to bed early (she has MS too)

From now on in, I will not be as grumpy! I may have the occasional rant about doctors or government but will keep them to a minimum! People on here don't need me depressing them even more with all my problems!

Sorry again,

Happy Maria service will resume this evening! lol

🙂 xx

Welcome to insomnia land. Is it possible for you to look outside of your area for another neurologist? It might help you help yourself if you can find a better doctor elsewhere. I know how it is to have sub-par medical care simply because of my location. I wish you luck. Let us know if we can help in any way.

Brittany

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Thank you all for replying, to be honest I forgot about this post until I saw the newsletter.

I have recently found out that caffeine was the major contributor to my insomnia. I now don't drink caffeine after 7pm and I'm usually asleep by midnight, and I sleep through the night. The reason I didn't initially think it was the caffeine is because I've been drinking diet soda for years in the amount I currently drink it, and I didn't used to have insomnia from caffeine. It came on so gradually, I guess my body said “enough!” and changed on me. lol

Not drinking as much caffeine daily isn't all as hard as I expected it to be. I am very addicted to it but I haven't noticed any issues with not drinking so much of it.

I want to thank everyone here who has helped me try to find answers. I really appreciate it. And if I start having insomnia again, I'll try drinking warm milk as I've never tried it before. But I don't expect I'll have repeat insomnia issues now that I've cut my caffeine consumption after 7pm. I hope this post helps someone else who may be drinking excessive amounts of caffeine in the evening and nighttime.

HUGS!

Brittany

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'MarinaFournier' wrote on '24:

Marint asked:

I thought it would be a good idea for us to share our sleep study experience. So, if you've been to a sleep clinic please share how it went. Was it even more difficult to sleep? Was it expensive? Were the findings helpful?

By the time I was greenlighted for the study, my acute insomnia bout had finished. The “sleep specialist” was a pulmonologist, who had sleep apnea on the brain, since that was his hammer. I don't think he believed a word I said. OF COURSE the study showed nothing!

But as others have said, the wires superglued to you all over, the insistence on sleeping on your back, the canuale up your nose, the bloodox clip on your finger, the awareness that there's a camera on you all night (thus no real privacy, and I loathe the idea that someone strange is watching me sleep–too creepy), the discomfort of clothing and bad sheets, the unfamiliar bed, for me, the excess heat–and yes, it would have been nice to have a cooler room and a nice heavy cover (I too am a weight-activated sleeper, one of the reasons my “sleep snake” (the spa heatwrap), which I did not have yet, works to settle me down) to wrap around me. They didn't want me reading past 9 pm, and they woke me up at 6 am, hustling me out of there!

I wasn't at all pleased with the experience, and annoyed I'd been put through it at the wrong time, and for the wrong diagnostic expectation. I think an EEG would have given more useful info.

I've been through one sleep study (one of the two) and it was awful. Luckily at the time I was on a heavy sedative for bipolar disorder, which I've been switched off of due to excessive sleep-eating. Yeah I actually ate like 4 heaping bowls of cereal at night and didn't even know it till I woke up the next morning… That happened every night for months. I gained about a hundred pounds and I was already quite obese, still am. I have an appointment Saturday with my psychiatrist to see if we can fix this insomnia/circadian sleep disorder THING. I really really hope he does not make me do a sleep study. I will be a happy camper the rest of my life if I never have to do another one again. I was diagnosed as having sleep apnea but had a UPPP surgery to remove my uvula and shave down my soft pallet to allow for better breathing at night. I don't snore anymore usually so I think it's a success. But yeah never will I do another sleep study—-unless its the only way for my psychiatrist to help find a drug that will help me sleep. Herbal remedies have done nothing for me and ambien and lunesta and trazadone did nothing also. So I'm at a loss of what to do. I tend to sleep during the day though. But I woke up at 6pm yesterday afternoon and had 3 hours of sleep at noon today. It's now going on 6pm and I don't think I'll get to sleep till like 4am, not sure though. I'm not ready yet.

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