Insomnia

I'm Lorraine and suffered a stroke 6 months ago but am still suffering badly with insomnia and daytime tiredness as I can't nap either anyone suffering with this so long after there stroke.

Sorry to hear about your stroke. I struggled to sleep in the evenings and have been subscribed tablets to help with my sleep, don’t always help but I do fall asleep quickly but tend to wake up a lot after midnight. Had no issues before my stroke which was 4 months ago. Maybe worth speaking to your gp

Hi Lorrainesmiley Firstly,  Your stroke was only 6 months ago.  That's a very short time in stroke recovery.    I am almost 3 years out, and I am still tired in the daytime. Stroke fatigue is very common.  Also, even if you do not suffer from stroke fatigue, if you are having trouble sleeping, that is going to make you tired during the day.  The brain needs to sleep, especially when recovering from stroke, as it is working very hard rewiring itself.  (Hard to believe, but the brain uses up 20% of the body's nutrients for the day.)  I had trouble sleeping in the months following my stroke.  Looking back, I think a lot of it was due to anxiety over the stroke experience.  At bedtime I would use CBD oil to help me relax and sleep (20mg to 40gm under the tongue drops) .  I tried melatonin, but that made me feel groggy the next day, and I didn't want to get into sleeping medications because of all the bad side effects.   Another thing I did was to stop taking in any caffein.   I now have only 1 cup of decaf coffee a day.  I'll never go back to caffein.  The CBD oil helped a lot , for sleep, anxiety, and the leg spasms I was having.   I rarely need to use it now.  I also saw a counselor for a few weeks.  She gave me some techniques that helped with the anxiety, which I'm sure helped with the sleep.  I also have a glass of wine each evening with supper.  Be patient with yourself.  Your brain is probably "edgy" because of the experience.  It won't last forever.  I'll remember you in my prayers tonight. smiley Love, Jeanne

Thank you Jeanne that was a big help glad you are a lot better I may give the oil a go . Thank you ❤

Thank you yesdid try tablets from doctor but didn't like side effects . 

Hello Lorraine, 

I'm eleven months on, have incessant insomnia and knackered all throughout the day, unfortunately. Six months is very early in recovery, but with time things move forward, albeit, slowly. I use lavendar oil on my pillow, and listen to ambient music on sleep headband headphones. Occassionally, I take a benzodiazepine if things are just awful, but not regularly.

To help overcome insomnia I have 'pillow speakers' which plug into my bedside radio. Here in New Zealand the local FM radio choices including a government run 'Concert' programme site which plays only classical music. Between midnight and 6am it is all previously recorded so there are no announcments, adverts, news or weather forecasts, just music.    

Classical music is not everyones choice and a lot of the time it is very boring but it is good for encourarging me to sleep and my partner cannot hear it at all so is undisturbed. If it gets unnaceptable I can just move the speaker away from being directly below my ear and it becomes inaudible!

TV emits a blue light which is not good for the brain to rest, so the last half hour of the day I make sure to read a book rather than watch TV. This is something I have only recently introduced and it is working very successfully.

Deigh