Waking early
 

Just wondering if anyone else has this? I had a 5 month period of insomnia with PCS, but since I recovered from this I wake up from sleeping at 6am daily no matter what I do the day before. I sleep very well throughout the night. I am 2 years since my injury and all scans were clear.

What time do you go to bed? Sounds like your sleep is OK now. Did you gradually start waking at 6am or did it happen quickly?

Normally in bed between 930 to 1030pm, but if I can stay awake until 12pm (which is rare) I still wake up at 6am. It has been a constant feature since Insomnia.

I wake up at the same time regardless of the time I go to sleep.

What time does your central heating turn on, maybe something is waking you. Before my injury I could visualise the time I wanted to wake and somehow it would work, I imagine a seeing the time on a clock, and repeat in my mind the time. Now it doesn't work, don't think I've woken at the same time twice since the injury lol.

Used to sleep like a log/sleep in. Since injury have woken early whether this be in heat or cold, it is just another symptom of mild brain injury.

During my PCS, the only thing that would keep me from early waking or insomnia, was Remeron. I dozed off quick and easy.

In brain injuries, the ball is in your court mostly and the people you deal with, you must choose which doctor or medicine or even treatment you like the best.

I had the exact same problem you are telling me. I had very much early waking at 4-6am. No matter what time I even went to bed, same thing. And sometimes, I would doze off at 4 and wake up at 6!

However, within time, it most likely will go away. Insomnia during brain injury I felt was my greatest prison, I couldn't be refreshed and made my time during PCS a lot worse!

I am doing ok now, but dealing with dreaded Paxil withdrawals which are being taken care of with help from the psych, however I am thankful it was there for me, it saved my life.

Consider,

You may benefit from introducing some 5-HTP in replacement for the Paxil. It took me over 3 months to wean off Paxil. I had to do it again with Celexa. I now take 100 mgs of 5-HTP when I wake. Start with 50 mgs and add another 50 mgs after week or so if you feel you need more.

My best to you.

I will give that a try. Thanks Mark. :)

Mouse,

I wake at 6 also...even if I don't fall asleep til 4:30 I am awake at 6.

I was like Super Electric before tbi, I imagined seeing the clock at the time I needed up and bingo!

Consider,

I don't know if it is ok to post this site. I quit Paxil after 17 years of use cold turkey following what my doc said. I had no idea what was happening to me but I found Point Of Return web site one night. Big help in getting off ssri and benzos. Many of the pills in those families are beasts to leave for around 10% of us.


Bud

Yes, waking up early is one of the most common symptoms of PCS.

Like Mark said, you should consider a supplement such as 5-HTP to improve your quality of sleep and your sleep cycle. This symptom might also resolve in a few months as you recover more and more from your PCS.

Have a good day,
-ProAgonist

Hi, it's been a little while and I just wondered how folk are getting on with their early waking problem?

Mine seems to pretty darn stubborn so I'm going to try the 5HTP again before bed, probably a couple of hours before to give it time to work.

I'm sorry to track backwards in the discussion but...

mouse, may I ask about your 5 months with insomnia?

Did this go away gradually or did you find relief from anything in particular?

So many of us have sleep problems and as we all know, sleep is essential for recovery. In fact it's really important to help us function whether we have had a head injury or not. I of course realize everyone is different and sleep patterns do change for so many reasons.

Same here. I always wake up at the same time (5 am). After that it's sometimes a real struggle to fall asleep again. Didn't have that issue before my concussions.

Have you guys who wake up at 5 am or so tried eating a snack of complex carbs or protein before bed ? Your brains may be needing energy. The energy from food only lasts 7 to 8 hours, even less for some. Then, the liver needs to release ketones to feed the brain. If the ketones are not enough, the brain becomes energy deficient and may wake up. This is even more problematic if your body is not good at using fat for energy.

I will give it a try. However i didn't have that problems before. Do you mean the brain needs more energy because of the injury?

Same here Chris2828, 5 am is a familiar time, before I would just turn over and fall asleep if I woke (which was rarely ever) but now it's sooo hard to get off again. I notice that when I wake within seconds I'm alert and not sleepy any more but if I do eventually fall asleep again, usually after eating some banana or yoghurt, when I wake I'm really sleepy and relaxed, strange.

As I was reading about blood sugar levels and sleep, it was suggested that those who eat smaller meals more often during the day tend to have more problems with this.

Brain injuries can change the way or the efficiency of how the brain cells metabolization of sugar. This could explain it. Some have tried MCT (Medium Chain Triglyceride) oil. The brain easily metabolizes MCT's. Coconut oil has good MCT concentrations.

Lara,

During these five months I would wake up at 1 or 2am and remain awake throughout the night. The breakthrough for me was Cymbalta, it cured this instantly.

I am only on 30mg of Cymbalta, which I take in the morning. I might switch this round to night now as I still wake at 5 or 6am at the minute.

5 a.m. For me also on good days.

Bud

Wonder when this 'phase' of PCS actually ends, I'll be coming up to a year soon and sleep is still crappy. It's not the waking up early it's not being able to get to sleep again that is the PITA. Even if I'm really tired I rarely get more than 4 or 5 hours before mysteriously waking up, sometimes I wake after only a hour or two and end up drifting off into some kind of half sleep. Last month I thought things were getting better but I was wrong. Maybe one day someone will get the funding to study this, I know lower levels of melatonin in PCS sufferers has been suggested.

Super,

We are paralleling each other on the sleep.

I sleep about the same and wake up after about an hour for no reason and as you, hit a half sleep till 5 a.m.

I thought it was over as I had around three weeks of good rest then two weeks ago....back to the old pattern.

Anything beats the hour or two a night it was for around two months.

Bud

I wake around 5am every day too. Some days it is even earlier, and it doesn't matter what time I go to bed.

Excactly like me. The sleeping patterns seem to be part of the rollercoaster rides. I had very good sleep until the day when Super Bowl was. I stayed up all night to watch it and since then I have the same crappy sleep as 1.5 months ago. But it's quite interessting that most people here wake up excactly at 5 am.

I had a real different experience last night....slept a full restful 10 hours. Been a month since I slept that good and 4 months since it was common to have a good sleep.

I sure thank God for that.

Bud

Hey, Bud do you know why you had such a good sleep, is it because you were more tired than usual? I've been trying to work out why some nights I get enough sleep, about 6 hours and other nights hardly any, and the only thing I can think of is that less computer time seems to equate to better sleep. Not ideal for a web designer!