6-mo. update: sleep

[Guest guest]

Hi, here's the second (shorter!) part of my progress report at 6 months

post-op for cervical stenosis. The topic is insomnia, which has been an

area of great success.

Before surgery I had insomnia gradually worsening over about four years.

Mainly trouble falling asleep; it would take hours or maybe never happen.

By Dec. of '99 I had given up on all the herbs, tricks and occasional

meds and was taking Restoril (temazepam) every night, from then until a

month after surgery. Fortunately I was able to sleep that way.

I think there was some central sleep apnea going on; one of the docs at

Columbus Hospital where I had the surgery thought so too. As I got near

sleep I would start awake and breathing, heart rate and all would go

wild.

At one month after surgery I stopped taking the Restoril. I was able to

sleep but it still took a long time to fall asleep, maybe an hour. So I

decided to try this new herbal I had read about: It's a combination of

valerian and lemon balm. Now valerian had never helped me before, but

this stuff really seemed to help.

I still take it every night about 2 hours before bed. Seems to make a

difference; I notice if I forget. I need my pre-sleep rituals: exercise

late in the day, a hot bath....etc. and if anything goes wrong I can have

a hard time falling asleep. But if I take Restoril at all it is half the

old dose (7.5 as opposed to 15 mg) and only once a week or so.

Mostly I sleep fine, about 7 or 8 hours a night. (I do not get the sudden

heart palpitations while lying down. However I still got them for a while

after surgery, not sure how long, but not as bad as before.) This is a

BIG DEAL after all those years of battling insomnia!

If anyone wants details on the valerian & lemon balm stuff, let me know.

Dr. Tietelbaum (the CFS doc--- " From Fatigued to Fantastic " ) highly

recommends it.

All for tonight,

Carolyn A., Tucson

Pre-op symptoms: severe orthostatic intolerance, insomnia, extreme thirst

& frequent urination, cognitive problems, sensitivity to light & sound,

numbness/tingling in extremities; accelerating problems with dizziness,

balance, hand coordination, headaches, difficulty walking.

Diagnosis: congenital cervical stenosis, cord compression worst at C5-6

(no Chiari, only " mild tonsillar ectopia " without compression of neural

structures) Prior dxs: CFS, NMH, POTS

Surgery: cervical laminectomy (Dr. Heffez), partial C2, C3-6, partial C7

(no fusion)

Status: 6 mos. post-op, MUCH better in all areas and continuing to

improve.

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