[jrzgirl1]

does anyone have a natural way of dealinf with this? I have had only 15 hrs sleep in over a week. I do not take any naps during the day, it is now 11:00PM, and I cannot fall asleep,with no sleep, I pay the price the next day. I cannot take anti-histimines so a lot of products are out of the question, then I am so miserable, impatient, and have no appetite and when I do eat something, I get nauesus, It seems that every Medical person I talk to or any friend or family member about how my body is reacting, they dismiss it, I do not wish this on them in order for them to understand, my husband gets gout alot, I have tried to tell him that is what the pain I have is like but basically everyday, his response, not fun huh!. i am soooooooo exhausted and confused.

[reruho]

Jrzgirl,
Insomnia is a very serious problem and can cause many other problems. And, insomnia is a common comorbity of RSD/CRPS. I find it amazing that doctors don't warn us about it more. I know your insurance is running out soon. My first piece of advice is to look at all your medications. Sometimes they list insomnia or disturbed sleep as a side effect. If it is your medication, you might have change how you take your meds or a change in meds.

One of the natural things you can do is use Melatonin. You can pick it up at a drug store. I have used it and my teengage son has too. I use 1-3 mg tablets. I recomend you buy the lowest dose and start at 1 mg. It is not a sleeping pill. I find that I start yawning within 30 minutes.

Valerian is anothe herbal supplement, but check your medication fo interactions. I have never used it.

Another thing you can try is eating a turkey on whole wheat bread just before bedtime. It has to do with the tryptophan, which is supposed to help you sleep.

Try a warm bath with Epson Salts. Epson salts are natural muscle relaxers and with help with pain and relax you. My dad picked some up with lavender in the mix, it was a very nice relaxing fragance.

The prescription solution might be to talk to your doctor about an anti-depressant like Elavil or Paxil. My primary has prescribed both for me in the past. I had problems with the Elavil, it made my heart race. Stress is a big contributor to insomnia.

Like you, I don't sleep during the day. I just went through a bout of insomnia and I am convinced it was because my cholesterol had gotten to low. My mood ande abilit to sleep improved after I stopped the statin I was on.

Reta

This is from Wikipedia.
For some time, tryptophan has been available in health food stores as a dietary supplement. Many people found tryptophan to be a safe and reasonably effective sleep aid, probably due to its ability to increase brain levels of serotonin (a calming neurotransmitter when present in moderate levels)[18] and/or melatonin (a sleep-inducing hormone secreted by the pineal gland in response to darkness or low light levels).[19][20] Some users of ecstasy will eat tryptophan-containing foods to shorten the 'come down' effect of having lower levels of serotonin than usual (due to an extra large release caused by the drug).

Clinical research has shown mixed results with respect to tryptophan's effectiveness as a sleep aid, especially in normal patients[21][22][23] and for a growing variety of other conditions typically associated with low serotonin levels or activity in the brain[24] such as premenstrual dysphoric disorder [25] and seasonal affective disorder.[26][27] In particular, tryptophan has been showing considerable promise as an antidepressant alone,[28] and as an "augmenter" of antidepressant drugs.[28][29] However, the reliability of these clinical trials has been questioned.[30][31]

[meglaser]

unforunatly this is part of this disease. I do know that my Neuro put me on Calanapin (spelling is way off) It is a 12 hour tranqualizer and let me tell you, you will sleep the whole night. My other docs had prescribed sleeping pills and that did not even work. I still have sleepless nights but not like I did before! I wish you well and I do hope you can get some sleep - call your doctor and let them know you are going through a period of insomia and maybe they can help you out! I do know if i do not take my tranqu. at night i cannot eat (that is why he put me on the med) nor sleep - so when my children are working the graveyard shift I make sure i do not take it. any way i am very long winded and i do apologize for that but i do wish you well!

meg

[Truth Seeker]

Chronic pain without relief, or hope for relief, will cause many patients to lose appetite, as well as the ability to sleep, work and function normally.
Chronic pain can cause patients to alienate those around them and often lead to drug "addictions" irritability and depression.
Physical, psychological and emotional stress will worsen chronic pain.

The best advice I have for you is to sleep when you can, morning, noon or night, power naps are helpful in the long run.

Truth Seeker

[jrzgirl1]

I am not allowed to sleep during the day. my husband said that sleep is for the nightime only, can you say "kiked to the curb"

[Truth Seeker]

[quote="jrzgirl1"]I am not allowed to sleep during the day. my husband said that sleep is for the nightime only, can you say "kiked to the curb"[/quote]

As previously stated:
Physical, psychological and emotional stress will worsen chronic pain.

[christine1003]

i have the same problem with sleeping i am up sometimes at 4 am on the internet i try to nap if i need to during the day but some of us are not so lucky to be able to, my dr put me on zoloft for the depression part of the rsd and have found that it helps me to fall asleep but i have gone up to 100 mgs be careful if you get a sleeping pill from the dr i was on ambien and a couple of weird things happpened that i dont remember for instance one night i was at my boyfriends (my biggest support) we were going to bed and we had sex but i could only remember bits and pieces of it, another time i must of gotten up in the middle of the night and decided i wanted cupcakes i guess i took a couple bites and fell back asleep and the next morning i found half of it in my pocketbook which is next to my bed so needless to say i dont take that anymore!! i am not very knowlegable on all natural choices butr a hot bath is very soothing

christine

[jrzgirl1]

you are very lucky to have Support, I have none, it is difficult when no one is there to listen or just rub your feet, I just get a ton a verbal and emotional abuse, I have a golden retriever so leaving and finding a low income safe place to live with a dog and NO income is depressing, no help at all. I do not want to give him up, we just adopted him from a family who had to move and could not keep him, but the tension and stress(screaming husband) in this house is so thick, it could be cut with a knife. Our house is up for sale and we are supossed to move to SC, but then I feel I will be worse off, he knows that stress makes me feel worse and he increases it on purpose 100x. We have enough money until Nov.

[christine1003]

wow if you dont mind me asking what stae are you in now? you are absolutely correct I am BLESSED to have john when things get too tough for me at home or i want to escape i go to his house and just being around him makes me feel better, you dont need anyone screaming at you all day, does he not understand what you are going through? maybe print out some things for him to read about your everyday life and pain and that you need support i had to do that with my dad cause he kept saying hurry up get this fixed and back to work now he gets it (sort of)
what about other family? i am kind of confused if you are saying you want to leave him or not maybe he will go to counseling? but if you are trying to leave there are many places that can help you i dont know about the dog if they will take him or not but these places will help you get housing, a form of income even if it is disability ssi it is not an easy road however neither is rsd oh yeah and they will get you medical insurance
i am so sorry you dont a john like i have i dont know what i would do without him i will pray for you, stay strong and ry if you have to

christine

[jrzgirl1]

thank you for your reply, I live in NJ, by the shore, he has read information but It has not changed his mind any. I really cannot give up the dog, what did he do wrong? nothing, God will have to deal with my husband I can't anymore, between the pain and this itching(stress) I just get worse so I will need to keep praying for God's will in y life. Yes you are blessed with John, I have a daughter and a sister, they here me but do not understand so oh well