Does anyone else find it ridiculous that many millions of people are exhausted; struggle to get to sleep, to stay asleep, to wake feeling refreshed, to have sufficient energy to live; yet their doctors are not (generally) working their butts off to help find a solution?
I had one GP, several years ago, give me the diagnosis of Fibromyalgia, with no other help. Another GP who I saw once, about the same time, put me on amytriptoline. My first GP in my new city had no further suggestions.
My most recent GP seems open to helping and has referred me to a rheumatologist (who’s done nothing so far).
Yet I am still struggling with sleep, a most basic survival need. I am expected to live like everyone else with a third of the energy.
Sleep is an elusive beast. I long for bedtime, my body will tell me I’m too tired to be awake, yet I wake multiple times in the night. I NEVER feel refreshed or well rested.
I have spent much time awake at 5am wishing and hoping I could get back to sleep, only to still be awake when the baby peeps somewhere between 6-7am.
My Fitbit sleep tracking has shown that it takes at least nine hours in bed to attain eight hours of sleep. Usually more like 9-10 hours. There are many awake/restless periods every night. It is uncommon for long periods of sleep.
And this is while I’m on 50mg of amytriptoline!
So my Tiny Mission (or giant mission!) is to tackle sleep.
Thank God for the internet. Seriously. I have found more useful information there than in real life.
Some things I’ve found to look into further in a preliminary search:
- L-theanine
- Tryptophan
- Hops
- Valerian
- Magnesium plus calcium
- Melatonin
I have found the Treating Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia: An Integrated Approach website and i am looking forward to working my way through it.
A sign that made me comfortable with their approach was that they acknowledge that there is no cure. But there are many treatments to help us.
The site suggests some over the counter, natural and prescription medications that can help sleep. They also suggest that some working together, at lower doses, work well.
I have seen the light, I need to try some other tactics to get some sleep. (Always with my GP’s advice, no mixing medicines unsafely!)
My biggest wish is to be able to spend 8-9 hours in bed and actually get a similar amount of decent sleep. That would be amazing!
And so the experiments begin.
Do you have any suggestions or any experience with the above supplements?
This is an old post, but I have done a lot of research about sleep, find some resources below:
I created this series for those of us who want to take one subject at a time in this printable there is the chapter from my book about sleep and templates for making your own sleep hygiene plan and tracking your sleep.
