A Fish Out Of Water

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dorothyt
dorothyt Member Posts: 103
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
Every night I have trouble sleeping. I feel like a fish out of water, I flip and flop all night. I'm hot, than I'm cold. and because I'm awake my mind starts racing on the what if's and the when will. It's been 4 months since my mastectomy and I still can't get any sleep.
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  • mmontero38
    mmontero38 Member Posts: 1,510
    #2
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    It does get better Dorothy.
    It does get better Dorothy. Now, I only wake up during a hot flash, so I am trying to keep the bedroom cool. Now that it's gotten colder, I lowered the heat in the room and left the window open a crack by my side of the bed and it seems to be helping. Hugs, Lili
  • ninjamom
    ninjamom Member Posts: 142
    #3
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    I'm having the same problem,
    I'm having the same problem, it's gotten to the point that I don't like night time. The only thing that seems to help is the Ativan but I don't like to take it every night because I'm afraid I'll become dependent so I take it every other day.
  • dorothyt
    dorothyt Member Posts: 103
    #4
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    mmontero38 said:

    It does get better Dorothy.
    It does get better Dorothy. Now, I only wake up during a hot flash, so I am trying to keep the bedroom cool. Now that it's gotten colder, I lowered the heat in the room and left the window open a crack by my side of the bed and it seems to be helping. Hugs, Lili

    Thanks, Lili. I'm so tired
    Thanks, Lili. I'm so tired when I get up. Maybe the cooler weather will help.
  • dorothyt
    dorothyt Member Posts: 103
    #5
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    ninjamom said:

    I'm having the same problem,
    I'm having the same problem, it's gotten to the point that I don't like night time. The only thing that seems to help is the Ativan but I don't like to take it every night because I'm afraid I'll become dependent so I take it every other day.

    I'm also afraid to take
    I'm also afraid to take anything to make me sleep. Some times I take a Tylenol PM. I don't like night time either. You know even though I don't sleep at night. I can not sleep in the day time.
  • cruf
    cruf Member Posts: 908
    #6
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    dorothyt said:

    I'm also afraid to take
    I'm also afraid to take anything to make me sleep. Some times I take a Tylenol PM. I don't like night time either. You know even though I don't sleep at night. I can not sleep in the day time.

    Lack of sleep!
    I'm also unable to sleep thru the night! I have no trouble falling asleep while watching TV but as soon as I get up and go to bed, I have trouble getting to sleep, then I will wake up frequently to see how much more time I have left to sleep. I, too, get hot, then cold and I'm 8 years out from dx and treatment and 1 year out from any of the meds(Tamoxifen, aromasin and femara).I bought Tyelonal PM but I'm afraid to take anything esp. at night .Go figure! I guess I'm just meant to be forever exhausted!Hopefully, I will sleep while in Aruba next week when life is slow and nothing to worry about! NOT! HUGS!!! Cathy
  • RE
    RE Member Posts: 4,591 Member
    #7
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    SLEEP WHERE HAVE YOU GONE
    Darn, I too find sleep to be elusive. I do the same as mm and use a fan in my room and on cooler nights I still leave the window open a bit. The real important thing though is that we are all here to flip and flop! The mind racing with what if's will get better as time passes. My best to you!

    RE
  • kit45
    kit45 Member Posts: 89
    #8
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    RE said:

    SLEEP WHERE HAVE YOU GONE
    Darn, I too find sleep to be elusive. I do the same as mm and use a fan in my room and on cooler nights I still leave the window open a bit. The real important thing though is that we are all here to flip and flop! The mind racing with what if's will get better as time passes. My best to you!

    RE

    same here
    I'm chiming in as I can't sleep either and I was one (pre-cancer) who could sleep anywhere and all night. I am (was) pre-menopause but I believe now monopausal which causes the hot flashes (as well as tamoxifin). I'm learning. I'll take the good with the bad and will deal with the not sleeping well. I'm hoping over time this will subside. Love, Kit
  • Eil4186
    Eil4186 Member Posts: 949
    #9
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    Oh Dorothy, I know how you
    Oh Dorothy, I know how you feel! Like Lilli I also wake up from flashes, and like you, once I'm awake, then I start thinking. I have not had a good nights sleep since the cancer thing started----over 2 yrs!!!!!!! Before that I used to sleep like a LOG!

    I guess we just have to hang in there till it gets better but I am so tired too! E
  • mmontero38
    mmontero38 Member Posts: 1,510
    #10
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    cruf said:

    Lack of sleep!
    I'm also unable to sleep thru the night! I have no trouble falling asleep while watching TV but as soon as I get up and go to bed, I have trouble getting to sleep, then I will wake up frequently to see how much more time I have left to sleep. I, too, get hot, then cold and I'm 8 years out from dx and treatment and 1 year out from any of the meds(Tamoxifen, aromasin and femara).I bought Tyelonal PM but I'm afraid to take anything esp. at night .Go figure! I guess I'm just meant to be forever exhausted!Hopefully, I will sleep while in Aruba next week when life is slow and nothing to worry about! NOT! HUGS!!! Cathy

    Cathy: Have a great time in
    Cathy: Have a great time in Aruba. I too will also be in Punta Cana, relaxing on the beach. I hope to catch up on some sleep then. Hugs, Lili
  • cruf
    cruf Member Posts: 908
    #11
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    mmontero38 said:

    Cathy: Have a great time in
    Cathy: Have a great time in Aruba. I too will also be in Punta Cana, relaxing on the beach. I hope to catch up on some sleep then. Hugs, Lili

    Thank you Lili!
    Thanks Lili! We also have a time share in Aruba and look foward to going there and doing nothing but sitting by the pool or beach and vegetating. We do get up and walk the beach for a bit of exercise. Hope you have a very relaxing trip too! ENJOY! HUGS!! Cathy
  • Joycelouise
    Joycelouise Member Posts: 482
    #12
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    While I don't sleep as well
    While I don't sleep as well as I used too, my nights are much better than they used to be (its been one year now) after DX, during chemo. I did take ativan, maybe every third night or so. I figured good sleep would help with healing. Another thing that helped me (I did this while pregnant too) is to get out of bed and sleep in the living room with the stupid TV on. Somehow napping all night on the couch felt different than HAVING to go to sleep in bed. love, Joyce
  • ninjamom
    ninjamom Member Posts: 142
    #13
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    I also sleep in the living
    I also sleep in the living room watching tv (I set the timer to turn off in 2 hrs) and sleep on the recliner. I have no problem sleeping during the day but I'm at work so that doesn't help.
  • KathiM
    KathiM Member Posts: 8,028 Member
    #14
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    Go with the flow...
    Usually, when I can't sleep, I get up and do something for awhile. Read a book. Watch the food channel (Yes, in my neck of the woods, it stays on REALLY LATE!!!) Then, I try again. I first started doing this during my chemo for my rectal cancer...I would wake up at 3 am, in pain (my tumor was pressing my tailbone), and take a vicodin. I would then read until I felt sleepy again...sometimes this could take a few hours...

    Another trick was to get up and write down everything I was obsessing about....and then promise myself to deal with it in the morning...

    Hugs, Kathi
  • chenheart
    chenheart Member Posts: 5,159
    #15
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    Sleeping Beauty
    I think my body clock was altered during chemo, and never got reset! I had an energy spurt in the early AM, but by 11 I was pretty much down for the count.That was odd to me, as I had always been a night-owl. Sleep patterns were very disrupted, and I didn't fret over it,I just listened to my body ( which was usually saying rude things to me!) and when I could catch 40 winks, I did.

    5 years later...I am still not a night owl anymore, and I still get up EARLY...I have been up since 5AM, and am about to go for a run at 6, so I am dressed and have eaten some protein. I don't know what nighttime sleep is, anymore! I too fall asleep on the couch~ thank God for the DVR letting me re-wind a TV show; I close my eyes "just" for a commercial, and miss the last quarter, thus the ending of almost every show! What I don't miss is world news and political stuff. Why? well, I never want to get up at 2AM, so I have earbuds and I listen to talk radio...sometimes the "noise" lulls me back to sleep, but if not, at least my brain is occupied with something other than my own thoughts!
    So, it seems to me we are all affected in some way by this lack of sleep~ the GOOD NEWS is, it means we are still alive!! YAY to that!

    Hugs,
    Claudia
  • dorothyt
    dorothyt Member Posts: 103
    #16
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    Thanks Everyone for letting
    Thanks Everyone for letting me know that there is nothing wrong with me . Not sleeping is something that seems to be happening to a lot of us. Have fun on your trips ladies. Maybe that's what I need a weekend away.
  • kbc4869
    kbc4869 Member Posts: 159
    #17
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    On the other end of the spectrum . . .
    I could never sleep before cancer. Runs in family for all the women -- we don't sleep. We all stay up and clean, write letters, do something creative or just worry.

    Post cancer -- I sleep like a baby for the first time since I've been 12. My body is so tired it has finally overtaken my mind. So, go figure?

    Hugs,
    Kim
  • chenheart
    chenheart Member Posts: 5,159
    #18
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    kbc4869 said:

    On the other end of the spectrum . . .
    I could never sleep before cancer. Runs in family for all the women -- we don't sleep. We all stay up and clean, write letters, do something creative or just worry.

    Post cancer -- I sleep like a baby for the first time since I've been 12. My body is so tired it has finally overtaken my mind. So, go figure?

    Hugs,
    Kim

    Sweet Dreams..........zzzzzzzzzzzzz
    I love you Kim, but I have opted out of believing that you actually sleep~ I choose to believe you are deluding not only us, but yourself~ to admit it would make me exhibit jealous traits...a tendancy I have been trying hard to avoid since my diagnosis! LOL


    Ok Ok...I admit it!!! I want to be YOU! I want to sleep and not care what the pundits are saying and what the other insomnniacs think who call talk radio stations after 1AM!! Uh oh- my posters who are of a certain age~ are you now picturing Goldie Hawn whining in the movie Sgt Benjamin????? OMG

    Alright, I am over it now, honest I am.

    Hugs,
    Claudia
  • kbc4869
    kbc4869 Member Posts: 159
    #19
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    chenheart said:

    Sweet Dreams..........zzzzzzzzzzzzz
    I love you Kim, but I have opted out of believing that you actually sleep~ I choose to believe you are deluding not only us, but yourself~ to admit it would make me exhibit jealous traits...a tendancy I have been trying hard to avoid since my diagnosis! LOL


    Ok Ok...I admit it!!! I want to be YOU! I want to sleep and not care what the pundits are saying and what the other insomnniacs think who call talk radio stations after 1AM!! Uh oh- my posters who are of a certain age~ are you now picturing Goldie Hawn whining in the movie Sgt Benjamin????? OMG

    Alright, I am over it now, honest I am.

    Hugs,
    Claudia

    OMG
    OMG, Chen! Nobody's been jealous of me in like a Ga-zillion years! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm so excited I may not sleep tonight! Just kidding. (Honestly, I think my ability to sleep has a lot to do with having a two year old. I'm sure by the time she's 13 I'll be back to pacing the floors and writing you guys at 1:00 am, but till then . . . . ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

    Sweet Dreams and Love Ya, Girlfriend!

    Kim
  • CR1954
    CR1954 Member Posts: 1,390 Member
    #20
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    Me too.............
    I haven't slept more than 2-3 hours a night since my mastectomy in August. I wake up and that's it. I have tried two different beds and my recliner, and nothing seems to make a difference. I fall asleep with no problem, but just can't stay asleep. My family doctor insists that I need to get a good night's sleep and has prescribed Ambien CR, but I haven't filled it yet. I am hesitant, though not sure why.

    Sounds like sleeplessness is pretty common.

    CR
  • dorothyt
    dorothyt Member Posts: 103
    #21
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    Kim, YOU GO GIRL!!!!! I know
    Kim, YOU GO GIRL!!!!! I know how it is with a two year old. You don't need a sleeping pill after caring for them all day. I have two great- nephews one is 3 and the other one is 2. My niece ask me to watch them, The Day Care was close, so I said to myself This will be a piece of cake. Never talk to yourself, its a sign that you may be losing it.(YOUR MIND) Those two wore me down. We went for a walk. That did not work. I sit outside with them ,a big mistake, I gave them something to eat the 2 year old ate but the 3 year old would not eat. I was so glad to hear my brother drive up, he stay next door, I got their stuff and bought them to him. Trying to keep up with those kids is a job. That was the longest 45 minutes of my life. SMILE!!!!!!

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