My husband is a great man, but I think my sleeping is driving him nuts.
I can't help it. I need a 4 hour nap every day, lately possibly more. I am extremely tired and fall asleep at the desk, in a chair, basicly anywhere and for me, I would have to be tired to so.
I am the type of person who can't sleep anywhere unless it's my own bed, but not lately, I fall asleep anywhere and I think it is making him very upset.
I don't know what to do.
I'm on methotrexate 20mg a week, 2 200mg celebrex a day and 4 ultram (two twice a day). I take iron pill and vitamins.
I have the same problem. I sleep all night, wake up, send my son off to school, sleep another 2 hours, am up for a bit, then take another nap before going to bed for the night again. The Ultram in addition to RA itself, makes me so tired. I've tried to drink cofee...doesn't help. Although my prednisone was increased recently and seems to keep me up a bit more. When it goes back down, I'm afraid I'll be sleeping all the time again.
I guess I haven't been much help..lol. I'm not sure what to do either.
Like you I can fall asleep anyplace - even when I'm driving. I don't take 4 hour naps but I nap everyday for at least an hour. Maybe it has to do with how well you sleep at night. If you have sleep apnea you'll be sleepy during the day. Is that a possibility? I developed sleep apnea after being on Pred. for over a year and developing this lovely moon face. The moon face extends down into my neck area and has caused my soft palate to relax causing sleep apnea. If you need to nap then I say nap! There's nothing you can do. Let him read the forum.Talk to your doctor about the possibility of sleep apnea. You are describing it exactly. I have it. My daughter has it. Loud snoring is another symptom.
If they think you have it, they do a sleep study. This means you spend the night in a sleep study room. They attach electrodes to you head and film you sleeping. They can discover if you have breathing problems, waking problems, restless legs, etc.
They checked me out because I was not improving with all my RA meds. Without deep, REM sleep, our bodies can't heal. I use a CPAP machine now and it certainly has helped.
I know you must go a long ways to get medical care. But this might really help you with the RA. Also, sleep apnea, if untreated can dangerous for some people. Certainly, falling asleep while driving is dangerous. Call your doctor and see what he thinks.
I have to take long naps, but I don't need them every day. This is a bit more than what you should have to deal with.
I am tired all the time too. I guess it comes with RA or I have been wondering if it is fibro also. It is so hard. It feels like sleeping your life away and it does make you feel guilty and lazy. But when you are sooooo sleepy, you are worthless anyhow. My starting the water exercise has helped with the guilt. At least I know I am active 1.5 hours a day. It has not changed how tired I am though.
It is good to know I am not alone. I feel so lazy
We need rest. Our immune systems are out of whack. Sometimes, sleeping is part of the process of getting back to where we need to be.
I know that I feel guilty. But I feel the least good, I can't be still. But it also means I am going to rest later and it's going to be a long nap.
The fatigue seems to be a common feature of RA. I certainly have it too. I pretty much rest or sleep away the weekend. I find the water exercise and PT helps me to sleep better at night and have more energy during the day. That and a hot bath right before I go to bed along with 2 extra strength tylenols. I usually wake up 5 hours alter and take more tylenol. The MTX wipes me out for 2 1/2 days. I think the meds are a big part of the fatigue.
I don't snore and sleep all night long except twice i usually get up to go to the bathroom (done that my whole life).
Until I got RA this past year, I never had to take naps.
When I sleep I am always in a deep sleep lately, husband makes noise trying to wake me up but I don't seem to want too.
I did start taking less prednisone, I was on 10mg and over a week ago i went to 7.5. It might be that the less pred is now giving up to the ultram so the sleep is starting to hit me.
I just get sooooooo dead tired.
Shanbr,
Maybe you're right. Maybe the prednisone was counteracting the ultram.
I did a search and it has this caution "Seek emergency medical attention if you think you have used too much of this medicine. A Ultram overdose can be fatal. Symptoms of a Ultram overdose may include drowsiness, shallow breathing, slow heartbeat, extreme weakness, cold or clammy skin, feeling light-headed, fainting, or coma."
This sounds like your dosage might be a bit high for you. Maybe you should call the doctor and mention how sleepy you are. They might switch you to something else or lower the dosage. Some people are just more sensitive to medications. Prednisone certainly wires me up at higher dosages.
Maybe what you suspect is the culprit. A phone call certainly couldn't hurt.
This tiredness is just terrible. I feel like I'm not alone, when I read the posts on here from you all. Like today. We had planned to got to our boat & do some cleaning. My husband can't do very much as he had his 3rd back surgery last October & can hardly walk. He uses 2 canes. We bought a 2nd hand motorized scooter to keep at the marina, as he can't make it down the pier. Anyway, I put all the fresh bed linens on & put the towels away & then plopped down in a recliner & took a nap. Now, that is not me. Guess I should say, wasn't me till now. When I first started the Prednisone I couldn't sleep, but too tired to do anything. I haven't been having that problem since the RD cut the Prednisone to 10mg. I will see RD Thursday & I hope he drains my knee, as it is so swollen & hurts.
Well, thank you all for letting me vent tonight.
Trisha Trisha, I hope your knee gets better quick. The fatigue is overwhelming. I hate it. I have always been one of those people who has to do three things at once. Even in college, I was always working on three paintings at the same time. I'm that same person, but without the energy to back it up. I was reading a mystery novel the other day and there was one particular description that I keep coming back to. It was about where this refugee from China was trying to navigate through rough waters to the shore after their ship was blown up. The story doesn't relate, but his way of solving the problem does. He felt the waves as he moved through the waters, going with them, adjusting to them, sensing them. Maybe this is what we have to learn to do with these bodies. First, we have to accept our situation -- so awfully hard. Then, we have to sense these new bodies and see what they are trying to tell us. Third, we have to give ourselves permission to act on what they are saying to us. For a long time, I had to call my girlfriends up and actually have them tell me to go ahead and take that nap. I hearing that there may be some newer medicines out there that help with the fatigue. But I didn't make note of them. If anyone has any ideas what they are, I'd like to address them with my doc. Also, anemia is one of the things that you can develop with RA. Usually, they routinely check it with the other blood work. You might ask your doc about the last time they checked you and the fatigue in general. Sometimes they have more tools in their box that we don't know to ask for. Really hope you feel better. I'm rushing through this topic while working on other things at my desk.... so forgive me if someone has mentioned this; but I just wanted to say that Ultram is the same thing as Tramadol and I've been taking it for quite sometime now. I can not however take it and be expected to work and carry on a regular life. It's a pain killer and makes some of us very drowsy....or just plain doopey. I take 25mg of MTX and Humira weekly. Granted on Monday's I'm still pretty tired from my MTX dose; but if I took two Ultram before coming to work I'd be zonked out on my desk. There needs to be an adjustment in the DMARDS family so that you can get off the pain killers. They make it very hard to function daily. It's not so much the RA as it is your medication. Hope you get this resolved soon. I don't see how you function at all. I agree that the sleepiness is med related. I don't take the pred or mtx. I am on enbrel and arava and celebrex during the day and at night I take nortriptalyene and celebrex. Zonked otu immediately adn can't stay awake the next day or just so tired can't move. And after the enbrel shot I'm asleep within an hour and sleep at least seven or eight hours of the next day. Does any one get this? When I am just about to fall asleep I get some kind of stomach spasms that pulls my body into a ball, immediately jars me awake but drift right back off. Hapens anywhere from 1 to 5 times every single time I lay down. Anybody ever hear of this before? I read about allt he different reactions to enbrel and I am glad it only makes me want to sleep!! Some of the other sides sound horrid. If it wasn't for meds making me drowsy and sleepy I wouldn't get any sleep. Shan, you may need to increase your folic acid dose and switch to something other than the ultram. Talk to your doctor. Fatigue is par for the course with RA, but there are ways to decrease it some and you sound like yours is pretty severe. I was told by the pharmacy and my RA doc that the prescription given by the family doctor is normal. It calls for one table 4 times a day (or) 2 tablets twice a day. 50mg tablets. It used to be prescribed as 1-2 tablets 4 times a day. When my flairs leave i find i can sleep the week away, but when my flairs are here, i don't get sleepy at all off these.
So, hang in there and know that your not alone.
T
I'm so glad to hear others have this problem. I too have this problem with excessive sleeping (2 hour naps in the afternoon are normal for me). My hubby gets upset that I need so much sleep. But I'm just a dragged out witch if I don't get my nap. I'm tired all day it seems. I never had this problem to this severity before my RA (diagnosed a year ago). Most of my naps were averaging 20 minutes or so, now I'm in a deep sleep for 1-2 hours! I feel your anguish!
After surgery up to 300mg of tramadol is often prescribed for very short periods of time.
Probably would be in your best interest to speak to your doctor about your prescription.
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