Fibromyalgia Syndrome - The Sleepless Nights

Out of the many emails that are sent to me from Fibromyalgia sufferers there's one topic that stands out above the rest and that is the sleepless nights.  I have decided to dedicate this post to sharing my experiences in the hope that it will be of help to anyone who has been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia.

As always, please note that I am not a medical professional and I can only share my own experiences in living with Fibromyalgia for a number of years   You should always contact your general practitioner for any advice or help that you may require.

Public Enemy No 1

Lack of sleep can cause all kinds of problems especially if it happens over long periods of time.  The longest for me was three weeks with about one hours sleep each night. My life was halted during that time. I couldn't function properly, every little task needed a big effort to complete.  The constant lack of sleep became my public enemy number one  and I had to do something about it

My first port of call was my GP, and I explained my situation to him.   In those days very little was known about Fibromyalgia and some doctors didn't recognise the condition.  There were varied views across the medical profession.  Luckily, my GP was sympathetic and he listened. 

I didn't want sleeping tablets, I don't like the idea of them and I didn't want to get dependent on them.  I just wanted help with getting to sleep.  

In the end we decided to let mother nature do most of the work with my help of  course. Exercise and fresh air would be a daily routine.  This idea was a little daunting to me at the time.  I had no appetite, no energy and I was totally exhausted.  However, I was determined to do battle with this enemy of mine.  Would this old fashioned remedy work?  I was not convinced, only time would tell.

The Plan 

After the visit with my GP I got home and wrote down my plan of action.  Looking at it now it was a little pathetic, but I was tired and I had no concentration.  The plan consisted of five points:

Short walks around the house
Move arms and legs regularly
Open windows if can't go out
Sit in garden
Keep moving

These five points became the starting point of my battle with sleepless nights.  But I didn't look at them again until three days after I had written them down.

My original plan

From these five scribbled points and an in-depth look at my busy previous life,  I devised a new plan to try out and see if it worked.  This new plan may help others who are having the same problem but remember, what works for one does not always work for others in the world of Fibromyalgia.  You should always seek medical advice before trying to make any changes to your lifestyle.

Routine

Yes it sounds boring and many people do not like the humdrum of following a daily routine. However, I found it necessary to help retrain my brain to know when it is time for bed and not just a short nap.   

My sleep pattern had gone down to about 2 hours per night and I decided to tackle this first. If I woke in the night I usually stayed out of bed for a while before returning, but then I would wake up again and follow the same routine.  I decided that this needed to change so I began to change my routine.  I decided on a late night and chose 11.pm as my bedtime.  If I woke during the night I would not stay up, instead I began a short walk around the house then back to bed. I would only allow myself about ten minutes for this.  I repeated this each time I woke up too early.  My goal was to gain five hours sleep without waking.   

It took about three weeks to achieve my goal but my first five hour undisturbed sleep was heaven.  It has taken a while and a lot of perseverance but I can honestly say that I hardly ever wake up in the night and sometimes I even manage a full eight hours.  Needless to say this has made a huge difference to my lifestyle.

I had to change my daily nap times too.  I used to have a nap every time I felt tired then I began to set specific times to nap. Rest is very important for Fibromyalgia sufferers and sometimes there is little choice in when  you must rest.    This was difficult because every time I stopped to rest I would end up falling asleep.  I kept trying and after a while I was able to rest without napping when I needed to and I have now reduced my nap time to once a day in the afternoon.    The only time this doesn't work for me is when I have a major Fibromyalgia flare-up.  My major flare-ups have become less frequent and apart from this past few weeks my previous big flare-up was early last year.  Result. 


Keep Active

This may sound like an impossible task for anyone with Fibromyalgia, but believe me it isn't. You can still keep active even if you are confined to your bed or a wheelchair.   Small gentle stretches can go a long way to helping your body remain active.    If you can walk even a little then you should do it regular. Short slow relaxed walks around the house or in the garden can also greatly improve your  body.  I use some really good Yoga moves that can help too, but I will cover those in a later post.

If you cannot walk around gentle stretching movements can help maintain your circulation and also give benefit to your joints and muscles.  

The key to keeping active is not to overdo it. Slow and gentle movements will avoid causing extra stress on your muscles and joints.   

Remember to check with your medical adviser before trying out exercises. You must always start slow and stay slow. Never overdo it no matter how well you feel.  The last thing you want to do is to aggravate your muscles and joints.

If you are a Fibromyalgia sufferer you may have encountered short-term memory loss and lack of concentration, 'Fibro Fog'.   I have not found a way to manage this so far but I do believe that keeping my mind active also helps with my routine for achieving a good nights sleep.  I do this by setting myself goals every day, for example,  I read as much of a book as I can, I do puzzles, watch quiz shows and write ideas for my books.  I have also found that study is a great way of focusing my concentration too.  

Keeping active in mind and body has helped me to achieve a comfortable level of sleep and I think that this is one of the most important symptoms of Fibromyalgia to sort out.  Having a decent nights sleep paves the way to help me get through another day.  


Unfortunately I don't have all the answers, I wish I did.  Everyone is different and my hope is that in sharing my experiences with Fibromyalgia others will find the information helpful.   Please feel free to leave a comment or share your own experience here too.   


My next post will be covering Socialising, so watch this space!