[blparent] question about insomnia

[Jo Elizabeth Pinto]

Hi.  I tried melatonin at one point, but it didn't seem to work well with 
me, especially because I wasn't going to bed at the same time every night, 
which is part of what makes melatonin work.  The only thing I can think of 
that has changed since I stopped nursing is that I've been drinking coffee 
again, but I wasn't sensitive to it before.  Still, I feel like the walking 
dead, so I may try to cut back, or even cut out, coffee and see if that 
helps.

Thanks,
Jo Elizabeth

"Don't throw away the old bucket until you know whether the new one holds 
water."--Swedish proverb
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 9:10 AM
Subject: Re: [blparent] question about insomnia


> Jo Elizabeth,
>
> I'm not a mom and have not experienced your exact condition, but I gather 
> that your insomnia is more a part of your normal life and thatyou had less 
> of a problem
> when you were pregnant and nursing.  I know that it is common practice to 
> change one's diet during pregnancy and while nursing, so it would make 
> sense to look at
> what you may have changed.  I don't know how deeply you have already 
> investigated your tendency toward insomnia so I don't want to tell you a 
> bunch of things
> you already know, but looking at what you eat and drink when can be very 
> helpful.  I've dealt with it from time to time and have come to learn that 
> certain things very
> definitely affect my ability to sleep.  Be very aware of your caffeine 
> intake as that can play the largest role.  If you are sensitive to 
> caffeine, you could be affected by
> many things besides coffee.  Caffeine can remain in your system for hours, 
> and even a little can affect some people so you have to experiment.  I 
> know people who
> can drink a regular cup of coffee before going to bed and it has no 
> effect.  For myself, I can drink pretty much all the coffee I want before 
> noon without worrying, but
> I have to be careful in the afternoon.  For some people, sugar can be as 
> bad as coffee.  Finally physical exercise too close to bed can leave one 
> wide awake.
> Some recommend that one not do any significant excercise less than five 
> hours before going to sleep.  There can be other patterns that can effect 
> one's ability to
> sleep as well.  The idea, for example, that a small glass of wine will 
> help you sleep doesn't always work.  I figured out, for example, that the 
> bowl of icecream that I
> once enjoyed before bed was a very bad idea for me.
>
> There is a tendency for many to chalk up insomnia to not seeing light and 
> thereby having your biological clock out of sync with your day.  My 
> experience has been
> that even doctors jump on this idea way too quickly without working 
> through other possibilities.  Whether blind or not, over-the-counter 
> melatonin helps some people.
> it did not seem to help me when I was younger but seems to help now.  For 
> me, a lot of insomnia has been the result of my having a sleepless night 
> or two and then
> starting to expect and even worry about it falling into a pattern. 
> Breaking the pattern has often been the key.
>
> There is more that could be said, but I'll stop in case this is all old 
> news.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Steve Jacobson
>
>
> On Tue, 10 Mar 2009 01:10:01 -0600, Jo Elizabeth Pinto wrote:
>
>>Hi.  It's one o'clock in the morning, and I'm dead tired and wide 
>>awake--again.  I struggled with insomnia before I got pregnant, but the 
>>whole time I was carrying
> and then nursing, it seemed like I could go to sleep if I just stayed 
> still for a moment.  As soon as I stopped nursing, bam!  No more peaceful 
> sleep.  I'm wondering if
> any of you other moms experience anything like that.  I get my best work 
> done at night, but all this wakefulness makes me feel like the walking 
> dead.
>
>>Jo Elizabeth
>
>>"Don't throw away the old bucket until you know whether the new one holds 
>>water."--Swedish proverb
>>_______________________________________________
>>blparent mailing list
>>blparent at nfbnet.org
>>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
>>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
>>blparent:
>>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/steve.jacobson%40visi.com
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> blparent mailing list
> blparent at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> blparent:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/jopinto%40pcdesk.net
>