Sleep troubles

I'm sorry to read that you are having difficulty with sleep. There was a short while when I reached that stage in reduction and had problems with wakening in the early hours. I have cut caffeine since the beginning of PMR diagnosis and if I waken and can't get back to sleep I get up and make a camomile tea. I do not put on any light other than a very low one to make the tea. It's a difficult one and so draining but I have found since reducing to 3mgs I only have the odd night of lack of sleep. It is usually because I, foolishly, was using the iPad prior to going to bed. I'm sure others will have further suggestions to help. I hope the sleep deprivation eases soon.

Hi floramac

Our sleep pattern is regulated by our circadian rhythm controlled by our endocrine system such as hypothalmus and adrenals. As preds suppress our adrenals and cortisol our circadian rythm becomes off kilter which in turn affects our sleep pattern. I suffered these adverse sleep effects when i was on preds.....hope this helps..my best wishes to you floramac...

If you google "sleep hygiene" you will probably find all sorts of suggestions to help. As Silver says, avoiding using screens before bed does help, have the room as dark as possible and the right temperature. But it isn't advised to lie awake in bed - they usually suggest getting up and going somewhere else until you feel sleepy so you don't associate the bedroom with being awake. Wouldn't help me mind - I eventually just drift off again!

A lot of people have said they find relaxation techniques useful. And worrying about it certainly doesn't improve things of course. Sometimes a short course of a mild sleep-aid gets you back into a better sleep rhythm. One lady swore by one of the Nytol products for occasional use but I can't remember which it was and she did say not all of them helped her. Bit of trial and error maybe?

I can sympathise entirely. Since starting on 50mg pred late May this year I haven’t had a full nights sleep. I became the energiser bunny during the day and it carried on into the night. Neither the body or the mind could stop and I solved the worlds problems every night, if only the countries leaders would listen to me we’d all be saved. 🤪  I have been lucky to have reduced in that time to now on 11mg, but the sleepless nights have continued. 

Like you I was never a great sleeper but this is ridiculous. I read, I doze, I read, I wake, and never get passed 4am as the final wake up call. I do on the odd occasion take half a Restovit, a sleeping aid, non addictive and purchased over the counter at the chemist. I will then get a good, although not full, nights sleep, but the next night I’m back to the same old pattern. I’ve been lucky in that while I get tired by the end of the day, I can still function provided I have no pain, I just go to bed earlier now than I used to. 

My rheumatologist insisted the body needs sleep to heel.  I was getting very little so she put me on mild sleeping pills. Heaven to finally sleep. I used full strength for a month then reduced to half for a couple of months.  I still keep some on hand in case I have 3 or 4 nights without sleep then I take one but only for 2 nights.  Haven’t needed them tho for months now. 

I'm a lifelong intermittent insomniac, so waking at night or having trouble falling asleep when I started pred was really nothing new and didn't worry me.  However, when I started taking one of my calcium doses about half an hour before bedtime with a small snack (can't manage calcium on an empty stomach) I found I had no trouble at all falling asleep and staying that way.  I'd say in the past two years or so since I started doing this I've had maybe two nights when I had to get up and read because sleep eluded me.