I'm going to the GP on Friday to discuss my tiredness and sleep problem. I know there's probably more than one thing going on here (eg anemia/ hypothyroid may well be contributing to the tiredness), but I want to get to the bottom of my sleep problem.

I've never slept particularly brilliantly, usually waking up once or twice a night, but in the past couple of years, its become much worse. This has happened with the general onset of my coeliac symptoms, although hasn't imporved since going gluten-free 6 mths ago. I don't think it's gluten keeping me awake.

I generally don't have probs going to sleep, I just wake up and/or surface lots of times in the night, resulting in me feeling exhausted. It doesn't help that if I wake up I then feel like I need a pee. I can often pee quite a bit at night, but I don't think it's that that disturbs my sleep.

Sometimes I have difficulties falling to sleep as my legs are restless. I've never been formally diagnosed with RLS. When I wake up in the night, i'm rarely aware of my legs, so don't know if it could be that

I've got a bad back which has plagued me on and off, but it doesn't explain why I wake up so many times each night.

I've been on anti depressants for the last year, but my psych doesn't think my sleep probs are emotional/ mental and I agree.

So I'm wondering, could it be RLS? Other food intolerances????

Any thoughts would be really appreciated as I can't imagine my GP getting very far with this

Susie x

A few things come to mind:

1. what are the meds? Often they have side effects of insomnia, and even your GP can't keep track of all the side effects of all the meds s/he prescribes.

2. are you drinking liquids past 7pm? are any of them caffeinated? do you drink caffeine at all? do you eat late?

3. in "eastern" medicine, WHEN you cant' sleep is as important in determining WHY you can't sleep. In other words, folks who wake up between 1 and 3 might have liver troubles, whereas someone who can't fall asleep well may have spleen troubles. It might be worth looking into.

4. weird noises. weird light.

5. can you breath well through your nose - or do you get stuff in the night.

Hi Bully4you
The meds are cipralex (your brand in the US is lexapro). I've just read Lisa's thread about her side effects of coming off lexapro and CDFamily posted on there about the effects lexapro can have on sleep. I never knew that - maybe that's a big contributing factor.

I generally only drink water. If I do have caffeine it will be max one cup a day of tea and no later than 3pm. i do drink water after 7pm as I get so very thirsty all the time. It makes me feel thirsty just thinking about it (it's 9.30pm here).

As for the times I wake up, it probably is mostly the early hours

Weird noises and light....well there are the martians next door come to think of it

I often have a stuffed up nose, day or night coz of my allergies. A few weeks ago I bought a new allergy friendly pillow and pillow protector and it does help with the sneezles somewhat....I don't think it's that that's always waking me up though.

Will research lexapro more

It very well could be RLS. Most people with RLS go to the doctor for sleep problems. 10% of the population has RLS but it is often undiagnosed. Hopefully, your doctor knows about it and can help you.

I used to wake up all the time and then I would have to pee. Well, I later began having trouble with frequency during the day and was finally dxd with IC, Interstitial Cystitis.

What I'm saying is that it COULD be the bladder waking you up.

RLS is another possibility, that's for sure. I hope your dr can help!!

Hi Susie,

The same thing happens to me with sleep. I wake up so many times and I don't have to pee, so I don't think that's it for me. It's usually happens between 2 am and 6 am. Drives me nuts. Would love to have an answer for this. One doc said it was my adrenals being stressed and weak.

S

I was diagnosed after my primary care doctor sent me to a sleep specialists. That was eight years ago. I am now under his care with a cpac mahine for assisted breathing at night. The sleep test is an overnight stay at a local hospital or lab. They are becoming more commen even in small communities.

They check not only for sleep apnea, but for any conditions which may disturbing your good nights sleep.

Best wishes for your improvement.

Do a sleep study.

I did one...they said I have sleep apnea, which I would have never expected because I'm not fat and I don't snore. During my sleep test, I fell asleep in 7 minutes and I didn't go into REM sleep, which makes them think I have narcolepsy. I also had over 8 arousals per hour, which is a lot. Now I'm fighting my insurance company to cover the narcolepsy test.

They gave me a CPAP, but I pull it off in my sleep every night, so it's not helping.

I had mono last fall but the blood test says it's gone. I'm getting an ultrasound of my gallbladder next week because I get throbbing pains there sometimes. I'm also seeing an ENT to see if he can help with my congestion/sleep issue. And I'm trying to take the narcolepsy test...there are milder forms of it.

Hi. I had exactly the same problem, always waking up during the night and therefore not being alert during the day. I cured it by taking vitamin B supplements and making sure I got regular exercise.

Those with coeliac disease have an extra demand for the B vitamins (1). Whether we just don't utilise them well or just use a lot I don't know. If we don't get enough B vitamins we can get a bit anxious (well I do anyway). I have found that B complexes with B12 seem to more beneficial.

I recommend taking a vitamin B complex, consuming 100mg of vitamin B6 a day to start off with and then adjust as necessary.

all the best
Dwayne

(1) this is according to Adelle Davis, google her or search amazon for more information.

I agree that B vitamins (esp B6) are important, but consider thay you might be dehydrated. I had exactly the same problem: wake up after a few hours sleep, feeling like I had to urinate, but not thinking that was the problem. I even tried not drinking for a few hours before bed, but that just made me wake up earlier.

What 'worked' to some extent was getting up as soon as I woke up, going to the bathroom, and then drinking a glass or two of water. I was usually able to fall back asleep quickly. It was sleep in 2-3 hour increments, but it was better than not sleeping.

A lot of celiacs experience an increased need for water (check some of the other threads; there are quite a few about drinking water). Going gluten-free had helped, but I'm still drinking way more than healthy people.

It's worth a try --- drinking water is easy and doesn't cost anything!

Dwayne is right about the B vitamins. I use a liquid SuperB Complex in my cran-grape juice 1/2 hour before bedtime. That is also when I take my Lexapro. When you take the Lexapro is important, even though the pharmacist might say it is not. I start falling asleep about 1/2 hour after taking it, so I take it at bedtime.

When I had my sleep test done, the doctor explained that in sleeping, the first few hours are the deepest, then sleep starts to get lighter, which allows for easier interruption. This lighter sleep is when most people rouse out completely, having wake cycles. Once I learned that this is normal, I stopped fretting over how many times I wake up each night. Once I stopped fretting, I stopped feeling tired all day. I was amazed at how much better I felt when I stopped worrying about how many times I woke up during the night.

TestyTommy Thanks for the information about the extra demand for water that coeliacs need. I didn't know about that, a new thing for me to google.

How are you guys with tree nuts and whole corn pieces?
Tree nuts bloat me up.
Ground corn is fine but if I have whole pieces of corn the next day my upper back is sore.

chau