well hi all, its 2.28am AGAIN! i feel like a lobster, ive looked outside and all the car are frozen up - i can proberbly defrost them from here. i had snb and wle on 1st dec an am on arimidex. im not sweaty just bloody hot, i had a couple of glasses of wine last night can this make it worse?
sue
Hi
I can only add that I started on Femara in June and have discovered that if I have as much as half a glass of anything alcoholic I spend the night in an absolute hot sweat. As a result I have become tee total, I really decided that I could live without wine but living without sleep was impossible. (Large amounts of chocolate have the same effect but there are limits to what I will go without. Now I limit myself to just a very small amount)
Good Luck
Andie
I sympathise. On tamoxifen I slept very well, but had terrible SEs, so I came off it. Since going on Zoladex and Arimidex in August, my sleep patterns have been awful. I, like you, get soooo hot several times a night and then it takes ages to cool down. I seem to get between 5 and 7 hours sleep a night and it’s starting to take its toll. I’ve gone so far as to book some acupuncture on Monday, so I’ll let you know how I get on.
Like Andie, I can’t drink alcohol:( Apart from giving me an instant hot flush, which I can cope with, even a very small glass of something gives me a headache or migraine which lasts the whole of the next day.
Sal
I have been on arimidex for 12months and still cant sleep, I go to bed with the window wide open and never wear jumpers or heavy coats, as soon as I drink wine I come over all hot, havent had gas fire on yet I have my own central heating, suzan x
I had (wine-induced) migraines at the start of my Tamoxifen and Zoladex cocktail but they did settle down and after a while I could have wine (I don’t like spirits) to no ill effects. The sleeping also got better, especially after I started using a chillow.
Oh ain’t it great having your own climate and feeling guilty about your contribution towards melting the polar ice cap??!!
I take Clonidine for the flushes and it works. I take about 12 a day but you need to be careful if you have low BP.
As for sleep … well I have a few suggestions. One is to get an iPod and listen to whatever is soporific e.g. Paul McKenna or Barbara Siddall. Another helpful thing is to eat a banana in the evning as your magnesium levels may be low and this contributes to insomnia - true. I take a magnesium supplement and it has definitely helped. I cannot face bananas.
Having a hot drink is counterproductive is you’re having flushes. Try a long cold drink instead. Stick to your normal bedtime routine and maybe try the chillow on your back - I couldn’t maanage with my head/face on it even if it was under the pillow. How about filling a hot water bottle with cold water?
I used to get lots of ironing done “in the wee small hours”.
I think that’s it. It gets better but it takes a while!