Anyway to stop peri insomnia?

[clockandstagger]

I had a really bad period of insomnia earlier this year which honestly traumatised me a bit. I am not a lot more concerned about my sleep and I still get around 1 night a week where no matter how tired I am I'll wake up after an hour and then lie awake all night. I do use HRT both patches ang utrogestan which doesn't seem to help my sleep especially.

I have tried magnesium glycinate which made things worse for me, I do use CBD oil which I am not sure is doing anything. When I have a bad night it ruins the following day and maybe even the day after. I notice that if I have to attend an event or party it takes me a quite a while to wind down so I prefer to leave early to have that at home so I will sleep ok.

I just wish there was a way to ensure I'd have a good 7.5 hours a night at least most nights. I don't do caffeine after lunch, I don't drink I did take a nytol last night but I prefer to avoid it as it doesn't even work that well and I feel awful the next day also use of the anti-histamine in it has been linked to dementia and the other safer antihistamines don't do anything.

Anyone found a reliable cure?

Melatonin works for me. I get it online from Piping Rock. I used to get way with 3mg but am currently taking 5mg. I have no problem going to sleep. For me the issue is getting back to sleep when I wake in the night and/or early morning waking. I take one every night about 30 mins before I turn the lights out. I also take Magnesium Glycinate.

I've suffered with insomnia for many, many years. It's utterly horrendous. If I don't take some kind of pill, I won't sleep until about 4am. It's like torture. One of the biggest pleasures in my life is a zopiclon. That feeling of letting go, sinking heavily into your bed and then just blacking out for 8 hours is beyond bliss. Sadly, they're addictive and tightly controlled by the docs. I can usually get a packet a year out of them though and then take half a tablet and spin them out for months. Am currently on high dose melatonin (from america) and it works but it makes me feel a bit sick and gives me a hideously dry mouth.

@Thepollenjar I am on 200mg 12 nights a month. My GP says I need to stay on the cyclical HRT for the foreseeable.

@Foolsgold74 I do remember trying melatonin for migraines years ago but it seemed to make my headaches worse and I had a hung over feeling from them but I am prepared to try them again!

@Anjelika I will check out piping rock, we have a holiday soon and I am worried that my insomnia will ruin it for both of us so if that helped it would be great!

I'm not yet at this stage (am not looking forward to it) but I've tried lots of ways to deal with insomnia over the years.
Drowsy antihistamines work really well for me - Phenergan is brilliant. Exercise helps but if you're already running on zero sleep, exercise is impossible I find - I've had lots of days where I was so sleep deprived that I felt out of breath.
My other half puts on YouTube videos of someone explaining something in a hugely monotonous fashion and passes out after about five minutes. These work well to stop the brain chatter.
Lots of people report that Mounjaro has got rid of their sleeping problems.

Drowsy antihistamines make me sleep all night without waking. Nytol does too but obviously don’t want to take it every night. The Better You magnesium sleep body cream seems to help me but magnesium tablets can make me feel worse. A strong lavender pillow spray helps too along. I saw a sleep therapist years ago who gave me an exercise to do where I have to think of something such as a film title, type of flower or food beginning with each letter of the alphabet. I often have to do it about 3-4 times but it does eventually make me fall asleep as it seems to focus my brain on just one thing. Otherwise I’m thinking of multiple things for hours and can’t wind down

Ashwaganda has really helped my sleep.

I went on amitryptaline for a separate issue and it sorted my sleep right out.

Btw I believe amitryptaline can be taken as a preventative for migraines so maybe you can kill two birds.

Ask if you can double your dose. On 10mg, I would get about 5 hours before waking but on 20mg I get 8 hours plus.

This made me wake up to pee about 5 times a night!!

Sympathy to you all, insomnia is the worst. Thankfully not suffering with this too much so far. My mum started me doing the alphabet trick when I was still in primary school! I do find it helps - and it's been very useful for games of 'stop the bus' or whatever you call it 🤣 In contrast to PP, thinking about something I really do want to do is annoyingly effective. I'm just settled to being creative or productive and I'm off!

Those who take antihistamines - do you take these for allergies too? I'm worried about reducing their effect if I was taking them regularly.

I've only recently started magnesium to deal with restless legs and it seems to be helping, but I had been listening to soothing Radio 4 podcasts to calm the brain down and stave off boredom.

Giving up wine and caffeine is never going to happen, while I'm still working at least. A girl needs some vices.

Cheers

Would have slept ok last night but was up from 4am with a migraine, I cannot catch a break! I've ordered some melatonin to try.

I've been suffering for the last few years too. I have found that glycine helps. I take that as well as magnesium glycinate and a small dose of melatonin. No caffeine is a good call and a low carb diet really helps. If I eat anything carb heavy, even early on the day, I can be awake all night. It's definitely worth experimenting with this.

One trick that sometimes works for me when I wake up in the night is to count backwards from 200. Sometimes I have to do it a few times, and sometimes I wake up too anxious to bother with it, but occasionally it's worked like magic!

@Lalavande It's frustrating as we're all so different and there is no one answer Magnesium Glycine caused me terrible insomnia and somatic anxiety, a paradoxical effect they call it which a significant minority of people seem to experience with Magnesium Glycinate. I try to eat low GI but very low carb ensures sleeplessness for me. I do sometimes find a small healthy fat and protein rich snack before bed helps a bit with sleep maintenance.

I am going to try the melatonin and the counting backwords!

I was prescribed it for headaches and sleep issues. Spoiler alert - didn’t help with sleep at all. Doesn’t even make me feel drowsy.

@SquirrelStateofMind I developed hayfever after Covid so I've been using antihistamines for a relatively short period of time. Using drowsy antihistamines to help with sleep hasn't lessened their efficacy when treating hayfever symptoms, but I got covid late (2022) so only had hay fever for 3 years. I am not sure if they'd be less effective over time, but I only take one a day when I need it.

Trazadone from the GP - amazing stuff - plus an eye mask, ear plugs and a listen to the bedtime stories on the Nothing Much Happens website or podcast.

I remember the days when I used to simply close my eyes...

What's the reason for not going to continuous? You can switch after you have been taking cyclical HRT for a year (just looked it up on the Balance website and it's the same advice on other sources, when I last looked it was after your periods had stopped for a year or when you reached 53, whichever was sooner, but has obviously changed)

Have you tried a weighted blanket? I need to be weighed down to sleep these days!

How old are you OP? Just wondering as I am having similar issues and almost 40 but not sure if that is peri meno territory yet or not. I have ordered some more melatonin gummies as they help me fall asleep at least which is better than nothing.

Seems so many of us struggle yet my husband is asleep the minute his head hits the pillow. In my next life I want to be a man.

@KylieKangaroo I'm late 40's but was peri since my late 30's at least but the sleep issue is more recent.

@TheMousePipes I did try a weighted blanket and didn't enjoy it although I know loads of people that love it. I found it claustrophobic but I usually sleep half in half out of the covers even in winter.

@TheSmallAssassin My Dr showed me a study which suggested the risk of breast cancer was slightly reduced with cyclical HRT as opposed to continuous HRT. I think it's a very small reduction and perhaps not studied with Utrogestan specifically but as I want to stay on HRT long term I and my GP prefer to do cyclical. Also I do not feel I get any sleep benefit from the weeks I am on Utrogestan.

@SirChenjins I will look into Trazadone and ask my GP about it.