I have a lot of trouble with sleep and have to keep a routine to even have a chance for a good night's sleep. I quit all caffeine 6 hours beforehand and then try to wind down the last couple hours. Food stops about 4 hours beforehand and liquids about three hours.

I go through all the preps like brushing teeth and setting the alarm starting about half an hour before and taking the medication that makes sleep possible. This is especially the tizanidine (6 mg) but also seroquel. I have to stop the other medications by four and a half hours earlier or they'll interfere. I also take everything that makes me groggy or doesn't bother me at night but that's just norvasc now.

This seems to work much of the time but some nights I'll use aspirin if I'm fidgety, valium if anxious, tylenol 3 if pained. If the pain is persistrent then it's tramadol ER and if it's sudden flare then tramadol APAP. Some of these can't be mixed though.

I've tried everything and these seem to almost always work. Sometimes I'm just still wound up and then I don't take anything and just wait it out. I try very hard to get up at the same time every day even if I got to sleep late.

THANK YOU everyone for your replies... it is something that nobody mentions to us and it rarely is talked about. Helps to know I am not alone... I love hearing about how everyone gets themselves ready. I try to read a book, and listen to some wordless mind music to calm my brain down from the day, but the past week have been horrible and I cant sleep-- So i just give up and end up replying to everyones posts!!!! Hope all slept well, and thanks again. I truly appreciate it and any others who recommend any medicines I can bring up to my doc this week would be awesome. Thanks.

The doc who first prescribed the tizanidine said that most RSD patients have tremors and this can prevent sleep. Sure enough if I lie down and try to feel tremors I do have them. They are very fine with an extremely low amplitude and extremely high frequency and usually in the RSD affected areas. The tizanidine is like throwing a wet blanket on a fire so I might fall asleep. I don't think I can fall asleep as long as the tremor is going.