Originally Posted by
Aflac
CD just wondering if you would share any specifics on your sleep improvements over time?
You mention you had problems with light sleep on TMO. What turned your sleep around specifically? Or when did you notice any kind of quality or consistency or depth return? I have tried magnesium and glycine (via gelatin and collagen). Maybe a small improvement in sleep after zinc and magnesium, but not much.
I plan to try the herbs, 7 to 10 is probably what I could afford to buy to start; did any specifically improve sleep more than others, otherwise I’ll probably look through them and just pick 7 I think seem best to start with.
I miss being able to exercise hard and sleep deeply; it made me feel strong in body and spirit; it made me feel human.
I put my question first so you wouldn’t have to read my background if you didn’t want to…essentially took a small amount about a year ago, it super f**ked up my brain and then my body has morphed into something else / generally gone down hill over the past year.
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Background
Took one dose of finasteride. Didn’t sleep at all that night. And my sleep was disturbed for a few days to a week. After this I returned to fairly normal, if anything I felt hormones raging. (Although maybe my sleep pattern was shifting more than normal but nothing I was concerned about)
Due to the initial sleep trouble I never took a second dose of finasteride (I took proscar/cheaper pill, not propecia).
Two months later in the middle I woke up wide-eyed and physically uncomfortable for no reason. Something happened to my brain chemistry at that moment in time - it felt like someone plugged me into an electrical outlet. My life and my sleep have not been the same since. This happened in March 2016.
Like healthy people I used to wake up in the morning feeling rested then get tired throughout the day and sleepy at night then sleep 7 to 9 hours. But since that night in March 2016 I don’t really transition properly into sleep. In fact I hardly ever feel very sleepy. I do lose consciousness for a period of time most nights, but I wouldn’t call it real sleep and it is fragmented and short. Strangely if you were to wake me up in the middle of the night at any time, after 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours etc. there is no grogginess or sleep inertia. Once I regain consciousness I am immediately alert and awake. I have no real drive/pressure to sleep like I used to.
Alcohol has no effect, no buzz. I can’t maintain my bicep contraction when I go to make a muscle it goes soft quickly, like it can’t maintain the tone. I’ve also developed a smooth strange skin texture and appetite and thirst changes (blunted most days). I’ve stopped masturbating as my organisms were less intense or sometimes absent or made my head feel weird (which was mortifying at first).
Immediately I could not tolerate weight lifting. Cardio felt okay at first, I think because I was fit when this happened to me. But slowly I cannot tolerate the same level of cardio. And while I never sleep well, if I wear myself out through exercise (can only do cardio) my sleep onset is delayed and even more fragmented the night following the exercise.
I don’t feel too much anxiety anymore, feels more like my body has found a new homeostasis, but one I don’t want. I was very depressed about this as my body was undergoing these negative changes over the past year. However I feel I’ve hit the bottom; I’m in pretty bad shape, BUT I don’t seem to be getting any worse. It’s frightening to feel so fundamentally different - waking up from sleep at any point in the night and not feeling sleepy or groggy in anyway.
In the back of my mind I will never lose hope for a full recovery, that's just how I operate; but with such severe changes to the way I operate, part of me understands I may not completely revert back to normal. I’d just like to get back to feeling as good as I can.
Even if my body is not working like it used to, I am still working well enough to be alive and there are things I enjoy other than fitness, exercise, and sleep. (music / reading / movies / lots of other good stuff). Got to make that lemonade. Somebody somewhere is worse off, or doing more with less, no doubt. Just hard to keep that in the front of the mind 24 /7 or when symptoms are bad. Thank you for reading if you made it through all that.