No Sleep For Bad Kidney?

[KraigG]

Most nights, I can't sleep. It's nearly 2:30 am right now, and I'm wide awake.

Is this caused by dialysis? Is there something in the solution that causes folks to not sleep? Is it anxiety? Depression?

Am I the only one this happens to?

If I take a sleeping pill, I'm drowsy for a whole day following. I attribute that to the kidneys being unable to flush out the medication?

[Desert Dancer]

In my case it seemed to be my PTH level. Within a week of having my parathyroids out my insomnia disappeared.

[ToddB0130]

My trouble sleeping tends to be about anxiety about my health.  I am pre-D right now,  so dialysis is not my reason.

[Rerun]

Mine is on and off.  That is why I don't think I could work full-time.  Some nights I'm awake and some nights I'm sleeping.  I just hate not being able to sleep and then I'm so tired the next day. 

I can take a 1/4 of a sleeping tablet and it is just enough to get me to sleep and stay there for a few hours.  If I take a whole one I have some sort of adverse reaction and I'm awake all night.

[Traveller1947]

Hi, KraigG!  You're definitely not the only one this happens to!  I don't think it's the dialysis itself that's the culprit, unless you're sleeping in the the chair or napping when you get home.  Maybe anxiety, maybe depression.  See what your PCP has to say, if those are possibilities for you.  What I do when I can't sleep, is get out of bed entirely and do something in another room until I feel sleepy and then go back to bed again.  All the best to you.

[jshabanian]

I have the same problem!! I sometimes fall asleep but then wake up about 1 hour later and can fall back to sleep.  I get really itchy and restless. My legs move involuntarily ad I keep twitching.  I am on the cycler and at the end of the drain cycle I get leg cramps that make me have to jump out of bed to stand on the cramped up foot/leg.  About 50% of the time I have drain and fill pain that wakes me up.

I had some oxycodone left over from the catheter surgery so I started taking one tablet before bed.  It worked like a charm and I fell asleep and slept until 5 am.  I felt so rested and wonderful.  Then I ran out of pills and the Dr. will not refill because they are controlled and not prescribed for sleeping.  I don't know what my solution to this problem is but am open to any ideas you may have.

I tried Vicoden but it didn't have the same effect and I was still awake most of the night, twitching, itchy and writhing.  Miserable.

[sullidog]

I have sleeping problems off and on, they were much worse pre d though. I don't take sleep aids often do to them making me sleepy the following day, yes I think it's not being able to have the kidneys flush them out so they stay longer, I have found if you sleep past a certain time in the morning for me 11:00 am eastern I will be awakethat night, which I find that in itself interesting.

[Riki]

I've been to different doctors and tried many different things to overcome insomnia.  I was told that people with kidney failure tend to have sleeping issues because of a lack of melatonin, and it was suggested that I try taking melatonin before bed.  I tried it, but it didn't work.  I was also prescribed lunesta, but it only worked once.  I find that if I can't sleep, I'll go online and play games, on facebook or pogo, or I'll play games on my DS until I get tired.

As for getting out of bed and doing something else, I had a doctor tell me to not do that

[Riverwhispering]

I'm pre dialysis too,  going to be very soon I think when I start.   

I start around 5pm and take a nap, sleep one to two hours and wake up.  I usually go pee and can lay down and sleep for one or two more hours.  It can go like that all night and around 5am i'm wide awake.  Usually around 8 or 9 pm i'm up for a few of hours between naps.  I don't know why I can't sleep without waking up so often, it drives me nuts but taking a lot of these naps seems to help me not feel sleepy during the day.  Maybe it's the long winter nights.. I doubt it but that's my excuse

[texasstyle]

My husband has slept good in years. he does nap off and on during the day so he is actually getting some sleep. He has tried lunesta sleep aid that helped some what but it was a little more expensive co pay. Pharmacist said something about the molecular structure made it so they couldn't do a generic I think. He has Ambien CR ans sometimes they work, sometimes not. Just a word on the Ambien. If you take them try to do with in a reasonable time before going to bed. Once you take them you should be done your daily activities. I have tried them a couple times. i slept really well and personally was not groggy in the morning. I believe as far as it being a part of "dialysis" (not sleeping well), may be because most people the after noon afterwards then you're messed up for night, but mostly it is more due to the fact of having kidney failure and the kidney itself.

[fearless]

anemia can cause insomnia

[Cordelia]

I gotta ask, Are you on the night shift like say between 6 pm and 10pmISH? Because I had major sleep problems when I was on that shift......once I shifted to the most earliest shift for dialysis, the 7 am-11 am shift, my sleep improved bigtime.

I used to get home around 11 pm, I was starved for a meal, ate a big meal at 11 pm at night---which was the worst thing for me...go to bed on a fully stomach, did my body NO justice. I was wired til 2:30 am too. Getting up for kids for school the next day early, was NO fun.

I did the night shift for almost 3 months because the nursing staff told me that those who just start D, must do the last shift, they were not allowed to do the morning or afternoon shifts whatsover. It made me angry that I could not "Choose" my shift in the beginning, it sucked bigtime. Once an opening came up months later,  I jumped on it and have never looked back/regretted the change since.

Anyways, in a nutshell, it might just take a shift change to make a dfference, it did for me     
   

[Whamo]

I find myself sleeping for three hours after dialysis, usually starting an hour or two after dialysis, but then having trouble staying asleep later that night.   The odd thing is that I will sleep well for a couple of nights, and then bam, can't sleep, or up at 2AM watching "Morning Joe" on television or watching a documentary on Netflix.  I have streaks, both good and bad, and I don't know why.