Friday, July 10, 2009
Will someone please help me to straighten up my sleeping patterns? I sleep in too late all the while I am depressed, I get up when not depressed I regularly get up between 5:45 and "6:oo am. The depressed times of mine clash with my work. I have had Multiple Sclerosis since I've been 29 yrs. oldd .I am now 50 yrs.
Hi there
You might already know this but we have a great MS site here on Health Central and here is a link to my profile there. Please stop by any time...there is a great community there just like here with lots of support. I have Multiple Sclerosis and depression too.
Okay so you have three issues going on at the same time:
1. Depression
2. Multiple Sclerosis
3. Sleeping problems
When you have multiple things going on at once sometimes it is hard to figure out what is causing what. I know for a fact that MS can cause depression as the lesions can affect our mood centers. And to boot...we are dealing with a chronic disease!
What medications are you on if I may ask? Sometimes the medications for MS can have side effects...such as depression. Are you treating your depression in any way? Are you taking any meds for depression and are you seeing a therapist?
I do think that treating your depression will greatly help your sleep.
I would begin a little sleep diary of what time you generally fall asleep, how long it takes, your mood upon awakening, are you tired when you get up? and all those sorts of details so that you can begin to look for patterns and also to take this information in to your doctor. Also are there any MS symptoms which are messing up your sleep like spams?
I will tell you what helps me but...everyone is different. It does help for me to exercise (I am not sure what your limitations are with this) as this makes me tired for when I do go to bed. And I get a more restful sleep. I also take Melatonin which is a natural substance and usually gets me to sleep within an hour. It does not, however, keep one asleep...there are times when I get up in the night briefly.
I think you really need to sort out what is caused by depression, what is caused by the MS and fatigue...and work to get you a restful sleep where you do not wake up tired.
One step at a time...the first step is to write it all down and begin to look for patterns.
I do hope you keep writing here. We can try to help!