I’ve been receiving treatment for breast cancer for 13 months, had 6 rounds of chemo, lumpectomy, 5 rounds of radiotherapy and a further 11 out of 14 chemotherapy treatments, couldn’t do the last 3, my body was exhausted, I now am on letrozole for 10 yrs and have 6 monthly bone infusions for 3 yrs. My question is this……during all the treatment I slept like a log, my chemotherapy finished in September’22, I could still sleep no problem, but over the last month or so, I go to bed tired, around 9/930, fall straight to sleep, wake up around 1230, nod back off, wake up again around 4 and that’s it, wide awake until my husbands alarm goes off at 630 and then can grab another hour, it’s very frustrating, has anyone else experienced this, any advice would be greatly received xxx
Hi Squirrel 15 and welcome to this corner. I have been on my cancer journey over 23 years now so have had various challenges with my sleep....... having had a total 130 nights in hospital over a period of 9 years so trying to sleep in hospital ward takes this problem to a different level.
My CNS told me that I would have to train my body to sleep...... so I had to be as active as I could during the day....... the more active you are during the day the better it's help your sleep.... I aim for 5000 step minimum a day........ and the fresh air helps.
I don't nap during the day now but when I did I set an alarm so i did not sleep long.... 30 mins max.
Going to bed at 9-9.30 is actually on the early side....... you need to try and push this back an hour, I know that this helped me.
I don't sleep all night as I have to go to the loo at least once (post treatment left-over problems) but I now find that I can get back off to sleep.
We don't have a clock in the bedroom, we have good back out curtains so it's dark when it's still light outside. I don't wear a watch in bed and the phone is out of reach so I can't check the time...... and even if I am awake I never touch my phone.....screen glare is not helpful.
If you have a local Maggie's Centre anywhere near then they run Sleep Workshops - worth checking.
I am actually sleeping longer now than I did when I was still working. I was in a demanding teaching roll in Further Education so during term time I was only sleeping 5 - 6 hours a night and I did that for 20 years.
Sounds like you are doing the right things but sometimes it takes the body some time to develop a good sleeping pattern...... but as you are still on treatments it would be worth posting the same question in the Breast cancer group as this could be an issue that is normal when on this treatments and you may find other who recognize the problem.
