I had a horrible day yesterday - I mean just horrible. I'm still having major problems with being able to stay asleep once I fall asleep or being able to go back to sleep once I wake up. I got about 4 hours on Sunday and Monday night (each), and probably less than 3 hours on Tuesday night of really good, quality sleep. Sometime around 3 a.m. every single morning I wake up for no apparent reason and from that point on I am drifting in and out of such a light sleep that I sometimes can't even tell if I'm asleep or awake because I'm fully aware of every little tiny thing that is going on around me (Snackers rolling over, though he's not a disruptive sleeper, the cats moving around the house even if they're not being loud, etc.). Sometimes I think that I can hear things when I am in this state of sleep that I probably wouldn't even be able to hear if I were fully awake.
So yesterday was horrible. I had an emotional break down first thing in the morning that set the tone for the rest of the day. I won't go into it but, suffice it to say, it was just one thing after another. So I went to bed at 7:30 p.m. last night and laid there, in the dark, waiting for the Tylenol PM to kick in (first time I've ever taken one) until sometime around 9 pm when I finally fell asleep. Still woke up at 3 am, but at least I got about 6 hours last night so that's nice. I can definitely feel it! I mean, I'm not chipper this morning but I'm not dragging with exhaustion either.
I didn't do bad with my food yesterday, I just didn't post because everything else about the day was bad. I had a cup of coffee w/creamer, 110 oz of water, a healthy choice lunch, some raw mixed nuts, two tsps of natural peanut butter (with the raw nuts to give them some flavor), and a fish burrito = 991 calories. I got plenty of activity yesterday, thanks to the dog, but I won't go into the gross details of it. Suffice it to say he made a HUGE mess and I cleaned it up which included giving him a bath and practicing my javelin throw on some brooms and shovels to blow of steam. Oh yeah ... I was definitely active yesterday despite going to bed so early.
Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
5 oz chicken strips
>>w/frank's
1 foot long chicken sub
>>the usual
1/2 serving sunflower seeds
--------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 947
Activity:
Cooked my lunch for tomorrow
Walking: Short bursts at football practice
Jogging: The width of a football field, both ways
Cleaned Vladdy's kennel and the kitchen, again
Emptied and refilled the litter boxes
You might want to start investigating what's going wrong that's screwing up your sleep cycle.
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't chased down this rabbit-hole too much, you might want to look at these common suggestions: http://altmedicine.about.com/cs/conditionsitoq/a/Insomnia.htm
You might want to start with the easy stuff: switch to decaf (can take up to 2 weeks to get your brain's chemicals balanced back out from previous caffeine-intake), make sure your room is really dark, consider introducing a source of white-noise (helps me a TON), and look at the simple dietary-suggestions from that link and verify you think you're getting adequate amounts of that stuff.
After you tackle that stuff if you still need help, Heather knows a product that pretty natural that helps you achieve a deep quality sleep; some MLM-people she knows uses is when they have their all-weekend parties in Vegas and they only get about 4 hours sleep but it helps them pack it in so they feel like they slept 6 or 7 hours. I noticed when I took it it helps you sleep better, longer. They would force themselves to only sleep 4 hours, but you can sleep longer on this stuff (if your body lets you) -- point is, this stuff might help you sleep longer and if your body still won't let you it might at least help you wake up more refreshed than you would have been.
After that you can try Valerian, but you should be careful with that stuff; it is well known to be addictive.
Quality of sleep is crucial; but I wouldn't jump to chemicals and doctors before starting first with the simple and easy things and going down the list. Like I said, if you feel you have to start going to a chemical solution, call Heather because that stuff is less impactive than Valerian and I know people who do doctor's drugs for sleep problems but the results seem to be like a roller-coaster.
Sorry to hear you're not getting the sleep you need and want. It's tough when you have problems like that ... I know, I have insomnia and nothing I try seems to help (my problem is falling asleep so when I get up to use the bathroom, it's back to square one). There are very few moments when I get into a nice rhythm and it feels so good; then something changes (usually it's my meds) and there goes the sleep record.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I always found that Tylenol PM took about 2 hours to work; seems it did the same thing with you. Have you tried Melatonin? My mom swears by it. You can find it with the vitamins; it's what our body produces to help us get to sleep. I sure hope your sleep issues resolve soon.
Hello you two.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I know what's causing the sleep problems because they started at the same time. Hormonal imbalances due to pre-mature perimenopause. The doctor has me on estrogen which fixed pretty much everything except the sleeping. Well, it partially fixed the sleep because at least now I don't have horrible nightmares every night or wake up with night sweats anymore.
I have tried melatonin, that was one of the first things that my mom suggested. The Tylenol PM worked great for me last night but I don't want to get to where I'm taking that stuff every night so I will just stick to using it once every so often to get caught up.
Eventually I will exit perimenopause and become fully menopausal ... that will be a joyful day.