Sleep Disorders Common with RA

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I always take painkillers and muscle relaxants when I go to bed - depending on how bad a day I've had, I sometimes need to knock myself out.  However, I also sit quietly and do a self-taught form of biofeedback for about 20 minutes before going to bed - it gets me a bit ahead of the pain, so it's easier to fall asleep.

I was diagnosed with sleep apnea about 2 years before I was diagnosed with RA.  I wear a CPAP machine at night and I lost a bunch of weight (80 lbs) through diet and exercise, which helped my sleeping problems significantly.  That is until I was diagnosed with RA.  I frequently have daytime tiredness now as well as problems sleeping through the night (without pain meds).  I see a sleep specialist and we together are trying to find ways to provide me more restful sleep.  My CPAP machine seems to be taking care of my apneas throughout the night of sleep but I still wake up tired.  It seems since I started taking Enbrel I have had even more fatigue than I did before starting Enbrel.  As I find out more information from my "donation to medical science" I will be sure to pass along any information I find out on this topic.  

*To be fair though I do have a 3 year old and a year old at home during this time and they both did their parts in cutting down my sleep time as well.   

Hello, I was diagnosed with RA on April 29th of this year, I have been taking folic Acid and Methotrexate, I have been taking these medication for 5 months now and I think I have done o.k. on it but I have been feeling fatigued during the day at first I thought that I just needed to get use to the medication and I would be my self again but I tired all the time and I don't feel like doing anything not even cleaning my house and that is not me! and I'm so tired but at night I can not sleep I'm up at all hours of the night or I will fall asleep for about an hour and then I am up and can't fall asleep again so I turn the t.v. on and for the past 2 weeks when I'm in bed trying to fall asleep my legs feel funny like I can't keep my legs still they feel funny, but I thought it was just me and now that I am reading your post maybe that's what I have RLS it drives me crazy when that happens to me I don't like the way that feels. What is there to do? If it's not one thing it's another. What I'm really tired of is taking these medications and the pain I just can't take this anymore I started yoga this week I'm really hoping that yoga helps me sleep so it has not, but I'm hoping the more I do it that it will help sooner or later it will help! Do you have any ideas? or any advice? please I don't know what to do anymore!

I absolutely agree with all the good advice above but I would recommend anyone with sleep problems to get a new mattress. I have recently and it has contributed greatly to my sleep and I feel much better during the day. I am now the proud owner of a memory foam mattress, which I bought from the Comfort Bed Company. I found them on the web where they are hundreds of mattress websites but I wanted to try one first and this company now have a shop specialing in memory foam mattresses. It is a small family business and they just want to help you. I urge you to find them at their website www.comfortbedcompany.co.uk

I was diagnosed with RA a little less than four months ago in early June of this year. I was just mentioning to my husband a few days ago how I can't seem to sleep through the night anymore. I am waking up at least once a night and often times two or three times. Sometimes I just look at the clock trying to figure out how long it is until I need to get up, sometimes I toss and turn frustrated because I'm "uncomfortable" and other times I get up to use the bathroom.

I think I can rule rule out "bladder" issues as I also take Detrol LA for for overactive bladder. I'm on quite a few medications and it never entered my mind that my night time waking could be connected to my medications. In addition to the Detrol LA for my bladder, I take 25mg methotrexate, plaquenil, folic acid and leucovorin for my RA and Levoxyl for hypothyroidism, clarinex for seasonal allergies. My RA is pretty well under control right now, primarily intermittent pain in fingers, hands, wrists, ankles and feet but the original joint swelling is down and the current pain is no where near how it was before I started treatment so I don't think my waking is due to pain - lucky for me!

Do others like me feel like a hypochondriac each time you bring up a new ache or pain to your rheumatologist (first it was wrists really painful so I got a shot of corticosteroid in each one, then it was the ankles which got me shots there too, then it was persistent canker sores from the MTX - non-stop for 6 weeks plus which led to the leucovorin) dare I now mention my sleep disturbances?

Overall I feel very lucky as the medication is working (with only manageable discomfort/pain remaining) and I truly believe that it will continue to work so that my plan is to live a normal life. I am not anticipating disability, depression or anything like that.

I'm very thankful for this website and to everyone who shares their experiences as I've learned so much. While my heart goes out to those of you who are suffering I am thankful that my disease is manageable. I wish you all peace!