I am 3 months post-op. Having some recurring symptoms and am struggling with a staph. I am on home IV and find it hard to sleep! Trying to work....teaching. The lack of sleep is getting to me. Any suggestions? I do take Zopiclone, but it does not keep me asleep.
Hi Desron, I am sorry you aren't sleeping. Sleep is so important and I know how lack of quality sleep can affect health. Some things I have learned are to limit my caffeine intake, I just have one caffeine drink each day by 10am. Caffeine actually has an 8 hour half life which means that 8 hours after you intake it, you still have half the amount of caffeine in your system. I am sensitive to caffeine so that is why I limit it. Also, if I don't fall asleep within 20 minutes, I get up and go to another room / couch. I read quietly for a little bit until I get sleepy again and then I return to bed. I do the same thing if I wake up in the night. Also, have you talked with your doctor about this? Perhaps there is something you can take that would help you get better quality sleep to help with the healing process.
I have the same issue. I am 6 1/2 months out post-op and have a recurrence of most symptoms. For a while it was nearly impossible for me to get a good night’s sleep. I refuse to take any prescription sleep-aids so I’ve started taking 50mg of Benadryl right before bed. That keeps me asleep for a good 6-8 hours. And it’s pretty innocuous.
I’ve also found that sleeping with a heating pad under my neck helps too. It’s lessens the painful pins-n-needles tingling in my legs. I’m not sure if heat would work for everyone, but my doctor suggested doing it if a heating pad works.
Now might not be the time, but have you and your dr considered a sleep study. We just had one done for our daughter and she has central sleep apnea. She has always been a terrible sleeper! It just wasn't on my radar until the chiari diagnosis 1 year ago. For for 6 years we've battled the sleep issue for her. We have upcoming drs apt to hopefully find solution to help her. But the pause in breathing keeps waking her up. I don't really have any additional suggestions for you other than the ones already listed. I've used melatonin my self. It will help you fall asleep but not stay asleep.
Maybe ask your doctor if you can try Amitriptyline for sleep, I started at 100mg but went up to 200mg and am now working on tapering back off. It helps with discomfort/pain as well as putting you to sleep. Most Rx sleep aids are designed to get you to fall asleep, not keep you asleep. I would suggest also to read up on REM cycles. Set your alarm when you are coming out of cycle and you'll wake up feeling more refreshed instead of tired.
What are you recurring symptoms? Can you elaborate more?
Have you tried propping feet up and / or wearing compression gear? I find this more comfortable than the heating pad, I just get too warm at night.
SoulfullyInked said:
I have the same issue. I am 6 1/2 months out post-op and have a recurrence of most symptoms. For a while it was nearly impossible for me to get a good night's sleep. I refuse to take any prescription sleep-aids so I've started taking 50mg of Benadryl right before bed. That keeps me asleep for a good 6-8 hours. And it's pretty innocuous.
I've also found that sleeping with a heating pad under my neck helps too. It's lessens the painful pins-n-needles tingling in my legs. I'm not sure if heat would work for everyone, but my doctor suggested doing it if a heating pad works.
Try melatonin-all natural. Or see a dr specializing in sleep-you may wanna get a sleep study.
I take neurontin,and amitriptyline,some might not like the neurontin but it has helped me for a long time
.Some people take this med.in the day too,I only take it for sleep,it makes me too tired for day time use.
Sleep is so important for our bodies to heal and many of us have problems with sleep, either falling or staying asleep. I have central sleep apnea but find the mask just doesn't help. I have so much trouble with my sinuses, it makes it too difficult to use. I finally broke down and asked for some kind of medication and just started taking Trazadone this past week. Not much help yet but I read that it can take a few weeks to start working so will give more time then post if it works for me or not. I find that getting back out of bed and reading, and/or a warm bath helps when I cant sleep sometimes, have used Melatonin but not much luck with it. It might work for you though so you could give it a try if doctor ok's.
When i first started having sleep problems, my doctor had me on Lunesta. That worked but only for a while. See, my main problem with sleep aids is that my body gets used to just about anything in pill form, so i cant take anything regularly without eventually upping the dose or changing to something else. amitriptyline worked at first for me but then she kept upping it and i said enough. It was causing way too much dry mouth and throat... so dry that i would feel hoarse for half the day. Right now i take cymbalta and celexa which helps a little but not much for the sleep, just with my headache sand pain.
I have really bad allergies too so i can't even take benadryl half the time. I have to have a nasal decongestant allergy medicine and even though it works, it only works for a short time before i have to find something else to take. Melatonin does nothing for me and i even made a batch of this stuff called sleepy dust that you are supposed to take when you wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep. It seems to work according to my husband but i have to admit that i have been taking it before i go to bed. LOL and i still wake up in the middle of the night, even though most of the time its cause my husband has to be in to work at 4 am. If you find something that works let me know! I am going on 6+ years of sleep problems.in the process of seeing about a sleep study with my doctor.
Following my decompression surgery the surgeons put me on Xanax for the first few months followed by 30mg of Restoril (Temazepam) which I've been on since 2009. The Veterans Administration decided that people should not take benzo type meds so they are withdrawing me from it under my protest. But it worked well for me with almost no side effects. Good luck. If you don't have to get treatment through the VA ask your doctor about this. Art M.
Prior to being diagnosed with CM1, I had a sleep study done cause I was choking in my sleep and pausing in my breathing, I was diagnosed with severe apnea, I was given the C pap machine but I too have allergies, the machine worked well at the clinic but at home it did not do well for me, even after a week of using it, luckily my sleep study doctor had made me a mouth piece to use were I couldn’t use the machine. This darn thing worked so well for me. Don’t get me wrong I still wake up fatigued but not as sleepy as before, you should all look Into this Mouth piece, as for my allergies Claritan works best for me, I’m dizzy as it is and can’t use anti histamines.
Liquid Melatonin with the eyedropper is amazing. Also ZzQuil works fast too. It is just Benadryl, and can make you groggy in the AM, but it’s worth it. I find the liquid forms of these OTC sleepy meds work much better than the pills.
I will definitely have to look for the liquid one, the pills didn't really do anything other than change the color of my waste. LOL zzQuil i cannot take because i can't take anything that has acetamenophen in it, which is most medicines unfortunately. I an't take that stuff because it gives me rebound headaches. Daniel, what kind of mouthpiece is it? My allergies are so bad that i cannot breathe if my mouth is closed. (long story short- the pathway is so blocked on one side of my nose that i can barely get air or nasal sprays into it)
greench said:
Liquid Melatonin with the eyedropper is amazing. Also ZzQuil works fast too. It is just Benadryl, and can make you groggy in the AM, but it's worth it. I find the liquid forms of these OTC sleepy meds work much better than the pills.
NyQuil has acetaminophen, but ZzQuil is just liquid Benadryl. I think a lot of people were taking NyQuil just to fall asleep and they created ZzQuil as a much safer alternative. I too have an allergy to acetaminophen, but have not had an issue with ZzQuil at all. Hope whatever you find works. Another thing I had to do was trial-and-error about a half dozen pillows. I settled on a small down pillow. I bought those spongy ergonomic ones, larger faux-down and other materials and I would always have trouble falling and staying asleep. Compound that with excruciating pain and numbness EVERY SINGLE MORNING and it was a bad combo. My neck is getting stiff just thinking about it!
Here is a link to the liquid Melatonin. Good stuff. http://www.vitaminworld.com/stress-relaxation/liquid-melatonin-cherry-flavored-10mg-0070050380.html#scid=25842&start=4
Thanks for all the suggestions. I have just had my IV removed today, so will see if that helps with sleep. Otherwise thanks to all of you I have a lot of options. THANKS!