Last Updated on November 27, 2015 by melissanreynolds
After declaring war on my sleeplessness, I have formulated a new series of Tiny Missions to attempt to get some sleep. To get 8-9 unbroken hours per night with as few restless/awake periods as possible.
Recently, I have tried chamomile tea, SleepDrops and altering the time I take my amitriptyline in order to see if I can effect better sleep.
Through my observations I have managed to learn that my neck tends to be what wakes me up and keeps me restless. So it’s part sleep, part pain that make sleep so elusive.
Having heard personal reviews from people in a Facebook group and coming across research in support of the use of melatonin in Fibromyalgia, I decided to give it a try:
“Melatonin has been reported to improve sleep, severity of pain, tender point count, and global physician assessment in patients suffering from fibromyalgia. One commentary describes how melatonin 6 mg was given to 4 patients with fibromyalgia. After 15 days of treatment, patients reported normal sleep and a reduction in pain. At this time, hypnotics were withdrawn. Other medications such as analgesics and antidepressants were withdrawn after 30 days. They continued to report normal sleep patterns, lack of pain and fatigue and improvements in behavioral symptoms, such as depression.”
On the first night I took 3mg of melatonin in addition to my usual amitriptyline dose. It was a pretty positive start to this experiment! I achieved 8.5 hours of sleep, with only 30 minutes wasted on awake/restless times. Both significant awake times were my husband’s fault. I felt like I slept soundly, so was surprised at the presence of any restless times. And while there were – I managed a few blocks of sleep long enough to be a full sleep cycle! I woke at 630 and was unable to get back to sleep, but unlike usual occurrences, I’d managed to get enough sleep already.
Night two was not as good as I hoped after such a good first night. My neck caused me to be quite restless until 4 when my husband woke me when he got up for the rugby final. I was stuck awake and in a lot of pain. I wonder if the melatonin wears off making it harder to get back to sleep when woken. It was a miserable morning.
Night three made me acknowledge that my sleep cannot get better until I can manage my neck. I had a few blocks of one or so hours sleep, but still lost an hour to awake/restless times. I felt a bit heavy in the head and didn’t want to get up. But otherwise quite relaxed (apart from the neck).
The fourth night was somewhat better. I had a five hour block with very few restless lines in it! My neck was very stiff and sore after this though, it took 15 minutes of trigger point massage to get back to sleep. My pain level in my neck was 7/10 when I woke at 630 and I felt extremely groggy.
The feeling of having slept soundly is a very nice one. On the fifth night I woke, earlier again, to a feeling of having slept and my neck wasn’t super tight, it was about a point below the usual first thing pain levels. My Fitbit sleep chart showed a block of four hours sleep and a block of three hours with only 45 minutes restless/awake in total. It did take half an hour to feel less foggy and be able to get up, but it was quite a relaxed feeling.
After a few nights of my son and a few other external factors interrupting my sleep, I was not feeling well. However there were continued periods of more thorough restful sleep spots – 2-4 hours of almost complete rest.
My sleep deteriorated over several nights, but I persevered for a few more nights, really wanting to see if I’d adjust, but I had to realise that sleep is paramount.
After 12 nights of increasing pain and fatigue, I checked with the pharmacist and agreed to reduce the melatonin to 1.5mg and leave the amitriptyline as it was in order to try and stabilise.
After two further nights of greatly interrupted sleep on 1.5mg, and days of headaches and extra tension, I took a break from the melatonin.
The first night off melatonin and I had a seven hour block of sleep! There was only 15 minutes awake/restless. I managed eight hours total. One thing that I did was have my husband help me to stretch my neck, so it felt less compacted, that made a big difference.
It was a worthwhile experiment, but, for me, melatonin is best saved for a once in a while sleep help and only for a couple of days.
I find winding down in the evening before sleep very beneficial. I reduce the lighting, turn sound down and bundle up warm (cocooned in blankets and thick socks!) I also reduce caffeine intake and like chamomile tea. If my fiance disturbs my sleep, I sleep separately with ear plugs. I’ve never heard of melatonin. I take amitriptyline for my chronic pain. All the best 🙂
I have used melatonin off and on and never really found it that effective. It made me very drowsy and got me to sleep alright, but i continued to wake up every few hours. I am using an over the counter medication called phenargan which i find works alright! I also have problems with neck pain and shoulders. I was wriggling around all last night trying to escape the pain!