Anxiety, Sleep, and Bedtime Dose of Armour

[Guest guest]

" jasrich " wrote:

> Klonopin is like Xanax. I take it for anxiety - not a big dose, but

more than I wish I was taking. It and the Lunesta together are not

keeping me asleep so it's not worth taking them. Was thinking about

trying Ambien CR but you don't seem to have had much luck with it. I

will try to keep some salt water handy for night-time as that can't

hurt.

, DH is my test subject for everything and much of what I base

my knowledge on (besides copious research/reading). He suffered

severe anxiety for years and was a light, fitful sleeper. I had no

idea that he spent some nights in the family room reading. I have

always been a heavy sleeper. Since starting HC and Armour (WITH the

bedtime dose), he is now sleeping deeper and dreaming (when he is

asleep). He still has occasional wake-up problems, but commented

that everytime he has a wake-up, he's in the middle of a dream. I

don't believe he slept or dreamt much before. I can also vouch that

since raising my Armour, I feel I'm always dreaming too. REM sleep

is ESSENTIAL to mental health, and the bedtime dose of Armour helps

with that, by shortening stages 1 & 2 (superficial sleep), and

lengthening stages 3 & 4 (deep sleep).

The majority of the T3 in Armour wears off in 4-5 hours, so if your

last dose is at 7 p.m., well you better hope your body can convert

the T4 that's left, or it might actually contribute to fitful sleep.

The only reason Armour should affect your sleep negatively is because

you're not on enough HC, in which case, you would not be tolerating

it well during the day either.

DH's anxiety just about disappeared when he got to the right dose of

HC. He said it was amazing, because the anxiety had been a constant

for years, sometimes controlled and lower with kava, but always there.

, if you still have enough anxiety that you need to take

Klonopin, I feel you are not on enough HC. The biggest danger with

going too high is creating diabetes, but your BG monitor still shows

you low, so you were not on too high a dose before. I think anytime

after an increase, you might want to monitor your BG for a few days

to prevent that problem.

Probably part of the reason you can't even take naps now is that your

adrenaline is running high to compensate for your low cortisol. It's

hard to take a nap if your adrenaline is high. BTDT. There are two

acupressure points that helped me " start " a nap when I was in this

stage. You press a point on the bridge of your nose, just slightly

below your eyebrows. At the same time, you press a point on your

chest, about 4 finger-widths from the base of your breastbone. There

is a slight depression there. Press both, and try to do the deep

belly breathing they teach you in yoga.

I know you also wake up parched, but resist drinking, cause you don't

want to go to the bathroom. To me, this is ignoring a request from

your body for more liquids. By the time the night is done, I've

usually finished two glasses of salt water, taken more vitamins at 4

a.m., and a thyroid pill between 6:30-7 a.m. and rolled back to sleep

each time. I make two trips to the bathroom too, but fall right back

asleep each time. If you resist drinking, I think that leads to

dehydration, and your body would send more signals to wake you to try

to get you to drink.

Sorry this is so long, but hopefully it might help you and anyone

else reading it.

Barb