[Erin524]

I had IVSM in mid july for diplopia.

I've had insomnia since mid july.

I think the steroids are to blame. How long should I expect this insomnia to last? It's driving me nuts. I cant sleep till 5am some mornings...

Oh, and is it normal to feel a lot of anxiety a month after having had IVSM?? (I wasnt given a taper, so I dont know if all this is a steroid thing, or just a not sleeping thing)

I'm tired. I think I'll attempt to sleep before 5am.

[Dejibo]

I have TONS of anxiety after steroids! I usually have to start on a xanax or other type rx to help me control it. Like some folks have depression, I go the other swing and get anxiety. I HATE it! I often think with depression I could just go to bed, but with anxiety, I am scared, and my heart is thumping all day! isnt that an awful thing to say?

It can take a while for a lesion to heal, and for you to recover from the effects of it healing. It may take a while to come back to mid line or it may take years. do your exercises, and rest as much as you can. Remember, even if you are not sleeping, you should be resting. Warm milk, tryptophan, melatonin, and maybe even that anti anxiety med may help. Yoga meditation, and turning off ALL electronics 2 hours before bedtime. Read a book. knit, use the time to get all lotioned up. take a warm bath, meditate, do things that dont require the bright lights or the LCD stuff. I know its tempting, but it keeps your brain turned on.

Celery juice is another natural sedative. you can eat it raw with a bit of peanut butter, or juice it. The protein will help keep you asleep and the celery will help get you there.

hang in there.

[lady_express_44]

Erin, with or without steroids, this has been a very troublesome and ongoing problem for you.

MS can cause this level of insomnia, but as I've mentioned several times before ... so can lack of exercise, not eating good foods (and/or GERD), not eating enough so that you are hungry at night, caffeine, not establishing a routine (c/w internal clock), and not having enough daily physical or mental activity to wear you out.

Fill your life up with good & challenging things and the sleep will probably come more naturally.

Cherie

[Erin524]

I've actually been exercising more, and I have quit taking naps in the afternoon when I can. (there are times when I will fall asleep while watching tv with my parents in the evening)

I've attempted to go to bed at the same time every night, and I just end up laying there, staring at the ceiling.

Sometimes, I do have a bit of success at falling asleep if I set my computer to electronically read a story to me. (computerized voices speaking in the background seem to bore me enough that I sleep) I'll end up falling asleep inside of 20 minutes if I have the right boring story and the right droning pitch of a computerized voice.

The past couple of weeks have been weird, I've been feeling a lot of anxiety. I dont know where it's coming from tho. I dont have anything stressful in my life right now, other than when I had the double vision. It was kind of strange, I had anxiety going on just before the double vision hit.

Hopefully the anxious feeling that I've had the past couple of weeks isnt a kind of early warning system that some MS crap is about to hit again.

altho, it would be nice to have an early warning system that would warn me something's coming...altho I'd like a more specific warning of where the MS crap is going to strike rather than be surprised by it when I wake up in the mornings.


One good thing about the steroids last month...I can feel my body again. Yaaaaaaay! The double vision is still kind of here if I'm tired, or in the wrong kind of light, but it's no longer constant. My back pain has also improved. (low back pain, wake up with it some mornings and just standing makes me want to scream)

I'm getting tired of the insomnia, but I guess there are even worse side effects to the steroids than insomnia. At least I can see a lot more clearly again. So, I traded good sleep for good vision.