Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Insomnia

Slightly pointless thread, but...

I hate Insomnia, really winds me up

That is all.

Me too Ricky. And those early morning hours lying awake in pain are by far the worst part. If I could just sleep for 4-6 (gasp 8??!?) hours I'm sure my pain level would not be so high all day. It's like starting out at bad and going downhill from there.

I feel your pain. Insomnia sucks.

I agree. Hope you both have a better time tonight, though. Hugs...

Yep, it's the pits. Lived with insomnia for about 30 years before my current GP came up with the righ cocktail at night. Now I sleep like a log.
Cindy

Insomnia is a bad rollercoaster. It really creeps into my mind. Just sitting there watching the clock tick down till I have to go to work. I hope I find the right cocktail too in the future to get some rest. Good luck to all of us,and heres to getting some sleep in the future!

very hard to sleep when lots of pain.

zanaflex helps me to fall asleep. i didn't start taking it for that, rather for the muscle spasms, but it was a nice side affect.

if i wake and can't go back to sleep (due to pain), i'll get up, take a hot shower or bath and then go back to bed.

lately i've been splitting my time between the recliner and the bed. not really on purpose, kinda fall asleep in the recliner, then get up and move to the bed, either right away or maybe an hour later. seems that process is more agreeable to my back and SI than trying for a full night in bed.

as holly said, sleep is so important for us, and yet so hard to get sometimes. a vicious cycle. more pain due to less sleep. less sleep due to more pain. can be difficult to break the cycle sometimes.

It's been a while since I mentioned this, so in the hope that it can help someone else.

I used to sieze up so bad I couldn't sleep more than an hour.

Biologics and sleeping on my back, in an adjustable bed has solved the problem, and now I sleep from 4 - 6 hours until the pain wakes me up.

So please don't give up. If you are in pain, keep looking to see if there is some way to relieve it - it took me a few years to get the right combination.

And I started off by stuffing books under my mattress to get the incline right, and only bought the adjustable bed much later.

All the best,

James

Sleep is overrated...

Of course I am just kidding. I hate it as well, espeically when it is pain that triggers the sleeplessness. I have at different points in my life battled insomnia due to pain or other causes. I recall when I was 8-10 years old sleeping at my grandparents house and watching their alarm clock all night... ever since I have not been able to sleep with clock facing me or sound of clock (ticking).

Have noted that once I went off azulfadine I slept better.

Tim

Sleep is a big issue for me too. I try and kid myself I don't need that much sleep, but I think I need more than I get. I get scared to sleep for too long as well - if I go for more than about 5 hours I am just so stiff and sore when I wake that its awful. I put off going to bed at night just so I don't sleep too long. What I do have on hand is some diazepam (2 mg), and if I have been really short on sleep for a few days will take that at night just to get me off to sleep. I will also on occasions take it in the middle of the night if I've woken or am not sleeping - just as long as I have at least 4 hours still to go before I have to wake up again. Being too cold in bed can cause bad sleep too. I do seem to have difficulty holding my body temperature up and it can easily drop to 35C over night, which is too low. If it gets that low then I have real difficulty getting myself up to get a hot water bottle and a hot drink to warm myself up again.

Aarghh! I just wish I could go without sleep totally! Its 10 pm right now here and I know I should be starting to think about going to bed, but I just can't bring myself to.

It is so nice to have other people understand this. My hubby just tells me to take a shot of vodka. He doesn't understand pain will wake me up whether I'm drunk or sober. Besides I take too many meds to drink

Thanks for the support guys. Ricky I hope u got some sleep. I got 2 hours last night and an hour nap today.