Anyone else have this insomnia issue?

[Furryfeet]

Sorry about the long post. Ideally I'd like to hear from anyone who has come through similar experiences to give me encouragement or anyone who just wants to share their own circumstances. (Btw I'm 45; been on Evorel 100 patches for about 8 weeks, upped to 150 3 weeks ago + cyclical utrogestan + 37.5mg venlafaxine for 5 weeks + 10mg amitriptyline started v recently)

I am continually perplexed by the way I have lost the ability to sleep and my sleep is at the same time really bad AND erratic. The thing that aggravates me most is that I've lost count of the number of times I've tried something new to help sleep and it's worked and I've thought 'Brilliant - I've cracked this' and then it's stopped working after 2 nights max.

For example I noticed for several months I was sleeping longer and more soundly on the nights my dh had ended up falling asleep downstairs on the couch, so he offered to sleep on the sofa for a week as an experiment to see how it benefited my sleep... 3 nights of great sleep for me and then it just stopped working. Same when i took taurine - first 2 nights slept like a baby but not since. First night of amitriptyline knocked me out for 8 hours and then the next night I was awake within 30 minutes and only got back to sleep again from 3-5:40am, CBD oil was similar. I've tried CBTi and hypnotherapy but they just seem like expensive chats.

I seem to sleep for little more than 3 hours a night with maybe 1-2 nights a week of a magical 7 hours, but I never know which I'll get. To make it more confusing, dh thinks I sometimes think I'm awake when I'm actually asleep. I thought about getting a smart watch to track sleep but think I'd probably just get even more obsessed with it.

The thing I find the hardest is the sense of not 'knowing myself' any more. I have been off work for a while with anxiety, low mood and insomnia after a fairly full-on stint of homeworking during the pandemic (which was when certain peri symptoms emerged). Some of my physical symptoms have gone and part of me would love to go back to work and feel part of that world again (and in fact I'll have to return soon anyway), but it's hard to tell how working will impact on my sleep and wellbeing. My managers have been pretty supportive in terms of asking me all about what might support me, but it's actually hard to know what would help when I've been feeling so weird for so long.

I don't know if you have considered this, but some drs do think that adding ADs to HRT is not good, as you need to see how you are on the HRT, and adjust that.

To me, from what you have said, it sounds as if you need to try more strategies to switch off- maybe yoga, apps like Headspace, and other ways of calming your mind. I don't think that relying on drugs is necessarily doing the trick- as you've found.

How are you doing re. exercise and diet? And sleep hygiene?

Can you consider a staggered return to work as a change of environment and getting back to some kind of 'normal' might really help?

Sleep hygiene is as good as I can make it (regular bedtime, cool, dark, quiet etc), I've used the headspace app religiously for months and it's one of the few things that is almost guaranteed to get me off to sleep (DavidJ body scan to be precise!). Unfortunately in the last week or so I have woken up 1-2 hours later, feeling as if it's morning, which is what prompted me to return to the GP for the amitriptyline as I wondered whether I was having a little anxiety attack in my sleep. I have learned to control some panic and anxiety through breathing in the day time. Diet probably isn't perfect but I basically like healthy food, and consume no caffeine and very little alcohol.

It is tough to know what to do about the AD's as my mood has probably improved slightly in the last month since I started taking them and plenty of people are on them with HRT and advise to give them a while to work - and I'm on such a low dose anyway.

I will definitely be going back to work gradually.

The only thing I can really think of is that if I can somehow 'accept' that this is my sleep pattern now then sometimes that can help a person relax and paradoxically can improve the situation. My sister-in-law is peri, works full-time and insists she only gets about 2 hours' sleep 5/6 nights. Sometimes when she and i find it in ourselves to laugh about it, it can feel quite therapeutic.

*Sorry, said Headspace app but meant Insight timer - same idea

Yep.
Me.
I can honestly say I've tried EVERYTHING
Oral hrt, then patches and then gel. Caused HORRIBLE and dangerous migraines. Was told I cannot have hrt (I agree - I felt like I was dying)
Prior to hrt i tried ;Pop pill, cetazette, depo injection. All awful.
Then the Mirena coil and ended with an endometrial ablation due to heavy bleeding .
This year so far I've tried: Cbd oil, melatonin, nytol, 5htp, menopace, sage oil...
nothing has helped.
I'm waiting to see a Dr about sleeping pills
I simply can't function due to lack of sleep

Oh and yoga and headspace app
I might go back to yoga - I enjoyed it. It just didnt help my sleep :(

I've been awful with sleep since I was 42. The only way I can get to sleep is listening to boring podcasts like In Our Time. I sleep 5 hours a night typically, waking 1-2 times. BUT I've got better in recent months, I'm 49 - not on hrt but I have a mirena so barely get any bleeding. It got better after my h left me btw, is that a solution

Sorry to hear this @ChiswickFlo (sorry doesn't really cover it!). You reminded me that I have been referred for a sleep clinic. Not sure what exactly it will involve or how long it will take but I'm hoping that it might shed a little light on the situation... even if they just came back and said 'Turns out, you're an overthinker' at least that would offer a bit of clarity...

Re yoga - always good to do something you enjoy - I joined a choir, which helps lift my mood.

Thank you
My brain fog is awful...
My attention span is shot :(
I used to read multiple books a month. Now I struggle to read 1.
I was hoping to start studying again in October but theres just no way :(
I cannot wait for this bloody time of my life to be over!
40 flipping years of periods! Ugh. At least they are light now I suppose.
The hrt made my migraines SO bad I'm currently under a neurologist and on crgp injections :(

Do you mind me asking are you in employment at present? @ChiswickFlo

No.
I am a carer for my mum and have 2 quite full on voluntary roles
(So I work but don't get paid 🤣🤣)

I wish people like us could go into business together - we could take turns to man the phones while the other one stares into space and drools : D

I just can't imagine being able to manage paid work too atm tbh...
I used to do a bit of freelance admin but haven't felt able to this year :(

Oh, that would be brilliant 👏
I could stick my head on the fridge whilst you answer the phone 🤣🤣

Sounds like you're getting quite a lot done all in all

I have terrible insomnia, I can't get to sleep before 2am even though I get up at 6am. Once I do get to sleep I stay asleep but 4 hours is just not long enough . I do try and catch up at the weekend with a layin but 5 days a week I'm a zombie . I'm 54 and have been on Oral HRT for 5 years ....I have no other menopausal symptoms apart from lack of sleep . Not sure what I can do apart from once or twice a month take melatonin but it makes me so drowsy in the morning- I hate it . Any other suggestions?

I really don’t know what a full nights sleep the only way I cope is not to look at the time as that stresses me more . My mind is in absolute overdrive at night

I'm the same, Op. I'm almost 52 and have been like this for about three years. Had same as you to no avail. Doc put me on an anti dep that made my appetite go mad and I put on a stone . (This was after asking him not to give me one that made me put weight on). Now I have been referred to a Sleep Clinic. I am on a warning from my work due to turning up unfit to work due to sleeplessness. Sorry I am fed up

I guess...
It doesn't feel like it. Dh is picking up a lot of slack at home atm.
I started one of the groups from nothing 4 years ago...I've had to step back a lot from that one. I just don't have head space for it now :(
I've told the other group I'll stay as chair for 1 more year then I'm standing down. I'm knackered and since covid it's SO uch more stressful and difficult.
Mum nearly died in April (sepsis) which was awful so I'm trying to spend time with her.
Add to that 2 teens and a dh that works away and I'm a bit tired:)

Sorry, no.
Melatonin doesn't work for me either :(
You could try 5htp or cdb oil?

Its awful isn't it? :(

I'm pretty pissed off at the Dr tbh (locum)
Wouldn't give me anything until I'd had bloods done...
Well, it's a 7 week wait for blood tests at my surgery and NICE states that you shouldn't rely on bloods for perimenopausal symptoms!
(I managed to get a cancellation for a blood test at a local hospital by logging on to swiftqueue at 6am yesterday!)
I'm going to have to get a bit terse with him I think...😡

I am peri and tried ear plugs! Not that I was waking up to noise, but there was a natural break in my sleep cycle at 3am which mostly woke me up and I could not go back to sleep. In the end I tried ear plugs and they keep me in deep sleep without the 3am slight break. I've been sleeping through most nights ever since.

If I do not use them I have terrible sleep waking several times even without any noise.

It's helping for now (since 6 months) so I'll keep at it.

Hope someone here benefits from this.

What dose amitryptaline were you on? I was on 10mg which worked for a day or two then stopped working. Gp upped to 20mg and that has worked pretty well for around a year now. I've taken up running and I have noticed a further improvement in my sleep especially on the four days of the week I've done a run.

Can't have amitriptyline due to a heart arrhythmia issue years ago

It's a bloody nightmare

(But it works well for my mum)