 |
 |
Brian Collins wrote: > > 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]> brian, I know what you mean about wanting to fill every minute with something worthwhile, unfortunately we live in a tiny little house and my husband can hear my every move at 2, 3, 4 am so I try to read to get sleepy, it feels good to have so much energy. before i was diagnosed with pd and got the drug thing going, I was exhausted all the time, my muscles were always engaged, even while at rest, it was very tiring. now i can get up at 5am work all day at one of my 6 different jobs, come hme at nite, do some artwork, read watch tv and finally crash around 10 or 11. then i usually wake up around 1:00 for an hour or so. I dont know I hardly ever feel tired. but i think the lack of rest affects my symptoms, ( they ge worse when my body is tired..) oh well thanks for all the info lisa in paradise [log in to unmask]