 |
 |
It is evident from the volume of postings that Sleep, or lack of it, is something that affects a lot of Parkies. I have a few suggestions which may help, but first - a few comments. I resent every hour that I spend asleep. It is just one more unconscious step to the end of my life, and there are so many things I want to do. I have always thought that way; it's not to do with Parkinsons Disease, although that does emphasise the facts. It is an unfortunate fact of life that we must sleep at least a few hours every night, although as far as I know, there are no hard rules about how long we must sleep. Some people appear to feel positively guilty if they don't get their 8 hours of sleep. WAKE UP folks (Sorry,did I wake you up) nobody is going to smack you for being naughty and not getting your prescribed amount of sleep. Of course, there is no point stumbling around like a zombie through lack of of sleep - that represents the other extreme point of view. I suspect that those people actually cheat a little by taking an hour dozing in front of the TV after a large meal. And why not: There is no rule that prohibits sleeping in shifts if that is what you want. I also believe that as we get older, we need less sleep anyway. My hours have changed since I discovered the internet: I tend to stay up until 2:00am - 2:30am (The internet really frees up about then), then sleep to about 7:00 am. If this is not enough, I find myself occasionally dozing off in mid-afternoon for up to an hour. I get much better use of my waking hours than if I was wasting them lying in bed fully conscious. There is one thing connected with PD which can make much of what I have written so far seem trivial, and that is Pain. Physical discomfort can spoil anyone's sleep patterns and PD can cause discomfort by the rigid muscles and tremor that are so typical. I have found that if I take a Madopar CR capsule (That is 25/100 Controlled Release Levadopa), which represents about 70% of my daytime consumption, I can get off to sleep quite easily ( A full dose tends to leave my mind buzzing with thoughts and makes it difficult to sleep.) The final point concerns how I lie in bed. It is a strange thing that for a disease that causes unwanted movement, when I go to sleep, I don't move a single muscle for the entire 5,6 hours that I am asleep (Except those required to keep me alive of course). That may sound like a good thing, but it is in fact a curse. I wake up aching and stiff: if I have had the misfortune to lie on a pressure point various points of my body may be numb, and I have to endure the pain of returning circulation. to avoid this, I go tthrough a mental check list as i lie in bed, to make sure I am properly relaxed. It is good for sleep as well. I hope that may help of you out there; I'm just going for a short nap! Regards, -- Brian Collins <[log in to unmask]>