How much sleep do you get?

Hi Layne

I too hope to get answers. I too am lucky if i get 2 hours then back then maybe 2. Last night bed at 10 up at 1230 then toss and turn all night.

I'm on a sleeping pill but obviously this one is not working. This is the 2nd sleeping pill so i will try the next one my dr. prescribed. If anyone has thoughts.

First pill Imovaine, then Sublimox sorry about spelling.

Exhausted Mariane

Sleep is an individual thing.  Some people need 7/8 hrs per night others

6/7 hrs.

Worrying about not sleeping is counter productive.  You worry, toss and turn, etc etc.  Of course you can't sleep then.  When I can't sleep I think of all the GOOD things in my life and try to ignore the rough times.  I'm lucky to be afflicted with an illness which goes into recession at some time or other.  I'm 76.  My brother died when he was 62, my sister was 65.  Enough said!

Layne - first we are all different!  Generally it's reommended you have 8 hours, but lots of people thrive on less - it's usually the quality of sleep that is important (deep sleep).  If you are not getting it during the night then a decent nap, say in the afternoon (if possible) might help!

Margaret Thatcher, the first British Prime Minister, managed to lead a very active and hetic life on 4/5 hour every night! She was 87 when she died!

Layne,

I'm in the same boat.  I never sleep more than 2 hours at a time anymore and most of the reason is because of the pain that emerges while I'm laying down.  It's not severe pain, but enough to make me toss and turn.

I tried Tramadol for a while and that moderated it a bit but forget the side-effects!!  I'm not on that anymore.

I've spilt my dosage from takingh 8 mg in the AM, to taking 5 mg in the AM and then 3 before I go to bed.  That helped a little but not much.

My GP told me that sleep is essential, and would be willing to give a pill -- but I can't stand the thought of another pill.

Oh well.

4 hours max since being on pred, regardless of how much I have or haven't done the day previous. Before pred? 6 to 8 hours with a pee break half way.

I can empathise but since reducing my steroids I am sleeping better. I reduced to 10mgs a few days ago and so far so good. I have the occasional night when I don't sleep well. I eventually get up and make a cup of chamomile tea. Sometimes I get back to sleep and when I can't I just get up again! I note that some of you are in pain which must be difficult and won't aid sleep. My pain usually settles once I get off to sleep and it is not what keeps me off my sleep. I have not drunk any caffeinated drinks since the middle of May. I feel this helps to an extent. Perhaps Eileen can suggest how the pain may be helped. A friend who is a medic suggested I try sleeping pills when it was at its worst but I want to be on the minimum of medication. I hope you find a solution because lack of sleep makes it even more difficult to function.

 

I know it is hard for people who need to be alert at work or who have serious home responsibilities.  But in general I think we place too much emphasis on getting our 7 or 8 hours in one stretch.  In olden times people often had sleep in two sessions, a big sleep and a little sleep.  In between they would get up, maybe have a meal, study, have sex, whatever.  I read a passage in a book by Doris Lessing where she was in a country (middle east?) waking up in the night to a soft murmer in the courtyard outside.  It turned out to be all the older women gathering for a social time sans husbands and children!  As a lifelong intermittent insomniac I have just learned to go with the flow.  If I can't sleep, or stay asleep, I just get up and read, maybe have something to eat, generally stay off the internet or any other light-emitting medium (although I discovered Patient one sleepless night), maybe work on a crossword puzzle, and fall asleep in a chair for a few more hours.  I think that sleeping pills should be reserved for special cases, most of us should avoid the trap.