To ask what you’re doing awake post-midnight? Part 2: Insomnia Strikes Back

[5YearsLeft]

Bit awkward to start this in the middle of the day, but I wanted to be able to link it on the old thread before it completely fills. Meanwhile, even though right now it’s not post-midnight, if you’re having a day-after hangover from insomnia, feel free to post. Whether it’s from poorly children or babies or pets or OHs, whether it’s grief or fear or anxiety or other losses, whether it’s work stress or home stress or just LIFE stress, we get it. You’re not yelling into the void; you’re sharing with people who have been stuck wide awake, too.

Hopefully this one's a bit uplifting. First primroses.

This one's better.

@Wallywobbles

This one's better.

Lovely!

@Wallywobbles Just lovely!

@Tallisimo Do hope your conversation with your GP yielded some fruit, maybe in the form of an MRI? No one can be expected to just keep going in the kind of pain you’re in and hope that it will just taper off at some random point though, sigh, quite often that does seem to be what a lot of doctors expect until a patient loses it and says, “NO FECKING MORE!” I know it shouldn’t have to be that way, though, so I do hope maybe you made some progress.

@catwomando It’s the blood test that never happens. Today, my headache is finally, FINALLY winding down, after three bloody days, so I’m holding out hope that I’ll FINALLY make it to the blood test tomorrow morning. I do hope squashing the cats, restorative yoga, and the visit to your mum all have gone well.

And one of my own pics. DH came home with flowers. I completely forgot it was our anniversary. I guess this is 14 years now. (The darkest flowers possible are my favorites).

Don’t use your phone late at night as it makes it harder to sleep!

@KeepingAnOpenMind That’s it - you’re kicked out of the thread!! I’m absolutely joking; if you have trouble sleeping, you’re always welcome.

Most of our posters suffer with serious sleep issues, a level of insomnia not affected by device usage, or are going through serious life issues (tremendous grief, chronic pain, etc.) and need support. For those having light sleep issues, avoiding blue light from a phone might make a difference; you’re absolutely right. But a lot of those on the after-midnight thread need the support that comes THROUGH their phones and we can all understand that. Though I do appreciate you trying to help!

@5 your blood will still be there tomorrow so hey Ho (unless an over friendly vampire pops in overnight, that is ). The flowers are beautiful 😻

I had a smashing, tiring day. Drove for 4 hours in total, pushed mum around in wheelchair, lugged heavy bags of compost and plants in and out of cars and around the garden. Planted said plants in heavy clay soil with lots of digging . Got back 10 mins before leaving for dancing. Which was a strenuous Viennese waltz (lovely !). I'm pooped but I don't have to get up tomorrow - woooooooohooooooooo! Really hoping that the exercise will allow me some sleep tonight. 🥱😴

Keeping everything crossed that the sleep gods let us all have a few hours of deep,restful sleep 😴

My beautiful sister in law died this morning surrounded by love.

@Tinabn I’m so terribly sorry to hear that. From everything you said before, she was an incredible woman that made a difference in a lot of lives, especially for young people. There’s no sugar coating that cancer is horrible: completely unfair, with no respect for how good and decent a person is, or how much they’re loved and needed here. I know your grief will be so fresh for a while, and I’m sure your brother will be in a lot of pain, so I hope you’re all able to be there for each other to get through this. I know the days ahead, as you try to support him and his family, will be tough, so I do hope you’re able to get some rest around your grief. Time doesn’t heal this type of wound, but it will eventually help ease the new feeling you have right now, the stabbing freshness of it. Good luck, and the thread will be here if you need to vent, at night or during the day.

@Tinabn But also, I’m so glad that she was able to leave surrounded by all the love in her life. It’s the best way she could possibly go (as terrible as it was that she had to go), and it’s very beautiful that your family was able to make it possible.

@Tinabn

My beautiful sister in law died this morning surrounded by love.

Tina. I'm so sorry. Lots of hugs and best wishes to you and your family.

@catwomando I’ve got my fingers crossed for a vampire! C’mooooooon vampire! Also, I know that vampires aren’t real because some hospital would have been, with my case, like, “Well, we don’t ever do this except in horrible, horrible vein cases, but this is Harry from the Special Vein Unit and, well, he’s here to suck your blood… and then spit it in the test tube.” I mean, they’d absolutely have a vampire on staff for the dreadful cases vs. spending 45 minutes trying to find my vein, poking me four times, and then sending me home to come try again the next day (this happened once).

Sounds like an absolutely non stop day that SHOULD result in sleep for you! I mean, you were doing all kinds of heavy lifting then dancing so, here’s hoping. I mean, if that list of a day doesn’t knock you out, you might have a sleep problem…

I wrote a long post but somehow lost it. Oh well. I've got four different versions of wordle to play and I've exhausted them all. Well not the wordle archive one. I can do that.

I've got too much going. It's just all too much. I just want to push everything away and only do what I want to do.

Tallisimo, I should say again that if you want to exchange notes on sciatica I'm happy to help. My father has just seen the spinal surgeon so might be further in his journey than you are and I suspect tjsz the advice in most cases is the same even if sciatica can present in slightly different forms and have slightly different causes.

@KeepingAnOpenMind

Don’t use your phone late at night as it makes it harder to sleep!

Yes you are right of course but I don't even have insomnia. I'm so tired that I know the moment I close my eyes I'll be asleep. I don't want that moment to come yet. This is the only time I get to myself but it's too late to do anything fun and I'm too tired and too stressed.

And if I wait for twelve minutes I can do wordle and quordle and nerdle and wordle in my second language.

@SaltySocks Typing posts and losing them happens to all of us at least once, I think. So sorry to hear it sounds like you’re just completely overwhelmed by everything. Who could blame you? When life all just gets to be too much, it’s only normal to have a “snap-back” reaction feeling, that you just can’t be asked for another thing outside of the things you want to do. I hope maybe you have some time coming where you can just do those things you want and not answer to all the other demands, whatever they are, and hell, hide from them for a bit even, if you need to. Mental health is just as important as physical health, and they can tie together so closely.

And good grief, we’re turning into the sciatica experts thread! Lovely to have another person who knows these things so you can support each other. It sounds like your dad is further than @Tallisimo, who can answer more about her journey, and then @Coroico97 who is maybe two weeks away from her spinal surgery now (I thought it was around 23rd of this month maybe?).

@SaltySocks me and ds have been doing wordmaster which is the same thing but you can keep playing

@SaltySocks thank you so much! I’m sorry if I missed your offer before. Any suggestions, ideas etc are very. I have appreciated x

I’m sorry you’ve so much going on. I get that, I really do. I hope you can carve out some breathing time and space that’s just for you.

@5YearsLeft good luck with meeting the vampire tomorrow, hope all the stars are aligned.

@Tinabn I’m so very sorry. I’m glad she was surrounded by love when she left, that will mean so much to you all in the times to come. And was undoubtedly of great comfort to her.

GP was great as always. Has prescribed me one more drug, not gabapentin but something similar, I think. Says I’m clearly doing all the right things (meds, stretches, osteopath, exercises, yoga, TENS machine etc) and thinks it’s ridiculous that I’m still waiting for my physio appointment having self referred at the start of December. He says he can’t understand why I’ve only been offered a telephone consultation- he can’t see the point.

I asked about steroid injections and an MRI scan and he agrees these are absolutely the sensible next steps. If the new med he has prescribed doesn’t work after a couple of weeks, this will, he says, ‘legitimise’ him referring me to the muscular-skeletal team, which is apparently the physio service by another name. And that will be my route to an MRI scan - apparently the physio service is THE route to such things in this county.

Of course, I’m hoping the next lot of pills will do the trick but it’s reassuring to know that some next steps are within sight if they don’t.

Hello and welcome to the after-midnight thread! If you have pain, grief, stress, anxiety, crying babies, wandering children, snoring OHs, any type of insomnia, or, like at least a few people on this thread, if this is just the only quiet time you get to yourself to relax during the day, you always have a place here and you’re always welcome to post.

Also, while people sometimes try to be helpful with tips about how to get to sleep, please don’t feel guilty if you can’t sleep or if you’re awake for mental health reasons, because you need some quiet, peaceful time. You’re here, you’re awake, and it’s okay - we’re all doing the best we can.

@Tallisimo While I’m so glad to hear that your GP sounds like he’s on top of things, I share the frustration you both must have with the physio team not saying anything since December, agreeing a telephone consult with them is about as useful as a telephone consult when you need a gynae exam, and that while you’re on the right path, it must all feel like it’s happening so slowly when you’ve been in pain for so long. BUT at least it’s on the right path and headed in the right direction, so that’s looking more hopeful. And it’s good that he can see an MRI and injections would make sense; just annoying that you have to wait for this referral. Hopefully, the new pills will start helping though, and while you may still want support from musculoskeletal, you won’t feel so helpless.

Evening all!
Hope everyone gets some rest tonight/this morning.
I’m with wide awake ds, wriggling baby and a headache.
Excited about tomorrow though, if they tell me I have to wait as it needs something doing or the forms take forever I might just sit there and cry until they give me the keys!

[quote Tallisimo]@SaltySocks thank you so much! I’m sorry if I missed your offer before. Any suggestions, ideas etc are very. I have appreciated x

I’m sorry you’ve so much going on. I get that, I really do. I hope you can carve out some breathing time and space that’s just for you.

@5YearsLeft good luck with meeting the vampire tomorrow, hope all the stars are aligned.

@Tinabn I’m so very sorry. I’m glad she was surrounded by love when she left, that will mean so much to you all in the times to come. And was undoubtedly of great comfort to her.

GP was great as always. Has prescribed me one more drug, not gabapentin but something similar, I think. Says I’m clearly doing all the right things (meds, stretches, osteopath, exercises, yoga, TENS machine etc) and thinks it’s ridiculous that I’m still waiting for my physio appointment having self referred at the start of December. He says he can’t understand why I’ve only been offered a telephone consultation- he can’t see the point.

I asked about steroid injections and an MRI scan and he agrees these are absolutely the sensible next steps. If the new med he has prescribed doesn’t work after a couple of weeks, this will, he says, ‘legitimise’ him referring me to the muscular-skeletal team, which is apparently the physio service by another name. And that will be my route to an MRI scan - apparently the physio service is THE route to such things in this county.

Of course, I’m hoping the next lot of pills will do the trick but it’s reassuring to know that some next steps are within sight if they don’t.[/quote]
Yes so my dad pretty much has had the same treatment. He found morphine quite helpful but is now managing with codeine and paracetamol though he's still up most of the night crying with pain. The spinal surgeon didn't really want to discuss pain medication. I wanted to ask scout Gabapentin etc but he wasn't that interested. He has suggested a steroid injection so we are waiting for that. He wasn't that fussed about physio either. We've been doing a lot if research on what exercises to do but he said anything that strengthens the core is good. Doesn't matter what. There's no magic exercise to relieve the nerve. Bending and forward stretching has to be avoided of course. He was quite confident scout the steroid injection though. Not so much that it works in every case but that it's a fairly common procedure and he's rarely seen adverse effects.

[quote Tallisimo]@SaltySocks thank you so much! I’m sorry if I missed your offer before. Any suggestions, ideas etc are very. I have appreciated x

I’m sorry you’ve so much going on. I get that, I really do. I hope you can carve out some breathing time and space that’s just for you.

@5YearsLeft good luck with meeting the vampire tomorrow, hope all the stars are aligned.

@Tinabn I’m so very sorry. I’m glad she was surrounded by love when she left, that will mean so much to you all in the times to come. And was undoubtedly of great comfort to her.

GP was great as always. Has prescribed me one more drug, not gabapentin but something similar, I think. Says I’m clearly doing all the right things (meds, stretches, osteopath, exercises, yoga, TENS machine etc) and thinks it’s ridiculous that I’m still waiting for my physio appointment having self referred at the start of December. He says he can’t understand why I’ve only been offered a telephone consultation- he can’t see the point.

I asked about steroid injections and an MRI scan and he agrees these are absolutely the sensible next steps. If the new med he has prescribed doesn’t work after a couple of weeks, this will, he says, ‘legitimise’ him referring me to the muscular-skeletal team, which is apparently the physio service by another name. And that will be my route to an MRI scan - apparently the physio service is THE route to such things in this county.

Of course, I’m hoping the next lot of pills will do the trick but it’s reassuring to know that some next steps are within sight if they don’t.[/quote]
Hm my dad had an appointment with the physio but the physio didn't want to say anything till he had the appointment with the spinal surgeon. It might be an age thing. He seems to get referred for stuff at lightning speed.

Unlike dh who has to wait 6 months or more for his appointments.

Dh had the much awaited appointment today but as feared that consultant couldn't figure out what's wrong with him or what's causing his debilitating pain. Very disappointing. Where do we go from here? I feel so bad for him. And for me. I wish I could give him a hug at least or comfort him in some way but we don't have that type of relationship anymore. How quickly things can change in a few months. I feel like I've lost my best friend and I'm so freaking sad about it.

@Chichimcgee I think sitting there and crying until they give you the keys could work! I would imagine no council in the world wants to leave a nine-months-pregnant woman sitting there, crying on a doorstep if it’s easily avoidable - talk about terrible PR

@SaltySocks I don’t want to get too involved in your convo about sciatica since it’s not my disease, but this does really enrage me, that people are so cavalier about pain management and pain medication, that they leave your father up crying every night in pain. It breaks my heart. I suppose the one good part about dying is that no one really cares about my pain medication anymore - how much I’m on or if it’s addictive or any of that stuff. But for the last nine years up until now, I completely understand that; your pain outstripping your ways to deal with it, doctors who “aren’t interested” (?!?) or feel it’s not their department, or that “eventually” they’ll do something to help it or fix it, so you just need to struggle on for a bit. There has been more than one night, up crying with pain, that I’ve said to DH I wished I had a machine that allowed the doctors to feel my pain for 24 hours as they try to live their lives, and then they could make their decisions about how to treat it. I feel at least half of them would have been gobbling morphine tablets like popcorn, ha. Anyway, I do hope you have some sciatica advice for each other, and I do hope something in the future can help your father have nights of sleep instead of tears.

Hello, good to find my people!! My sleep is rubbish due to peri menopause and that my husband of 20 years left me last year. Nights are lonely and my head is busy so my sleep is suffering so much. I’m so sorry people on here are suffering so much with much bigger stuff going on than me.