Post natal Insomnia - I think this might be me....

[pipWereRabbit]

Article in the Sunday Times today - here.

I've been feeling like I'm going mad - sleeping only 3 or 4 hours a night for the last 18 months. So reassured to find out there are other people with a similar problem. It really didn't occur to me that there would be IYKWIM.

[Toots]

Total pants. Good luck.

[alypaly]

welcome to my world pipWereRabbit...thats why im up now. Sorry it is happening to you. Its a real pain when evryone else is asleep. I have had it ever since DS1 was born...21 years ago. Some nights i go with no sleep.

I really empathise

[pipWereRabbit]

alypaly, sorry to hear you've been struggling for so long. I don't think I can keep this up for another 20years though .

[Niecie]

I read that and totally identify with it too!

DS2 started it off - hated going to bed knowing he would wake me up so I waited until after the late feed and then still didn't go to bed. That was 6 yrs ago now.

Are you going to see a doc pipWereRabbit?

Article wasn't clear on what could be done really.

In some ways I like the peace and quiet and time to myself but it is very bad for my health and I have put a lot of weight on which is apparently triggered by lack of sleep - messes with your hormones.

[pipWereRabbit]

I did the same Niecie, I would wait up to settle DS as I found it easier than trying to come round from a deep sleep. He didn't sleep through the night until he was 14 months. Even now he often stirs and cries for me.

Then I started to enjoy a bit of time alone with my thoughts and no bl**dy interruptions for a bit while everyone else was asleep.

I'm bit doctor phobic - have had enough problems for me to have had my fill of them for many years to come. I think that I may give it until after Christmas (so 6 months of it being more my problem than the baby's) and then go to the GP.

And as you say - it's put paid to any hopes I had of losing my baby weight.

Have you been to see anyone about this Niecie?

[Niecie]

Hi pipWereRabbit

No I haven't seen anybody. Until I read the article I hadn't realise there was anybody else who was like me. I just thought I had got myself into a bit of muddle, for want of a better word, and need to get on with and just go to bed.

It is daft really staying up so late but I don't relax until I know we probably won't get any interuptions. DS2 still comes into our bed given half the chance but I know the chances of that happening decrease as the night goes on and so the longer I stay up the less likely it is that I get interupted. Problem is I don't know the nights he will come in and when he won't. He is quite bad at the moment too - starting a new school yr seems to have unsettled him.

Anyway, now I realise that I am not alone and that maybe the doctors won't laugh if I say I don't want to go to bed for fear of being woken up. Maybe they have come across it before and I won't feel such a fool.

I shall keep the article and summon up the courage to see if anybody can help me out.
I need to do something. My weight is becoming a real issue and I have neither the energy nor the willpower to do anything about it as things stand.

Plus it doesn't do your marriage any good if you don't want to go to bed the same time as your DH any more.

[alypaly]

insomnia is horrible.....i have been on allsorts of meds over the years.
They tried antidepressants to see if sedative side effects would get me to sleep. Now they have prescribed nitrazepam...two a night...but i am scared of becoming dependant on them. They should only be for short term use and my doc has putthem on a repeat.

Been to a sleep clinic to see if i have apnoea....

Dont know about you,but i find it difficult to go to sleep at the right time,and most of the time i dont feel tired enough to sleep. If i do manage to get to sleep,i dont stay asleep for very long and then im awake half the night.Whilst everybody else is asleep
If i do, on the odd occasion go into a deep sleep my son has told me i snore so i am wondering if i wake myself up.
Weird thing is...i never feel tired even on 3-4 hours a night. My BF reckons i will die if i dont get enough sleep...( not dead yet even after 21 years)but Maggie thatcher survived on 4 hours constantly.
I would kill for 7-8 hours sleep.

funny thing is ,i can fall asleep for 10 minutes when i sit down to watch TV and its just like a power nap....then i could stay awake all night.....naffed off

[Niecie]

You do get used to it don't you Alypaly, lack of sleep I mean.

I don't feel tired a lot of the time. The reason I worry is that I know it is probably not very healthy in the long term,even if it hasn't made a big difference so far, apart from the weight issue.

However, I do think I am probably more tired than I would let myself believe because I have nothing in reserve. If I have to do extra things that I don't normally do or go on a long trip I feel like I don't have the stamina to get through the day.

If I do get a good nights sleep, by my standards anyway, I don't really feel any different. But then that has always been the case even when I slept for the normal length of time. I was never one of these people who managed to bounce out of bed just because they caught up with their sleep after a few late night. Never made that much difference.

[alypaly]

no it doesnt affect me like that,i think ive got used to it..i play league badminton 3 nights week, do all my own DIY,gardening etc(single mum) never seem to run out of steam...its weird and worrying at tinmes.I dont feel 'normal'