Sleep, who needs it anyway

Hello Squirrel

Well done for completing all that treatment- my goodness what a journey you have had. 

I actually finished my treatment around the same time as you and like you slept fairly well during the treatment and straight after. I am having some trouble now which in my case I think is anxiety and just processing it all. During treatment it's like you don't have time to think as it's so full on. I find I get tired in the early evening and it takes me a while to get to sleep. When I do drop of I am quite restless and wake during the early hours. It is frustrating.

Here's a link I found that you might want to have a look at- I found it helpful.

Difficulty sleeping (insomnia) | Macmillan Cancer Support

I also had a look at letrozole and there is a side effect of difficulty in sleeping that some people experience so maybe it is something you could ask your CNS as to whether its a side effect that might ease once your body gets used to the medication.

Letrozole (Femara®) | Macmillan Cancer Support

I hope this helps

Jane

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I have clicked and read both links, thank you, hopefully we will both get a good nights sleep soon, take care xxx

Glad it helped, wishing you a restful night as well

I had insomnia from the hormone-blockers and a couple of things helped - weirdly, Paul McKenna's 'I can make you sleep' book and accompanying CD to listen to when you're falling to sleep really helped. I still use some of the techniques and they definitely get me off to sleep quicker, or back to sleep in the night. I wake multiple times, and always have done, but with hormone blockers, I just couldn't get back to sleep.

What has made the biggest difference over the last 6 months is a low-dose SSRI anti-depressant. I sleep well now most of the time, probably something to do with serotonin levels as these are affected by oestrogen. I went on it to help with mood swings I was getting from the hormone blockers that meant I no longer felt like me, and it has had a fantastic effect on those plus sleep - which in turn, helps your mood.

I was reluctant to think about ant-depressants, even though they are one of the few things available to hormone-positive breast cancer patients going through menopause. The lowest dose has been enough for me. You do have to be careful if you are on tamoxifen as some SSRIs can interfere with that, but I'm on zoladex and exemestane.

The book is worth ago. I also read 'Set It and Forget It' for sleep which helped for a while.

I would recommend the Paul McKenna book to try. And if you don't want to buy anything, then for me, the most helpful technique is to count backwards from 300. You have to focus your mind because it is backwards which helps stop a racing mind (I had a terrible racing mind)! Other techniques in it may work better for you though.

I also had acupuncture for a while, which was fantastic at reducing anxiety, which meant for an easier bedtime.

The biggest difference is the anti-depressant though. I figured I was taking loads of other meds that changed my mood, so why not one to counteract it all?

There’s loads of advice there, thank you, I’m going to give it a couple more weeks and if there’s no improvement, maybe a trip to the doctor to see if I’m eligible for the SSRI antidepressants, like I said, no problem dropping off to sleep, it’s the staying asleep or getting back to sleep once I’ve woken, sending best wishes xxx

I have exactly the same sleep pattern that you describe too. The only thing I can add is that sometimes exercise helps as it creates a different tiredness. Perhaps some CBD before bed. Even with these I still have a lot of very disturbed nights. My oncology team have said that it should settle down with time. In the meantime, I have asked my doctor for something to help once in a while, to ease the tiredness

So frustrating isn’t it, I do exercise, 30 min low impact 5 days per week and I also walk my dog for 30 mins 3 times a day 7 days a week. Don’t know if I’m being thick but I don’t know what CBD is , let me know and maybe I’ll try that, thanks for taking the time to try and help xxx

CBD is cannabidiol with the THC (addictive bit) removed. Health food shops sell it and there are also some reputable online sources. It also helps with hot flushes and joint aches and pains. Like you, I find the sleep disturbance the most frustrating thing to live with, but am hopeful it will settle as promised!

Thank you, finger’s crossed we get some good sleep soon xxx