Getting Good Night's Sleep:

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Top 1. Oct 5, 2004 7:44 AM

» energynow - Getting A Good Night's Sleep: update 23 www.endfatigue.com

Author: energynow
Date: October 5, 2004 10:42 A.M.
Subject: Getting a Good Night's Sleep - Part 7
www.endfatigue.com

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Perhaps this info. will help someone. I'm not endorsing this, just passing along information.

Jean

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Update #23- Getting a Good Nights Sleep-Part 7

We’ve talked about how CFS/ fibromyalgia is like “blowing a fuse” when a stress (be it infectious , nutritional, situational, post pregnancy, etc) results in more energy demands on your body than it can keep up with. The “circuit breaker” that you blow is called the hypothalamus, which controls sleep, hormonal function, temperature, and blood pressure (autonomic function). Although this protects your body from further harm, like a circuit breaker it’s important to know how to turn it back on. You do this by increasing energy production and decreasing energy losses by:

1-Taking what ever treatments you need to get 8-9 hours of sleep a night

2-Getting proper nutritional support

3-eliminating infections (especially fungal and parasitic), and

4-treating hormonal deficiencies that are routinely missed on blood testing.

When you treat these 4 areas, our gold standard placebo controlled study shows that 91% of CFS/FMS patients improve with an AVERAGE 90% improvement in quality of life. The majority of patients were pain free by the end of the study. In addition to this, an editorial in the Journal of the American Academy of Pain Management (one of the largest medical societies of pain specialists in the US) noted “research and clinical experience shows that Teitelbaum’s approach is an excellent and highly effective part of the standard of practice for treating fibromyalgia and myofascial pain”. Although the medical community overall is slow to get it, movement is occurring!

We’ve discussed nutritional support and overviewed sleep treatments. What I would like to do for the next few issues of the newsletter is to discuss a few more prescription sleep aids that can be helpful, followed by a brief discussion of sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, and what it means if you can’t stay awake during the day. We will then move on to pain management, infections and hormonal issues.

We’ve discussed Ambien, Desyrel and Klonopin which are the 3 best prescription sleep aids for CFS/Fibromyalgia. For many people however, the hypothalamic sleep suppression is so severe (or because of medication intolerance) that other sleep meds need to be added or substituted so that you can get that critical 8-9 hours of sleep a night (again, I recommend you take whatever is needed to healthfully get this). These are some other medications that are worth trying, and you can add them in this order:

1- Cyclobenzaprine (Flexeril). This is a muscle relaxant. It can be a very helpful medication for many people, especially if the pain is severe. The usual dose is one-half to one 10-milligram tablet at bedtime, but some people need to take two tablets at bedtime. The main side effects are sedation and dry mouth and eyes.

2- Neurontin (gabapentin) 300 milligram (it comes in 100 -- 800 mg doses). Taking 1-3 capsules at bedtime can markedly help with both sleep and pain in many patients. Its main problem is next day sedation, which often wears off with time. It can also be taken during the day for pain relief at doses of up to 4800 milligrams daily (see chapter on pain medications).

3-Zanaflex (Tizanidine) 4 mg tabs -- one-half to two tablets at bedtime can be very helpful for both pain and sleep. It rarely causes nightmares. If these occur repeatedly, stop the Zanaflex.

4-Gabitril - 2 mg twice a day and increase by a maximum 4 mgs daily each week to maximum of 24 mg a day. It helps both pain and deep sleep. The average optimally effective of dose of the Gabitril is 16 mg a day (Range 10– 24 mg a day). Gabitril decreases pain by approximately 30% and decreases sleep problems by approximately 40%. Another benefit is that the amount of time spent in deep, restorative sleep is increased. Start with a low dose and slowly work up as is comfortable. It may take a few weeks to see the full effect. Some of you may have heard about another medication called Pregabalin that may be released for FMS. This medication has the problem of causing weight gain and may not be released because some studies raise concern about it causing cancer. The good news is that Gabitril may be as effective without any of these problems and is already available for use.

5-Zaleplon (Sonata), 10-milligram tablets. Sonata generally wears off within 3-4 hours, so it is best used in the middle of the night (for example, at 4:00 a.m.) if you wake up and need something to help you fall back to sleep, or if you have trouble falling asleep but not staying asleep.

Previous editions of this FAQ newsletter can be seen at www.Vitality101.com

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Effective treatment for Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is now available on the web. Check out our online program at www.endfatigue.com <> . It will tailor a treatment program to your specific case. See the results of our studies on "Effective Treatment of Severe Chronic Fatigue States - Research Studies." The revised "From Fatigued To Fantastic!" book and newsletters as well as our supplements can be ordered from 800-333-5287 or on our web site at www.endfatigue.com.

Best wishes on getting well,
Amy Podd for The From Fatigued To Fantastic, LLC.

Disclaimer: Please be aware that medicine is complex and without being actually being your attending physician we cannot give medical advice. The information given above is to be used as a teaching tool for you and your physician to work with. Understandably, we cannot take any legal responsibility for it's use. Please check with your personal physician before applying any of these recommendations.

-- posted by energynow

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