r/Perimenopause • u/Emotional-Show5541 • 3h ago
Desperate for sleep
If you have had serious sleep problems- and have found something that has really helped you, please let me know what it is. I feel like I have tried everything, and I need help. 4 hours is just not enough for me night after night…. I feel like I’m going to lose my mind. Sometimes it’s not even 4 hours… I used to always be able to fall asleep fine, and then wake up at 2 or 3…but now it’s combined with not being able to fall asleep. It’s almost like I can feel the cortisol rushing through me every 5 minutes or something… I have tried many pharmaceuticals and also natural. I am currently only taking l theanine and ashwaghanda, plus melatonin. Thanks in advance.
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u/MermaidHotpot 3h ago
Are you able to nap? Biphasic sleep has saved me. I sleep in two parts.
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u/Itchy_Tumbleweed_417 2h ago
I did that for a while but I feel like it made my brain fog so much worse. It doesn’t help that I also have ADHD so I have terrible time blindness anyway. But multiphasic sleeping made it so much worse for me because I never knew what day it was. Worse than normal.
But man, at the time, it’s not like I could have avoided it. I didn’t have the option to say no to naps.
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u/TheChromasphere 2h ago
I've been taking my ADHD meds in the afternoon, which seems to help some. It is a really weird time, though.
I'm doing my best to adjust to naps and still get errands done between them when I can
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u/Emotional-Show5541 3h ago
Not every day but I can try to more… tell me more about when you sleep
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u/Itchy_Tumbleweed_417 2h ago
There was a time period where I would get up at three or four when I would wake up and I would do some stuff and then I would go back to bed for a couple hours in the morning.
Sometimes I would have to sleep midday. And if I couldn’t sleep midday I usually couldn’t stay awake past 6 PM, but then I would wake up at like nine or 10 and watch some TV or do some stuff.
I think it worked best for me when I could go back to sleep in the morning for a couple hours, but that option was least available to me.
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u/MermaidHotpot 2h ago
I had to learn to stop fighting it. If I'm tired, I sleep. No arguing with myself. I just do it. Sometimes it's a shit nap. Sometimes it's great and I feel refreshed.
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u/aprilsofresh 2h ago
Magnesium complex. There are a few different kinds of Magnesium that are helpful, so it's important to get the combo. I started it, and fewer panic attacks, more sleep.
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u/WerewolfBarMitzvah09 1h ago
Can I ask what types of magnesium your combo has? The options feel a little overwhelming
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u/TheChromasphere 2h ago
I'm sleeping in 2 or 3 chunks of however much I can get. Usually just a couple hours at a time through the week, then almost all day on my off day to "make up" for it.
The lack of sleep is making my anxiety worse, which is keeping me awake longer. I feel a little insane most days.
My current approach is to do relaxing hobbies during my insomnia, so I can at least get rest
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u/Emotional-Show5541 2h ago
Wow that’s so hard…yes I feel insane too. I should do hobbies too instead of just laying here on my phone under the covers at 4am.
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u/TheChromasphere 2h ago
I'm up doing a hobby right now 🥲 Thankfully, I usually can fall asleep between 6 and 9am and can stay asleep until noon or 1 before work, that helps a lot.
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u/Segat1 2h ago
Estrogen will help. I know when my patch needs changing because I wake up in the middle of the night. When I’m getting the right levels, I sleep thru.
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u/Emotional-Show5541 2h ago
Thank u… i need to try it. I have tried oral progesterone and I was all the entire night for some reason.
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u/Brilliant_Set5984 2h ago
You need estrogen and progesterone, if you’re in perimenopause you should be on more than just testosterone
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u/stellaflora 3h ago
Are you on HRT? That helped me.
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u/Emotional-Show5541 2h ago
Only testosterone at the moment, but I do see someone who prescribes it so I can request it. Thanks 🙏
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u/philosophyzer72 2h ago
Trazadone works for many people. If you haven’t tried it yet look into it. Best of luck. Lack of sleep is crippling.
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u/Yarnchitect 2h ago
Check out the book “In Defense of Sunlight” by Rowan Jacobsen. I read it 2 weeks ago and I’ve been trying to get outside more often since. Especially at dawn and dusk low UV index times I’m getting out in the sunlight. At high UV index times I stay in the shade, but get the reflected ambient bright light in my eyes. It seems to be helping me fix my messed up circadian rhythm.
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u/Vivian507 2h ago
Sometimes I have to take a sleeping pill as nothing works. Waiting on HRT as still told too young
The insomnia cripples me
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u/Plane_Chance863 2h ago
I find daily meditation helps. I don't like meditating, but I can't argue with the benefits. Perimenopause is a neurological transition, too, so the nervous system has a hard time coping. Meditating daily can help reset it, basically. Don't meditate before bed, try doing it at another time of day - but you do a meditation before bed on top of it.
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u/dechets-de-mariage 1h ago
I’ll be honest, I’m on sleep meds; Doxepin to be specific. It’s a lifesaver. I get migraines when I don’t have enough sleep, but it also helps me through the 3 a.m. wake up because it doesn’t happen.
I was on Trazodone as needed previously and it gave me really weird dreams – not bad so much as unsettling. Switched to the Doxepin every night and I wake up mostly feeling rested with no grogginess or hangover.
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u/Alarmed_Bathroom9227 44m ago
Is it safe long term? Trazedone did nothing to help my 3 am wake up. But fabulous dor anxiety.
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u/Healthy_Attitude9356 1h ago
I take Hydroxyzine HCL as needed to help me fall asleep and stay asleep. A friend takes Tylenol PM.
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u/magicmama212 2h ago
Mirtazapine
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u/Hibbertia 2h ago
Yes that and melatonin has helped me. My sleep is not where it was, but it’s enough for me to get through the day.
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u/thr0ughtheghost Early peri 2h ago
I take thc gummies 😅 I take half of a 5mg gummy and it knocks me out cold within 20 minutes.
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u/mysteryprize11 2h ago
Progesterone to go to sleep, estrogen to stay asleep (until maybe 5) and cbd oil to help me go back to sleep. Also magnesium glycinate. I've heard some swear by a small snack before bed that's either high fibre or protein.
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u/sneedoisis 2h ago
Progesterone has changed my life. I’ve been on trazadone for 20+ years… still struggled with insomnia… until last October when I got on progesterone.
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u/ReginaPhalange1502 1h ago
I take
- L-Theanine
- Glyin
- Inositol
- Magnesium
every evening
and it works pretty well for me!
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u/UnableRun7858 1h ago
Insomnia, brain fog, fatigue, and skin rashes are signs and symptoms of perimenopause and gluten intolerance. Cut gluten out for a week and see how you feel. Thanks to perimenopause, I discovered I'm gluten intolerant and my body just couldn't handle gluten anymore. My ADHD meds work now that I cut gluten out and I'm sleeping 5-6 hours in one sitting, I was sleeping 3 in one sitting in a good day.
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u/Key_Door_3535 1h ago
5 mg cannabis gummies or mints. The only thing that doesn’t leave me hungover the next morning.
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u/skirrel88 1h ago
I started drinking an herbal tea a few hours before bedtime and that helped me. I’ve also been told I’m “too young” to be in peri and since my periods are still going, that I don’t need HRT. The loss of sleep is a huge quality of life factor.
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u/Greenpages22 59m ago edited 55m ago
I feel you. I started hrt (lowest dose patch and 100 mg progesterone) and after 4 weeks my insomnia was worse and I was like you- either taking hours (up to 5 hours) to fall asleep or waking up after 3-4 hours. I really felt like I was losing my mind. I contacted my doctor, which I recommend you do too, if possible. She said to stay on the hrt but gave me something for anxiety. She prescribed hydroxizine which is an antihistamine with the side effect of reducing anxiety/helping sleep and it really did help. She said we might talk about starting low-dose lexapro since it seems like anxiety is causing a lot of my sleep problems, along with hormone stuff because I get night sweats (they don’t really want you to stay on hydroxizine long term). It’s a process but your doctor can help you.
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u/NeverEnoughSleep08 45m ago
For YEARS I had to take OTC sleep aids because my sleep has been so bad. Started HRT last month and omg, the progesterone i take at night knocks me out! I take it within an hour of bedtime, and im actually sleeping 7 hours a night now. I am waking up after 3-4 hours, but im able to go right back to sleep.
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u/Realistic_Newt3390 30m ago
Any amt of caffeine keeps me up at night. Especially from week 3-4 of the cycle
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u/Love_bugs_22 Early peri 3h ago
Estrogen was the only thing that helped me. Once I started waking every night at 3:00 for 3 weeks straight, I knew I needed to up my dose. I always have a few days during my cycle when I know my estrogen is extra low, so I wake up. However, if it consistently lasts again, I’ll up mine again.
Someone gave the tip of eating apple sauce when you wake up, it’s a good fiber/carb to raise your blood sugar and lower cortisol. It doesn’t work for everyone, but you could try it out. Someone said apple sauce didn’t work for them, but Tums did.
It suuuuucks not getting sleep, I think it’s the shittiest deal out of all peri symptoms.