Sleep and Mental Sides

Symptoms Physical
#1

  1. Does ANYONE out there continue to suffer mental sides despite having completely normal (8+ hours nightly) sleep?

  2. What has improved your sleep? Personally, I have experienced the following …

  • Melatonin had little to no effect, which to me says that I have enough melatonin already, though I could be wrong.
  • 5-HTP had little to no effect as well, which makes sense given that, as I said, I believe I have enough melatonin. 5-HTP is a derivative of tryptophan used in the production of Melatonin.
  • Benadryl knocked me out cold for a week before I develop a tolerance.
  • Magnesium has little to no effect. Magnesium is, supposedly, used to lower cortisol and reduce your overall stress.

I have read that people have improved sleep via Remeron which is mirtazapine. I have not researched this, but I will do so shortly to determine its method of action.

  1. If your sleep has completely recovered / improved dramatically, please describe the following, and whether or not you believe this effected your sleep.
  • Your diet
  • Exercise
#2

I have not recovered from insomnia, so I can’t answer your questions, but for me too, melatonine and magnesium are of no help. Didn’t try 5-HTP. I also sleep more easily when I take a cold medicine containing diphenhydramine like Benadryl, but I haven’t been using it as a sleeping aid.

Exercise makes a difference for me, but by that I mean if I went to the gym or been running the same day. In that case, I will be more tired and more relaxed at night and will sleep more easily, but exercise on previous days won’t change anything.

The only way I was able to change my sleep was intermittent fasting with a short eating window (usually 4 hours). Sometimes I would feel I was awake all night, but would have dreams, and the next day I would feel good. I tried a lot of diets, no sugar, no grains, no carbs, just vegetables and fruits, etc., but never was able to influence my sleep in a way that would make me think I was on the right track.

I’m trying Remeron now. I think it works better if you don’t take too much coffee during the day. The last days, I could see I needed to take more if I had drink a lot of coffee in the morning. So it’s better if you fight the temptation you’ll probably get because Remeron tends to make you sleepy during the day when you begin to take it.

#3

I haven’t tried Remeron but that would probably be your best bet as it seems to have treated insomnia successfully for a few guys with PFS.

Seroquel (quitiapine) worked for me three or four years ago and should get you a knockout sleep but you need to be really desperate and preferably not working unless you just take it at weekends, as it can leave you very drowsy and at first you sleep half the day. It’s meant for bipolar or psychotic conditions but used off label for sleep.

I had bad insomnia for the first couple of years, now my sleep is fine. It hasn’t helped my cognitive problems much but massively helped my fatigue, which was chronic and has now gone. Fatigue definitely worsened my fog and on the rare occasions I don’t sleep well it returns. Diet and exercise didn’t make a noticeable difference but exposure to lots of hot sunny weather might have. Funnily enough alcohol used to give me a deeper sleep but often now has the opposite effect.