Trouble Sleeping - Help?

[BigRed]

Pure and simple issue. I dialyze from 8pm to 4am 3x's a week. I'm only 4 sessions into it, but already am adjusting physically to the experience. However, I am not sleeping. Not even close.  Not a wink. It its killing my 'day afters.'

I am trying to do what I can to make myself comfortable, the clinic is dark and about as quiet as we can make it. I have ambient noise mp3's, ear plugs, a sleep mask, sheets, a pillow...generally, pretty well set.

I also plan to ask my neph asap about any sort of prescription sleeping pills.

I dont need to sleep the full 8 hours. In fact, sleeping from 12 to 3 or 4am would be great. Would be perfect for me. And would revolutionize my Nocturnal experience.

So what are the tricks, tips, and tools that others use to help them get to sleep? What is your advice to help reach just a few sweet hours of the zzzzzzzz's?
Thanks, all.

-Daniel

[kitkatz]

Can they give you Benadryl and two tylenol?  It helps me sleep while I am on the machine. It takes adjusting to the night schedule and getting the body trained to sleep while on the machine. Good luck.

[Rerun]

Do you trust your staff?  That can make a difference in a person being relaxed or anxious.

Try watching a movie on a protable DVD player. 

Reading?

Are you warm?  Being cold can wake me up.

[CHeatherS]

I am on PD dialysis, and I have to say, I am doing better now, but that first couple of weeks, I can tell you that was the week from hell.  I could NOT sleep a wink for 7 full days.  It was scary.  I tried two different prescription drugs, the last one being Ambien (which I really didn't want to have to resort to).  After about 5 days I started cutting the pill in half so that I wouldn't feel so drugged the next day.  Eventually things evened out and I am not taking the drug at all now. 

I have a theory, that we spend all that time with high creatinine, which works as a sedative on our brains, and we sleep well (anyway I did).  Then when that starts to detox, it really messes with everything.  I just think it takes a while to adjust.  So that's how it worked for me.  Also, if you can get some exercise of some kind, a long walk, or something, avoid caffeine and all of that stuff....   I hope it works out soon for you, like it did for me.  It sometimes seems like we will NEVER feel good again, but I have to say, this last week it dawned on me that I wasn't feeling CRAPPY any more. 

Blessings to you....  hope this works out well.

Heather

[texasstyle]

Some suggestions: try watching a soap opera re-run. You as a man, wil probably find this BOOOOORING and it should put you to sleep in minutes. Martha Stewart's almost monotone speaking style can often be a real snoozer too. Haa.. Seriously though, if you're sleeping when you're off the machine a lot that can be a reason for the difficulty. PLus, you just started. It is not yet the place where "you sleep". Give it some time. Sleep aid drugs like Lunesta, Ambien etc... are VERY potent so if you do take one of these, DO NOT take it before driving to dialysis.

[mogee]

I used nocturnal dialysis for eight years.  Initially I was unable to sleep while I was hooked up but after a year or so I found myself having difficulty on my nights off.  I was given a kidney six months ago and I am still adjusting to sleeping without the white noise of the RO machine.

[bevvy5]

Hubby uses sleeping meds every night and on dialysis nights he takes ativan as well.  He is at home so can just go back to bed after he's off in the morning.  If you have to drive home, taking much in the way of sleeping meds might be an issue.

Personally I can't sleep sitting up.  A redeye on a plane is literally a red eye as I am awake all night. 

I hope you can find a solution that works.  The days after are tough enough without being sleep deprived on top of it.

[Grumpy-1]

Try Aleve PM   two tablets.  Works great for me and I'm talking about sleeping at home in my bed.    Grumpy

[papasan]

I was the same way.  No sleep.  I finally asked my neph. for a sleep aid and he gave me some ambian (5mg).  the 5 was to much as I felt drug out all the next day so I now take 2.5mg.  It lets me get to sleep but I'm not whipped the next day.

[obsidianom]

I was the same way.  No sleep.  I finally asked my neph. for a sleep aid and he gave me some ambian (5mg).  the 5 was to much as I felt drug out all the next day so I now take 2.5mg.  It lets me get to sleep but I'm not whipped the next day.

Have you tried MELATONIN? For many people it can work well. It is over the counter in the US.  Try 3mg initially and you can go higher. It actually has some other good benefits including anti-cancer.

[obsidianom]

Indian J Nephrol. 2013 Jul;23(4):264-9. doi: 10.4103/0971-4065.114488.

Melatonin improves sleep quality in hemodialysis patients.

Edalat-Nejad M, Haqhverdi F, Hossein-Tabar T, Ahmadian M.


Source

Department of Internal Medicine, Sardasht, Arak Medical Sciences University, Arak, Iran ; Division of Nephrology, Sardasht, Arak Medical Sciences University, Arak, Iran.


Abstract


Disturbed sleep is common in end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Exogenous melatonin has somniferous properties in normal subjects and can improve sleep quality (SQ) in several clinical conditions. Recent studies have shown that melatonin may play a role in improving sleep in patients undergoing dialysis. The goal of the present study was to assess the effect of exogenous melatonin administration on SQ improvement in daytime hemodialysis patients. Lipid profile and the required dose of erythropoietin (EPO) are also reported as secondary outcomes. In a 6-week randomized, double-blind cross-over clinical trial, 3 mg melatonin or placebo was administered to 68 patients at bedtime. A 72-h washout preceded the switch from melatonin to placebo, or vice versa. SQ was assessed by the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI). Sixty-eight patients completed the study protocol and were included in the final analysis. Melatonin treatment significantly improved the global PSQI scores (P < 0.001), particularly subjective SQ (P < 0.001), sleep efficiency (P = 0.005) and sleep duration (P < 0.001). No differences in sleep latency and daytime sleepiness were observed. Melatonin also increased the high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (P = 0.003). The need for EPO prescription decreased after melatonin treatment (P < 0.001). We conclude that melatonin can improve sleep in ESRD. The modest increase in HDL cholesterol and decrease in the EPO requirement are other benefits associated with this treatment

[JohnJ]

I've been on nocturnal (3Xweek, 8hrs, Fresenius) and I also can't sleep. I've tried Melatonin and Ativan with no luck. The longest I've ever slept is 2 hours. Many time the next day I also can't sleep and by 4pm my entire body is aching. Ambien makes me sleep walk and the nurses say that wouldn't be a good idea. I've tried eating before I dialyze with no luck. I've tried eating while I'm dialyzing with no luck.

Any other ideas would be helpful.

[kristina]

I am not on dialysis yet (still pre-dialysis) but I went through a terrible time with serious sleeping problems.
Whenever I wanted to sleep, I suddenly was thinking about my medical situation and other (disturbing) matters
and that stimulated my mind very much and made me unable to get tired and be able to go to sleep... Then I researched...
... And from my researches I found, that there is a way to mentally train myself (and my body) to eventually feel tired and go to sleep.
The process starts about one hour before I want to go to sleep. I start to "wind down" slowly, avoid any computer, telephone calls etc,
Instead I listen to calming music and in my mind I slowly let the day pass by... all my successes during the day
and how I could approach some matters in a better way etc...
At first this method sounds ridiculous, but when really concentrating on it, this method begins to work...
... Because of my many allergies to medication etc. (and my fragile kidney function), I could never try out any sleeping-pills for help,
so really, I had no other choice, except training myself mentally with this method and I am very glad that it works
and this mental training and/or mental method provides me with a good night's sleep...

Good luck from Kristina.