Can't sleep at nocturnal

[CW]

Started nocturnal recently and I cannot sleep there. I had a picture in my head of beds but it is a full time dialysis clinic so of course there are chairs 
For those who go to in-center nocturnal do you sleep in chairs also? Does it just take some getting used to?

[kitkatz]

I have to have benadryl and Tylenol in order to sleep at nocturnal, especially in a chair. I am lucky I have one of six beds in our clinic.
Yes, it takes getting used to it.

[stschirhart]

I am on Ambien and I get Benedryl there.  I have to literally knock myself out each time.  But it's easier to get through than daytime treatments that's for sure and I can still work full time being so young.  Hang in there.

[Rerun]

I am drug free.  It just takes a movie and I'm out.  I have a little protable DVD player and Netflix.  Sometimes I read my NookColor.  You just have to try those. 

At first I could not understand how anyone could sleep at dialysis.  You also have to trust your staff.  I went back to days once because the staff scared me so bad (incompetent).

Just give it some time.

[Desert Dancer]

Ugh. Insomnia is the one really big drawback to nocturnal, especially if you're doing 8-10 hour treatments. Staring at the ceiling that long is excruciating! 

To that end, I finally broke down and bought a Kindle. I keep it in my lap desk with my Rubik's Cube, mp3 player, handheld solitaire and cryptograms. I figure if the eye mask and earplugs don't do the trick, why fight it?

I do sleep MOST of the time, though. It took a few weeks to get acclimated.

[Arcticat2000]

My doc prescribed me Temazepam. Works every time.  I've been nocturnal for 5 years now and still have problems falling asleep if i don't take it.

[tyefly]

I was worried about sleeping at first.... and for a few nights I didnt sleep well..... I was tired the next day....  I have never taking anything to help me sleep.... I would be worried about sleeping too well and not waking when or if I needed to  if alarms went off.... Sometimes I just cant sleep and wake up in the middle of the night wondering why....  Before CKD   I always sleep all night... a bomb could go off and I would never hear anything.... now I sleep very lightly.... even the smallest noise I hear..... Now I know the neighbor goes to work at 1:45 in the morning.....LOL

[noahvale]

^

[CW]

Great ideas guys ...thanks, I have thought of some of them. I have a portable DVD player and through a combination of netflix and redbox I usually have enough movies for the night
I have taken 50 - 75 mg of benadryl  but it does not work I now take 50mg Atarax and it just makes me drowsy. I have tried OTC sleep meds but they never work for me. I guess I could look into a prescription, we will see what the Dr. says.
I am looking to get a netbook so if I cant sleep I can at least be productive. 

Thanks for the responses, I appreciate them all!

[BigRed]

My neph recently upped my Trazadone dosage from 50mg to 100mg. I take it just before I want to sleep, at the clinic.
If I am already pretty exhausted, it can help me to get a good 2 hours of sleep. Doesnt sound like much, and its not,
but compared to being awake the full 8 hours, it is a big help. Unfortunately, for me, it does have a big of a hangover
affect and remain pretty groggy on the ride home. So I dont take it every time...it just depends on how I'm feeling and
how much I really need the sleep that night vs being able to grab 4-5 hours once I get home around 4am.

I'd still, someday, hope to manage 4 hours of sleep when I dialyze for 8. But for now, late night netflix, food network, and the
antics of some of our techs entertain me. Hope everyone here looking for sleep soon finds it. I know the frustration of
that loooong dialyzing night.

Hopefully our clinic will also begin using fully extended chairs that unfold into a flat cushioned sleeping surface. We'll see.

Does anyone here ever have trouble with books or ereaders and the ability to focus while on dialysis? I love to read, but have
discovered that its rather difficult to focus for too long. Im wondering if its simply me being impatient while on the machine,
or if focusing issues are widespread. Thanks.

[tyefly]

I do nocturnal too but at home....  clinic gave me a dialysis chair to sleep in .....  I could not sleep in that chair....and it was because it did not fully extended flat..... I sleep in my bed....  laying flat and just being able to turn for side to side is all that I need...  I use to be one of the people who twirled 360 in my sleep....Had to learn to only go 180...... it works and now I sleep all night with the exception if I need to use the bathroom... but thats another story....

I hope your clinic will get you a bed or fully extended chair....  they wouldnt be able to sleep in those things either.... even with our dialysis.... 

[thegrammalady]

i've been doing incenter nocturnal for a bit over two years. i used to sleep in a recliner at home for years because i couldn't lie flat because of my asthma so i really didn't have much problem at the center. they got some new chairs with heat and vibration. these chairs will lie completely flat also. they are a bit softer than the old chairs. we were supposed to get hospital beds but they discovered they wouldn't fit through the doors, so for fire safety those were out. some nites i sleep, some nites i don't, same as at home.  the center offers benedryl or fenegrin (sp) but benedryl doesn't make me sleepy and fenegrin works too well.

[CW]

UPDATE:  So My neph prescribed Ambien and the nurse is giving me some benadryl intravenously, so if I take two ambien plus the benadryl I actually fall to sleep but I was tired and horribly sluggish at work the next day.... it's kinda funny now but I was very cranky, sleepy and miserable at work, almost left early.

This is difficult but I am hanging in there for the benefits

[mcclane]

UPDATE:  So My neph prescribed Ambien and the nurse is giving me some benadryl intravenously, so if I take two ambien plus the benadryl I actually fall to sleep but I was tired and horribly sluggish at work the next day.... it's kinda funny now but I was very cranky, sleepy and miserable at work, almost left early.

This is difficult but I am hanging in there for the benefits

i do home nocturnal, and it takes a while to get used to - being attached to the machine (that isn't the worst part), but the noise and ticking of the machine is difficult to get used to.  It took me a while (2-3 weeks) but most nights I do sleep most of the way thru (if the machine doesn't sound any alarms during the night)

[jbeany]

Have you tried a white noise machine, too?  I bought one for my last hospital stay and was amazed at the difference it made.

[yliebert]

my hubby does nocturnal at home.  He has a terrible problem with sleep.  Even though he keeps adjusting the machine it usually alarms  whenever he moves his arm.   unfortunately his fistula ended up more medial than it should have been so the needles are between his body and his arm (on the inside of the arm).  He also says that he is always aware of the tubes and his connection to the cycler.  Some nights even the sleeping pills won't knock him out and even if it does work he is exhausted the next day.  Suggestions anyone?

[Desert Dancer]

my hubby does nocturnal at home.  He has a terrible problem with sleep.  Even though he keeps adjusting the machine it usually alarms  whenever he moves his arm.   unfortunately his fistula ended up more medial than it should have been so the needles are between his body and his arm (on the inside of the arm).  He also says that he is always aware of the tubes and his connection to the cycler.  Some nights even the sleeping pills won't knock him out and even if it does work he is exhausted the next day.  Suggestions anyone?

My first month home I had problems with alarms. Then someone here suggested I flip the needles over once I get them in; my fistula is on top of my forearm but is very shallow.  I started doing that and haven't had an alarm since. It might be worth considering.

[yliebert]

Thanks.  We tried that but it didn't help.  It think it has to do with the placement of his buttonholes.  He says it's the concept of being tethered to a machine that upsets him and that transplant is equally as unsettling.  I told him that it is what it is and suggested he not dwell on it.  Easy for me to say, I'm not the one on D

[fearless]

for the person who asked about focus - I'm currently doing 4 hrs 3x week, and I like to read - but after a couple hours I can't focus very well.  (so you're not alone)

[amanda100wilson]

To  yliebert, has your husbandconsidered getting a vein transposition to move the fistula?  Mine was right on the underside of my arm and inaccessible for self-cannulation, so I got my vascualr surgeon to move it.  It now runs up the middle of my bicep, still sets off alarms too readily.

[yliebert]

He spoke with the surgeons about moving it, but they said that was not the answer.  He's about to be listed for transplant, so hopefully we have only another year or so  to go on the machine.  Thanks for your comment.

[mcclane]

I did home nocturnal at home, but regardless, I found it very hard to sleep, even though I had bed.  The dialysis machine was super sensitive, if I gave it a nasty stare it would start alarming, and since I only used one buttonhole, that meant the machine was set to double pump, so the electro clamp would go on/off every 2 seconds, and it wasn't exactly quiet either.  I felt like a zombie at work the next day.