Any advice on getting more sleep?

[Shadowlord900]

Thought I'd just throw this out of nowhere to see what others think.

I've been suffering from possible GERD (unsure, I'm going to see a private doctor about it tomorrow). At the moment I've been on 2 Omeprazole 20mg tablets daily, one in the morning and the other in the evening. Been doing this for the past 5 days.

It's helping relive most of my symptoms but my sleeping has been the worst it's ever been for the past 3 days, and even before I got GERD mid-August I'd always end up waking up in the middle of the night. I seem to usually get 2 lots of 1.5 hours of deep sleep while waking up in between. Last night I woke up with quite a bit of pain in my chest, and even more so in my arms. It's because of this I'm actually gonna start weening off of Omeprazole slowly, I think 2 tablets is too much.

Originally a different private doctor recommended I drink Chamomile tea to calm myself. I tried it and it tastes icky, so I found some Chamomile tablets and tried those instead. They helped to begin with but now no longer work so I stopped taking them.

Any advice or ideas would be appreciated. (Btw I'm only drinking beetroot juice in the morning and still spring water with orange squash all other times so I haven't been drinking any soda or caffeine.)

 

[rainbowbright]

I find valerian root good for this

 

[wljourney]

For the reflux issues you can try having a few spoons of yoghurt before going to bed. Or just a tiny bit of dry, white bread. Or half a banana. Anything that is low in acid and "binds" those gastric juices.

It can also help to sleep with your upper body slightly elevated to keep your stomach lower than your esophagus. You can try and use a folded blanket under your head and shoulders. The idea is to keep the acid in your stomach flowing into your esophagus (which then causes the pain).

The sleeplessness... that's another thing. Question is: is the GERD responsible for the sleeplessness or is it something else?
Once you fix the reflux, you might be able to sleep through.

I doubt that Camomile tea will fix this. But there are a few things you can do for better "sleep hygiene". Try to google that. There are tons of tips available. For me it's earplugs, sleep mask, no caffeine after 2 pm and Rx drugs. I'm well beyond "camomile tea" at this point.

 

[Shadowlord900]

For the reflux issues you can try having a few spoons of yoghurt before going to bed. Or just a tiny bit of dry, white bread. Or half a banana. Anything that is low in acid and "binds" those gastric juices.

It can also help to sleep with your upper body slightly elevated to keep your stomach lower than your esophagus. You can try and use a folded blanket under your head and shoulders. The idea is to keep the acid in your stomach flowing into your esophagus (which then causes the pain).

The sleeplessness... that's another thing. Question is: is the GERD responsible for the sleeplessness or is it something else?
Once you fix the reflux, you might be able to sleep through.

I doubt that Camomile tea will fix this. But there are a few things you can do for better "sleep hygiene". Try to google that. There are tons of tips available. For me it's earplugs, sleep mask, no caffeine after 2 pm and Rx drugs. I'm well beyond "camomile tea" at this point.

Thanks for the advice. I've already done most of those (even raised the back of my bed from the legs a good few inches), but I usually eat brown bread instead of white at a lunch time. Would you think white bread be better?

And admittedly no I don't think GERD is responsible for it first happening, it's just gotten much worse since then.

 

[wljourney]

Thanks for the advice. I've already done most of those (even raised the back of my bed from the legs a good few inches), but I usually eat brown bread instead of white at a lunch time. Would you think white bread be better?

No i don't think that would make a difference. The idea is to eat something that isn't acidic and easy to digest, but only a small amount, because you don't want your stomach to create even more gastric juices for digestion. It might help to eat smaller dinners too.

Stress can also increase production of acid in your stomach afaik.
Talk to your doctor, they may be able to prescribe something for both.

 

[Celerity]

You need to see a doctor ASAP.

I have taken acid reflux medications, including omeprazole and now esomeprazole magnesium, for most of my life now. The symptoms you are describing to me sound like more than reflux and do not necessarily suggest quitting the medication. GERD can definitely make sleeping hard, but pain in your arms? I have never experienced that before or heard of it with this medication.

How old are you? What other issues do you have? It's entirely possible to have both GERD and a circulatory issue that causes chest and arm pain. Arm pain is a symptom of a heart attack and should not be ignored. It is entirely possible to have a "mild" heart attack (or several) at home that you can weather only for tests at the hospital to confirm their occurrence.

 

[Shadowlord900]

You need to see a doctor ASAP.

I have taken acid reflux medications, including omeprazole and now esomeprazole magnesium, for most of my life now. The symptoms you are describing to me sound like more than reflux and do not necessarily suggest quitting the medication. GERD can definitely make sleeping hard, but pain in your arms? I have never experienced that before or heard of it with this medication.

How old are you? What other issues do you have? It's entirely possible to have both GERD and a circulatory issue that causes chest and arm pain. Arm pain is a symptom of a heart attack and should not be ignored. It is entirely possible to have a "mild" heart attack (or several) at home that you can weather only for tests at the hospital to confirm their occurrence.

32. I've tried to harm myself in the past by drinking a lot of Energy drinks. I once drank 5000ml across two days early March and unfortunately the NHS seemed unconcerned about it (and before that I tried to overdose on Nytol and alcohol, now that time I got admitted to hospital to have my body cleansed). I rarely drank Energy drinks since then (probably like 1 500ml can a week) until mid-August where we had that terrible heat wave, I didn't feel like trying to sleep through and drunk 1400ml in the span of 1 and a half days (no where near as much as previously) and now all of my symptoms have come back worse than ever.

I've been to A&E twice in the past week and haven't found any major problems with my blood and heart related tests, only an irregular heart beat due to tachycardia.

 

[Celerity]

32. I've tried to harm myself in the past by drinking a lot of Energy drinks. I once drank 5000ml across two days early March and unfortunately the NHS seemed unconcerned about it (and before that I tried to overdose on Nytol and alcohol, now that time I got admitted to hospital to have my body cleansed). I rarely drank Energy drinks since then (probably like 1 500ml can a week) until mid-August where we had that terrible heat wave, I didn't feel like trying to sleep through and drunk 1400ml in the span of 1 and a half days (no where near as much as previously) and now all of my symptoms have come back worse than ever.

I've been to A&E twice in the past week and haven't found any major problems with my blood and heart related tests, only an irregular heart beat due to tachycardia.

If you're having anxiety this bad and all your work-ups are fine, maybe a visit to a psych is in order. I don't like them and have a lot of bad to say about their practices, but your symptoms are so bad that you may be able to talk one into giving you a benzo for a little while. That could help. I don't know of anything easily obtainable that could help you.