Waking before the chickens!

[jaminkw]

My physical side effects are so benign compared to those of other members signatures I've read. But I really do want to complain about waking at four am. I'm just into my third month of chemo every three weeks and before my last infusion had just started to relish waking up at five and occasionally even six am. Now I'm back to four am. I try staying up later--last night to an amazing ten pm. No luck, up at four. I take an Atavan before bed so I go right to sleep. Anybody have this problem? Any ideas?

[Kasey]

Yep....got that problem too. Often I awake before 4 AM and I finished chemo almost 3 years ago. Sorry about this, but certain things seem to just go with tx.

Kasey

[Patti B]

Me, too - I take Tylenol PM every night which helps me to fall asleep but I can't stay asleep all night. Guess it comes with the territory. And when I do sleep, I have been having the most bizarre dreams. Need to look into what some of these mean.

Good luck!!

[Heather_T]

Yeah! Me too. I got up every morning between 5-6a but I don't go to sleep until 12-1a. It did get better when I finished my chemo.

[Ry]

You could try taking benadryl when you go to sleep to see if that gives you a longer time. If you wake at 4-- then take the ativan to go back to sleep. The ativan should be somewhat out of your system so you aren't groggy when you wake up. I take Zanax when I go to bed and take it again if I wake up before 4:30 or so. You could also try melatonin-- you get it at the health food store. If all that fails then you may have to ask for ambien or some type of sleeping pill.

[jaminkw]

Thanks for all the feedback. Since I have Tylenol PM on hand, I'll probably try that first. Never thought of starting with that and then the Atavan if I wake up earlier than I want. It's really important right now for me to get sleep since I've come down with a cold--coughing, sniffling, sneezing. I need to get well before chem on Jan 29.

Thanks again guys. If one thing doesn't work, I'll move on to another.

Judy

[twodogs]

I think there's a sort of secret rule about having to wake up at 4:00 AM. Kind of like earning a merit badge. When I went through my first round of treatment a few years back it was summertime. That worked out fine for me as the Decadron insured I'd be up and out before the birds woke up and I got a whole lot of little chores done around the house.

This time it's run into winter which is not near as much fun. At 4:00 AM now it's around zero and either ice or snow covers nearly everything. Fox and Friends starts at 4:00 and we have The Weather Channel and HBO all night and that's about it. Lately I have been falling back to sleep for an hour or two after waking and watching TV but you could just about bet I'll be up wandering around the house sometime around 4:00.

I just figured it's normal.

[recce101]

I've been an early riser for years -- became ingrained because of the job schedule, then it was because I was playing the stock market and the NYSE opens at 3:30 or 4:30 AM here depending on the time of year. Eventually I ran out of money that I could afford to lose and had no reason to get up early but still did, which probably wasn't doing any favors for my health. But now I've finally figured out how to get 7, sometimes even 8, hours of good sleep without taking any more pills (when I'm taking pills to counter the effects of other pills, that's enough pills). It's a 2-phase approach:

I enjoy reading for a while before falling asleep, and so does my wife, but the problem is that she likes to turn in earlier than I do, and if I use a reading light (even a very dim one) after I come in, she wakes up and has trouble going back to sleep. Not good for a caregiver who's been taking care of her mother for 12 years and still is, plus me on occasion. So I started doing my late night reading in the living room and found that the firm cushions of our large sofa, supplemented by a pillow and blanket and lamp, make a delightful place to end the day. I usually wake up in about 3 hours, frequently with the book on my chest, and after a quick sip of water and trip to the bathroom I'm ready for the "real" bed, which is firm yet soft like a cloud. Five minutes and I'm out again, not to wake until after daybreak when the wife has finished her email correspondence. And no groggy headache, like I used to get when forcing myself to sleep longer with the inferior 1-phase arrangement. To each his own, but it works for me!

Aloha,

Ned

[jaminkw]

It worked! I went to bed around 9pm with my normal pre-cancer Tylenol PM which contains benadryl and helps my nighttime allergies. I woke up around 1 am and took my Atavan and went right back to sleep until 4:45. This was a marked improvement over 4, 3 and even 2 am to remain awake for the remainder of the day.

I was reading in bed at night for awhile there. I'll try that again but will stay with the surer thing until I get over this cold.

Thanks everyone.

Judy