I have had two chemotherapy sessions now, and have just finished week 2. Week to 3 begins on Tuesday. The insomnia is driving me nuts. Also, I seem to have developed hot flushes in the evening. Any thoughts?
For what it’s worth Steve, I suffered badly from insomnia too. Largely due to worry. It was debilitating. So I rang my gp who immediately put me on 10mg of Citilopram daily and a sleeping pill called Zopiclone. (He said to go easy on the Zopiclone as it is addictive but ‘not to worry too much as we’d sort out any dependency issues after this was all over’!)
The Citilopram rebalances the seratonin levels in your brain, which can go haywire when under the kind of stress this disease can cause, especially in the early days, whereas the Zopiclone just guarantees a good night’s sleep. I was able to ditch the Citilopram totally after about 8 months but still take the occasional half a Zopiclone tab to get a good night’s sleep, as although I’m able to get to sleep easily my sleeping patterns have been poor for years.
