Sometimes I sleep well, but I have other nights when I cannot sleep except in short blocks of an hour or two. Sometimes I take a bit of medication and that puts me back to sleep and sometimes I just eat a small snack and that does the trick. But I have other nights when I just can't seem to settle. I never know if it's better just to give up and go work on the computer or read a book...then I find myself ready to go back to sleep about the time the rest of the world is getting started. If I get anxious over my loss of much needed sleep it just makes the whole thing worse and I end up in a cycle that I have trouble correcting. I feel like a cat chasing my own tail. (speaking of cats...did Andrew ever find his way here?) If I sleep during the day it throws my medication out of synch. Sleep is sooo important that I'd like to hear some of your opinions on sleep and lack of sleep. I've heard many people say as they get older they find they need less sleep. Is it possible to get so old that you wouldn't need sleep at all? (just kidding ). Last night was a good example of a fitful nights sleep. I just couldn't get more in than a two hour stretch at a go, so I sat up on the edge of the bed with my legs crossed in front of me around 5 am. I found myself drifting off and nearly landed on my head as I slowly tipped forward in a dozey state. What's that all about????

Hi Rosebud:

I sometimes have difficulty falling asleep as well. I find, though, that if I doze off during day I won't have a good night's sleep. Sometime after lunch I get drowsy and snooze anywhere from 5 minutes to half an hour. I usually put a manuscript on the computer screen so if any one looks in on me it will appear that I am working. Since I can predict when the drowsy prtiod will make its appearance I try to arrange to be busy with other people. This holds the drowsy period at bay. I also have a drowsy time right after dinner. This, I now fend off by playing several games of Scrabble. In spite of that there are still times when I can't fall asleep but they are becoming less and less common

All the best,

Lloyd

One of the best things for me to do when I can't sleep and that is frequent now is to turn on a radio. You are in my zone so 1130 should be the one.
Just listen and stop thinking and they will bore you to sleep lol

Hit the Zoplicone.It was prescribed for me a while back as I was going 4 days at a stretch without sleep.I have said before...I have woken up with a ch eese grater stuck to my cheek,a ham sandwich stuck on my forehead and a few weeks ago I fell asleep at the wheel of the car...so I guess it`s no joking matter,
Zoplicone is for serious sleep disorders and I am allowed only 2 a week...to be takken only quarter hoiur before you go to bed.
Wow do they knock me out...but first I hallucinate. It`s never about Brad Pitt or Colin Farrell though.The first time it happened the computer was screaming at me to rip all the keys off the keyb oard....so I did.
Oh my gosh..how scary is that.
Being in the ukI get to chat to you lot...during your daylight hours...but I mainly tidy drawers or sort out old magazines...jobs which demand me being alone to do them.I sometimes go window shopping on the internet and other times I just sit and smoke my trusty ciggies.
Know what you mean about the tipping forward...thought it was just me who did that.....my kids have caught me ma ny a time before my head has hit the deck.It`s scary for them too I guess.
I don`t like goin g to bed cos of the discomfort and pain but as I said in my waterbed thread.....sleeping on heaps of duvets help with the comfort thing.
Go a stealing girl!!!!
x

Sleep is a huge issue for me. I was diagnosed with PD last April but have had sleep issues for a few years prior. I can fall asleep but just not stay asleep.

Asked my neuro about trying some Sinemet CR at night because the docs over at the NPF "Ask the Doctor" forum use it all the time for their patients who don't sleep.

My neuro said, "How long have you not been sleeping?"

I said, "A couple of years."

Neuro replied, "Then it's not PD related."

And that was that. Yeah, like my PD started the moment I walked into your office when I was diagnosed!

Oh, and she didn't know what Parcopa was - I wanted to have a few around for those times when you're stuck without water. She later tried to cover her ignorance by stating that it was only for end-stage patients. I guess if you graduate at the bottom of your class you're still considered a "doctor". Ugh.

Time to fire the neuro.

I've got Klonopin but haven't tried it yet. I really don't want to pull a Steffi and rip the keys off my keyboard! (Kidding! ) Plus, with my luck, I would be having hallucinations of Brad Pitt and not Angelina Jolie and that would just not be good...

Todd
PDTalks.com

Just to add to the never- ending appeal of being an aging pwp, i've added the sexy habit of yelling in my sleep. MY daughters find it amusing. My grandson asks me if I'm ok and goes back to sleep. To him i guess all nanas yell in their sleep.

I almost never remember what I'm dreaming about; I've been taking zanax recently. Sleep has improved. I get up and take sinemet and zanax to try to ward off dystonia and eat something light to get back to sleep. I'm much less sleep deprived since becoming the captain 'of my own ship. I don't have the energy to be responsible for any other adult's happiness.....but at the same time don't want to' be responsible for any negativity either.

I used to tell people not to go to bed until they are having trouble stayimg awake, That would be now for me.

two cents.
paula

Not being able to sleep has become a huge problem for me. Depnding on how alert I really am, I'll read a book, watch TV, or bang my head off of the wall. If I am really alert, I'll go out to my workshop and turn a bowl. Anything to make the night pass. Come daylight, when everyone else is getting up to go to work or school or what ever, I rarely go to sleep. I force myself to stay awake until bedtime.
On my last visit to the MDS I told her about this problem. She prescribed Lunesta. I do not avcocate taking sleeping aids. However, after a few dozen nights in a row of not sleeping, something had to be done. The Lunesta is expensive but it works. I take it about 1/2 hour before bedtime and sleep all night long. It's very mild. I don't feel hungover when I wake up.
Paula mentioned not remembering what she dreams about. Same here. It's been so long since I've remembered a dream that I'm not sure I dream at all. My wife and daughter say they never hear me yelling or anything, YET!

GregD

you have hit upon a plight that is near and dear to my heart-sleep. in fact, it is now my favorite 's' word in the bedroom! altho i can no longer sleep with my sweet husband: he works too early and snores, i can't lay down on my back or side w/o alot of pain, my sleep times are ertratic and my talking & yelling wake him, i do sleep in my lift chair. i used to call it working the graveyard shift but then in the morning, when the kids were in grade school, i would be useless to them as a mother and a person. i hated this so i went to my neuro. told him that i was able to handle anything this damn disease could throw at me except sleep deprivation. so he prescribed a sleeping 'cocktail' of 350 mgs of soma (a muscle relaxer), 100 mgs of zoloft & 10 mgs of ambien. this will usually knock me out before i can finish the evening news but on the semi-week,ly times that i cannot sleep. i don't count sheep...i talk to the shepard!

I think I'm just stressed out at the moment. Too much on my plate, and my computer on deaths door. Money may not be everything but it sure helps reduce the stressful situations staring us in the face many times. I liked your suggestion Jess: not counting sheep but talking to the Shepherd. Yes I do that when I get to the end of the rope...Why do I have to get to the end of my rope before I ask for help? Pride? Stubborn? Guilt? I have some Benzodiazapines, but I'm tired of drugs. There has to be a better way...don't suggest DBS as I'm not that tired. How can I not sleep, but then sit up and not be able to fall asleep, just fall over!!!! The next day I feel like something that needs to go out with the trash. I usually dump lots of stuff in my journal, that helps. I hate to say it, but it does give me some comfort to know you all have sleep issues too.
However, I shall rise again as always in the past. I have the urge to get rid of stuff when I get tired. Send a bunch of stuff off to the goodwill people. Live the simple life. I think part of my problem at the moment is trying to change my eating habits to accomodate better blood glucose levels. I suspect I will be one of the ones who needs yet another drug to help control fluctuations. The only way I control it currently is by not eating, which has it's own sideeffect (I think it's called starvation!) I do nap during the day, like Burkle. Usually its good but not always. Well this has been a cheery post . Just goes to show, even I lose my sense of humor sometimes. Thelma, I'll try the radio thing too. I like CBC better than most stations...they have those hosts with the drone in their tone that can put anything to sleep. One thing about Canada is you don't have to look very far to be bored out of your mind.
I've been to that place where Steffi is...the drugged sleep that the place of last resort. I used to be able to fall asleep at the drop of a hat (what an odd expression). Where did my wiring get screwed up?
This is turning into one of those posts that wander all over the place. Must be lack of sleep!

i read this thread thinking there would have to be someone responding with a problem like mine, but no. my problem is not being unable to sleep - i can fall asleep and stay asleep and sleep longer than most people would want to.

My problem is that something compels me to stay awake - i can be falling asleep at my computer at 2am on a week night (weekends are regularly in the 3a-5a range) and for some reason i STILL don't want to go to bed - it is very strange - and i *love* to sleep, will sleep until noon given the opportunity even if i went to bed at a reasonable hour the night before, but i have the hardest time making myself *get into* bed.

ii think it may have something to do with another change i have noticed - i no longer have any interest in passive activities like watching tv, or a movie, or reading a book (and i was an insatiable reader up until a few years ago) and lying in bed waiting to fall asleep pretty much tops the list of passive activities out there.

i have talked to one other person who has noticed something similar - she lost all desire to read, as well - she said it happened after she started Mirapex, and i had never thought about it before but when she said that i realized it had been the same for me - can't say for sure that it started right after the Mirapex, but it definitely didn't start before.