Early Waking Syndrome. On HRT but waking at 5am - halp!

[OrdinaryGirl]

Hello hello. Posting in Menopause rather than Sleep as I do feel this is time-of-life related. Have tried to get all the major points into the thread title… but just for additional context:

I’m looking for something that will help me stay asleep and wake at 6:30-7am.

No trouble falling asleep within a few minutes but every morning I wake up at about 5-5:30am and it’s driving me mad.

If something wakes me up in the small hours, I can rarely get back to sleep again because as soon as I breach the surface of consciousness I am plagued by catastrophising and all the thinky-thoughts. I deploy all the techniques to get these under control but doing that is exhausting and feels like a battle - but not exhausting in the way that would be helpful by making me sleepy - grrrrr.

Happily married, with three boys of primary school age. Demanding pastoral full-time job.

Here are the things I’ve tried:
•Hypnotherapy - in-clinic session. Didn’t go into trance. Didn’t work. £75. 🙇🏼‍♀️
• Acupuncture- amazing for wellbeing, hasn’t helped sleep.
• Tart cherry juice extract - helps a bit 🤷🏼‍♀️
• Kalms night-time - took for 2 weeks. Didn’t help with early waking. Felt kind of weird in the morning.
• Magnesium. Have tried ALL DIFFERENT TYPES and it doesn’t help.
•10pm Night Drink. Great concept. Tried for 2 weeks. Didn’t work.
• Dirtea Cacao with additional Lion’s Mane shot - makes me feel more chilled but doesn’t stop the early waking.
• Banana at bedtime - lovely but no effect on 5am nonsense.

I’m smack in the middle of the optimal BMI for my height and I exercise 2-3 times a week - 20 minute Joe Wicks Absolute Beginner HIIT training - and I dance to a music video for warm-up and cooldown. I go to a yoga women’s circle once a week. All this keeps hormone-related crazies down to a rolling simmer and stops me piling weight on.

I have a Mirena coil fitted and use Evorel 75 patches. Didn’t get on with progesterone tablets as it makes me deeply sad within 3 days.

I cook from scratch every night, get a decent amount of fruit and veg, and I drink loads of water. I take probiotics and Reverse Life collagen and Vitamin B12 spray from Better You.

Ironically I’m probably now in better health than I’ve ever been in my whole life! But 5 hours sleep a night is just ruinous to any sense of wellbeing. I think probably the only answer is to get to bed with lights off at 10pm which is fine while DH is away but not really workable when he’s here.

Would really appreciate any thoughts from people who’ve overcome early waking. Fully prepared to be told my issues are due to my personality and life choices. 😄 Thank you in advance 🙏🏼

This is all super-helpful, thank you wise MNers ❤️
@abdnhiker your point about 75 oestrogen patch is SO interesting. I cut a third off my patches with scissors for a while a few months back to see if I could tolerate titrating the dose down to 50 effectively, but got achey joints so reverted to 75. But now I think back, I wonder if my sleep was better doing that 🤔 Will try it again.

People have made some very good points about accepting the way things are at the moment and I think you’re probably right - there’s no sense railing at it because that will only be making matters worse.

We’re about to move house and there will be more space for me to go and potter about quietly without waking anyone else up. Am now thinking in terms of possibilities and all the ~hoovering~ things I could do in that window between 5am and 7am @Pamspeople thank you for the lovely positive reframe - I will remind myself of it 💝

Really sensible points too about how the boys are only going to be staying up later as they get older so basically I do need to give my head a bit of a wobble. @Reallybadidea I will take the object lesson from your folks - poor them! (Though I did chuckle at the way you phrased it 😄) Agree is no point ‘having an evening’ when it comes at such a ruinous cost.

Am going to get that pillow speaker I think.

You are all so kind and brilliant with these replies and I am grateful. 🍫 🧁

It's been a great thread. Thank you for starting it @OrdinaryGirl Some excellent tips here.
I'm glad you're going to give the pillow speaker a go. Tip: download what you're going to listen to (podcast/book) and put phone on aeroplane mode if you're like me and have people messaging you in the middle of the night assuming your phone is off! I set it up ready, including a timer, so it's easy to get going without being fully awake in the middle of the night. I forgot the timer last night, used it when i first settled down to sleep, and woke at 2am with it still going...
I hope you'll let us know how you get on 💕

I put my phone onto sleep mode with no contact, then set a timer for 1 hour on my audiobook. Audible, Borrowbox and Libby all have timers. I sometimes listen to podcasts or radio 4, 4 extra or world service programmes using BBC Sounds, which also has a timer function.

Setting a calm routine for bedtime helps too, with the magnesium moisturiser and the tea on my bedside table that I mentioned earlier. I also make sure I have water and go to the loo just before bed! I think that some of these are helpful mentally rather than actually needed but it all helps.

PS. @Secondtimesally I’ll get some Phenergan in tomorrow, thank you 🙏🏼

I’ve just embraced it, I make a cup of tea and potter about or go to the gym. I go to bed at 10 pm,fall asleep straight away and wake a bit in the night….

it does seem to be getting a bit better at 56…

Try 2/ 3/4am!
Ive had issues with sleep my whole life on and off. But this time it’s peri causing issues especially before my period. I’ve tried many things. I exercise, i eat well, i eat early, i spend time outside.

I do think magnesium glycinate helps me. Sometimes kalms night do. But nothing helps me stay asleep. If i wake early enough i take an antihistamine to help me nod back off but 5am would be too late.

I actually don’t mind the 5/530am ones at the this time of year. I have to get up for work anyway.

Same here…I’m shattered constantly 😩

Have you tried Ashwanga? I take it along with magnesium at night. I feel it’s helped my sleep quality quite a bit.

I think this is only available on prescription- could be wrong but I looked it up not long ago and wondered how anyone was buying it over the counter.

@JinglingSpringbells just had a quick check and NHS website seems to suggest it is available OTC and without prescription so that’s good to know.

@Pamspeople also I forgot to say I completely agree with your point about using the term ‘syndrome’. In that a syndrome is just the term for a collection of symptoms.

Obvs in some instances using it to describe non-medical things can be bad news in reinforcing a sense of being a sufferer of a condition whilst reducing a sense of agency over one’s own life, and I’m very determined to avoid that.

I used it for the first time to do this thread title because of its helpful brevity, but I didn’t even know it was considered a thing until last week!