insomnia and migraines

I've had insomnia since I was a kid and have had problems with it off and on since childhood. I wonder if it's a comordidity of migraine? Do others have problems with insomnia. I am on a drug to help me sleep but I still have insomnia on a regular basis. And it definately makes my migraines worse.

I get it off and on. It's not been often enough to make it an issue for me....

i was diagnosed with insomnia...some nights i get more sleep than others but on the nights i lose sleep i definitely know my headache/migraines will be worse...

magic

I have horrible insomnia. I have for years and definitely if my sleep is horrible chances are I wake up with a migraine or the start of one!

I do have sleeping pills Zopolicone for when its too much.

Jo

I have fibromyalgia and one of it's symptoms is sleep disorders. I've noticed that when I have attacks of insomnia, they are frequently accompanied by a migraine. That is not including the many, many times I've woken up at some ungodly hour with a migraine and then cannot get back to sleep. So yeah, I think they are co-morbid.

When I have insomnia several days in a row, I get extremly more tired during the day and eventually it triggers a good size migraine. Sometimes it can only takes 1 or 2 nights of not sleeping.

there is a clear link for me. my childhood and adolescence (without migraines, btw) was spent sleeping too much. i could never get enough.

then, about peri-menopause time, i stopped being able to sleep, big-time. couldn't fall asleep for hours, woke up constantly.

thru the years i've had five overnight sleep studies (different docs/clinics) and now have the lovely label of having 3 sleep disorders. none are treatable because of my intolerance of most drugs. the machines........another horror story.

my life would be much less painful if i got some REAL sleep. i take antihistamines, a variety of them so i will hopefully not develop tolerance. these make one drowsy. but they don't work all that well.

on the nights i take ativan (aka lorazepam, an anti-anxiety drug) i sleep quite well. but i can only do this a maximum of twice/week because of tolerance issues. (i've been hooked on it in the distant past. NOT a fun scenario, because the days of backing down the dose to a reasonable level are hellish).

yes, i have fibromyalgia also, so i know it's all tied up together with the migraines and sleep disorders.

i'm waiting for the next sleep breakthrough! many of us sorely need one that doesn't involve monster machines and harsh drugs. dianne

None here.

[i] My neurologist told me that they're getting good results with Periactin and Ambien taken at bedtime. He put me on it and I've got to admit it's done me a super job.

I started on doxepin two weeks ago. Instead of getting up five times a night I've only been getting up 1-2. It has made a HUGE difference in how many M's I'm getting.

Last night I didn't sleep at all. I was upset when I went to bed and tossed and turned all night. Up, down, up down. I woke up this morning for the first time in two weeks with a M.

I don't know if it's a chicken/egg thing, but in my case, it certainly appears to be linked.

for half my life I have not slept for more than 4 hours at a time. Obviously there is a reason for this but I don't know what it is.

[i]All I know is with my migraines with what my neuologist has done it's made a World of difference.

My mother said I never slept well. I know I don't now. I take trazadone and with it I can sleep about 4 or 5 hours. With out it I am lucky to get 2.

I am back to working rotating shifts. Since 4:30 a.m. Friday I have had less than 7 hours sleep. Guess what........

[i] I know it can play havoc with you. I used to work both in the ER and Labor and Delivery and it drove me crazy tryin to balance the hours. When I'd work doubles I thought I'd never get to sleep. Course this was before I ever found my present neurologist.

Insomnia has been a real problem for me for years.

My doctor and I both agree that lack of sleep definitely makes my M's worse.

We have tried lots of meds for sleep and the two that work the best for me are Hydoxyzine and Nortriptyline.

I kind of switch off using them when I really need to and at least I will get 4 straight hours of sleep which is alot when you're getting nothing at all.

If I could ever really solve this problem, I think I would have fewer M's.

Charlotte, I see my doctor next week and I am definitely going to ask him about Doxepin.

I'll let you know what he says.

Cindy

Cindy, you might ask your doctor about Ambien. They're getting better results with it now than what they used to.

Ladyhuckleberry...Thank you for your suggestion.

I did try Ambien and all the meds given for sleep and believe it or not, they did not work for me.

Ambien in particular would allow me an hour or two and then I was up again feeling terrible.

I'm not giving up though, will keep trying different drugs or therapies til something works.

The two drugs I mentioned in my post do help a great deal of the time but not always.

Anyway, thanks for tryiing to help.

Cindy