I go for days on end with just cat naps or if I'm lucky, 4 hours at night of sleep. Then one day I will sleep a solid 12 to 16 hours. This just started happening recently. While I am grateful for the rest I can't control when it's going to happen and yesterday we had planned on finishing our Christmas shopping and I slept all day until 1:30am this morning. I even have prescription sleeping pills, but they just make me loopy, not sleepy.

If I can get to sleep and stay asleep I'm ok for 4-5 hours, but if i get awakened by my husband going to work at 1am or the dogs, I'm usually in here with the 'puter pouring my heart out or reading my eyes into oblivion.

I haven't had a long session of sleep since my last injection and that was 4 glorious nights of 8 hours. Those were the days.

sorry you missed shopping. I cured that in my case. I just haven't gone. I've roped my adult children into my personal shoppers, I'm still trying to convince my husband to make one last stop for me. I can't waste steps on shopping or I won't be in any shape for the celebration. I went to church today, but i had to wear slippers, my feet were too swollen for my shoes. No one noticed, or at least no one said they noticed.

Merry Christmas
pat

Thanks, Miss Pat...I used to love wearing high heels, but there have been times when I've worn my slippers to church. Crocs and Birks are my shoes of choice now. The one thing I miss the most is dancing. Back in the 80's I could dance in 5 in stilleto high heels, now I can't even do it barefoot
I have decided to do the Christmas shopping locally today, since I had do much rest.
Merry Christmas to you!

Hi Cindi 1965,
I just had to reply to your answer about dancing. I, like you, loved to dance and was always the first one up on the dance floor getting everyone else up to dance. I just said to someone the other day how at my oldest nephew's wedding two years ago, I had to sit in my wheelchair next to the dance floor in pain and watch everyone else dance and have a fun time!!!!!!!! And then look like I was enjoying myself. It was heck for me for sure. Then, when I went to leave someone grabbed my right hand and squeezed it and I saw stars for a few days. I used to wear heels too and now generic Crocs are my best friend!

Also, I had to laugh at you taking your cat naps and then boom you are asleep for hours. Up until Sept this year I never slept for years and would sleep 2-4 hours straight if I was lucky and then once a week I would sleep 6-7 hours and be thrilled. Since Sept I've been using Ambien and I've been sleeping so much better?? This stuff never worked before Sept (when I tried Ketamine and got off Fentanyl patch) and now thank God it is working well and I get sound sleep at night (about 6-8 hours) and then sometimes I take a pain pill and go back to sleep for another 4 hours. I am always thankful for any sleep I can get. I hope you get a good sleep tonight.
Take care,
kathy d.
P.S. In our minds we are still dancin'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe we all gave ourselves RSD through dancing since we all seem to have that in common! Just kidding of course.

I also used to have the same sleep problem until I had my first Ketamine treatment in November. Since then, I've also been taking Trazodone at night along with my melatonin and 5-HTP and I now sleep like a rock. It's truly been amazing.

I did try a bunch of prescription sleeping pills and OTC ones in the past but none worked. The trazodone is used off label for RSD pain and sleep. If you've never tried it, it might be worth a shot.

Happy Holidays,
Dawn

My Lindsay also has problems with sleep...She was prescribed Trazadone for sleep, but was also taking cymbalta for the pain, but had a severe reaction, it seems the two should not be mixed. But, the Trazadone did help the sleep for her. Unfortunately, the cymbalta was helping more, so one had to be taken away.

So now back to melatonin and a good book.

Dawn what is 5-HTP?

Sandy

Sandy,
I'm sorry to hear your daughter couldn't continue with Trazodone as it it's truly been a lifesaver for me when it comes to sleep/ I haven't slept this well in about 10 years. I am on Neurontin, not Cymbalta so cannot say if I've had any reactions.

5-HTP is simply Tryptophan, found over the counter and made by most vitamin companies. It is fairly expensive so I try to catch the buy one, get one free deals which CVS is actually running right now online and in store for Nature Made products which I've had good results with.

I'm glad the Cymbalta is helping her. I had actully been doing well on it, better then with Neurontin but had to stop due to side effects.

Dawn

That used to happen to me until my doctor changed my medication. I now take Seroquel & Zonisimide at bedtime ( only at bedtime ). My sleep schedule is perfect now. I fall asleep immediately....the only problem is that I MUST get at least 10 hours of sleep or I am exhausted the next day. I will take that anyday over the cycle like you have. I could never plan anything because I never knew if it would be a day that I was going to sleep 16-18 hours. At least this way I can plan on 10 hours of sleep and know that I can wake feeling rested. The Zonisimide I take 100mg of (I think that is a small dosage, I'm not sure). Hope this helps. I can sympathize with you because one week I was at Disney World on vacation and one of those 16-18 hour sleep days came & I missed the entire day at WDW. Good Luck

I take 1/2 mg of lorazepam at bedtime. Gets me through to 2 or 3 am or so. Sleep is variable after that. I had to go to a Vocational Rehab appointment a few weeks ago. Among a lot of other rhetoric, he recommended getting things done by 1 or 2 pm as that is when I run out of gas! Brilliant!

this happens to me all of the time. I almost missed Christmas. I did miss new years. I think it is because my body can't function on just 3 to 4 hours of sleep, so I finally get to the point of pure exhaustion, and just sleep and sleep and sleep. It does feel good after i get that much sleep. I have so much energy, but at the same time i am missing out on so much.