Sleep Cycles Disrupted - Chemo

[DianneS]

This article about sleep rhythms being disrupted by chemo is interesting. I wish the doctors would tell us these things in advance.

The link also has links to other great articles about breast cancer & cancer in general. There are links about aromatase inhibitors & tamoxifen. The one about long term Tamoxifen use I found helpful.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090901082355.htm

Has anyone found something that seems to help restore sleep post chemo and herceptin?

Thanks,
Dianne

[Merridith]

Yes. Progesterone helped restore my sleep cycle. I had resigned myself to sleeping in short naps throughout the night. (I refuse to take any type of sleep aid). I always woke up tired, but once I got up and moved around, that problem faded away.

After I started progesterone (to control unremitting hot flashes) the amazing extra benefit I discovered was I could sleep! Normally! But I need very little sleep overall compared to what I needed before chemo. About 6 hours @ night is max. I am OK with 5.

[Yorkiegirl]

Merridith was that Progesterone cream that you used?

[tricia keegan]

Thanks for the interesting link, I too have found I sleep far less since chemo and not as well as I did but am still looking for a solution!
I've been told we need less sleep as we get older anyway which is true so I often wonder if it's tx related or just old age creeping up on me!

[DianneS]

Ladies,

Thanks for your responses. Hope the link is useful.

Tricia, how are you doing on the Arimidex? I had to quit after 3 weeks because of nausea.

As for sleeping my doc gave me some Atarax to try. It is not habit forming like Ativan. We'll see. I hate taking any more drugs but sleep is important for healing too!

Dianne

[Lien]

Hi DianneS,

For me the side effects of Arimidex disappeared after about a month. I've been on it for allmost 5 years now. So if you ever want to reconsider, you might want to give it a little more time. OTOH nausea for a month is awful. I had it with both pregnancies for 3 months, 24/7. So I know how you must have felt. It's a miracle I gave birth twice.

Love

Jacqueline

[DianneS]

Hi Lien,

Thanks for your input. For me, I have to decide if the side effects are worth it because estrogen therapy will only benefit me about 4-6%. Not a whopping amount!

I know about the pregnancy/nausea thing, too. I had it for several months - but I only had one child; that was enough for this gal.

Ok, I'm dense...what does OTOH mean? :)

Dianne

[Lien]

I'm sorry, I thought it was a standard abbreviation for "on the other hand". I'm not a native English speaker.

I think I would forgo the pleasure of taking a pill everyday if my benefit would be that low. After all, it's a relatively new drug and who knows what the long term effects will be.

The only reason why I'm taking it, is that Herceptin wasn't available to me when I was diagnosed, and my youngest child was only 3. I wanted to see him grow up, and probably would have accepted any side effect at the time.

My 5 years are almost up. I will have to decide what to do in a few months. Continue or quit? I haven't decided yet.

Jacqueline

[DianneS]

Hello Lien,

Sorry I'm so dense! I should have guessed what OTOH meant :) blame it on chemo brain.

I know...hard decisions. I guess just get as much info as you can on long term effects. There is a lot of info on a link that I posted on the her2 thread in science daily online about AI's, tamoxifen, etc. or just google to see what the scientific world has to say (as I'm sure you're doing!)

I feel like I would probably accept any side effects as well. I ain't finished living yet ;) and would love to make it to my 60's, 70's and even 80's, and watch my daughter getting older. Maybe even have a grandchild. It's not easy to make these decisions at any age, that I know. In fact, maybe harder, as I've been in a loving relationship for a long time and have had my child around for 33 years.

I understand your wish to see your child grow up. They never quit growing in so many ways and no mother is every ready to say goodbye. I hope & pray for all of us, and hope you make the right choice for you,

Dianne

[Ruth]

Diane ~

I'm in a constant look out to try to fix my sleeping issues. I take Melatonin sometimes to help me fall asleep. But it doesn't keep me asleep all night. I can't seem to get back to the way I was before my diagnosis. I seem to wake up a lot in the night and I haven't related it to my menstral cycle but it might have something to do with that? I didn't think of that. I will also take a couple benadryl's if I'm not sleeping for a couple nights and that is a short fix. I don't like the next day listless feeling though. I had a prescription of Ambian and the second time I took it I ate a whole jumbo bag of cheese puffs and have absolutely no memory of doing that. So it made me scared....and the joke of my family for a few days! This doesn't happen with everyone of course and I did have a great sleep with it. I probably would still take it now if I didn't have a black-out, eating frenzy on it!!
My Onc won't let me take anything with progesterone in it - is that normal? I am ER/PR - so I should be able to I would think? I have brought it up before and he says he prefers that I don't.
I wish that our doctors would help more with the long term effects of chemotherapy and treatments. I wonder if I will ever sleep "normal" again :(
I hope more people tell us their sleeping ideas and thoughts.
Hugs ~ Ruth

[DianneS]

Hi Ruth,

I know that eating a bag of cheesies and not remembering might not have been funny at the time, but reading what you said made me laugh! I have done so many things and then couldn't remember doing them since chemo.

Ask your doctor if he can give you something to help you sleep. I tried Atarax which didn't help, Benadryl, ditto. They used to put me to sleep but not anymore. So my doc has me on Zopliclone, 7.5 mg. If I take a .50 Ativan it will usually calm me down enough to sleep, most of the night. Last night I finally slept until 9 AM!! I would just take melatonin but they give me migraines.

Do you get enough exercise during the day? I can't see your signature now but I think you have kids, so you are probably going full steam all day? What do you do to relax? Have you tried listening to calming music before bed, or slow, measured breathing?

I would guess that the menstral cycle would cause some sleep disruptions, plus all that you have been through. Have you noticed that you sleep better/worse different times of the month?

My two cents on the progesterone: if you are PR negative then your progesterone is not receptive to drugs that help to destroy them; same thing with ER negative. I have ER and PR negative so I try to avoid soy products. Besides putting progesterone directly onto your skin or taking it by mouth - how else would you get it into your system? Your onc is right telling you to avoid it.

Maybe learning how to take naps is a good alternative to trying to get 8 hours of sleep.

Hope you get some help and some sleep!
Dianne

[R.B.]

Hi you may want to search under Melatonin and sleep. There have been quite a few threads on this over time.

Long chain Omega 3 DHA may assist with sleep for a raft of reasons.

Both melatonin and DHA in trials have been associated with reduced risks of BC.

This link looks at Omega 3 and 6 intake and the risk of BC.

[tdonnelly]

Hi,

I used Resteril when my sleep cycle was disrupted during treatments. Now on occasion I use Tylenol PM. I also had to keep a sleep log to keep me on track.

After my punch press biopsy and needle biopsy (10/2006) I went for days without sleep. My body refused and I had to be hospitalized (given a shot to force sleep for several days straight) This can be a very serious problem-Chemical Interractions-especially if one also has thyroid disease.

Take Care
Tami

[Ruth]

Thank you guys ~ I will look more into Melatonin...I don't get headaches from it like other people have. I don't have a problem falling asleep its staying asleep. I've read where I shouldn't sleep with one of my cats but she is my 4th baby. I'm going to try different things to calm my mind. My kids have a pretty big age difference and sometimes its hard getting all them to bed. My teenagers want to stay up as late as possible and even though I have them in their room I know they are not asleep and its like I can't totally relax until I know they are down for the night. Crazy isn't it?
I love cheese puffs so it was actually quite funny. One of my friends was folding laundry and fell asleep in the middle of it from an ambian. Powerful stuff!
Hope everyone gets a great night of sleep!
Hugs ~ Ruth

[R.B.]

This link looks at Omega 3 and 6 intake and the risk of BC


Sorry I forgot to include the link

http://her2support.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=24410&highlight=greek+diet

[julierene]

I had horrible insomnia for a couple of years, after taking every type of sleep aid, I have found that benadryl works best for me!