Quick poll - who's sleepless?

I can't get over how many of you post from time to time that you're up in the middle of the night, or wake up at an ungodly hour, or only slept a few hours.

What is up with this?

It seems to hit me twice a week now, that I end up sleeping around 1-2 hours the whole night.
Makes it hard to function adequately at work.
Used to be once a week (when I hit menopause) but it's definitely increased since the WLS.

Could it be the way our hormones are being dumped out of the fat deposits as we lose the fat?

Ideas? Opinions?

its actaully decreased for me, since WLS. When i was more depressed, i would wake up often in the middle of the night.

could be the hormones, that's a valid hypothesis.

Twice this week and last.... .*yawn* and about once a week since about 6 weeks post op.

I dunno about cause but I am all ears if anyone has ideas on how to solve. I usually go to sleep fine but will wake up between 1 -3 am and be awake for hours. You can't take a sleep aid in the middle of the night when you have to get up between 6-7 am.

Then you fight going to bed early then next night because gawd forbid if you do that you are guaranteed another middle of the night sleepless spell!


edit to add: Monica ... good point because pre-op I would be up 3 times a night EVERY night but then fall right back to sleep exhausted.

Chris

Me.  And I'm no longer really "dumping fat". (Tho I have lost some weight lately! )

Insomnia sucks.

I'm having problems getting to sleep at night, I'm almost 7 weeks out. Then I can't get up in the morning. It does become a vicious cycle since if you nap you can't sleep at bed time. I'm trying to convince myself I need more exercise so I sleep, think it will work?

Do you have a CPAP?
It's supposed to make us breathe better so we sleep more soundly.

Not working for me, though -

About the exercise business ... hmmm ... dunno.
When I go for my long walks and come home sore and exhausted, I expect to drop off immediately.
Doesn't seem to work that way.

I'm baffled.

The first 6 to 8 wks postop I had trouble sleeping more than a couple of hours at a time at night.. for no specific reason..just would wake up and be up from 1am to around 3 am.. then back to bed for a couple of hours shuteye.. then it seemed to smoothe out a bit and I was getting around 3-5 hours sleep at a go. Then.. life turned upside down and with the death of our son, suddenly, mid July.. the sleeplessness came back with a vengeance, BUT this I could contribute to the grieving process. That has settled down a bit, and now the big issue is.. low back pain. I have 4 degenerative discs in my lower spine 3 lumbar, 1 sacral, and have bony spurs on most of my vertebrae that can become problematic. I have had to resort to hot packs, ice packs, TENS units, and tramacet plus extra strength tylenol tablets to get some relief. The pain seems to sneak up on me and wakens me and then I am up for 2-4 hours waiting for relief from the pain. Seems the more weight I lose and the more active I am, the more noticeable the pain is. I am currently waiting for word on a booking for a MRI to determine if I have spinal stenosis starting in my lower back. In the meantime, I am an official member of the "Up At Night" club. I did NOT have much of a problem with sleep issues prior to surgery, as I slept fairly well with my cpap machine since sleep apnea diagnosis in 2007.

I think, and its my opinion only, that general anesthesia from surgery combined with body changes during post op period results in a complete screwup of sleep routine. Sooner or later it should work its way out, provided other medical issues don't crop up to interfere with sleep.. such as pain, depression etc.

suzyq0052

Suzy - I too have arthritis in my spine (nowhere near as complicated and difficult as your situation) and i have found that one of those small "knee-pillows" really helps me stay aligned in the night.

Being on a CPAP means that your mobility (re rolling and tossing) is somewhat limited - but it also means that positions leading to back pain get worsened.

That little pillow between my (now bonier) knees really helps.

Would you have acces to such a thing? It's made of memory foam, about 8X10 inches, maybe 3 inches thick...

I use a pillow between my knees.. and one behind my back when I am on my side, and one in front of me, and a contour pillow under my head and neck LOL.. and I agree.. a pillow between the knees is very helpful at reducing some of the pain.
thanks for mentioning it as I am sure your suggestion will prove helpful to others as well.

suzyq

I rarely had this problem before surgery, no i have it at least once a week, It was more frequent just after surgery. Of course the next night i sleep like a log.

I wake up and if i don't clear my mind I'm up, can't stop thinking about the days events and what I've got to do. Took to writing things down all the time, making lists helps.

fall asleep real fast for about 3 hours and wake up usually around 3, i'll just keep making my lists and trying to be more organized so that my mind rests more.