hello
just wondering if anyone else is experiencing this…
I’m on week 2 of first chemo cycle and have also just had my period and I am feeling abnormally elated and also unable to even think about going to sleep until around 5 or 6am. I’m not tossing and turning or anything, I’m just not at all sleepy. Have tried exercise and fresh air during the day, taking no caffeine at all.
I’ve always had marked mood swings linked to hormones (periods)and after my second baby was born I was a bit like this but it passed and I didn’t seek help or anything.
I am a bit worried that the chemo is affecting my hormone levels and I am going to have some kind of mental health problems linked to that. Already and anti-depressants and seeing psychologist. It just feels bizarre and I am finding it unnerving.
any feedback much appreciated
thanks
Monica x
Hi Monica,
This must all be very worrying for you with your health background. The Chemo will almost certainly be affecting your hormone levels. I don’t think this will be so much a fluctuation, but just a drop. I think it would be wise to mention your concerns to your GP & your medical team (oncologist, breast care nurse etc.) I don’t know how you are managing with so little sleep and perhaps you need to talk to your GP about this too cos if it goes on too long it will also affect your health. I think it must be so hard when you are already coping with other health problems to get all that cancer brings with it as well. Take care of yourself - No.1 !!!
Dawn
xx
thanks Dawn, I am a bit scared to be honest as I know how close to the wind I was sailing when Nina was a baby, and how much my moods have fluctuated in the past. Seeing psychologist on Monday but might ring onc team and see what they think.
thanks for your support!
monica xx
Hi daisyleaf, the feelings you are describing sound similar to how I felt when I was on steroids and chemo a long time ago. I would lie awake for hours wishing it was morning so that I could get up and take down the curtains and wash the windows…But you cannot go on like this night after night as you will just make yourself ill. I am glad that you are going to seek advice about it. I am often up late in the evening/early morning so if you can’t sleep send me a post and we can pass the time together! Lots of love and hugs, Val ( Scottishlass) XX
hi monica
i have real problems with sleep… if you search my posts you will see i frequently post in the wee small hours.
i dont go to bed usually till abbout 2 or 3 but sometime 4 or 5 and one time couldnt get to sleep until 9AM!
also on antidepressants but think it just cos i have so much whizzing around my head.
i havent been sleeping with my OH cos i disturb him but last night seeing its the weekend i did… but im sure he was wishing i wasnt there but didnt want to tell me… went to bed at 2 couldnt get to sleep and was quite restless until 3.30am when i fell asleep then was awake at 6am and that was me for another hour or so before i fell back asleep.
even one night went to bed early for me at 11.30 and was awake at 2.30 until 5am then feel crap all day.
i know around chemo day the steroids def affect me but i think i just think too much.
love lulu xx
hello
thanks everyone for your help on this one - I think, like you Lulu, my head is just too busy. I have already discussed some ‘mindfulness’ work with the psychologist, because even before the chemo and new wakefulness i have a busy head, but in an unhelpful way. I am just finding it disconcerting because although I always have a lot going on in my head i am generally a really good sleeper. I’ve been thinking about it since I first posted and talking to oh, and actually I’ve been having lots of very busy dreams, all night long for weeks, so its maybe an extension of that - clearly got a lot going on! Just worried that I lose the plot entirely!!!
take care
monica x
hi know how you all feel i am often up during the night and don’nt go to bed till late because i can’t sleep. no wonder i get really tired during the day and i’m not on chemo, but remember what it was like as not that long ago when it finished.
to be honest not only did the steroids keep me awake but made me a bit bonkers and i never even took the tablet steroids only the one in the vein. i suppose you need them but i found them hard to deal with and so did my family, husband especially.
they used to dread chemo wk as i turned into someone else and i’m usually quite tactful, i would say dreadful things to them and would get really angry then tearful.
love reneexx
Doesn’t this illness play some nasty tricks on us…
monica
i have those dreams too… almost feel like im awake and experience it personally and sometime quite surprise myself that i havent actually done it… most disappointing indeed.
when i wake in the middle of the night i just ping awake even if iv only slept for 2 or 3 hours but if i am woken by my alarm or something else after 8 or 9 hours sleep i feel shattered.
the dreams are really vivid and i can remember them in detail which i think in itself is really strange.
anyway i hope it becomes less of a burden to you.
Lulu xxxx
thanks Lulu
Its really reassuring me - you come across as very sane and I was worried I was losing the plot!!
monica x
i dont know about very sane… but not completely insane… not yet anyway… i think! LOL
as you can see im on my night patrol again… but its not just me there are 5 of us logged into the forum at the moment so maybe the nightshift is really quite a popular time to come browsing BCC.
Lxxxx