< =text/>_popupControl(); I think I have my newest flare pattern figured out. I am starting off with increased and longer lasting morning stiffness...having to cut one house chore then another etc. out of my routine...then not having the energy to do much of anything including getting out of the house...swelling and pain begin to increase...then finally...some insanely horrendous insomnia. The insomnia is a new thing for me tho. I used to sleep a whole lot when I would start gearing up into a flare and into the flare itself. This just changed when I started the remicade infusions AND the seasons started changing.
Sometimes...the flare symptoms just crash down on me...sometimes it is a gradual type of thing that they come on.
And who said that all that stuff they taught us in math about patterns, variables, and predicting wouldn't be used when we got out of school lol.
GS, your math works!
You need to fix the sleep thing ASAP. That's when your body heals. People, anybody have natural suggestions or meds that they recommend. (I'm against more meds :-) but you have to sleep!).
Pip
Some things that help me:Liz, I'm telling you it's the Pred. When I was on the highest doses I didn't sleep much. I spent a year functioning on 4 hours a day. I'd go to bed at 11, not sleepy then I'd get up about 1:30 wide awake and stay awake until 6 and then sleep for 2 hours. It was the worst year of my life and it should have been the best....it was our first year of retirement. In the last 2 years I've tried to taper Pred. and am down to 7mg. daily and have been sleeping really well for the last 6 months.
I tell ya it's the Pred. and no matter what I tried nothing helped. I tried all the sleep tricks and nothing worked. Now when I think back I should have requested a sleep aid medication but I was too stubborn. I think I would have healed and the flare would have been shorter if I had been able to sleep. It was the flare from hell and lasted for over a year.
I quit fighting and getting angry about not being able to sleep. I accepted that this is the way it's going to be till I get off Pred. I'd get up and read, write my travel column and journal, bead, paint, go outside and sit and look at the stars. Sometimes I just sat and contemplated my belly button. You do what you have to do for yourself physically and mentally. I slept when I felt tired. I took a lot of short naps to fill in the sleep gaps. I just quit fighting it and I felt better about the sleep situation.
My RD kept telling me it would get better as I tapered but who believes their RD, especially when you're on high doses of Pred and sleep deprived. Find some hobbies and things you can do at night is my only suggestion. Lindy
A lavender pillow helps me fall asleep, reading, and if all else fails warm milk with a tot of brandy ( i hate the taste but it does me good).If I really have trouble I open the curtains and look at the stars and the moon and try to focus on anything other than pain. I have a digital photo frame by my bed and i sometimes switch that on , the SD card i have at the moment has photos of my kids growing up, hubby and I years ago, my parents and my dogs, its soothing to watch the pictures change as i go to sleep ( hubby turns it off when i fall asleep)