....to expect to sleep past 5am or earlier

[Force12]

Also posted elsewhere for more traffic. Hoping someone will read and. E able to offer some advice.

I've been suffering from insomnia on and off since my daughter was born 10 months ago. My issue is early morning wakening, 5am on a good day, 2 or 3am on a bad day and I'm unable to go back to sleep. DD sleeps through the night now, fortunately. On the occasion when she does wake I struggle to fall back asleep.

I'm at the end of my tether having tried non medical approaches including sleep hygiene, cbt, acupuncture, hypnotherapy.

GP gave me a prescription for amitriptyline 50mg but the sedation affect wore off after a couple of weeks and even after trying a higher dose of 75mg last night I still woke about 3.30am.

Is this unusual? Everything I had read about amitriptyline suggested the affect wouldn't wear off... so I am feeling very disappointed about that as I had slept well on it for about a week.

I'm going back to the GP on Monday.

Does anyone have any advice about what I should be asking for? Any other medications that might help?

I'm feeling so low about this and at the end of my tether after months of insomnia (albeit on and off).

Thanks in advance

[metaphoricus]

Not that unusual, there was an article in the BBC a year or so ago that mentioned that we are not supposed to sleep through the night. Aparently we have only been sleeping throught the night in the last few. Entities as before, it was common to wake up in the early hours go and have a chat with the neighbours and go back to sleep for another 3 hrs

I read (probably) exact same article and took it on board. Whatever wee small hour I wake up, I get up, potter about tidying bits up in the kitchen, or some small job that might want doing.Have a cup of tea, read for a bit or listen to the radio. I usually begin to feel tired again an hour or or two later and easily fall back to sleep. It works for me, and I've had problems sleeping for years.

[StarryIllusion]

Amitriptyline does wear off in regards to the sedation effects. You have to stop taking it for a couple of weeks and then start again. Your body gets used to it is all. Try night nurse if you want to sleep like the dead. Stuff hits like a fucking freight train. You can't use it all the time obviously but if you get desperately sleep deprived, it does in a pinch. Nytol is decent too but not the herbal one.

[ijustwannadance]

How is your diet? Do you drink lots of tea or coffee?
Is your DD in her own room?

[Redkite10a]

Have you had your iron levels checked? Anaemia can cause insomnia, and for me it didn't stop me falling asleep when I went to bed, but stopped me falling back to sleep when I woke in the middle of the night.

I'm struggling at the moment (late pregnancy), and like others have said if I'm having a bad night giving up on the idea of going back to sleep for an hour or so and then trying again usually works.

[teainbed]

www.amazon.co.uk/Effortless-Sleep-Method-Incredible-Insomnia/dp/1456492543?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

Someone on here recommended this a year ago and I've never looked back. I've loaned it out to others and they've felt the same. It's based on sleep hygiene and psychological reasons for poor sleep, the author is an academic and it's all evidenced based including why sleeping tablets are so ineffective.

[Force12]

Thanks all for your comments.

I read the book last night and it really resonated with me. I am going to try the techniques and see how we go for the time being.

DD is in own room. We have baby monitor down low and I wear ear plugs so don't hear the grunts, only the cries.

I think my diet is pretty good. I take floradix (iron and b12). No caffeine or alcohol.

Having read that book I wonder if the issue is psychological rather than a physical problem or mental illness that warrants a cure....

[Allthewaves]

Iv always had this problem on/off. Doctor said stress makes it worse. Sugar in my diet last 3pm give me very early waking - so evening snacking makes it 10× worse.

It's depressing but bad episodes ingonwith the flow. If that's an 8pm bed time because im up in the early hours so be it. I usually get some housework done, paperwork ect