Unable to sleep more than a few hours each night since diagnosis

Hello,

I hope you are asleep now but if not...I'm very sorry you find yourself on this web site but you are welcome.

You will find that on the Awake thread, most contributors have found themselves.....and still do from time to time.....in your position of being unable to sleep at night and feeling very tired during daytime.

In your case I suspect being newly doagnosed....it's a big shock to the system....and not knowing how things will progress...have interrupted your normal sleep patterns. I can understand totally how yòu don't feel like shopping with your sister and why you are dozing in the evening. These are very normal reactions to an enormous change for you....the double mastectomy.  While this will undoubtedly be an aid to a good recovery, it is nonetheless traumatic for you to anticipate. 

Will sleep return to normal? Probably.....but there are still times eight years on when my mind won't shut down and I don't sleep. I had a lumpectomy for TNBC so there is always a possibility that a cancer may develop again and that fear hasn't quite left me. 

Over the next weeks if you continue to have difficulties, do post on the Awake thread. There are a lot of regular contributors there who will empathise or offer advice from experience. They will probably see your post more quickly there than on a new thread although on a hot summer Wimbledon saturday, they may be watching tennis!

I wish you well with your future treatment. As the shock passes and the treatment plans start, you will feel more in control and more informed which will help you with your sleeping.

Take care. Love Karen

Hi, I’m so sorry to hear you’re having trouble sleeping. Those hours lying awake with your mind racing are very difficult, especially while everyone else is asleep. I was exactly the same when I was diagnosed with BC in March. I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat, and I couldn’t think about anything else. It took me a long time to process the shock of a cancer diagnosis, and I’m sure from reading other posts on here that’s a common and a normal reaction. 
I’m now 7 weeks on from my mastectomy and reconstruction surgery, and my sleep is much better than in those early weeks before my treatment had started. I do still wake in the night as I’m still adjusting to taking tamoxifen which makes me feel very hot. However I can often get back to sleep and I’m not suffering with that crushing 3am anxiety and racing thoughts. I hope things will settle down for you too and your sleep will improve as you process the shock. It’s also great news you’ve got your date for surgery, and that is happening soon. I wish you all the very best for that. Take care, Rosie xx

Sorry you are not sleeping. I was the same and now for the first time ever I am on sleeping tablets. My GP put me on promethazine 25mg I can take up to tablets a day

 Wish I didn't have to but I need the sleep