I stopped working earlier this year, due principally to fatigue and mobility and also eye strain. The lack of a requirement to get up & out to work has made my already-rubbish sleeping even worse.
A big factor in my sleeping is that I have not slept for longer than 2 1/2 hours continuously for a couple of years, due to a need to pee, and it’s often less than that, which makes getting quality, restful sleep hard to come by. Upshot is that after a night of frequently-interrupted sleep, I want to sleep longer in the morning, or get up then doze off again in the morning, or perhaps the afternoon, or both. These extra sleeps can also mean that I’m not ready to sleep at night at the time my wife is ready to turn in. It’s a vicious circle!
The short bursts of sleep mean that I’m short on REM sleep (my FitBit says so) which presumably leads to the eye soreness and strain. I also suffer with Blepharitis which is an inflammation of the eyelids and blockage of the lipid secretion ducts which surely must also be aggravated by the poor sleep.
Have reached the point where I’m more or less demand-sleeping, which is not good for domestic harmony. My wife, quite reasonably, expects my waking & sleeping times to be in phase with her’s and to be honest, it’s causing friction. Trouble is, I can’t achieve the awake-16-hours / sleep-8-hours thing any longer.
I drink a strong coffee in the morning to deliberately kick-start my system but otherwise decaf and no other stimulating drinks. Trying to reduce late-night food and less fluid after 6pm (to reduce the nocturnal wees).
Anybody else finding their routine is being dictated by their body’s need for sleep?
I am still working although flexibly, chronic fatigue and poor mobility has forced my hand. In fact from January I will be reducing my hours even further ‘phased retirement’ on health grounds.
My sleep pattern, where do I begin. I am often asleep before 7pm but awake again by 10pm. Thereafter, I dose for an hour or so, if that.
I have stopped the tossing and turning to try and get back to sleep. I don’t try anymore, instead I try to break the cycle, I will browse the Internet put the TV on, sometimes I will have a hot drink. The sleep advisors would disagree, but it works for me.
There are times I am really desperate to sleep, at which point I am grumpy, poor husband, I can’t manage me and he doesn’t know how to either. I have some sleeping tablets for such occasions, doctor prescribed, they will give me 4 to 5 hours of deep sleep.
I spend at least 3 days in bed recovering from fatigue, pain etc. Even on better days I have no incentive to get up, the cold doesn’t help. The challenge for me is to think of things as incentives to get up for. The lack of activity probably adds to my fatigue…. Chicken and egg comes to mind.
Ps at 3pm this morning, I was also going for a pee.
Morning and a merry Christmas. so this is something that I have been plagued with for many years, never, ever getting a full night’s sleep, I’ve always needed a rest during the day, anyway regarding the frequent loo trips, I was using a self catheter and had Botox injected into bladder for an overactive bladder due to the MS, I’m spms, but just recently the Botox wasn’t working, so still up and down, up to 4 times a night, so just recently I’ve had to have a suprapubic catheter fitted, I’m female and have the flip flow one, that’s basically a tap on the end which I open to pee, then at night I can attach a bag, so no getting out of bed, I’ve also had a larger amount of Botox injected this time, now it’s early day’s as this was only done on the 6th December, so only time will tell if its any good, at the moment I’m still waking a few times a night, but don’t have to get up, which is good for me and my hubby as he had to help me, I will say although I’m waking, its not for very long, I did think the
extra sleep would help with the fatigue during the day, sadly not, still need a lunchtime sleep. Anyway speak to your nurse if you have one, it might be time to see a urologist if you haven’t already, good luck.
Jean