Sleep

Alzheimer's, cardiovascular, and other chronic diseases; biomarkers, lifestyle, supplements, drugs, and health care.
maddanwill
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Sleep

Post by maddanwill »

I just thought I would pass my experiences along since good sleep seems so elusive for so many of us. I have struggled with sleep for decades. My crutches were Tylenol PM, anti-depressants, and Ativan. After learning of my Apoe4 status I knew I had to figure out my sleep without my crutches. After the Ativan withdrawal I was waking 3-4 times per night and could be up anywhere from 5 minutes to 1.5 hrs. I was a zombie. My sleep has improved greatly since I have done 3 things...

1. Gotten my B vitamins in order since finding that I carried the MTHFR gene with the snp that affects methylation. It has been 4 weeks since increasing my B vitamins and it seems to be working. I read on Ben Lynch's website MTHFR.net that poor methylation can prevent clearing of histamine which affects sleep and methylation is also needed for the conversion of seratonin to melatonin which also would affect sleep.

2. Taking a HOT bath with Epsom salts. The hot water opens my pores and the magnesium floods in! I do this prior to bed and it seems to be helping quite a bit.

3. Had my doc increase my BHRT. I think the extra estrogen is minimizing night hot flashes that for me are always accompanied with a rush of adrenalin that leaves me wide awake.

My sleep is by no means perfect BUT it is so much better. The next target in my crosshairs is my thyroid!

All of these ideas came from this forum! Just thought I would reinforce what is already out there. If it helps one person it is a good thing! What a relief to get decent sleep!
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SusanJ
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Re: Sleep

Post by SusanJ »

Great progress! Thanks for sharing what worked for you.

I also notice controlling histamine (I take quercetin at night, and try to not overload dietary histamine) helps me sleep through the night without waking. One of histamine's role in the brain is to keep you awake!
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floramaria
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Re: Sleep

Post by floramaria »

After complaining about sleeping poorly for years and trying literally everything that I read about previously and on this site...bacopa, ashwaganda, melatonin, lithium, magnesium, blue blockers, meditation, sleep mask plus low dose cannabis indica in pursuit of 7-8 hrs sleep...finally have been sleeping well since getting on bHRT.
Cut out the indica, in general, after reading about its effect on sleep cycle; it interferes with dreaming.
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Stavia
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Re: RE: Re: Sleep

Post by Stavia »

floramaria wrote:After complaining about sleeping poorly for years and trying literally everything that I read about previously and on this site...bacopa, ashwaganda, melatonin, lithium, magnesium, blue blockers, meditation, sleep mask plus low dose cannabis indica in pursuit of 7-8 hrs sleep...finally have been sleeping well since getting on bHRT.
Cut out the indica, in general, after reading about its effect on sleep cycle; it interferes with dreaming.
wow Floramaria. That's interesting. What dose are you on?

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cwicker
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Re: Sleep

Post by cwicker »

Thanks for posting this. Sleep is my biggest problem made bigger by the anxiety over the link of dementia and poor sleep. So, I am doing an on-line CBT program (shuti), have an appointment with a compounding pharmacist for testing and ask if BHRT would help, and have an appointment with the sleep psychologist. I do thinks it's hormonal as the sleeping problems started one week before my period during peri-menopause and off and on when depending on the month if I had a period. I am not bothered by hot flashes.

Do you folks with sleeping problems helped by BHRT think 7 years post-menopausal is too late for BHRT?
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floramaria
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Re: RE: Re: Sleep

Post by floramaria »

Stavia wrote:
wow Floramaria. That's interesting. What dose are you on?
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I am using the .0375 E2 patch and taking 100 mg Progesterone right before bed. The original
directions were to take 100mg Progesterone 2X/day, including once in a.m. That made me sleepy. So I discontinued
morning dose. That was fortunate, because it had been prescribed for only 2 weeks on 2 weeks off. When I went off, I
couldn't sleep, so after a week, I went back on night time dose. Spoke with the doc again a few days ago, and he is okay with my
continuing with nighttime dose only @ 100 mg for the next month and the shorter time (a week) off of it. Then we will be doing blood tests to see where I am at, and tweaking from there.
I am hoping that because of the huge impact it is having on my sleep, I may be able to take Progesterone all month
without cycling off it. He warned me "that is not normal" but did not explain what negative impact it might have.
In San Diego, I believe Ann Hathaway said that for women who can't sleep without Progesterone, she allows
them to take it without a break. Or maybe she said that at the FM conference in June. Anyway, I think she said it...
and certainly hope so. ;)
Will be looking through my notes.
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Stavia
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Re: Sleep

Post by Stavia »

yup she did say that in San Diego.
I'm so happy its working for you!

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floramaria
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Re: Sleep

Post by floramaria »

Yeah, Stavia! Me too!!
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Re: Sleep

Post by floramaria »

[quote="cwicker"

Do you folks with sleeping problems helped by BHRT think 7 years post-menopausal is too late for BHRT?[/quote]

Hi cwicker. On this I can definitely give you Ann Hathaway's perspective and she is highly regarded as a hormone expert. I asked her this question, one-on -one, about myself at the June FM Conference where she was a speaker. Like you I was concerned about the long time lapse since meonopause. I told her I am 9 year post-menopause , generally healthy, very active, with no known health risk factors except those posed by one ApoE4 allele and terrible insomnia. She answered "If you were my patient, I'd put you on BHRT tomorrow."
Even so, I read what I could get my hands on to evaluate risks of BHRT versus benefits to cognition. Most doctors were not even willing to consider the potential benefits and in my opinion are not taking into consideration the tremendous difference between HRT and BHRT. Personally I am more comfortable accepting any potential risks to my health associated with hormone replacement (with bioidenticals) than accepting the risk to cognition of not having them.
My approach was "My body, my decision." and I finally found a doctor who would go along with that.
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cwicker
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Re: Sleep

Post by cwicker »

Thanks floramaria, very helpful. I was just hoping I was not "too late" to help with the insomnia. I do have trouble understanding why a doctor would not consider hormones, bio-identical or not (which I'm not necessarily convinced they are "better" but it's beside the point), if requested by a patient. If a patient feels it will improve quality of life, and the patient knows the risk, what is the issue?
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