[imark3000]

... My problen is arm stiffness which seems to interfere with my sound sleep..
What is your problem and how do you deal with it?
Any way I hope that the follwing article helps

http://www.naturalhealthweb.com/articles/angus1.html
It's 3 a.m. You're scheduled to give a big presentation at eleven, only eight hours away. You desperately need to sleep so you will be rested and alert when your big moment comes, but here you are staring wide eyed at the bedroom ceiling. Your mind is agitated and your body won't relax. The harder you work at getting to sleep, the wider awake you are. You've already tried counting sheep, watching the late show, and making yourself a snack-all to no avail. In desperation you reach for a sleeping pill.

This is a common scenario in the United States, where approximately one third of all adults suffer from some type of sleep disorder. Insomnia, the most common type by far, is clinically defined as the inability to fall asleep after lying in bed for thirty minutes or the inability to sustain sleep for more than a few hours without waking. Practically speaking, however, insomnia can be defined as unrestful sleep.

We've all experienced some form of insomnia at particularly stressful times in our lives. It's normal to have trouble sleeping at these times, and it usually passes after a night or two. Insomnia is a problem only when it becomes chronic. Although it is associated with certain physical illnesses-arthritis, heart failure, and chronic lung disease, for example-most experts agree that insomnia is a symptom, not an illness in itself. So what is it a symptom of? There are two answers-the ancient and the modern. At first glance they seem completely different, but a closer look reveals some remarkable similarities.

An Ancient Angle on a Modern Malady
Ayurveda, the healing science associated with yoga, tells us that all disease is caused by indigestion. That is, at some level-either physical, mental, or emotional-we haven't completed extracting what is helpful and eliminating what is indigestible. This is one of the keys to understanding insomnia.

On the physical level, indigestion is caused either by bad food or by weak digestion and leads to conditions like heartburn (a contributor to insomnia), flatulence, and diarrhea. Mental indigestion is the inability to let go of a certain incident or thought-usually an unpleasant experience. This can be a distant tragedy like the earthquake in Kobe, Japan, criticism from someone whose opinion we value, or a work-related problem we're trying to solve. Emotional indigestion is the recurrence of a feeling, often sadness or anger, long after the precipitating event. The emotion has not been sufficiently digested and remains just under the surface, springing up for no apparent reason. Mental and emotional indigestion are the most common causes of insomnia. Some of us even grind our teeth while we sleep in an attempt to chew and digest recurring thoughts and emotions.

The Contemporary Angle
Modern explanations for insomnia range from overstimulation and stress to mucking up our waking-sleeping cycle. Stimulants include caffeine (coffee, tea, chocolate, and some sodas), and sugar, as well as activities such as aerobic exercise, arguing, and watching violent TV shows (or the evening news, for that matter). All these taken (or experienced) too close to bedtime can rev us up so much that it is difficult to fall asleep. This is only another way of saying we are still attempting to digest these substances or events at the same time we are courting sleep.

Stress is another form of indigestion. Most of my patients who suffer from insomnia tell me, "My worries keep me awake," or "My mind won't stop. I don't know how to turn it off." Anxiety, worry, depression, unpleasant memories, and fears are the most common cause of sleeplessness. They seem to take on a life of their own and are determined to stay awake, even though it's way past bedtime.

The third common cause of insomnia, one which has become prevalent only in modern times, is tampering with the normal cycle of sleeping and waking. This is a mechanical problem of sorts. Human beings have a normal sleep rhythm; in general, we are designed to be awake in daylight and asleep at night. People who work the night shift, or travelers who have recently crossed several time zones, may experience insomnia simply because they are trying to sleep when their internal clock is telling their body to be awake.

Our bodies are designed for sleep to come effortlessly. When it doesn't, when we're holding on to the day's stresses and reaching out for tomorrow's too, there are a number of ways of inducing the body and mind to let go and slip gently into a restful sleep.

Create an Environment that Will Help You Sleep
Your bedroom should be tranquil and inviting. Make it comfortable and conducive to sleep. Eliminate ambient light and any noise that could disturb your sleep. If possible, reserve the bedroom for sleep and sex. Conduct other activities-reading work-related material, watching TV, paying bills, and disciplining your children-in another room. In time, this will create the expectation in your body that the bedroom is where it goes to relax and rest.

End the Day with a Calming Routine
Go to bed about the same time every night. Create a routine that prepares you for sleep. You may already have some kind of program you follow before you go to bed-locking the house, brushing your teeth, maybe reading a little. A pre-bed routine is a way of telling your unconscious that it's time to sleep.

Make sure that this routine is relaxing, not stimulating-winding down before bedtime increases the likelihood that your mind will let you rest. If you find the news disturbing, skip the late broadcast. If you live in a safe neighborhood, take a leisurely stroll. Read something pleasant and soothing-save the suspense novel for earlier in the day. Take a hot bath. Sit for a period of meditation. The trick is to calm your mind and quiet your nerves before you get into bed.

And speaking of routines, getting up at the same time every morning will make it easier to fall asleep at night. Attempting to compensate for a night of disturbed sleep by staying in bed longer in the morning will simply further disrupt your sleep cycle. Get up on time, even if you don't feel like you've had enough rest-you'll have a much better chance of falling asleep easily when bedtime rolls around again.

Do a Relaxation Exercise
Taking a few minutes to do a short relaxation exercise just before getting into bed is an excellent way of letting go. This doesn't have to be elaborate. Great benefits can be gained by simply lying on your back in the corpse pose (hands at your sides, palms upward, feet slightly apart). Close your eyes, and systematically address every part of your body. Start at your scalp and move toward your toes. Begin by softening your forehead, eyes, face, and jaw. Tensing and then releasing each muscle group help tight muscles loosen, especially those in the neck and shoulders. Continue giving attention to each area of your body-the arms, the trunk, and the legs-until you reach your toes. Surrender to gravity.

Stay in this relaxed state for a few minutes, letting the floor support you. Focus on your breathing, releasing all other concerns. Let your breath come from deep in your abdomen, and let it flow smoothly, slowly, and evenly. This simple exercise is a way of telling your mind and body that it is OK to stop thinking, working, and struggling.

Pay Attention to What You Ingest
It's best to eat a light meal in the evening, especially if you are dining late. You will sleep more deeply if you have finished digesting your food before you go to bed. A rich, heavy meal close to bedtime will interfere with your rest and leave you feeling sluggish in the morning.

Avoid caffeine, especially after midday. This includes coffee, tea, chocolate, and many sodas. Coffee has a half-life of four to six hours. That means it takes that long for half of the coffee to be digested, and another four to six hours for the next quarter of it to be eliminated from your body. In other words, it takes twelve to fourteen hours for 7/8 of the coffee you have ingested to be eliminated. No wonder you still feel wide awake at eleven when you had your last cup after dinner.

Sugar can also cause problems. Consider avoiding refined sugar in the evening because it is absorbed immediately into the bloodstream. That's why it gives you a burst of energy and sometimes makes you feel a little high. Eating sugar near bedtime can make you restless and jittery and can keep you from falling asleep. If you need a treat at bedtime, a glass of warm milk is your best bet.

Alcohol and tobacco taken near bedtime can also interfere with deep sleep. It's true that a nightcap will make you sleepy, but the sleep it induces is light, restless, and shot through with periods of wakefulness. Likewise, you may associate tobacco with relaxation, but it actually increases tension. Tobacco is a stimulant that makes the heart race and blood pressure rise. It's best avoided altogether, but if you choose to smoke, avoiding it in the hour or two before bedtime will make your sleep more restful.

Get Some Exercise
If we polled farmers or anyone else who does manual labor eight to ten hours a day, very few would report a problem with insomnia. But for most of us, hard work is reserved for the mental sphere, so we need to exercise our bodies if we're going to sleep well. Studies of athletes have shown that they do not require more (or less) sleep than sedentary folks, but their ratio of deep to light sleep is higher. Doing some form of aerobic exercise at least three times a week also increases this ratio. Just be sure to avoid strenuous exercise within several hours of bedtime-it can be stimulating. But if you exercise at any other time, you'll sleep better.

It's OK to do long, slow stretches near bedtime, however, for they will release muscular tension and prepare you for sleep. Focus on asanas that you find relaxing. Avoid intense backward bends, such as the wheel, as they may prove to be too invigorating at the end of the day.

Don't Drug Yourself to Sleep
According to a recent article in the Archives of Internal Medicine, approximately 20 million prescriptions are written each year for sleeping aids, a number dwarfed by the quantity of over-the-counter sleep medications sold annually. Although most of these drugs do induce sleep within ten to twenty minutes, they interfere with the deeper stages of sleep. And all of them impair functioning the next day in one way or another. They can be helpful for short-term insomnia resulting from a sudden stressful event, but even the mainstream medi-cal community agrees that sleep medications/sedatives are not helpful in resolving chronic sleep problems.

Experiment with Natural Remedies
Homeopathic remedies and herbs can help with insomnia. Homeopathic medicines are extremely dilute extracts from natural substances, so they don't have the rebound effects drugs do. They are considered to be non-toxic by the FDA, and many lowpotency remedies are sold over the counter. One of the best treatments for insomnia is homeopathic coffee, coffea cruda. Although coffee causes irritability and sleeplessness in physiologic doses, in homeopathic doses it can cure these states.

Valerian root, passionflower, and hops, taken before bedtime in either tablet or tea form, are other alternatives. These gentle, relaxing substances help your body rest, but they don't affect your central nervous system the way prescription sleep medicines do. Both homeopathic remedies and herbal preparations can be purchased at most healthfood stores or through a holistic physician.

Don't Panic!
Insomnia is a huge problem in this fast-paced, sugar and caffeine addicted country. But if we can first identify the habits we have that contribute to our sleeplessness and slowly change them, and at the same time add more relaxation and deep breathing to our pre-sleep routine, we will sleep better.

Above all, don't panic. Insomnia is not life-threatening, although many people respond to it with agitation or fear. The more anxious you make yourself about not sleeping, the more sleep will elude you. So turn the clock to the wall and drop the internal dialogue about what a horrible day you will have tomorrow if you don't get to sleep immediately. The key to sound sleep lies in surrendering, not in trying harder. Once you're in bed, focus on your breath and empty your mind. If you have a mantra, let your mind rest in it. Be kind to yourself. Remember, sleep cannot be forced, but it can be coaxed. It is waiting for you. Allow yourself to come to it, enter it, and let the world spin without you for a while.

Carrie Angus, M.D., uses yoga and other holistic techniques in her medical practice.

[vlhperry]

Hi Imark,

Have you tried taking a warm bath before going to bed. It can help ease some of the tight muscles. If you have had a busy day and your mind is racing you could try counting backwards from 100 to keep your mind off of your day. Meditation is also helpful just before bed. Meditation teaches correct breathing. Some people find putting on a cd with gentle noises helps them sleep. Instead of focusing on your problems, and listen for the shifting sounds of the music will not only prepare you for sleep put will physically improve your brain by increasing the capacity of the two lobes to communicate with each other.

In Vol. 14, issue 2, printed 2/10/2003 of the journal "NeuroReport", a study called "Corpus callosum: musician and gender effects," they found that by MRI scans of 56 musicians and 56 non-musicians the midsagittal size of the anterior CC was larger on musicians than non-musicians. The anterior CC is the strip of brain that seperates the right and left lobes. The strethening of this area improves the communication between the lobes.

Just a few natural ways to soothe the body to sleep. If you become desparate, there is no shame to try a muscle relaxant prescription. Sleep deprevation can be very hard on the body.

Peace to You,
Vicky

[lou_lou]

Dear IMark,
I very much agree with the

An Ancient Angle on a Modern Malady
Ayurveda,(I take ashwagandha) the healing science associated with yoga, tells us that all disease is caused by indigestion. That is, at some level-either physical, mental, or emotional-we haven't completed extracting what is helpful and eliminating what is indigestible. This is one of the keys to understanding insomnia.

On the physical level, indigestion is caused either by bad food or by weak digestion and leads to conditions like heartburn (a contributor to insomnia), flatulence, and diarrhea. Mental indigestion is the inability to let go of a certain incident or thought-usually an unpleasant experience. This can be a distant tragedy like the earthquake in Kobe, Japan, criticism from someone whose opinion we value, or a work-related problem we're trying to solve. Emotional indigestion is the recurrence of a feeling, often sadness or anger, long after the precipitating event. The emotion has not been sufficiently digested and remains just under the surface, springing up for no apparent reason. Mental and emotional indigestion are the most common causes of insomnia. Some of us even grind our teeth while we sleep in an attempt to chew and digest recurring thoughts and emotions.

I believe the levodopa/carbidopa gives us an emotional /physical happy chemical lift, but the side effects are very bad on the already exhausted adrenals, so in essence the medicine that helps us, is too hurting us simultaneously, just like antibiotics -they kill both good and bad bacteria
in the intestines, and immunity is strengthed through the intestinal flora
that keeps the body up and healthy, worry is a huge problem with
people who are not feeling well at all -ad job stress -life stress -chemical stress -

so we need to do things through the day -to keep us from crawling into bed
in the daytime, perhaps a nap around noon -then try your best to have a
pattern to the day - have a schedule to keeop you entertained, but not too hyper -the US is hyper! we are in a hurry to live, to be successful, to make money to buy stuff?
our diets -look at your diet closely, try to kick out as much sugar as possible
sugar is not bad, too much sugar will throw the body off balance,
sodapop is the worst -we are all addicted to our crappie favorite
junk food in the US,
here's a short list of horribles

breakfast
corn pops/ captain crunch/ -pure sugar and white flour no nutrition and traces of pesticides
donuts -deep fried sugar and bad fat, usually rancid fat...
black coffee- cafeine if it is crystalized -instant coffee chemicals for freeze drying?
perhaps eggs that have come from chickens that have been given antibiotics
and bacon as well - hormones and antibiotics grown fed on pestisidal corn...

and then lunch and dinner -if we eat fast foods we will have [MSG], which is a neurotoxin... think good organic food, raised without chemicals healthy foods raw foods -vegetables, fruits... and no cloned beef!

start thinking differently -healthy thoughts, happy memories, take only one day at a time and live in that day.

so wisely slowly look at what you eat - breathe slow and deep and relax,
tell yourself all is well, and pray for others that are worse off than we are.

read books that have nothing to do with PD, and take walks with your wife or husband if you have one...and be happy you have a spouse that helps you.
be thankful for all things, not just the good things - because we can grow stronger in adversity.

if I can not sleep - I read about spiritual things -like miracles or biographies
of people you admire, so you will see, how they overcame their inabilities
with love, or perserverance, clear your mind... or change the channel of your mind - watch a good movie... try to relax- all is well,

as we all know and I quote you:
the endings are actually only Beginnings ...
kismet -That which is inevitably destined: destiny
I have learned not to fight my destiny just do the best I can with what I have for the day, and think higher thoughts....

[JoClay]

My problem is not going to sleep....I have no trouble doing that. My problem is staying asleep. Occasionally I take an afternoon nap, but usually I am awake all day. I have tried getting into the routine of taking a daily nap, but most of the time I'm just not sleepy!

I have dinner between 5:30-6:30, and almost immediately I fall asleep for a quick 15-30 minute nap (not planned). At about 8-8:30 I go to sleep in my recliner (I can't sleep in bed anymore) and I sleep for about 3-4 hours. I have sleep apnea and wear a cpap device, but I still wake up and I can't go back to sleep. I don't turn on the lights or tv, or do anything that would stimulate me enough to prevent me from going back to sleep.

I've tried Ambien but even the controlled released prescription doesn't keep me sleeping. Other sleeping pills don't work, although I do take clonazapam with my evening medication, so at least the 3 or 4 hours I do sleep are peaceful and calm. Before clonazapam my sleep was restless and sometimes violent.

I guess I'm just destined to not staying asleep or getting more than a few hours of sleep at a time.

[vlhperry]

Dear JoAnn,

You are notdestined to live the rest of your life with sleep deprevation only if you accept your situation as having no solution. You may need to be more specific with why you cannot get back to sleep with your neurologist. Are you unable to settle your mind down of thoughts of things to get done? Are your muscles stiff and uncomfortable? Do your legs feel creepy/crawly?
You are aware of sleep apnea, or you would not have a cpap machine. Did you undergo a diagnosis at a sleep lab? Maybe you need to be monitored again as something different may be causing you to not get enough REM.

Sometimes we have to take control of our own health by educating ourselves on the side effects of our meds, what we can do to reduce them, or what new aspects have been discovered about disease. Sleep depravation is very serious and should not be accepted. It can lead to sleepiness from lack of sleep, memory problems, and we as patients must educate ourselves enough to describe our symptoms in terms our physicians can understand rather than make them guess at the cause. They are so busy and see many patients a day. The small amount of time you have with a physician must be well used.

Peace to You,
Vicky

[dotty]

I have a problem staying asleep,I usually get to sleep about midnight and wake up around 3 or4 .I am not on any medication to help me sleep.Ifeel tired in the evening but I have 3 children which need attention its usually 10.30 before they are all sorted.I read to them in bed I keep saying what is on my mind when i am reading or say things that make no sense it is really annoying but I can't seem to read a couple of sentences without making mistakes or adding things.
I am really bad at eating whats good for me I end up eating alot of chocolate,which probably doesn't help.

[vertigo]

Hello-
This disease is like living in a fairytale , the real world is fare away and everything can happen in my new wonderland.
I begin to understand that now one can help me better than myself, like some says, I need EDUCATION.
Last evening I took a sleeping pill, sat down with my computer, my picasa, my google, my internet and stayed til 5.00 in the morning. I could feel that I was sleepy for a periode, thinking :now I stop, but I continued, why ?
Finaly in bed ,I slept for 2-3 hours and the rest of the day was in a not existing mood.
Today I have furnished my daily room in a new way, started right after getting out of my bed , before breakfast, lucky I took my medisin before I started. There must be a storyteller in my head ,he makes me a stranger in my own life.
I need education -.

Annelise

[I][/

[dotty]

I don't know why but I've started to sleep for longer,but the first thing I think about is getting onto forums.I know it will all still be here after I've taken kids to school but I have to check sites before they get up'.I have made us really rush to get to school getting them up to late.I think if I didn't think of forums when Iwoke up I might be able to go back to sleep.I get alot from the forums but wish I could limit it.I check every hour,it has stopped me from doing shopping etc.I even told friends I was busy so couldn't go out with them.

[vertigo]

Hei Dotty-
We are addicted and we do not concentrate . We have PD and we take drugs, it is not easy to sort out , my problems and what to do . Education, :facts , science, eureka, believe, fanatic or - simply the truth- .
Where do I find it ?

to your heart
Annelise

[vlhperry]

Dear Ladies,

The longer you have the disease the greater your experience of understanding your symptoms. An obvious statement, but you can get an edge by keeping up on the latest research in progress. I pushed hard to teach myself as much as I could. I told what I thought was my symptoms of PD, to my Movement Disorder Specialist, would say something like, "That's Interesting," or "I have never heard of that as a symptom of PD." I would talk to my primary care physician who would run some tests and tell me they could not find anything wrong. This was when I was first diagnosed, about 19years ago.

I believed I knew what I was feeling was real and would not allow the physicians tell me it was anxiety, stress, or depression. I was busy teaching music and loved what I was doing. I also had experienced a clinical depression so knew I did not have the symptoms.

After 15 years I began experiencing severe dyskenisias and also difficulty breathing. Once more I was told It had nothing to do with PD. My primary care physician ran several tests (all showed nothing wrong.) My symptoms were increasingly unbearable. Warnings printed out by various Parkinson news letters strongly urged patient's to never go to an emergency room for Parkinson symptoms.

One night, I was having such severe dyskenias, no amount of Sinemet could stop them. I could not stand, but lay on the floor, rolling and jerking trying to avoid hitting my head against the stone fireplace. My husband called 911 when he came home an hour later. I was admitted to ICU, medicated into a coma, and the ICU doctor kept me on a saline solution to flush all the medications out of my system. They tried two times to bring me out of the coma over a period of three days, and sent me down to a regular unit. The nurses in the regular units, untrained in Parkinson patients' needs, refused to allow me to have my meds on my schedule and insisted I had to follow the hospital pharmacie's schedule.

I eventually passed out curled up in a dystonic ball before the nurses would consider contacting a neurologist for permission to change my drug schedule.
I found out that my kidneys had been shutting down because the severe dyskensias' were causing my muscles to break down so rapidly.

I could write a book about my PD experiences but there are enough people out there doing it. It was my experiences that taught me to understand that even Movement Disorder Specialists are not sure how to treat the illness and also some are more open to patient requests to try something the patient believe will work for them, and and others Specialists prescribe meds based on the experience they have had with prior patients. The brain is so incredibly complex that how it works is only just now beginning to be understood.

So pull up a chair and join our mad tea party. You may find us confusing and not understand alot of what you hear as there are as many different treatments as there are patients with the disease. But if you vist us long enough, suddenly you will find we are making some normal conversation at times. You will find yourself fitting in, and adding your own experiences around the table with your new tea party friends. Finally, you will understand the true meaning of "you have to experience it to understand," and find that those around the tea table understand you better than anyone.

Will that be Earl Gray, Green or organic tea?

Peace to you,
Vicky