SLEEP DEPRIVED???

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone else has experienced sleep problems since the GBS? It seems that I slept all night then, (Am wondering if it was the extra cushioning ) and now I wake up all times of the night.

Olga, Sometimes our bodies go through a little post traumatic stress disorder type of thing following a major surgery (or any major event in our life). The healing process probably interrupted normal sleep routines and you may have had to get up for water sipping, position adjusting, meds, etc. You should always run things past your surgeon and/or primary care physician but also set the stage for yourself at night. Create the routine that you can stick with; avoiding caffeine past noon, not eating heavy late into the evening and no****er loading right before you put your head on the pillow!.....I sometimes take a half dose of tylenol pm about an hour before I plan on going to sleep. It seems to relax just enough that I can turn off my brain and sleep! Sweet Dreams! Joyce

Olga, I too have had some sleep issues and I feel that they are related to my "new" body as well. Since I am more "boney" than I was, I tend to get stiff and need to move position more often at night. All the water drinking also gets me up at least once. I guess I ought to try a better mattress. Mary

Olga, I've heard of this type of problems before after gastric bypass. The explaination given to me is that once you lose some of your weight, your body doesn't have to work as hard just to maintain basic body function. Many people experience increased mental accuity, which they may have lost little by little as they gained the weight in the first place. Here's a couple solutions: 1. Get more organized, have plans: Make sure you have personal, spiritual, family, perfessional goals, and review them every night before you go to sleep (it can be done quickly). Once a week plan out everything you plan to do in a week, then as the week goes by, leave yourself the flexibility to change things around as you see fit. As you make changes to your weekly calendar, write in those changes. This will help you make a better plan the following week. 2. Confront your problems. Many of us needing WLS have problems that slipped through the cracks and were not addressed pre-surgery. Now that we're losing, we're surprised all of the problems haven't gone away. By listing personal problems, and setting goals to overcome them you will able to put your mind at rest. Some of us even avoided confrontation all together by eating. The people who love us will respect us more when we are honest and polite. I think these solutions get at some of the key areas some of us have to work on once we have a higher quality of life: how do we manage the higher quality of life so we can sleep at night. The goal part should be easy because it is similar to the goal list "what I want to be able to do after surgery." Some people go back to school, others become self-taught from home. We all can reach out to the people around us.