Lizzy, that sounds rough! Can't even imagine how you cope like that. Have you gone in for a sleep study? I had one and learned I have an upper airway obstruction. I have to use a CPAP to get enough oxygen to sleep well at night. It really works with keeping me asleep.

Hope you can find answers soon.

Congratulations on your success! :cheer::dance::cheer:


I can only echo what geoblewis is saying. :)

Having another rough night. Went to bed at midnight, but woke up at 2:45 from a feeling of random pricks of pins and needles all over my body. IT band on my right side feels tight. Having a hot flash. Tried to make it all go away with ice water and some herbal pills for calming nerves. Motrin PM is up next. And now I'm hungry too!

Hate this!

Well, I'm back.

Stupid menopausal nighttime anxieties!

Stupid, STOOOPID insomnia! I hate it! I hate it! I HATE IT!

I am so angry! Angry that I have lost the ability to lay down and go to sleep!
I am so angry that I randomly feel pins and needles all over my body when I get stressed like this!
I am so angry that I don't have health insurance right now and no full time job and can't afford to go to the doctor to address this!
I am so angry that the idiot I was married to left me when I needed emotional support through this stuff...although he would have REALLY SUCKED at it. And I'm happy we're not married any more.

I feel sad that I can't call someone to support me right now.

I feel scared that this will go on for years.
I am scared that I'll have to take pills that will make me gain weight.
I'm scared of getting old.

I feel guilty that I'm not perfectly healthy because I'm fat.
My part in this is that I can't make myself go to bed and go to sleep consistently.

Unrealistic expectation - that I can dodge menopausal difficulties just by eating the right food, exercising daily and getting enough sleep.

Realistic expectation - I am a human female and all this is normal and expected, in some form or another, for my stage in life.

Essential pain - I'll have this problem again and again. And again.

Positive powerful thought - I can take a shower, then drink some cold water and take Motrin PM. And it'll help me feel a little better.

I really hate the pins and needles!

:( My mother is going through menopause also and she is kept awake at night too with hot flushes (they also affect her during the day). Hopefully yours will sort itself out soon!

Being in NZ, I find it weird you need health insurance in the USA. Here, we only need it if we want to go private and, though doctor appointments cost $30+, most of the time surgeries are government funded. My advice: move to NZ lol ;)

But seriously, I do hope things start getting easier for you.

Thanks for the support, Rhiko. I took my shower and the Motrin PM, so I hope to be asleep soon. But if my sleep cycle doesn't straighten out soon, I'll have to move to NZ just to get sorted out!

Yes, our health insurance woes in the U.S. are enough to keep us all awake at night! It's political right now! And I shall leave it at that, before I spark a debate.

just found this and I thought how fitting. I'm an insomniac, like a legit insomniac. I'll go a week or so with getting 3-4 hours of legitimate sleep a night and not falling asleep until well after 2am. I'm also bipolar and know that attributes to it, my dad has the same problem. nothing works for me to get to sleep, really. I unfortunately sleep the best when I sleep alone and that will pretty much never happen for the rest of my life, so I'm thinking maybe when we get a king sized bed next year I'll be better off. this isn't a result of sleeping with someone else, though. this has been happening since I was in my late teen years. oh well, may as well enjoy it while I don't have any early morning responsibilities. :)

Chronic insomniac. I've never been able to get a regular night's sleep, and only get in a lot of hours if I go to sleep after 1 am and don't need to go to work the next day. An actual 8 hr sleep at a decent time is nearly impossible.

Why is it somehow weirdly comforting to know that other women are also experiencing lack-of-sleep-issues? And by the appearance of some of your avatars, you are much younger than me -- although as I recall, my own "issues" started in my early 40's, maybe even earlier, which means that roughly for the past 25 years, I have been sleep deprived. Do you think this has ALWAYS been the "norm" for some women? Whenever I hear a friend complain about oversleeping, I just want to slap her, lol.

I think it might be the norm. I'm 30 and have had some sort of sleep problems even when I was little. It got really bad in my teens and some days I'd stay awake for days. Now it's just not getting proper sleep in, maybe about 3 or 4 hours in a night. I have a terrible work schedule and it throws me off a lot so that also factors in.

Hey, I thought I'd pop on over and say 'hi.' I have actually been sleeping better here in the center of my town where it is noisy, (I just moved) than further out of town where it was so quiet, weird. I wonder if I have been sleeping more soundly because of my fatigue from the move? I also am back on my muscle relaxant every night which is prescribed by my rheumatologist for my Fibromyalgia, that quiets me down and makes me sleepy. I have been known to actually fall asleep in MRI machines when having testing done from the muscle relaxant, it makes me quite drowsy at times so I only take it at night. I still have some weird, vivid dreams which can be so disturbing.

I hope all of us get some more rest!! :)

Amy

Having a bad night. Feeling pins and needles all over. Only two hours sleep. I feel ANGRY! Wish I could turn off my brain!

Have you tried learning meditation? My brother used it to routinely go to sleep at 11pm so he could wake up at 5 or 6am. He learnt it from a book, but it was years ago so I don't remember it. (He still sleeps from 11-5/6 :))

Rhiko, I have an mp3 of guided meditation for sleep that I've used in the past. But right now it seems very, very menopause-resistant.

In good news, I had an especially tough workout yesterday evening, and then, since my car was in the shop overnight, I walked home on top of the workout. I got home around 8 p.m., dealt with some stuff with the kids and the dog and was in bed by 10. And I slept straight through till 6. I'm feeling pretty alert this morning. :)

It's good to hear that you slept through the night, but not that your meditation mp3's aren't working. Hang in there :)

Hugs to all in this thread. I posted a few months back on page 2. Even though I know how tiresome it is to be on the receiving end of unsolicited medical advice, I thought I'd pop back in to share one other little-known item that did actually help me sleep (so, so many things have not).

This is definitely a "talk with your doctor first" item, but some of you may want to research a substance called phenibut. The Soviets came up with it in the '60s and it's been heavily used there since then, so at least there is some data on relative safety - but it still definitely not a mainstream item. ... My doctor got me some to try after a serious bout of non-sleeping (and years of trying many other tactics). For me, it works. A little too well. Very, very small dosages would knock me out - anything approximating a standard dose was far too much (groggy day after). I still keep some on hand for those "in case of emergency, break glass" situations of really bad sleep flare-ups. In my case, really poor sleep can become a self-perpetuating pattern -- the phenibut is a bit like a sledgehammer, but it helps disrupt / prevent severe patterns from taking hold.

Anyway - apologies, because I rather hate posts like this one. :) In case even one person gets a better night's sleep, though, I'm OK with being "that person" in this thread, haha. (That said - sorry if you found this post obnoxious. Hoping for better sleep for everyone here.)

I just don't sleep during night hours anymore. I've always been a night owl, but a couple months ago I stayed up all night and it totally screwed up my sleeping pattern. Sometimes I don't go to sleep until 7 in the morning and sleep until late afternoon. I didn't sleep at all last Sunday & Monday. I have the weirdness type of ''insomnia/sleep problems" I have no energy when I get 6 - 8 hours of sleep, but actually feel hyper when I stay up all night.

I'm new and glad to find this thread! I also use CPAP lately I've been having problems with insomnia. I use ambien or melatonin when desperate but worry about side effects. I've changed all my night lights to red and hope they can't be seen from outside. (Don't want to be mistaken for a "house of I'll repute!) I find reading in bed helpful. I turn the brightness down on my iPad and switch to the ivory page color. I'm working on walking a lot during the day. But there are nights when I just can't sleep. This isn't much more than a vent but it's helpful to know that other people with insomnia problems are sharing what works for them.

I have much trouble sleeping due to anxiety and stress. I have suffered with it for years but only recently started tackling the problem with a doctors help. I not only have trouble falling asleep at night but can not stay asleep. Sounds wake me up like you would not believe.
However, I can sleep like a rock during the day and have discovered this is mental because I believe my child and myself are safer during the day than at night which is when I go on high alert for something bad to happen.
But I work a full time job during the day so sleeping during the day is not really on option for me except on some weekends when I don't have any other activity planned. So about once a month I sleep all day Saturday and Sunday.
So to combat this issue I take lorazepan for sleeping on average twice a week. This allows me to sleep about 6 hours on the nights I take it. On average I sleep maybe a total of 2 to 3 hours a night and that is a tossing and turning sleep.
I have however found that other sleep aids either prescription or over the counter make me more tired than just tossing and turning on my own so I have stopped taking them to include meletonin which gives me nightmares when I take it.
I have also learned that no matter how bored I am or how awake I feel lights out is lights out and I only get up if I have to use the bathroom.
So that is my sleepless story to add here. Not much insight for others as sleep is something that each of us prepares for differently but thought I would share.

Hugs to everyone in this forum. It is strangely comforting to know that I am not alone in my sleep issues. Now I know I have buddies to help me through middle-of-the night posts.

I echo a lot of sentiments on this thread - I believe that my sleep deprivation is directly related to weight gain. When I am tired, I tend to exhibit unhealthy coping mechanisms to function throughout the day. My coping skills are underdeveloped due to the lack of sleep, so I don't have a "buffer" for stress, really. I turn to food to keep me going throughout the day - sometimes it is for comfort because my body is so exhausted, but other times I use food to help me stay alert. That and diet mt. dew.

My insomnia has neurological/psychological causes. I have an incredible amount of anxiety, as well as ADD. My mind races at night, and I always think of a million things I should be doing. Just when I am trying to fall asleep, a thought jolts me awake. I find that it helps if I have my phone by my bed - if I have a really pressing thought, I just text myself. It is very difficult for me to wind down mentally. My body is exhausted, but it's hard for my brain to activate the "turn-off" switch.

My DH has sleep issues, too....but his are physiological (physical) in origin. He has restless leg syndrome and periodic limb movement disorder. So he twitches, moves, and talks at random times throughout the night. This exacerbates my anxiety 10-fold since I never know when he is going to blurt out some random sleep-talk or twitch his arms/legs. He does take medication for it (Mirapex) but only takes 1/3 dose since it makes him groggy in the a.m. I occasionally take benadryl at night. It helps me GET to sleep, not STAY asleep. It still makes me feel like a zombie in the a.m. and takes several hours to wear off. I've tried RX sleep aids, and anti-anxiety meds (benzos) but they make me feel really sleepy during the day. I know each person's insomnia journey/sleep hygiene are very individualized, but I'd just like to share my story.

I'm concerned because if I don't change the "roots" of my weight problems (being stressed out and tired all the time due to lack of sleep) how am I going to change the behaviors? It's like a endless cycle.

Finally, sleeping weather! I seem to sleep better when it's colder, and it's making a huge difference in my ability to keep from overeating. I finally noticed how well I do on my fasts when I get a good night's sleep vs. how poorly I do if I only get about 3 to 5 hours of sleep. I can fast quite easily for 24 hours after 8 hours of sleep. I can fast about 10 minutes after 3 hours of sleep.