[Lewie]

I am going on almost 8 months of the same routine. I wake up every single night at 3am. Doesn't matter what time I went to bed and doesn't matter if I have taken any medications. I have tried a few things and I still wake up but the medications just make me feel like I am drunk. I am up for at least an hour than I can fall back asleep. I wake up at 5am on the weekdays and 7am on the weekends. Sometimes when I wake up at 3 am my body is throbbing (stomach inflamed heart in tachycadria) and my nerves are inflamed or sometimes it was like last night when my stomach and heart felt like they were in equilibrium and my nerves were settled down yet I am sitting there more wide awake then I am now.
I have learned that cortisol is the lowest at 1-4am. So if my cortisol has dropped and soemthing flares up, what can I do to counter this because nothing I have tried in the last 8 months has worked. Thanks.

[mrsD]

PsychCentral posted this interesting paper recently...about the sensation of throbbing:

http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/08...lse/58683.html

I tend to wake up around 3 am sometimes, especially if I get to bed too early.

You can try melatonin at night. That might help.
If you get up in the night to use the bathroom, turning on a light is not a good idea. There are melatonin receptors in the retinas, and exposing them to light, turns off your own melatonin, and
then you can't sleep.

We have small night lights, along the floor baseboards that sense motion/or darkness and turn on, so that light in the eyes is minimal. We have a small nightlight in the bathroom.

I also found that antihistamines at night were making me throb sometimes, so I stopped them and it seems to be better. For some reason my hands/fingertips throb some nights.

I do think that as we age our brains change some, and sleeping becomes more difficult.

[Dr. Smith]

Originally Posted by mrsD

I do think that as we age our brains change some, and sleeping becomes more difficult.

And less is required. In his 80s-90s, my (reasonably healthy) grandfather slept an average of 4-5 hrs. a night (along with a 30 min. nap after lunch).



I suffered (stressed) terribly from irregular sleep patterns for years until I just stopped stressing/worrying about them, and learned to go with the flow. Obviously this won't work for everyone, but my point is that stressing over less/irregular sleep can be—and is—more problematical than the less/irregular sleep itself.

Doc

[Jon_sparky]

Originally Posted by Lewie

I am going on almost 8 months of the same routine. I wake up every single night at 3am. Doesn't matter what time I went to bed and doesn't matter if I have taken any medications. I have tried a few things and I still wake up but the medications just make me feel like I am drunk. I am up for at least an hour than I can fall back asleep. I wake up at 5am on the weekdays and 7am on the weekends. Sometimes when I wake up at 3 am my body is throbbing (stomach inflamed heart in tachycadria) and my nerves are inflamed or sometimes it was like last night when my stomach and heart felt like they were in equilibrium and my nerves were settled down yet I am sitting there more wide awake then I am now.
I have learned that cortisol is the lowest at 1-4am. So if my cortisol has dropped and soemthing flares up, what can I do to counter this because nothing I have tried in the last 8 months has worked. Thanks.

That is the same time I wake up, must be a cortisol thing... I have had this problem for several years. I was on the zombie drug Ambien for 2 years, the one where you can "sleep eat" and "sleep drive!" I finely got off it, it was not easy to quit. I get time released Meletonin, I am taking it with 50 mg of Benadryl, my doctor recommended, it helps me sleep through the night.
This is the most important time to sleep, the REM sleep helps in generating melotonin and other hormones, so it is important to get a good nights sleep. Of course, it is 1:30am and I am still awake, so who am I to talk...

[mrsD]

Lewie.... I was thinking about you this week. In regards to your stomach... Since you are pretty sure you have the celiac artery compression, I am wondering if the doctors tried a nitrate drug on you to see if it would improve blood flow?

Nitrates (either topical ointment rubbed on the stomach area near the compression site, or oral sustained release like Imdur), dilate blood vessels. They are sometimes used to relax the esophagus muscle in those with spasms there. They do cause headache at first, when you first start them, but a tolerance develops to that quickly.

[Lewie]

Originally Posted by Jon_sparky

That is the same time I wake up, must be a cortisol thing... I have had this problem for several years. I was on the zombie drug Ambien for 2 years, the one where you can "sleep eat" and "sleep drive!" I finely got off it, it was not easy to quit. I get time released Meletonin, I am taking it with 50 mg of Benadryl, my doctor recommended, it helps me sleep through the night.
This is the most important time to sleep, the REM sleep helps in generating melotonin and other hormones, so it is important to get a good nights sleep. Of course, it is 1:30am and I am still awake, so who am I to talk...

I was just thinking this morning at 3:00am when I was awake that if only they made a time release melatonin.... Well apparently they do and I didn't know about it. I will definetly llok for it. The problem with melatonin for me is that it only lasts 4 hours and it loses its affect after abit. I will give it a try though. Thanks.

[Lewie]

Originally Posted by mrsD

Lewie.... I was thinking about you this week. In regards to your stomach... Since you are pretty sure you have the celiac artery compression, I am wondering if the doctors tried a nitrate drug on you to see if it would improve blood flow?

Nitrates (either topical ointment rubbed on the stomach area near the compression site, or oral sustained release like Imdur), dilate blood vessels. They are sometimes used to relax the esophagus muscle in those with spasms there. They do cause headache at first, when you first start them, but a tolerance develops to that quickly.

Hmm, no one has mentioned this to me. I could give it a try while I wait for the surgery. Sometimes I wake up and I can feel the blood trying to squeeze through that artery. It feels and sounds like a pinched garden hose inside of me every time my heart beats. Its pretty freaky. What I don't get is why soemtimes its pretty bad and other times its not so bad. I have been trying to really focus on cutting down inflammation ( taking lyposomal glutathione, tumeric, omega 3's and eating foods that are lower on the inflamatory list) and it has seemed to help.

I will look into the nitrates. Thanks.

[mrsD]

The nitroglycerine comes in an ointment to rub on.
You would do that where the artery is --so have the doctor show you.

Or if you try the oral Imdur, get 30mg and snap in half to start, and try it that way. First timers with nitrates get a fast response and too high a dose is uncomfortable. After a week on 1/2 (15mg), you may be able to increase as the headache will fade.
For me the headache was worse standing up and bending over.
Lying down wasn't much of a side effect. So if you take it at night, you will already be lying down.

Both require an RX order from the doctor.

[Dr. Smith]

Originally Posted by Lewie

I was just thinking this morning at 3:00am when I was awake that if only they made a time release melatonin.... Well apparently they do and I didn't know about it. I will definetly llok for it. The problem with melatonin for me is that it only lasts 4 hours and it loses its affect after abit.

I thought of you yesterday as well. I was doing some reading/research about L-tryptophan, and came across this...

Mol Cell Biochem. 2004.
Tryptophan taken orally can convert into serotonin and melatonin
Tryptophan was given to a group of rats at 8 am in the morning, and to another group of rats at 8 PM at night. Four hours after administration, researchers measured the blood and brain fluid levels of serotonin and melatonin. During daytime administration, tryptophan raised the levels of serotonin. Interestingly, when tryptophan was given at night, serotonin levels did not increase, but melatonin levels increased significantly. Therefore, the serotonin that was generated by tryptophan administration was being converted into melatonin.
http://www.raysahelian.com/tryptophan.html

emphasis mine

See also: Effect of orally administered L-tryptophan on serotonin, melatonin, and the innate immune response in the rat

And FWIW... the reason I thought of you was the melatonin/sleep thing—not the rats.

Doc

[hopeful]

Originally Posted by Dr. Smith

I thought of you yesterday as well. I was doing some reading/research about L-tryptophan, and came across this...

emphasis mine

See also: Effect of orally administered L-tryptophan on serotonin, melatonin, and the innate immune response in the rat

And FWIW... the reason I thought of you was the melatonin/sleep thing—not the rats.

Doc

Hi Dr. Smith,

Did your wife try the tryptophan? If so how did it work for her?
Hopeful