trying hard to rest. but failing...
 

I'm 2 months into PCs and I'll soon be at the point where I'll have to give up on recuperation and brave the storm of returning to work.

So I would like to make my last week or 2 of rest as beneficial as possible. So far anxiety is causing problems with traditional styles of rest. I wake up a lot in the middle of the night. Does anyone recommend sleeping pills?

Are there any issues with resting in a bathtub/hottub or is the heat a problem?

How about woodworking. I know people say to avoid loud noise but it doesn't bother me and this is a hobby that would suppress the anxiety...

Thanks in advance

I rely on my gabapentin (Neurontin) to help my brain 'let' me go to sleep. Without it I am up all night. I take 600 to 900 mgs an hour or two before bed.

Chris,

Rest was and has been difficult for me. I ended up with some pretty severe insomnia after the head injury.

The anxiety was likely my main insomnia issue and eventually gave in that I could not control it and my Dr prescribed me Lexapro. It seems to help as my levels have gone down quite a bit, as a side bonus my mind seemed to get stuck on a single thought all evening and could not stop. If I thought about washing the car I would get that stuck in a loop over and over again while laying in bed, that went away on Lexapro as well or at least at the same time.

If your levels of anxiety are manageable, perhaps you can access a naturopathic doctor in your area to look for a natural/homeopathic method to address the anxiety? She also put me on a vitamin program similar to Mark's recommendations using my bloodwork to make adjustments.

To get me to rest properly now that the anxiety is mostly addressed I ended up developing a routine at home. I bought blue light blocking glasses, you can likely google "Blue blocking" or "Insomnia and blue lights". I started wearing a pair of glasses that block this so called "blue light" and listen to Binaural beats for 30 in to aid in sleep. By the end of the 30 minutes I am very sleepy. I am not advocating this regime but it was what I was able to get to work for me.

I just had to build a routine, you could read some tax laws if your looking for boring material :-)

I can't speak about the hottub, I did notice a hot bath for me seemed to exacerbate my headaches in my early stages.