Discussions

it is 3 a.m. here in cali and my butt can not sleep! i have been dealing with this for all most a month now, i have told my doc about it and she gave me some sleep pills, but i don't think they work to well! i have had alot on my mind latley and that could be part of my problem, but when your doc gives you more news that i don't know is good or bad what do you do?

Thursday was my 9th taxol treatment, i have 3 more to go, my doc was excited for me, told me looks like i'm growing some on my face, i told her ya think?.........lol.........i'm starting to get hair back in places i never thought hair could grow, and let me say my head looks like a monkeys ass!.........i did have her laughing pretty hard with that comment. but, she went on to let me know i'm anemic, i forgot to ask what does that mean?, cause the next thing she mention was i need to start getting ready for my reconstruction, and with that being said she told me i need to loose weight before they can  move ahead with it.  OK, now what? when i first started my chemo i weighed 259 lbs, i am now at 244 , i have tried watching what i eat, don't drink sodas, eat my veggies and lean meats, i just don't exercise as much as i should, she then told me she will be sending me to internal med to see about weight loose for me, does that mean i have to have gastreic bypass? forgot to ask her that too, my head was just spinning and all i could think to myself was let me get over having chemo first, has my body gone through enough yet? wait! i have to be there for my son too, now what?

with so much i think i really suffer from insomina more than anything, my mind can't stop thinking of things, and does anyone else suffer from this? if so what do you do to cope with it? and what does she mean by i have anemia? has cancer spred into my bones? my goodness, i am just rambling here and i am truly sorry, but i feel like i'm almost at a lost sometimes, so if any of you have advice for me, i am willing to seek it!

thank you all for letting me vent at 3 a.m. and for putting up with my craziness too..........love ya all and god bless,

lisaof3 

I'm right there with you lisaof3, I have been the queen of anemea since I became premenapousal.  At one point my red count was down to 6.  but don't fret. there are a lot of things they can do to build up your blood.  Did she tell you your counts?  The like your red count to be higher than 12-16.  I am having A/C followed by taxol so we did an Iron infussion after each chemo.  Well my count went from 9.6 when I started to 11.0 yesturday.  They espesial are concerned berfore surgery because of bleeding.  You can take oral Iron if it's not to low.

The weight lose is a tuff one.  I have been following a whole food diet.  but with the chemo and the steroids they give you i'm  stuck in a holding parttern dowm 5 up 5 down 5 up 5.  It's frustrating.

I'm taking Atavan before be and since it has antiaxiety properties it helps with nausia and sleep.  Also, Sleepy time tea before bed is relaxing.  But anxiety really recks havic on the sleep and we need it so baddly to recover.  Wish you the best.

Hugs from Alice

 thanks alice for not leting me feel i'm alone here. my doc has me on prozac to help calm my nerves and restoril to help put me asleep at night, but i don't like taking it because i still feel tired the following day, i also take vitamin B6 to help give me some energy, i can just say i'll be glad when one day i can start to feel normal again, or does that even excist for us anymore?.............oh! i can't remember if she told me my counts yesterday i think she said they were 7 but that i'm not sure, she didn't mention anything more but she was gonna keep and eye on it. so thanks alice for all your input it does help me......take care and have a bless day!

lisa

 My dr. put me on Restoril too, and it does not work at all! I still wake up in the middle of the night and am then up for hours before I fall asleep again, if I managed to fall asleep in the first place.

I also have had a hard time sleeping since becoming postmenapousal taking Arimidex. I wake up 4-5 times a night tossing and turning the funny thing is it seems like about 6am when it's time to wake up I am sleeping good...

 Thats how it is been for me too! I am typically the best sleeper. But since starting chemo, I wake up at 3 or 4am and it is difficult to fall back to sleep. Just another wonderful side effect i Guess!

Lisa the B6 night possibly be interfereing with your sleep, but I am not too sure. However, it is good for building your red counts. Its a catch 22!

Hugs and Blessings - Sharon

 I hate the night!  I also have a hard time sleeping.  It  is such a lonely time.  Everyone is asleep but I keep thinking of all kind of negative things-  Do I have cancer floating somwhere in my veins?  Will I be alive next year at this time?  It is stuff I do not want to think about. I haven't even started chemo yet.  I just had my mastectomy in May.  I got Ambien from my oncologist but am afraid to take it because of the side effects. (The sleep walking)  I don't want to drive my car or start cooking while sleeping. Scary!  So I just lay awake of watch QVC. I just hate when night comes.  It makes me sad! Are there any herbal teas of some sort to help?

I'm really happy to say my count was up to 11 this time.  Climbs a little bit each time.

There is a great website 

http://www.fibroandfatigue.com/

My daught has fybromialga and she goes to this center for treatment.  One of the cronic problems is sleep deprivation.  She takes the Rest and Restore and it has helped her.  I don't know if it would work for any of you but it might be worth looking into.

Hugs from Alice

 I have fibromyalgia so I have had sleeping problems for a long time.  I must say that the roller coaster of breast cancer has not made it any better.  My doctor put me on Ambien CR it has worked well for me on most nights.  Nights that I am truly in pain it will not put me to sleep.  Most of the sleeping drugs are made for you to get a full 8 hours of sleep.  I try to take mine about 1 hour before I want to go to bed. That way as I do my last relaxing things at night my body is working on going to sleep.  Then usually when I go to bed I go to sleep instant of getting upset because I am having another night that I can not sleep.  On nights that I get in right before I go to bed I find myself staying awake longer.  If I am not careful, I will get upset and then not get to sleep until after midnight and I get up for work at 5 or 6.  I have also found it helpful to make sure that my mind is not the only thing tired at the end of the day.  I try to make sure that my body gets some type of exercise so that my body is also tried.  I have found alot of times with breast cancer that it is my mind that is tired and not my body.  Hope this helps some of you that are having trouble sleeping.  This even works when I am on steriods.

His Child

Sleeplessness is a real issue. I take trazadone and it mostly works but here I am early in the morning unable to sleep with thoughts swirling about my head. Can you do some exercizes such as visualization to slow down or stop the thoughts? Think of some safe spot as a child or some place you'd like to go and just think about that? sometimes that helps me...

I've just had my blood counts taken so I don't know whether I have anemia or not. I have always had borderline anemia but take iron to combat it. Eat iron rich foods such as - liver - ick, or spinach. The iron pills do crazy things to my digestive system such as constipation but, oh well, it works.

Would you tell me what type of reconstruction are you going to get. I'm about your same weight and have not heard anything about having to lose weight but I haven't seen a plastic surgeon yet.  

Good luck! Nothing like insomnia to really mess you up. 

 hi suziblues,

i am going to have tram flap surgery, i have not seen a plastic surgeon yet either, my docs won't schedule me to see one until after dec, which is one year after i had my mastectomy done. this is a choice of mine to do tram flap and my doc's tell me i can do expanders or whatever else but i have to loose weight either way. i do eat alot of iron enriched foods, i love green veggies but for some reason my red blood counts were down this time. they have trouble keeping my white counts were they should be, i'm really sensitive to nupergen shots too. well, i only have 3 weeks left of chemo and i do not have to do radiation so i will have time for my body to heals itself here too. as far as my night time anixety i call it, i can think of so many happy things that i i can't keep my mind focused on just one thought, i am trying to deal with this and my doc does know about it and she tells me once i am off chemo things may get better, if not then we will take the next aproach if it becomes bothersome for me.

i wish the best and will keep you in my prayers,

lisa

 Hi Lisa,

I too have had a terrible time sleeping. 

Some of the things that help me:

walking a little bit out in the natural sunlight each day (preferably morning or early afternoon) to help with your internal clock

Going to bed and getting up at the same time each day

Drinking milk before bed

Taking some tea or supplements that boost your seratonin ("valerian" ?)

Okay, I also got a meditation cd for people with cancer and 99% of the time I fall asleep to it (still can't get through the meditation, but hey -- I get some good sleep out of it!).

I know this may sound wierd but I tried some Reiki healing sessions, and on those days I slept incredibally well!

Good luck -- and by the way, the meditations had me focusing on my breathing and also on visualizing a beautiful healing light entering into my body and healing all places that need to be healed...

Hope some of this helps

Betsy

 thank you betsy,

all of it helps and none of it sounds weird to me at all. whats weird is me not sleeping so well, but my mom sent me a realxtion body and mind healing cd and it has helped i can't have the milk before i go to bed i will have some issues during the night if ya know what i mean. i drink some tea sometimes and it helps, and going outside like you said i think helps me a little too, i just have to try and keep some of these distractions i worry about out of mind, but at times it is hard for me. thanks again for your advice.

blessings and hugs,

lisa

 please tell me more about the mediation type for cancer and the Reiki healing sessions to promote sleep -- I'm interested.

Thank you and God bless

Faith