Guest guest Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 I am in exactly that same boat and was about to post about it, again, but didn't want to wear everyone out with my same questions about sleep (and Sol is going to kill me if I complain about getting 6 hours of sleep again . I experimented with not taking a bed-time dose at all over the weekend and that was a disaster - woke up at 3AM with no cortisol and badly hypoglycemic. I went back to my 5mg at bed-time dose and now I'm waking up at 4AM like clockwork and just barely dozing until I have to get up at 7AM which is right about the time that I feel like I could get back to sleep if I could just stay in bed a while longer which, of course, I can't b/c I have to get up to go to work. Last night, instead of laying there and trying to get back to sleep for 2 1/2 hours like I did the night before, I got up and took 2.5mg of HC with half a piece of cheese. That didn't work any better and, in my experience with this, I have not found a middle of the night dose of HC to help with getting back to sleep unless I was severely hypoglycemic and had to have it, and I accompany it with a sleep aid (for me a small dose of Klonopin) which I can't take at 4AM or I'm a zombie all morning at work. I've thought about taking a larger dose too, but my understanding is that more is not necessarily or even usually better with HC, especially at night, because of the whole rhythm thing - taking too big a dose at night may interfere with our morning rhythm when cortisol needs are high. For me, Val has recommended that I consider something stronger and longer-acting for my night-time dose - prednisolone. I asked my doc for Deltacortril which is a prednislone drug, but he gave me Pediapred instead which is a liquid prednisolone. Pred (not prednisone, BTW) has a much longer half-life than HC which might be good for getting through the night, but it might introduce problems for establishing good rhythm for the rest of the day so it's a mixed bag and Val doesn't usually recommend it for that reason. Barb has done some pretty good experimenting with her DH and he seems to be doing better lately, but his adrenals also aren't in as bad a shape as mine (stage 5+). I don't know about yours Jung. Please post back here on this thread if you find out something outside of this group and I'll post more about pred when I know. Thanks, > > Like many people in this group, I'm testing different dosage schedules > of HC to improve my sleep patterns. > > I noticed that when I take 2.5mg at bedtime, I usually wake up around > 3:00 AM and then fall back asleep pretty easily. When I take 5mg at > bedtime, I don't wake up until 5:00 AM, but I have a very difficult > time falling back asleep. > > Has anyone tried a higher bedtime of like 10mg? I'm wondering if this > would allow me to sleep through the night. > > -Jung > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 I am in exactly that same boat and was about to post about it, again, but didn't want to wear everyone out with my same questions about sleep (and Sol is going to kill me if I complain about getting 6 hours of sleep again . I experimented with not taking a bed-time dose at all over the weekend and that was a disaster - woke up at 3AM with no cortisol and badly hypoglycemic. I went back to my 5mg at bed-time dose and now I'm waking up at 4AM like clockwork and just barely dozing until I have to get up at 7AM which is right about the time that I feel like I could get back to sleep if I could just stay in bed a while longer which, of course, I can't b/c I have to get up to go to work. Last night, instead of laying there and trying to get back to sleep for 2 1/2 hours like I did the night before, I got up and took 2.5mg of HC with half a piece of cheese. That didn't work any better and, in my experience with this, I have not found a middle of the night dose of HC to help with getting back to sleep unless I was severely hypoglycemic and had to have it, and I accompany it with a sleep aid (for me a small dose of Klonopin) which I can't take at 4AM or I'm a zombie all morning at work. I've thought about taking a larger dose too, but my understanding is that more is not necessarily or even usually better with HC, especially at night, because of the whole rhythm thing - taking too big a dose at night may interfere with our morning rhythm when cortisol needs are high. For me, Val has recommended that I consider something stronger and longer-acting for my night-time dose - prednisolone. I asked my doc for Deltacortril which is a prednislone drug, but he gave me Pediapred instead which is a liquid prednisolone. Pred (not prednisone, BTW) has a much longer half-life than HC which might be good for getting through the night, but it might introduce problems for establishing good rhythm for the rest of the day so it's a mixed bag and Val doesn't usually recommend it for that reason. Barb has done some pretty good experimenting with her DH and he seems to be doing better lately, but his adrenals also aren't in as bad a shape as mine (stage 5+). I don't know about yours Jung. Please post back here on this thread if you find out something outside of this group and I'll post more about pred when I know. Thanks, > > Like many people in this group, I'm testing different dosage schedules > of HC to improve my sleep patterns. > > I noticed that when I take 2.5mg at bedtime, I usually wake up around > 3:00 AM and then fall back asleep pretty easily. When I take 5mg at > bedtime, I don't wake up until 5:00 AM, but I have a very difficult > time falling back asleep. > > Has anyone tried a higher bedtime of like 10mg? I'm wondering if this > would allow me to sleep through the night. > > -Jung > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 I am in exactly that same boat and was about to post about it, again, but didn't want to wear everyone out with my same questions about sleep (and Sol is going to kill me if I complain about getting 6 hours of sleep again . I experimented with not taking a bed-time dose at all over the weekend and that was a disaster - woke up at 3AM with no cortisol and badly hypoglycemic. I went back to my 5mg at bed-time dose and now I'm waking up at 4AM like clockwork and just barely dozing until I have to get up at 7AM which is right about the time that I feel like I could get back to sleep if I could just stay in bed a while longer which, of course, I can't b/c I have to get up to go to work. Last night, instead of laying there and trying to get back to sleep for 2 1/2 hours like I did the night before, I got up and took 2.5mg of HC with half a piece of cheese. That didn't work any better and, in my experience with this, I have not found a middle of the night dose of HC to help with getting back to sleep unless I was severely hypoglycemic and had to have it, and I accompany it with a sleep aid (for me a small dose of Klonopin) which I can't take at 4AM or I'm a zombie all morning at work. I've thought about taking a larger dose too, but my understanding is that more is not necessarily or even usually better with HC, especially at night, because of the whole rhythm thing - taking too big a dose at night may interfere with our morning rhythm when cortisol needs are high. For me, Val has recommended that I consider something stronger and longer-acting for my night-time dose - prednisolone. I asked my doc for Deltacortril which is a prednislone drug, but he gave me Pediapred instead which is a liquid prednisolone. Pred (not prednisone, BTW) has a much longer half-life than HC which might be good for getting through the night, but it might introduce problems for establishing good rhythm for the rest of the day so it's a mixed bag and Val doesn't usually recommend it for that reason. Barb has done some pretty good experimenting with her DH and he seems to be doing better lately, but his adrenals also aren't in as bad a shape as mine (stage 5+). I don't know about yours Jung. Please post back here on this thread if you find out something outside of this group and I'll post more about pred when I know. Thanks, > > Like many people in this group, I'm testing different dosage schedules > of HC to improve my sleep patterns. > > I noticed that when I take 2.5mg at bedtime, I usually wake up around > 3:00 AM and then fall back asleep pretty easily. When I take 5mg at > bedtime, I don't wake up until 5:00 AM, but I have a very difficult > time falling back asleep. > > Has anyone tried a higher bedtime of like 10mg? I'm wondering if this > would allow me to sleep through the night. > > -Jung > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 >>I noticed that when I take 2.5mg at bedtime, I usually wake up around 3:00 AM and then fall back asleep pretty easily. When I take 5mg at bedtime, I don't wake up until 5:00 AM, but I have a very difficult time falling back asleep. Has anyone tried a higher bedtime of like 10mg? I'm wondering if this would allow me to sleep through the night.<< I have tried it,. I woke up about an hour after going to sleep and every houir the rest of the night! LOL What some folks need is not more cortiosl but a longer lasting fix ofr overnight liek is trying. He is trying Pred for a bedtime dose. -- Artistic Grooming- Hurricane WV http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/ http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/NaturalThyroidHormonesADRENALS/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 >>I noticed that when I take 2.5mg at bedtime, I usually wake up around 3:00 AM and then fall back asleep pretty easily. When I take 5mg at bedtime, I don't wake up until 5:00 AM, but I have a very difficult time falling back asleep. Has anyone tried a higher bedtime of like 10mg? I'm wondering if this would allow me to sleep through the night.<< I have tried it,. I woke up about an hour after going to sleep and every houir the rest of the night! LOL What some folks need is not more cortiosl but a longer lasting fix ofr overnight liek is trying. He is trying Pred for a bedtime dose. -- Artistic Grooming- Hurricane WV http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/ http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/NaturalThyroidHormonesADRENALS/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 >>I noticed that when I take 2.5mg at bedtime, I usually wake up around 3:00 AM and then fall back asleep pretty easily. When I take 5mg at bedtime, I don't wake up until 5:00 AM, but I have a very difficult time falling back asleep. Has anyone tried a higher bedtime of like 10mg? I'm wondering if this would allow me to sleep through the night.<< I have tried it,. I woke up about an hour after going to sleep and every houir the rest of the night! LOL What some folks need is not more cortiosl but a longer lasting fix ofr overnight liek is trying. He is trying Pred for a bedtime dose. -- Artistic Grooming- Hurricane WV http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/ http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/NaturalThyroidHormonesADRENALS/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 Hey , LOL I've actually been following your posts pretty closely, since our cortisol lab results were very similar, and you're one of the only other guys in this group. I was diagnosed at stage 6, and I'm feeling better on 40mg of HC, but I'm trying to figure out the best schedule. I've tried 15-10-10-5, 12.5-10-7.5-5-5, 15-12.5-10-2.5, and everything in between. I feel like I'm in math class! Let me know if you try the Pred, since it's the only other option I can think of. I've tried various prescription sleeping medicines and nothing's helped. One thing I'm wondering is if it's even POSSIBLE for us to sleep through the night at this stage. Maybe we just have to endure this until our adrenals heal a little. But then again, without adequate sleep, I'm wondering how much healing our adrenals are even getting??? -Jung > > > > Like many people in this group, I'm testing different dosage schedules > > of HC to improve my sleep patterns. > > > > I noticed that when I take 2.5mg at bedtime, I usually wake up around > > 3:00 AM and then fall back asleep pretty easily. When I take 5mg at > > bedtime, I don't wake up until 5:00 AM, but I have a very difficult > > time falling back asleep. > > > > Has anyone tried a higher bedtime of like 10mg? I'm wondering if this > > would allow me to sleep through the night. > > > > -Jung > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 31, 2008 Report Share Posted January 31, 2008 With the little adjustment of taking 7.5 instead of 5mg for my 6:30PM dose and 5mg for my bed-time dose, plus a little extra cream b/c I rubbed it in under my knee and lost some of it in the hair under there, and adding a Lunesta to my .25 of Klonopin, I still woke up at 3AM and laid for a little while, and then again at some point later, but I was able to get back to sleep until my alarm went off at 7AM. I don't know if that was a fluke or what, but I'm on 10 - 10 - 7.5 - 7.5 - 5 now and I'm going to use that Lunesta with the Klonopin too. Sol, I know that the Lunesta is a no-go for you, and that the benzos are a no-go for a lot of the rest of you, but I just wanted to report a small success last night and see whether it holds or not. Neither Lunesta or Klonopin has helped keep me awake in the past so I'm hoping that the small adjustment in HC dosing had something to do with it. > > we need more > > sleep to heal the adrenals, but we can't sleep b/c we're using HC to > > supplement the adrenals. > Not the case for me. My sleep has been horrible for over 20 years. And I > don't see it has gotten worse since HC, but it hasn't gotten much better > either. A little better sometimes, but not enough better to be > significant as to deep sleep or healing. Had my sleep been great prior > to HC and then went to what it is now, I'd probably have stopped the HC > to be honest. As it is, I'm taking HC and thyroid in the hope that > eventually I'll be able to sleep and in the hope my allergies will go > into remission. > sol > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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