Sleep Quality Tracker started by Antibenzo7

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Amazing 🙌🏻

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Didn’t last. 6 hours and feels like zero. Really sickening fatigue, headache, exhaustion, tinnitus. Such a bad feeling.

[[ni...]]

DBM, sorry about the bad night last night.  It is awful how a bad  night follows a good night.  My sleep has gone into the pits.  Oh well, one foot in front of the other.

NG

[[ni...]]

My sleep has gone away this last week. It started after I was sick to my stomach on Saturday night.  I think it was food poisoning, as I had put a left over chicken alfredo casserole in the garage. It's been cold, but obviously not cold enough.  I learned my lesson. Oddly, my husband ate the same meal and did not get sick.  My only conclusion was that he had consumed two glasses of wine with dinner and two gin and tonics that evening. I drank water with my dinner and water that evening.  My unscientific conclusion is that the alcohol killed the bacteria in his stomach/gut. We will never know for sure.

So that night I was awake from 10PM until 10:30 with vomiting and diarrhea. After that i just lay awake for the remainder of the night, feeling unwell and stressed. 

I was too worried my husband would get sick and not make it to the bathroom.

 

I've been unusually tense all week, but I really do not know why. As usual, anything that worked in the past to help me sleep has gone away. I wish there were studies on why something works once or twice then stops.  I am mainly referring to relaxation/hypnosis tapes, certain foods, etc.

Last night I so very easily fell asleep on the sofa watching TV. I slept maybe 10-15 minutes. No nap that afternoon and had slept the night before maybe 2 hours. Went to bed and could not go to sleep. Finally after an hour, did sleep for one hour and dropped off one more time, briefly after that.

My right knee is now painful, but I am still walking for 30 mins and icing it afterward.

This is all so frustrating. I am over three years benzo free and still not sleeping. The rheumatologist was so adamant about me needing sleep to heal. I am sure she is right, but all I can do is hope the sleep does come back.

NG

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Nightingale you are so good to everyone encouraging us all and telling me that I can get a lot of things done with no sleep or with little sleep. I'm so sorry you had food poisoning and I don't think it's silly to believe that the alcohol killed the bacteria in your husband's dish. It makes a lot of sense to me and I miss the days that I could drink alcohol so much but after this benzo damage that I have,  just with one non-alcoholic beer I already feel the effect. I'm going through a very bad wave that is lasting for at least a month and I think it might be related to the fact that I used to take one non-alcoholic beer a day at lunch and I quit that about a month-and-a-half ago and maybe two weeks after that this wave started so I think I am that sensitive to that little tiny amount of alcohol in the NA beer and maybe giving up just one non-alcoholic beer a day for my brain is like a cut. I'm so sorry that you have this rheumatoid condition and that you don't get the sleep that you need according to the doctor to heal from it. I also have rheumatoid issues and all my muscles ache and that is the reason why I went on Valium in the first place which as you know never worked but now I am enslaved to these two mg. I'm going through a very stressful time right now and I couldn't possibly taper at the moment not to mention  the nasty wave which has me depressed all day and is messing up with my sleep. I do try to remind myself that there are people with much much bigger problems so that I take some distance from what happens to me but it's true that the physical pain is very depressing and gives little relief for one to enjoy life. In any case we're here in this group to share our sleep issues and lately I have slept a bit more than those four hours, some nights five hours, even 6 and one day even seven. Nightingale you really are very inspiring to me because when I worry about not being able to do the things I have to do due to lack of sleep I remember that you tell us all the things you do after having slept very little so I tell myself that it won't be the end of the world even if I  go back to sleeping 0 hours for 3 months which happened to me in the summer of 2019 but I really hope that never comes back again. I hope everyone gets a bit better and Nightingale I hope your stomach gets better and that you get a good 7 hours sleep tonight.

[[ni...]]

Valiumnomore, your post made my day. Thank you so very much! This benzo site has the kindest and caring people I have ever known and you are one of them! Your comment about how the tiniest bit of alcohol affects you was not surprising. Too bad there is a tiny bit in there. I think I read that about the trace alcohol amounts,  somewhere once upon a time.

I was the girl in college who went to "woodsies" and poured my beer around trees. I would sip it and carry it around, then when it was warm, I carefully poured it out a little at a time.  I never learned to drink beer, though it was not for trying. 

You have been suffering so, also.  The road we are on is incredibly difficult and even sometimes seems treacherous, but we are not by ourselves.  Like you I know there are people who are much worse off than we are.

Sometimes I am surprised at what I can do on so little sleep. Other times, I think I need so much to be doing more.  Prioritizing helps and I do make lists. Sometimes I look back and there are things still on the list, other times I managed to get everything done.  Sometimes I lose the list. ha

We will survive this, valiumnomore..we must believe that. 

My stomach is okay, my sleep still lacking, but I'm better than I was last weekend!

Take care and smile because you made my day so much brighter!

NG

[[va...]]

I'm glad I made you smile Nightingale. I'm a list person too! I'm off to bed as it's nighttime here. Not as much stress today so fingers crossed. My type of insomnia is the early waking one. I will say a little prayer for your stomach and your sleep ❤️

[[ni...]]

Good morning, my sleep has still gone away and not come back.  I'm just riding the wave until this is over with.

 

TS, I hope you are doing okay. It's been awhile since you last posted. You are missed.

 

valiumnomore, lists are good to have. I used sticky notes and put them on my cupboard for the important stuff. I also have reminders pop up on my computer. I hope your stress was less. The early morning waking is awful I hope you slept better this weekend.

I have some left over prescription pain pills from my wrist surgery, so decided to take one last night to see if that would take away the knee pain and help me to sleep. The knee pain was less, but I could not even go to sleep for the first hour like I normally do. Good grief.

As the pain medication wore off I finally dropped off to sleep for an hour. This hour of sleep then waking up is no fun, but that's how it is.  I then dozed off and slept another hour. That was it. I got up and walked for 30 minutes, iced my knee which was not as sore, even though the pain med had long worn off. 

Take care,

NG

[[Tr...]]

Hello Nightengale,  so glad your wrist is ok. Hopefully your knee will stop bothering you soon. Sorry to see you're not sleeping much again at the moment.  It's a good thing you're still able to do those 30 minutes of walking every day. Just the odd hour of sleep here and there is very frustrating to say the least...I admire you for staying positive and soldiering on. Let's hope your sleep returns again asap!

 

I haven't posted for a few weeks, but still did some reading on here a couple of times per week. I'm still tapering off - now just under 1,6 mgs Valium - and as long as I keep taking it slowly, things aren't too bad. I go for a daily walk ( sometimes even twice) and a bike ride almost every afternoon. It's freezing cold right now,  but I love those rides. Mostly some 45 minutes.

 

My sleep is changing as I get lower on my Valium. The last part of the nights sleep is much lighter and I have a lot of weird dreams. But all in all my sleep is so much better than it was this time last year.

 

Wishing you good days and better nights!

 

Ps. Covid-19 numbers going down a lot the last 3 weeks. Thank the Lord for that!

 

Stay strong and safe!

 

Trochsetter

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Hi all, my new PCP ordered a blood test for me. He called with the results today. Everything except one thing was in the normal range. I was so happy!! What was not normal was my vitamin D level. It was 20 where normal is 30-40. That was after being on 2000 mgs of Vitamin D3 for a month.  He was alarmed and has doubled my dose of D. He thinks I will feel better after my D level comes up. I hope so.

When I see my rheumatologist next month, he suggested asking her for a cortisone shot in the knee joint. 

I at least feel like something good may come of taking more vitamin D and getting the cortisone shot.

My sleep was better the night before, but last night not so much. 

TS so nice to hear from you and happy to hear you are down to 1.6 mgs of valium! You should be proud of yourself! Yes, do keep taking it ever so slowly.  Your daily walks with sometimes x2 is great along with riding your bike most afternoons is soo good for you. I'm impressed you go out even in the cold weather. I bundle up just going to the car and running into the grocery store like I am going on a 10K hike. There was a time when I walked all over the neighborhood in the dead of winter with snow all around wearing stretch pants and a short suede jacket and some ear muffs.  Those were the days. 

This is very good news the covid numbers are going down there! Life will get better.

NG                 

[[Su...]]

1 every night

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Hi nightengale,

 

This might interest you:

 

 

 

 

Ps. It's best to take vitD with breakfast or lunch, as it's well known to interfere with sleep.

 

TS

[[ni...]]

Hi TS, thank you for the youtube links. I watched them all, as they were quite informative!

I've been taking D3 in the morning with breakfast, as so many things interfere with sleep, though I was not aware that D3 was.

On the plus side, I slept a good 6 or more hours last night!  Life is good.

I was up this morning walking and did some exercises along with PT for my knee because I felt like it, not because I had to.

Today I will clean house. Not my most fun job, but I do love having everything clean and shining.

 

I hope you are doing well. Hopefully the weather is nice so you can get out. 

 

Take care,

NG

 

 

 

 

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Hi nightengale,

 

Glad you liked the videos. Nice to hear those different accents, wasn't it.

 

I'm so happy for you! How wonderful you had a good sleep. 😴  Now you seem to be bursting with energy . A clean house makes for a clean mind,  or so they say. But please don't overdo it today.

 

From Saturday evening we're in for a blizzard, followed by at least a week of really cold weather. So tomorrow is likely going to be the last day for a while to take a bike ride. O well, there's always my stationary bike.

 

Wishing you all the best!

 

Trochsetter

 

 

[[ni...]]

TS, I did love their accents. The man's was especially sweet. 

 

My house is all sparkling clean, my knee wasn't happy, but some ice helped. 

 

Yikes, about the blizzard! A storm like that went through the midwestern states where my mom lives. Some places had 15 inches. Now the cold temps have settled in, so not a lot of melting going on there.

 

Stay warm and safe and give the stationary bike a spin.

 

Take care,

NG

 

[[Tr...]]

Hi nightengale,

 

Well done! You must be so proud of yourself for cleaning the house! Now sit back, relax and enjoy.

 

I can feel the cold and snow coming :  lots of pain in my muscles and joints! Ughh, no fun.

 

Thinking of hibernating until spring arrives...

 

Have a nice weekend, NG.

 

TS

 

 

[[ni...]]

TS, sorry to hear you can feel the snow and cold coming in your muscles and joints. The cold weather really is hard on our bodies.

Wouldn't it be great if we could crawl into those warm cozy beds and hibernate until it warms up outside!  I could handle that.

 

Last night I didn't sleep as well as the night before, but I did sleep better than I have been.

My right knee/leg is not hurting this morning, so that's a plus. I did get up and walk for 30 mins.

 

I am enjoying the clean house. Sometimes I skip washing mirrors or windows (the ones the dog leaves nose prints on), but this time I was able to get it all done. 

 

Cold weather is moving in next week, but so far no snow is in the forecast.

 

Stay safe and warm!

NG

 

[[ni...]]

I slept at least 6 hours after dozing on the sofa during the evening.

Yesterday, I had my 2nd covid vaccination. I'm feeling quite well, except for a sore arm. 

My 101 year old mother is still waiting for her first vaccination. She lives in another state and is not in a nursing home.

A deep freeze has settled over us.

NG

[[Tr...]]

Hi nightengale,

 

So glad for you! 6 hours is really good.

Having had your 2nd vaccin shot, you'll be "safe" in another 2 weeks. Makes many things a lot easier.

 

It's cold here too. But nothing crazy in the way of snow.

Many people can't wait for the ice to become strong enough. Ice skating is a big thing overhere. Not for me though. I love warmer weather and icecream...

 

Stay safe and warm!

[[ni...]]

Good morning, I didn't sleep as well last night, so read some, listened to some sleep videos. I did walk for 20 minutes and did some PT exercises this morning.

It is incredibly cold here and getting colder as the week moves on.

My covid shot arm is still sore, but getting better.

 

TS, glad to hear the snow is not so bad. There is a lot of snow in the mountains here, but it never makes it to the other side. I'm fine with that. 

Like you, I can think of more fun things to do than going outside to ice skate or snow ski down the mountain.  Once upon a time I would have joined in, but not anymore.

I used to drive anywhere in the car no matter what the weather. I never gave it much thought. Now I say..it's supposed to rain

or isn't it going to snow? I"ll wait for better weather because now I usually have a choice.

 

Stay warm and have some ice cream by the fire!

NG

 

 

 

 

 

[[Tr...]]

Hi nightengale,

 

Glad you did sleep. Seems like your sleep is slowly but surely improving.

Good of you to keep walking and doing some PT.

I'm sure your arm will be just fine in a day or two.

 

It was a nice day: sunshine, not much wind. And only a few degrees of frost. Took a walk this morning , rode my bike this afternoon and had a second walk just now before sunset. Went surprisingly well.

 

I suppose most people start to see more problems when they grow older...we're not a young as we used to be, right? All part of the deal...

 

Enjoy the remainder of your day!

 

TS

 

[[ni...]]

Hi TS

Indeed I am getting slowly better and I believe this will continue.  My new PCP thinks my symptoms may be more from being a caregiver.

Sometimes I am stressed, but I do manage to deal with everything quite well. I  have my moments, then I say to myself, this could be me.

 

Your day sounded nice with the sun, the walks, and the bike ride. Enjoy those days!

 

Yes, growing older was never something I thought about, then one day, there I was. I used to think age was but a number, but they do add up. 

 

Take care,

NG

 

[[ni...]]

7 hours last night.

There is hope for the perpetual insomniac!

NG

[[Tr...]]

 

 

Wow, that's great! Congratulations, nightengale!

 

Let's hope it's the first of many many more.

 

TS

[[ni...]]

Welp. life is a rollercoaster.

My right knee started hurting, so decided to try to take the glucosamine chondroitin the rheumatologist suggested last year. I think I took 2 after I bought them and felt they made my sleep worse, so stopped.  Beings the vitamin D was agreeing with me, I thought why not.

Big mistake. I stopped sleeping and my knee pain grew worse. I could barley walk. I stopped the glucosamine supplement yesterday and slept a good 6 or 7 hours last night. I think I may have fluid on my other knee, so will hopefully get into the doctor for that.

NG