5.30am wake up 😩

[KangarooKenny]

Why oh why ? I’m already on magnesium. Last night I took an antihistamine to try and sleep a bit longer but no, 5.30am again.

Usually 4.30 for me! Sometimes not back to sleep until near 6, then if WFH up at 7 or if travelling out of bed at 6. ( this morning though went back to sleep til 9am which was lovely)

Work full time in a full on job & most weeks I barely make it to Friday as I so tired.

I'm the same re barely making it to Friday, it's so hard. How do you manage?

@RandomMess this may not apply, but just so you know, I tried the magnesium too. Assumed I needed it because of insomnia and waking early, plus maybe it would help anxiety. I started to get palpitations and be more awake. Did a bunch of tests. Adjusted my thyroid meds. Waited awhile, thought I’d stop the magnesium and things settled. I tested my magnesium off the supplements and it’s high naturally. So I read about what symptoms are of too much and palpitations and anxiety and too much alertness, are symptoms. So just in case it might apply you could check that too. Medichecks do fairly inexpensive tests for magnesium and others. Also I take vitamin D at night which I think helped with sleep. Who knows.

I seem to sleep better taking the magnesium than when I didn't.

Currently waiting to see a menopause specialist so perhaps they will do a full set of bloods if I ask.

I have never been a great sleeper linked to most likely having ADD (kids are ND). Any stay in hospital = no sleep at all, any trips away I take huge dose of Phenergen or a Zopiclone just to have a break from being awake.

I miss the days of pre-schoolers where I slept like a log for 6-7 hours 😭

Last week it was 3:30am which is a bit miserable. Any time after 5am and that’s early morning and ok by my mental clock, and this does happen most the time. I like extra time to myself first thing. I would like to be up and sorting out the house but I’d wake everyone else so can’t, which is annoying, all the dishwasher emptying, pet feeding, lunch making, cleaning, needs to be after 7am. So it’s wordle, reading, mumsnetting and sometimes an early logon to work. But I do fall asleep mid evening which is irritating too. I’m just at actual menopause and my energy levels overall are increasing….no medication here, just trouble sleeping, achy joints and hot flushes. But no periods! Swimming helps me.

Usually 3am for me. I love that some of you are embracing this. I wish I could. Finding it horribly difficult to accept that life is not going back to when it was good ie my 30s I suppose. Did any of you p,an ahead, consciously, for what a good menopause looks like?

@Summerhillsquare I totally know that feeling. I feel better and less like that on HRT. But it works for me and doesn’t for everyone. I honestly did not even think about menopause! Certainly not when it started. It’s a good point isn’t it? If we knew more, planned more and well ahead, what would be different? I would not have planned so much for this decade if I had known I wouldn’t have the energy to meet it all.

Thank you @WahineToa I have just given up on hrt as after a year it did not improve things and the side effects were awful. I feel so angry that I no longer have the energy to live my life the way I want to.

I thought I was a well informed woman and feminist, but peri menopause I was in no way prepared for!

Which hrt regime are you on?
I feel it isn't really working for me either and am contemplating giving up HRT. The trouble is, my bladder goes awol and I end up needing to wee every 5 minutes!

Could you both maybe talk to your GP about changing the type you’re on? I didn’t get on with the estrogen gel but I love my evorel patch ( plus Utrogestan & testosterone ).

@MillyMollyMonday yep.

Didn't get massive periods until I headed to menopause.

It's a bastard stage of my life.

I try to do any important stuff that requires accuracy ( like all the finance stuff i need to do) early part of the week but no other tricks I’m afraid for getting to Friday.

I rarely get a break in the day & lunch is usually a sandwich at my desk, but if I’m wfh and have an hours gap I will try & have a quick nap.

i have also dropped a lot of volunteering activity as I just don’t have the energy anymore .

Runaround I'm not on HRT as such, but use Vagifem - a pessary which delivers a very localised, low dose of oestrogen. This has sorted out my bladder issues, including recurrent UTIs which only developed in peri. I wonder if this might be an option.

@Glitterbiscuits me too, I had easy periods till meno. It is an absolute bastard stage of life! My periods are just now after 6 years becoming infrequent, lighter and shorter. Thank god.

I have been through the pill, gel and patch options, as far as I know that's it. GP worse than useless and very determined to get me on anti depressants.

Oh I hate that, I had a doctor like that.

I am in peri but I always got up early as in my opinion its the best part of the day.

In my 30s it was the only time I could exercise as I was a SAHM so I ran before DH went to work.

Now I work FT so go out at 5 every day to walk or do HIIT, alarm goes off at 4.30 to allow for getting dressed etc.

So I don't know if I'd wake up early or not because of peri.

DH sleeps till gone 10 or 11 at weekends I would quite like the odd lie in, but I'm alway thinking what a waste it would be and how much there is to do!

I am in bed by 8.30 most nights and sleep by 9.30 as soon as DS13 gives me his phone.

You do have to be ruthless about going to bed when you are tired. I am also religious about getting 10-20k steps in plus a workout or swim. I am frequently exhausted but prioritise bedtime and exercise over all else.

All I want to do is sleep. Always tired and sleepy. 🥱

Every. Fucking. Morning. 🙈

What is the evolutionary point of this shit. It would be beneficial during child rearing years, so once all that's done, why fuck with us this way now 🤬

I'm awake because of caffeine and a scheduled telephone call, the early starts are not with me involuntarily yet but it's just fucking bollocks.

I woke for years between 2 and 4.30 and was constantly shattered. Started HRT and now sleep mostly to 5.30 but sometimes 6. Honestly love it. The house is quiet I feel well rested. Go for a dog walk, have a coffee and it’s when I do most of life admin.

I felt better this morning because it was 5.50 instead of 5.30. Almost 6 is a lot more bearable somehow !

What time do you go to bed at? I'm in bed by 10 so 530 is fine

Yes, me too. I've been up for over an hour pottering about. Exercise and, at this time of year, a couple of hours of being outside in daylight (not easy in the working week) help with sleep quality, if not the early waking part. I also take magnesium and avoid caffeine after midday as a precaution.

Other than that, I try to go to bed earlier and start work early so I get enough sleep. I'm lucky in that my workplace pretty much allows us to set our own working hours. And I rarely go out in the evenings any more - I try to meet friends for lunch because I know I will be flagging by 21:30.

I find working with it is less stressful than trying to fight it, because I'm awake at 5:30 in either case, but I realise that depends on what else you need to get done in the evenings.

I'm 42 and finding falling asleep is no issue at all but if I wake in the night, it's so hard to get back to sleep. Last night I had to pee at 2.50am and don't think I went back to sleep until 4am then alarm at 6am.

I'm having to go to bed earlier and I'm trying to nap most days but I also suffer with fatigue after having a stroke earlier this year.

Have a call with the doctor tomorrow about something else so might ask them about it.