lack of sleep on steroids

Dear

ive been on and off steroids (dexamethasone) for my blood cancer for the last 19 months and like you wake in the early hours most mornings, I always get up as I find looking at the ceiling difficult. Hopefully when you stop taking them things should normalise eventually but for now just go with the flow and if you can, have a lay down during the day just to rest your body even if you only shut your eyes but dont sleep, it should help with avoiding fatigue. Obviously your diagnosis/prognosis will be weighing heavily on your subconscious during sleep and during the day you can distract yourself somewhat from the implications of what is happening to you. I hope you have made a good recovery from your surgery and the chemotherapy and radiotherapy are not causing you too many problems.

Good morning ....... the whole sleep thing is rather odd.

When I was teaching in Further Education I only slept 4-5 hours a night for about 20 years and had no problems now being post treatments I can sleep more than 5 hours for the first time in many many years.

When cancer came along sleep was still like gold at the end of a rainbow but I was living with fatigue and for some reason I still did not sleep....... but was very tired.

As has been said - steroid can put your sleep pattern all crazy but let’s hope that it starts to calm down.

Sleeping strategies are worth a try, I know some folks use mindfulness music to help.

It’s worth checking to see if you have any Local Macmillan Support in your area or a Maggie’s Centre as these places run relaxation and mindfulness groups where you can develop tools that can help you find that pot of gold.