Anyone who follows me on Twitter or Facebook will be aware that I’ve been suffering from insomnia for the last couple of months. Insomnia isn’t something that’s been a big problem for me in the past. I would have the occasional bout, but it rarely lasted longer than a few days. If it got to the 2 week mark, I’d go to my GP and get a sedative. A couple of doses of diazepam usually sorted me right out. However, since being diagnosed with MS, my periods of insomnia have become more frequent and more prolonged, to the point that they disrupt my day-to-day life.
Pain is the main cause of my sleep woes. It exhausts me, as well as interrupting my sleep or stopping me from sleeping altogether. I have co-codamol for when the pain gets really bad, but I can’t take it during the day, as it makes me drowsy. I usually tolerate the pain when I’m working, or I’ll sometimes take a combination of paracetamol and ibuprofen, but I can only take them occasionally, as I have asthma. I recently bought a MediPen® (https://medipen.co), which is a legal cannabis (CBD) vaporizer, and it has helped quite a bit with the pain. There’s no “stone”, so I can keep a clear head while I’m working.
This latest bout of insomnia started at the end of September when my right knee flared up. I have arthritis in my knee and my hip, which has worsened as I’ve become more immobile. The pain started disturbing my sleep, leaving me exhausted in the mornings and struggling to get out of bed. This went on for a week or so then, as the pain worsened in my knee and my hip flared up too, I started oversleeping for work, either by dozing off after switching off my alarm or by sleeping through it. I tried taking time off to catch up on my sleep, but you can never catch up on lost sleep. After 3 weeks I was having difficulty falling asleep because it felt like I was lying on rocks, and bedtime got later and later, until last week, when I wasn’t falling asleep before 4 am every morning.
I can’t cope with so little sleep and I knew that it was going to catch up with me, which is what happened on Friday. I slept through all 3 of my alarms and didn’t wake until 5 pm. My alarms aren’t quiet, but with my insomnia escalating for weeks, I knew it was going to happen soon. I didn’t sleep at all on Friday night and it was lunchtime on Saturday before I finally dropped off (or passed out). I woke at 8 pm on Saturday evening to find that a muscle in my right eyebrow and one below my left nostril had started twitching / fluttering (incredibly annoying!). This went on all of Saturday night as I lay in bed praying to the Flying Spaghetti Monster for sleep! I succumbed just before 7 am and slept until 5 pm. This made me panic about missing work on Monday, so I switched on all 4 of my alarms, put them on repeat and turned the volumes up full blast.
On Monday morning, I dozed off after my first alarm, which I’d snoozed, then switched off. However, I got up with my 2nd alarm, so I was able to log in to work before 9.30 am. I’m eternally grateful for flexible working. I went to bed at 12.30 am, but I took ages to fall asleep and slept poorly when I did. I woke several times during the night thinking I’d overslept, which is such a horrible feeling. However, Tuesday morning was better and I rose with my first alarm without snoozing it. Having said that, I was ready for a nap by lunchtime and I had to concentrate really hard all day.
Last night I was in bed before 12.30 am, but I had trouble falling asleep again, and yet another night of broken sleep. I got up with my first alarm (once I realised what the noise was) and was on time for work (yay!). I was less tired than yesterday, but the day seemed to drag. I was ready to pack up by lunchtime, although I didn’t. I got through the day and my pain seems to be lessening. With any luck my period of insomnia is coming to an end and I’ll soon be returning to my normal rhythm. It's about bloody time!
Pain is the main cause of my sleep woes. It exhausts me, as well as interrupting my sleep or stopping me from sleeping altogether. I have co-codamol for when the pain gets really bad, but I can’t take it during the day, as it makes me drowsy. I usually tolerate the pain when I’m working, or I’ll sometimes take a combination of paracetamol and ibuprofen, but I can only take them occasionally, as I have asthma. I recently bought a MediPen® (https://medipen.co), which is a legal cannabis (CBD) vaporizer, and it has helped quite a bit with the pain. There’s no “stone”, so I can keep a clear head while I’m working.
This latest bout of insomnia started at the end of September when my right knee flared up. I have arthritis in my knee and my hip, which has worsened as I’ve become more immobile. The pain started disturbing my sleep, leaving me exhausted in the mornings and struggling to get out of bed. This went on for a week or so then, as the pain worsened in my knee and my hip flared up too, I started oversleeping for work, either by dozing off after switching off my alarm or by sleeping through it. I tried taking time off to catch up on my sleep, but you can never catch up on lost sleep. After 3 weeks I was having difficulty falling asleep because it felt like I was lying on rocks, and bedtime got later and later, until last week, when I wasn’t falling asleep before 4 am every morning.
I can’t cope with so little sleep and I knew that it was going to catch up with me, which is what happened on Friday. I slept through all 3 of my alarms and didn’t wake until 5 pm. My alarms aren’t quiet, but with my insomnia escalating for weeks, I knew it was going to happen soon. I didn’t sleep at all on Friday night and it was lunchtime on Saturday before I finally dropped off (or passed out). I woke at 8 pm on Saturday evening to find that a muscle in my right eyebrow and one below my left nostril had started twitching / fluttering (incredibly annoying!). This went on all of Saturday night as I lay in bed praying to the Flying Spaghetti Monster for sleep! I succumbed just before 7 am and slept until 5 pm. This made me panic about missing work on Monday, so I switched on all 4 of my alarms, put them on repeat and turned the volumes up full blast.
On Monday morning, I dozed off after my first alarm, which I’d snoozed, then switched off. However, I got up with my 2nd alarm, so I was able to log in to work before 9.30 am. I’m eternally grateful for flexible working. I went to bed at 12.30 am, but I took ages to fall asleep and slept poorly when I did. I woke several times during the night thinking I’d overslept, which is such a horrible feeling. However, Tuesday morning was better and I rose with my first alarm without snoozing it. Having said that, I was ready for a nap by lunchtime and I had to concentrate really hard all day.
Last night I was in bed before 12.30 am, but I had trouble falling asleep again, and yet another night of broken sleep. I got up with my first alarm (once I realised what the noise was) and was on time for work (yay!). I was less tired than yesterday, but the day seemed to drag. I was ready to pack up by lunchtime, although I didn’t. I got through the day and my pain seems to be lessening. With any luck my period of insomnia is coming to an end and I’ll soon be returning to my normal rhythm. It's about bloody time!
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