Hypothyroid, Stress and Sleep

KathleenSweetie

Lately, I find that sleep is more a luxury than natural. I wonder if anyone knows food or such to go along with my thyroid med to help me get a more solid sleep. I've tried pasta for dinner and chamomile tea before bed, but neither are doing the trick well enough. I am concerned that I may get too over tired from lack of sleep that my thyroid med may not work as well as it should?

toddka1

Are you taking your thryoid medication before bed or first thing in the am? I'm not sure if that would cause you to have trouble sleeping, but I take mine first thing in the am. I also work out after work. I haven't had any trouble sleeping since my workouts were consistent in the late afternoon, early evening.

maracuya23

I have the exact same problem- I call it sleep limbo. Where I'm never entirely asleep or able to entirely wake up. Exercise does help somewhat for me, especially if I manage to work very hard and get physically exhausted during the day. It's a vicious cycle though, since dragging myself to workout is virtually impossible when I'm that tired, and then if I don't work out, I'm just awake enough all night to be tired again the next day, which is stressful, and makes it really hard to work out.... If anyone has a suggestion for breaking through that cycle, I too would love to hear it!

skinnylynnie74

I have found that a 10,000 lux light box does wonders to reset my circadian rhythm and help me feel alert in the morning and sleepy at night.

go2grrl

Last October I began having *huge* adrenaline rushes whenever I tried to lie down and go to sleep. Once asleep, I'd be fine. This went on every single night for about six months. My dr threw some Ambien at me, but that didn't really work and the list of side effects is horrifying. I had to "train" myself to go to bed. After much trial and error and as a last resort, I began taking half a Unisom tablet about an hour before bedtime. It worked like a charm for a month or so, but I knew I couldn't do it forever. Again, the side effects of long term use aren't anything I want to be part of.

So I switched over to to a liquid form of melatonin that I add to my nightly magnesium (I use a powdered form called "Calm") and that's worked very well. I make sure that I power off everything at nite and started watching The Daily Show and Colbert in the dark so I wouldn't be exposed to too much unnatural light right before bed. I've had a few "moments" in between, but for the last couple of months things have been much better. I have to take my thyroid med in the middle of the night so wake up naturally sometime around 3:30 AM to do so and it doesn't interfere with the quality of my sleep.

jumblejups

Have you had your levels tested recently? Granted this isn't the most common thing to happen, but I was having some real issues with sleep earlier this year. I have hypothyroidism, but turns out I went hyper for a bit. This was brought on by some major changes in my life - baby was only a month or so old - so with all the changing hormones and such I flipped to the other side (more unfortunately, I then went crashing to hypo and gained 6lb in 3 weeks). I'm not saying you'll be hyper, but it could be that you're not quite 'balanced' and it's having an effect on your sleep.

tbetts23

I blame this on age. I have what I I not so lovingly call my witching hours. I regularily wake up between 1 and 2. Then stay that way for an hour or three .

KathleenSweetie

I have the exact same problem- I call it sleep limbo. Where I'm never entirely asleep or able to entirely wake up. Exercise does help somewhat for me, especially if I manage to work very hard and get physically exhausted during the day. It's a vicious cycle though, since dragging myself to workout is virtually impossible when I'm that tired, and then if I don't work out, I'm just awake enough all night to be tired again the next day, which is stressful, and makes it really hard to work out.... If anyone has a suggestion for breaking through that cycle, I too would love to hear it!

I take my thyroid med in the a.m. I try to get in a walk each day. Since my movement has been limited (adrenal gland went haywire on me and I'm trying to get back my strength), I haven't done as intense of workouts. I think everyone's explanation really hit the nail on the head - not getting enough physical activity in the day. Thanks everyone for your help!

KathleenSweetie

Have you had your levels tested recently? Granted this isn't the most common thing to happen, but I was having some real issues with sleep earlier this year. I have hypothyroidism, but turns out I went hyper for a bit. This was brought on by some major changes in my life - baby was only a month or so old - so with all the changing hormones and such I flipped to the other side (more unfortunately, I then went crashing to hypo and gained 6lb in 3 weeks). I'm not saying you'll be hyper, but it could be that you're not quite 'balanced' and it's having an effect on your sleep.

Yes, I have (about 4 weeks ago). But this problem came about after that testing. So I'll be sure to discuss this with my doctor when I see him in a couple weeks. I agree: I'm sure my balance is off somehow and it's affecting my sleep. Also, since my activity is somewhat limited (and slowly increasing), I'm sure that's playing a bit part in this. Thanks!

KathleenSweetie

Last October I began having *huge* adrenaline rushes whenever I tried to lie down and go to sleep. Once asleep, I'd be fine. This went on every single night for about six months. My dr threw some Ambien at me, but that didn't really work and the list of side effects is horrifying. I had to "train" myself to go to bed. After much trial and error and as a last resort, I began taking half a Unisom tablet about an hour before bedtime. It worked like a charm for a month or so, but I knew I couldn't do it forever. Again, the side effects of long term use aren't anything I want to be part of.

So I switched over to to a liquid form of melatonin that I add to my nightly magnesium (I use a powdered form called "Calm") and that's worked very well. I make sure that I power off everything at nite and started watching The Daily Show and Colbert in the dark so I wouldn't be exposed to too much unnatural light right before bed. I've had a few "moments" in between, but for the last couple of months things have been much better. I have to take my thyroid med in the middle of the night so wake up naturally sometime around 3:30 AM to do so and it doesn't interfere with the quality of my sleep.

Wow, I'm impressed by all the things you tried! I'd rather not try more meds since I encounter negative side effects too often (migraines, etc.). As for melatonin, I don't have trouble recognizing that I want to sleep; I have difficulty staying asleep. I heard on Dr. Oz show that cherries contain natural melatonin (at a low dose), which I plan to try. Don't know yet how many would need to be consumed to make it worthwhile... but I can look into that more. Thanks for your advise!