I've recently been diagnosed with PMR

Posted , 17 users are following.

I've stared on steroids of 20mg, this has reduced the inflation however I've not slept in nearly 3 weeks probably only getting 2 hours a night, I just wondered if this was the norm, my GP px me diazepam but this is not working at all so stopped taking them. Any solutions for the sleeping

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  • Posted

    It is very common with the higher doses of pred and part of the reason you are told to take all your dose of pred in one go as early in the morning as possible is that does help some people once they get to lower doses. It doesn't affect everyone - I've just had a few weeks at 15mg and slept like a baby, better than I had been because it had stopped the early morning sweats that were waking me. You will also start to get used to it after some time.

    In the meantime, Anhaga has probably given you the best advice: learn to live with it and take advantage of what it allows you! Many ladies have found new hobbies and use them to pass the time at night. Don't lie awake in bed, get up, do something and go back to bed later. Make sure you have done all the "sleep hygiene" thing - dark room, quiet and the right temperature, no blue lights anywhere in the last hour or so before bed, don't work on the computer, watch TV play with your phone immediately before bed and don't have a clock visible - it makes you think you are not sleeping when in fact you are dozing off between times but you think "I saw every hour on the clock".

    Quite a few people have found that having a snack before bed - old-fashioned supper - has helped them sleep better. Others find having a rest during the day helps - you often need to rest with PMR anyway and sometimes having a rest in the day helps with sleep at night, counterintuitive but true.

    Do try to manage without adding in other medications. Mostly they don't make a lot of difference and at some point you will want to stop taking them and with some of them that brings its own problems. I don't know WHICH tylenol people are using but it is offered as paracetamol mixed with codeine phosphate and codeine is a controlled drug, available on prescription only in the UK because it is potentially addictive as well as having other side effects. And it rarely helps with the PMR so won't even help reduce the dose of pred.

  • Posted

    Like others, I had the same problem at the beginning and agree with all that Eileen has said. I eventually removed my clock from the bedroom. The only other suggestion I could make is not having caffeine. I have completely cut caffeine from my diet and though it didn't immediately help it certainly has longer term. If I was awake I would get up and with the bare minimum of light made myself a cup of camomile tea, drank it and then went back to bed. Sometimes a cup of warm milk before bed helps. When I did out of hours cover I would be wide awake if I was called out and some warm milk helped me drift off. 
  • Posted

    Tylenol n the states is an acetaminophen and the benedryl is an allergy tablet that has diphenhydramine as ingredient.  
  • Posted

    I have found that taking melatonin 3 mg. (over the counter) about an hour or so pror to bedtime may help.  I had so many problems sleeping when I first started prednisone in Nov. but now am sleepy a lot of the time.  I still take the melatonin.

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