Hi BeeBee,
Welcome to the Pain Mangement Forum. I am sorry to hear about your relatives insomnia. Many of us have suffered through many a sleepless night due to pain issue.
There are many claims of sleep agents on the market. My sister swears by a cup of hot camomile tea. Other teas that contain natural ingredients and ppl claim help them to sleep are catnip, anise or fennel tea.
I absolutely can have no caffeine after 12 noon, no exceptions. So I hope she is avoiding caffeine. If my pain is controlled I get adequate sleep.
I assume she has tried the usual, warm mild, soft music, a personal massage, a short warm bath and light bedtime snack and meditation to name a few. She should go to bed at the same time every day. No TV, no glaring lights and no day time naps, even short ones.
I have tried all of the above to help my senior citizen mom sleep, none of it has been effective. So after many trial and errors for a number of years she just gave up and excepted the fact that she is an insomniax. She sleeps about 2-3 on occasion 4 hours a night and naps when ever she can. There are times that her body seems to be just plain tried and she does sleep longer periods but not often.
This seems to be acceptable to mom and a lot less stressful than worrying if or how much she will sleep. She actually seems to sleep a bit better. It certainly doesn't harm anyone. Her PCP is fine with this. He also sees no harm for her. So another suggestion is that if none of these things work try to live with it. Make adjustments. Let her sleep when she can. Her internal clock may be different than ours. Stressing over sleep can actually keep us from sleeping.
A final thought is that the Lyrica may be effecting her differently than it does other ppl. She may want to try another medication such a Neurontin for awhile to see if it is the Lyrica that is effecting her sleep patterns.
Best of luck. Your relative is fortunate to have someone that cares, like you. Please stop by again and let us know how she is doing.
Peace,
Tuck
Lyrica is a fairly safe drug..it is the new Neurontin/an old drug used to block pain signals//interruprt the pathways basically
I am also a CP patient....I am prescribed amitryptilline...not in a depression dose...but 10-25 mgs is often RX-ed for pain relief and it makes u sleep. If peeps can not sleep..the pain cycle can not end....sleep is important for lots of reasons
perhaps she can talk to her dr about sumpin she can tolerate to help this? lyrica makes most peeps sleep..knocks me out so went back to neurontin....talk to her dr...good luckn