Hello All, I have just gone onto taking exemestane (Aromasin) and after a wonderful stressless tamoxifen-free change over period, I'm now finding that one of the side-effects of Aromasin is really affecting me. Insomnia. I seem to sleep for about two hours then wake and toss and turn only to doze for maybe another couple of hours and then start shuffling again - this problem didn't affect me when I was taking tamoxifen (I took it for two years), although I did have other side effects which have now gone.
I'm trying Kalms which contain valerian, hops and gentian and felt more refreshed the following morning as the quality of sleep was better even though I still woke.
I checked with the pharmacist that it was ok to take this herbal supplement. Does anyone else have any sleeplessness problems? If you do, any suggestions or information would be gratefully received.
Sue
FormerMember
Mine came from severe anxiety problems. I would wake after a few hours and then the rats of cancer would just run round in my mind preventing me sleeping again. I tried Kalms, and they worked for a very short time - then it got worse and I found one night that every time I lay down I felt I couldn't breathe, so I had to sit up again. This went on for hours until I did fall alseep through sheer exhaustion.
At this point I told my oncologist. He was very sneery about the herbal medicine, "Kalms - what's that?" and prescribed Lorazepam for me. It did immediately give me better, nightmare free sleep BUT it is only for anxiety-related sleep problems, and, as it is addictive, you don't really want to be on it unless that's the cause of your sleeplessness.
If it is a side-effect of the new drug - and this timing seems to indicate that, I don't know what to suggest other than read the Cancerbackup recommendations about trying to get to sleep.
Hoping this can be solved by someone, because it's horrible lying awake and then feeling exhausted next day.
Thanks for your response. I definitely slept better and felt better the morning after. The Kalms include hops so maybe a glass of beer before bed might help?! The medical profession often is sneery about herbal remedies because it is an area that they nothing about - I suspect they will only prescribe "pucka" drugs because they presumably know about them. The Kalms I tried were for anxiety as well as menopausal problems and insomnia rather than the formulation just for sleep problems. Do you know which one you had success with? Valerian is the major component of these herbal remedies which has been used for centuries: Hippocrates and Galen used it. I hope you are feeling better now that you have had some sleep: the trouble with having had cancer is that it stays in your mind - every day it is like a shadow at the back of ones mind.
