Most people don’t realize that the inability to sleep is the symptom and the side-effect with the most profound effect on the quality of everyday life for a survivor of lupus and fibromyalgia. A recollection of my experiences this past week illustrates the dilemma posed by the title, TO SLEEP OR NOT TO SLEEP.
TO SLEEP. Last Wednesday, I had a plan. I expected to come home from my last weekly iron infusion go to bed early taking advantage of the sedative effects of the Benadryl for a deep restorative sleep. See previous blog. That evening my deep sleep was disturbed by a terrible nightmare. Once I was fully awake I realized the nightmare was a subconscious rendering of the terrible painful spasms coming down my left flank down to my groin. I was soaking wet! It was the familiar labor pains for the kidney stone, no doubt. I was up all night in nauseating pain despite the Oxybutin and ice pack. NOT TO SLEEP.
Thursday, I was grateful to finally get the first of 3 ingrown toenails surgically removed. A step toward solving another painful situation that’s been nagging me for years. Unfortunately the hard wooden chair in the waiting room wreaked havoc on my lower osteopenic vertebrae. The residual soreness from birthing a 7mm urolith (what MDs call kidney stones), the ache of my lower back bones and remaining tender toes, was just enough to instigate a fibromyalgia pain flare. You know: pain begets pain. Although not as miserable as the night before, I suffer another fitful night’s sleep. The pain paradox: Sleep decreases pain. Pain decreases sleep. TO SLEEP OR NOT TO SLEEP that’s the question! For anyone suffering from fibromyalgia the question is will we sleep or not. We are caught up in a vicious cycle of trying to get restorative sleep that helps relieve our fibromyalgia pain. On the other hand we are trying to control our fibromyalgia pain so that we can get some sleep!
NOT TO SLEEP. Friday morning, I awake at 4:30am. That’s the magic hour that no matter what, my prednisone enslaved body clock awakens me. Occasionally after a trip to the bathroom, my morning meds and a light breakfast I can ease back into the most restful sleep possible around 9 AM. I have no explanation for this other than a decade of experiencing this sleep pattern. Unfortunately my environment and responsibilities don’t always allow me to sleep when my body signals me to. A beneficial side effect of last Wednesday’s IV steroid pulse is a boost in energy, so this Friday I am feeling it. Before dawn I am already bouncing from place to place like a busy bee getting stuff done about the house. My mind’s racing a bit too. I am talkative and extra optimistic. This is all good until Friday night arrives and my body has no intention of giving in to sleep. Actually there’s no sleep to give in to. I am wide awake. Not the least bit drowsy. I am guaranteed to be awake all night. Even the smallest amounts of the sleep depriving slave master, the corticosteroid Prednisone shackles its users with insomnia. I have been enslaved by steroids over 15 years and so far no prescribed tranquilizer, antidepressant, or other sedating drug has ever liberated me from its sleep depriving side effects. Under the whip of my steroid induced mania I try to do something productive. Thank God for the internet!
TO SLEEP. Predawn Saturday instead of awakening at 4:30 AM, I have already been awake all night. I feel a sudden yawn indicating an opportunity to give in to sleep. By 8:00AM I had escaped my steroid taskmaster long enough to slow down the incessant flow of thoughts and fall into a natural sleep. With a little more uninterrupted slumber I might hit the jackpot and achieve REM sleep. Phone rings. Should I let my voicemail handle it or should I step out of this rare cozy slumber to answer? I better answer. A phone call this early must have purpose. Good I answered. It was my best friend, who is still learning the idiosyncrasies of my fibromyalgic neuropsychiatric lupie lifestyle. Knowing I was at home, she might have worried if I had not answered. We need a push button to update voicemail greeting, just like an IM status, to say “Sleeping, check you later.”
Anyway, back to the point. TO SLEEP OR NOT TO SLEEP: That’s the decision lupus and fibromyalgia survivors have to make when the opportunity for sleep has bad timing. Although I was happy to get the offer to go Krogering from my good friend who was making time in her busy schedule to give me a ride, I had to contemplate whether giving up the chance to sleep was worth getting my monthly grocery shopping done. I considered I could probably stretch my stock on hand until next week. I had to also consider, I wasn’t having much pain and my brain was rather lucid. Even though the chance for a good sleep seemed imminent I was taking a chance on missing opportunity to shop while my fibromyalgia pain was low and I didn’t have the “balloon head”. Feeling somewhat rested on the few hours of sleep so far, I decided to get up and go. I enjoyed a really productive day on the 3 hours sleep achieved Saturday morning. Feeling so well Saturday I went to sleep that night with great expectations for Sunday including going to church and cooking dinner.
Sunday morning I was awake at dawn after sleeping through most of the night; however, though I was not really sleepy I was not rested. In fact I felt absolutely exhausted. My stiffening joints and that feeling of impending pain lets me know precipitation was in the forecast. Early morning pain and nausea is not unusual. I did my stretches, and added an immediate release MSContin pill to my morning meds hoping to resolve my fibromyalgia pain and inflamed joints by the time I needed to get ready. By 8:00 AM I was faced with the familiar dilemma TO SLEEP OR NOT TO SLEEP. Although my fibromyalgia pain would have responded better to a stress free quiet restful morning, I decided to sacrifice the comforts of home and call for a ride to Sunday school. I wasn’t motivated by some masochistic view of suffering by going to church. I was motivated by the willingness to spend some spoons (non-lupie translation: spend some energy) and suffer some discomfort to fellowship with my best friend and new neighbors. If lupus and fibromyalgia survivors wait to feel energetic and pain free to participate in life’s events, well we’d never take part in anything. I chose the opportunity to share an experience with my best friend and fellowship with her church. Although the enjoyment I expressed was sincere, I suffered significant pain inflicted by unforgiving church seating: the Sunday school‘s metal folding chairs and the sanctuary’s thinly cushioned pews. In addition the lengthy morning service depleted my energy reserves. Lupus survivors have to suffer discomforts, negotiate time and energy constantly just to maintain our bodies and household responsibilities. So often socializing means a conscious decision to sacrifice limited energy and suffer discomfort to participate in activities with family and friends, even events that everyone else takes for granted as simply enjoyable or fun.
TO SLEEP. Last Sunday’s pain was the beginning of a miserable week 7-9 scaled neuropathic pain unresponsive to any medication inciting manic nights of insomnia and other neurological chaos. By Saturday I felt the pain lifting from my exhausted body and an overwhelming feeling of drowsiness presented the opportunity TO SLEEP OR NOT TO SLEEP! My friend called, informing me of the beautiful warm sunny day, perhaps hinting I should get out. No way today, these blinds are staying closed and I am going to sleep as long as my body will let me.
I’ve often been asked, "Don’t you take pain medication or something for sleep". Well yes, but often prescribed meds don’t work consistently. Some stop working over time. Doctors can’t tell which meds are going to work for which patients. So for patients it’s a trial and error process to find the right drug combination for results. Some patients don’t respond to drug benefits, or they have negative consequences with side effects. Occasionally either insomnia or pain doesn’t respond to medication and the patient has to ride it out. Over the years, I opted for some out of the box alternatives for sedatives such as my lavender candle, Celtic and Norwegian sopranos’ songs, Pranayama Yoga regulated breathing meditation, old fashioned prayer and journalizing/ blogging my thoughts.
It’s really important to get family and friends to realize how precious sleep is to your health as well as respect your opportunities for sleep. It’s important that patients communicate sleep problems and any special conditions needed for improved opportunities for sleeping well so that family and friends can support you.
TO SLEEP. Last Wednesday, I had a plan. I expected to come home from my last weekly iron infusion go to bed early taking advantage of the sedative effects of the Benadryl for a deep restorative sleep. See previous blog. That evening my deep sleep was disturbed by a terrible nightmare. Once I was fully awake I realized the nightmare was a subconscious rendering of the terrible painful spasms coming down my left flank down to my groin. I was soaking wet! It was the familiar labor pains for the kidney stone, no doubt. I was up all night in nauseating pain despite the Oxybutin and ice pack. NOT TO SLEEP.
Thursday, I was grateful to finally get the first of 3 ingrown toenails surgically removed. A step toward solving another painful situation that’s been nagging me for years. Unfortunately the hard wooden chair in the waiting room wreaked havoc on my lower osteopenic vertebrae. The residual soreness from birthing a 7mm urolith (what MDs call kidney stones), the ache of my lower back bones and remaining tender toes, was just enough to instigate a fibromyalgia pain flare. You know: pain begets pain. Although not as miserable as the night before, I suffer another fitful night’s sleep. The pain paradox: Sleep decreases pain. Pain decreases sleep. TO SLEEP OR NOT TO SLEEP that’s the question! For anyone suffering from fibromyalgia the question is will we sleep or not. We are caught up in a vicious cycle of trying to get restorative sleep that helps relieve our fibromyalgia pain. On the other hand we are trying to control our fibromyalgia pain so that we can get some sleep!
NOT TO SLEEP. Friday morning, I awake at 4:30am. That’s the magic hour that no matter what, my prednisone enslaved body clock awakens me. Occasionally after a trip to the bathroom, my morning meds and a light breakfast I can ease back into the most restful sleep possible around 9 AM. I have no explanation for this other than a decade of experiencing this sleep pattern. Unfortunately my environment and responsibilities don’t always allow me to sleep when my body signals me to. A beneficial side effect of last Wednesday’s IV steroid pulse is a boost in energy, so this Friday I am feeling it. Before dawn I am already bouncing from place to place like a busy bee getting stuff done about the house. My mind’s racing a bit too. I am talkative and extra optimistic. This is all good until Friday night arrives and my body has no intention of giving in to sleep. Actually there’s no sleep to give in to. I am wide awake. Not the least bit drowsy. I am guaranteed to be awake all night. Even the smallest amounts of the sleep depriving slave master, the corticosteroid Prednisone shackles its users with insomnia. I have been enslaved by steroids over 15 years and so far no prescribed tranquilizer, antidepressant, or other sedating drug has ever liberated me from its sleep depriving side effects. Under the whip of my steroid induced mania I try to do something productive. Thank God for the internet!
TO SLEEP. Predawn Saturday instead of awakening at 4:30 AM, I have already been awake all night. I feel a sudden yawn indicating an opportunity to give in to sleep. By 8:00AM I had escaped my steroid taskmaster long enough to slow down the incessant flow of thoughts and fall into a natural sleep. With a little more uninterrupted slumber I might hit the jackpot and achieve REM sleep. Phone rings. Should I let my voicemail handle it or should I step out of this rare cozy slumber to answer? I better answer. A phone call this early must have purpose. Good I answered. It was my best friend, who is still learning the idiosyncrasies of my fibromyalgic neuropsychiatric lupie lifestyle. Knowing I was at home, she might have worried if I had not answered. We need a push button to update voicemail greeting, just like an IM status, to say “Sleeping, check you later.”
Anyway, back to the point. TO SLEEP OR NOT TO SLEEP: That’s the decision lupus and fibromyalgia survivors have to make when the opportunity for sleep has bad timing. Although I was happy to get the offer to go Krogering from my good friend who was making time in her busy schedule to give me a ride, I had to contemplate whether giving up the chance to sleep was worth getting my monthly grocery shopping done. I considered I could probably stretch my stock on hand until next week. I had to also consider, I wasn’t having much pain and my brain was rather lucid. Even though the chance for a good sleep seemed imminent I was taking a chance on missing opportunity to shop while my fibromyalgia pain was low and I didn’t have the “balloon head”. Feeling somewhat rested on the few hours of sleep so far, I decided to get up and go. I enjoyed a really productive day on the 3 hours sleep achieved Saturday morning. Feeling so well Saturday I went to sleep that night with great expectations for Sunday including going to church and cooking dinner.
Sunday morning I was awake at dawn after sleeping through most of the night; however, though I was not really sleepy I was not rested. In fact I felt absolutely exhausted. My stiffening joints and that feeling of impending pain lets me know precipitation was in the forecast. Early morning pain and nausea is not unusual. I did my stretches, and added an immediate release MSContin pill to my morning meds hoping to resolve my fibromyalgia pain and inflamed joints by the time I needed to get ready. By 8:00 AM I was faced with the familiar dilemma TO SLEEP OR NOT TO SLEEP. Although my fibromyalgia pain would have responded better to a stress free quiet restful morning, I decided to sacrifice the comforts of home and call for a ride to Sunday school. I wasn’t motivated by some masochistic view of suffering by going to church. I was motivated by the willingness to spend some spoons (non-lupie translation: spend some energy) and suffer some discomfort to fellowship with my best friend and new neighbors. If lupus and fibromyalgia survivors wait to feel energetic and pain free to participate in life’s events, well we’d never take part in anything. I chose the opportunity to share an experience with my best friend and fellowship with her church. Although the enjoyment I expressed was sincere, I suffered significant pain inflicted by unforgiving church seating: the Sunday school‘s metal folding chairs and the sanctuary’s thinly cushioned pews. In addition the lengthy morning service depleted my energy reserves. Lupus survivors have to suffer discomforts, negotiate time and energy constantly just to maintain our bodies and household responsibilities. So often socializing means a conscious decision to sacrifice limited energy and suffer discomfort to participate in activities with family and friends, even events that everyone else takes for granted as simply enjoyable or fun.
TO SLEEP. Last Sunday’s pain was the beginning of a miserable week 7-9 scaled neuropathic pain unresponsive to any medication inciting manic nights of insomnia and other neurological chaos. By Saturday I felt the pain lifting from my exhausted body and an overwhelming feeling of drowsiness presented the opportunity TO SLEEP OR NOT TO SLEEP! My friend called, informing me of the beautiful warm sunny day, perhaps hinting I should get out. No way today, these blinds are staying closed and I am going to sleep as long as my body will let me.
I’ve often been asked, "Don’t you take pain medication or something for sleep". Well yes, but often prescribed meds don’t work consistently. Some stop working over time. Doctors can’t tell which meds are going to work for which patients. So for patients it’s a trial and error process to find the right drug combination for results. Some patients don’t respond to drug benefits, or they have negative consequences with side effects. Occasionally either insomnia or pain doesn’t respond to medication and the patient has to ride it out. Over the years, I opted for some out of the box alternatives for sedatives such as my lavender candle, Celtic and Norwegian sopranos’ songs, Pranayama Yoga regulated breathing meditation, old fashioned prayer and journalizing/ blogging my thoughts.
It’s really important to get family and friends to realize how precious sleep is to your health as well as respect your opportunities for sleep. It’s important that patients communicate sleep problems and any special conditions needed for improved opportunities for sleeping well so that family and friends can support you.
