[blparent] Sleepless Nights

Tue Nov 13 16:06:24 UTC 2012

Melatonin can be a very good solution for many people and is certainly worth a try.  However, people should be aware of the fact 
that being natural does not mean it can't have side-effects.  I tried melatonin for close to a year, and while it made me sleep 
well, I began noticing other changes for me.  I began having extremely bad nightmares, for example, the kind I remember 
occasionally having when I was a kid, those kind where you are falling forever and such.  While I slept well, I found that I just 
had a lot of difficulty learning new concepts just as if I were still very tired and that there was just sort of a fogginess.  
Finally, I did some research going to the Mayo Clinic site, since I grew up in Rochester, Minnesota, and found that everything I 
was experiencing was a known side-effect for some people.  I stopped taking melatonin and I did find I was again sleeping less 
well, but the intense nightmares stopped and the sort of fogginess was at least reduced substantially.  There might be those who 
would argue with me if I said my fogginess was gone.  <smile>  Anyway, this was all a real eye-opener to me.  I am in no way 
trying to bad-mouth melatonin because it doesn't sound as though the effects I experienced were common, but one should be careful 
to watch for side-effects.  I have also not been real happy with stronger sleeping aids, either, and therefore feel that it was 
worth trying melatonin.  I have had some success with occasionally taking benedryl, but that is not a good approach for every 
night.

I have had some negative experiences with sleep studies and have become a little skeptical of the sleep studies that involve blind 
people.  However, I also know there is a lot about biology and the effects of sunlight and such that I don't understand, so I try 
not to make blanket statements about such studies to the degree I have in the past.  Still, it is easy for us to think we're the 
only people who have sleep difficulties, but I find sleep problems are fairly common among my sighted co-workers and Austin's 
experience also shows that can be the case.  It is certainly possible that we have a higher rate, but I have always felt 
uncomfortable with some of the conclusions because I did not feel that our higher unemployment rate and even higher amounts of 
stress were taken into account.  I even read some statements that showed an ignorance of how blind people live.  Sleep is very 
complicated.  My employer offered a lecture on sleep problems during work time and there was a room full of people, perhaps three 
hundred, and I was the only blind person there.  What I fear is that some of the solutions that are based solely upon our 
blindness may not really deal with the true problems related to sleep but may only treat a part of the problem.  Still, what I am 
trying to convey is not that blindness couldn't play a role or that melatonin may not be a good solution, but rather that we need 
to realize that answers are rarely all that simple and we need to be aware of the various pressures and side-effects that we 
experience.  

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Mon, 12 Nov 2012 22:40:02 -0500, Melissa Ann Riccobono wrote:

>I don't know how this works for adults, but melatonin has made a huge
>difference in my son's sleep, which has made a huge difference in night
>times in our house in general. Austin is almost six, and since he was
>probably about 2, he has had a very hard time sleeping at night. He has a
>very short window of time between the time he is quietly tired and the time
>he becomes over tired and just cannot settle down. (By the way, Austin is
>fully sighted.) It was strange too because it seemed to go in cycles for
>him. For a couple of months he'd go to sleep fine--then he would having tons
>of trouble out of the blue. It didn't seem to matter what we did... No TV
>before bed--TV before bed to givehim some down time. Going to bed at the
>same time every night... (Very hard to do in my opinion, especially when my
>husband is traveling a lot for work, but that's another story. We certainly
>gave it our best try.) Music at night--no music at night... You get the
>picture. I actually felt really bad for him because, most of the time, he
>was really trying to go to sleep. He would just lay there in his bed, and
>get up every half hour or so to complain that he wasn't sleeping. It just
>seemed as if his mind couldn't shut off, and his body was so keyed up that
>he just couldn't relax and settle down to sleep. A couple of my sister's
>kids have the same problem, and she told me about melatonin and what a
>difference it has made for them... So I asked Austin's doctor and she said
>it would be fine to give it a try. And, wow, it really works! They do
>recommend taking it at the same time every night. We are usually good about
>this during the week, but on the weekends bedtime is a little more relaxed
>around here. It doesn't seem to matter though. We give him the melatonin
>when he's getting ready for bed, and he is asleep very soon after hitting
>the pillow. It is so much more calm in our house at night now, and Austin
>knows the melatonin really helps him, so he actually asks us for it. He
>takes a very small dose. It's just enough to send his body the message that
>it is all right to settle down and go to sleep... And his body listens.
>Again, I don't know if this would work for you--I've never tried it myself.
>But, I know it has worked wonders with Austin, and my nephews, so I think it
>definitely would be worth a try.
>Melissa
>-----Original Message-----
>From: blparent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Pickrell,
>Rebecca M (TASC)
>Sent: Monday, November 12, 2012 7:56 AM
>To: 'Blind Parents Mailing List'
>Subject: Re: [blparent] Sleepless Nights

>Yes to sleep and melatonin.
>You can get it anywhere. Pop a capsule and you'll be fine.

>-----Original Message-----
>From: blparent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jeri Milton
>Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2012 4:47 AM
>To: 'Blind Parents Mailing List'
>Subject: [blparent] Sleepless Nights

>Hi out there to everyone. It's the middle of the night, or wee hours of the
>morning depending on whatever way you look at it. These last couple of weeks
>I've been having a heck of a time sleeping. I read somewhere a long time ago
>that people who are blind tend to have a harder time sleeping than those who
>are sighted. It has to do with Melatonin. Does anyone know about this study?

>Anyway, when I have these dreaded sleepless nights I tend to lie there and
>think or worry about everything and it really drives me crazy. So tonight I
>was thinking so much about my children. Instead of tossing and turning,
>sleep for half an hour then waking up to twiddle my thumbs and think some
>more, I thought I would post my thoughts on here sense it is about being a
>parent.

>I was thinking about how fast the time really does go by. It seems like just
>yesterday I was pregnant with Dylan and enjoying every single bite of my
>huge Breakfast Jack sandwich from Jack in the Box. *smile*. Then, boom he
>was born and I was having sleepless nights with a new born baby that I had
>no clue what to do with. Funny how we're so scared at first and then the
>baby just becomes part of us, like he's always been there all of your life.
>Next thing I knew I was planning his first birthday party. I remember that I
>hand made them with pieces of construction paper folded in half to make a
>card. I used every primary color in the crayon box for each letter of the
>words. I wrote it as if he was writing it. It was very cute, I have to
>admit! Now, well tomorrow, because he is turning seven and is old enough to
>help fill out his invites, we're going to grandma's house to fill them out
>for his pizza party at the end of the month. So, just yesterday I was losing
>sleep and crying because I didn't know what to do with this new born, and
>now seven years later, I'm crying because he's growing up too dang fast!
>Also, I'm still trying to lose all the calories from that first dang
>Breakfast Jack! Not to mention the weight gain when I was pregnant with
>Kate. I know he hasn't been a baby for a while, but seven just sounds so,
>well, not babyish. He'll always be my baby though. I tell him even when he's
>forty he'll still be my baby. Then, somebody asked me the other day about
>Katlyn starting preschool and I almost immediately burst into tears over the
>thought of it. My gosh what am I going to do when they're both in school?
>Gone all day to the hands of other people. When Dylan started preschool I
>balled like a baby, and he was only going two days a week. Then, when kinder
>garden came I cried all week. I felt that I was sending him into the wolf
>pack. I worry about Kate because she does have eye problems and one of her
>eye's wonders pretty severely. I hope she doesn't get teased. I wish I could
>be with them every second of every day forever to keep them safe. While it's
>fun to watch them grow, there's a part of me that feels sad. Is this normal?
>I'll probably sing happy birthday to him and cry at the same time!

>Jeri

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