Re: , 4am wakenings and pred

[Guest guest]

this happens to me too, if it is any consolation. I believe the 4am

wakening is due to the circadian rhythym - ie the adrenals would

start to produce cortisol then, so that cortisol is highest when we

wake up at say 7am.

Because our adrenals aren't able to produce cortisol, low cortisol

will wake us up. I wake up starving, but I find if I take extra Pred

at this time, the hunger goes, and I can go back to sleep until 7-

8am.

I sometimes wake up just a few hours after going to sleep, and need

more cortisol in spite of a bedtime dose. I have found that if I go

into cortisol 'debt' during the day, I will use my bedtime dose up

very quickly and need more just to carry on sleeping. It really is

all about finding the right dose for you and your activities, and not

going over your limit, or anticipating extra stress with higher

doses.

- I take pred rather than HC, as I have very weak adrenals. I

wonder whether you would get an easier ride on this than on HC...?

Nicola

>

> There is something happening right around or before 4AM that I don't

> understand but it is definitely happening every night and is the

> biggest cause of my problem sleeping. I understand waking up

starving

> although, other than starting the Florinef, I don't understand why I

> am back to doing that again and why it is happening after only two

> hours of sleep instead of 4, but I don't understand the 4AM thing

> because, like this morning, there is no GI or hunger pangs, I just

> wake up, sweat a little and then lie there tossing and turning,

dozing

> a little until I finally have to get up. There has to be something

> that I can adjust to push that waking up back two or three hours.

> Pred. was probably the answer and I shouldn't have quit it. Now I'm

> in the middle of getting on the Florinef and feel like I should

finish

> with it before messing with pred again, but if Florinef isn't going

to

> help me sleep I'm messing with the wrong thing first.

>

>

>

>

>

> >

> > I am leaning towards your MI doc's advice. If you give each

change 10

> > days you will kno what is doing what.

>

[Guest guest]

Yes, I think that I need the pred (we're talking prednisolone here not

prednisone right?) and I tried one night-time dose of 1ml (my doc

prescribed Pediapred liquid instead of Medrol or Delacortril where 1ml

= 1mg of pred) that helped with the sleep, but not consistently and I

quit it after two weeks - prematurely probably. The doc I talked to

yesterday wants me to go back on it, first with 1ml, and then adding

1ml every few days for a total dose of 3mls while continuing to take

the 40mg of HC unless I have problems in which case I am to reduce the HC.

I think that I would have, and need, an easier ride on pred than I

have had on the HC as I am either a very fast metabolizer of it, or

I'm just not getting enough of it from the pills and cream. I'm using

5mg of cream right before I get in bed and apparently burned through

it in less than 2 hours last night and that was after a dinner of a

sirloin burger with cheese, roasted vegetables, and then a few apple

slices with two 2TBS of almond butter 1/2 hour before bed for even

more protein and fat - my body is burning up everything that I am

throwing at it.

You said that when you wake up starving you take more pred and fall

back to sleep until 7 or 8AM? Do you eat at that time too or just

take the pred - I'm assuming that you eat with it. That would be a

miracle for me right now since nothing I have been taking - Ambien,

Lunesta, Klonopin, more HC, has been achieving that. However, one of

my big problems with the pred. was with figuring out when to take it

b/c of the long acting nature of it. I took it everywhere between

6:30PM and 9:30PM, with a bed-time of 10:30-11PM and was still waking

up at 4AM - sometimes. Sometimes I would wake up at 3AM with a full

bladder (as always) and then not again until 6AM and then go back to

sleep until my alarm went off. On those days I would have a very hard

time waking up but, compared to now, those nights were miraculous. the

problem is that there was no consistency - sometimes it worked like

that, sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night anyway but,

in hindsight, that happened after particularly demanding days and/or

prior to upcoming demanding days.

What dose of pred are you on and when do you take it? How much more

do you take when you wake up? Do you can take it at 4AM and it works

that fast that you fall back to sleep right away? Did you start on HC

and convert to pred or go right to pred and/or are you still taking

HC? Sorry for so many questions but pred has to be the answer for me

and you seem to have the experience with it and you're a fellow 4AM'er

Thanks Nicola.

>

>

>

> this happens to me too, if it is any consolation. I believe the 4am

> wakening is due to the circadian rhythym - ie the adrenals would

> start to produce cortisol then, so that cortisol is highest when we

> wake up at say 7am.

>

> Because our adrenals aren't able to produce cortisol, low cortisol

> will wake us up. I wake up starving, but I find if I take extra Pred

> at this time, the hunger goes, and I can go back to sleep until 7-

> 8am.

>

> I sometimes wake up just a few hours after going to sleep, and need

> more cortisol in spite of a bedtime dose. I have found that if I go

> into cortisol 'debt' during the day, I will use my bedtime dose up

> very quickly and need more just to carry on sleeping. It really is

> all about finding the right dose for you and your activities, and not

> going over your limit, or anticipating extra stress with higher

> doses.

>

> - I take pred rather than HC, as I have very weak adrenals. I

> wonder whether you would get an easier ride on this than on HC...?

>

> Nicola