Insomnia after surgery anyone?

Hi my OH family,

let me apologize for not being active on OH lately, but I am in the process of selling my house and everyday there is something else to take care off. Not an excuse, just an explanation to where all my time goes now a days.

Anyway, I have been having major sleeping problems since about 2 weeks after surgery. It seems my biological internal clock is backwards. I hardly sleep during the night so instead of laying in bed and staring a the ceiling I get up and sit in the living room, watch TV and do stuff on the laptop. Of course when morning rolls around I am still up and then I get really tired around lunch or early afternoon. By then of course I have to sleep and then I get up at 4-5 PM and then I end up not sleeping again the following night. 

So my sleep cycle is all messed up and I feel like I have a case of insomnia.

I do have an appointment with my PCP on the 16th and will address that issue but I was wondering if anyone else had problems with insomnia or reversed sleep cycles after surgery?

As always, any input and feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading my post and for your ideas.

Hugs,

Rita

I'm three months out and I have yet to sleep through the night since surgery.  Prior to surgery - I would go to bed with my bipap on and 7 hours later wake up.  Not now - I put the bipap on and wake up every hour or two and then just finally get up 6 hrs later - still tired.  Then I get sleepy during the day - just a vicious circle.  I am scheduled for a retitration on the bipap but I'm pretty sure I have not lost enough to stop using it and I have adjusted it and it still made no difference.  Hoping I get back to normal at some point.

Paula

Hi Paula,

thanks for the input. Yeah, I don't use a bipap and have no issues with sleep apnea ( I was tested) and so it is not a breathing issue. And yes it is like a vicious circle I can't get out off. 

Hugs,

Rita

I get that every once in awhile. I have a Rx for Ambien and I'll take a half of one for a few nights to get back into resting deeply at night and more awake during the day. After a few days then I can do it on my own again. Have you tried any otc sleep aids like Advil PM or one of the herbal ones? My daughter takes some herbal sleep aid and says it's great. No side effects, she is wide awake when she gets up in the morning and still can hear if the baby cries in the night.

I haven't struggled with this post-op, but some years ago when I had lost a great deal of weight, insomnia was the manifestation of major anxiety.  Basically, I had not replaced using food to cope with life, so with no comfort foods and no new coping/comforting skills, I had no way to deal with my worries. Not sure if you relate to this or not, but dealing with my increasing anxiety was the only way I was able to sleep again.  I suspect this is a fairly common 'side effect' of weight loss/maintenance for those of us who are more tightly wound.  Hope you are able to resolve this soon because insomnia takes an incredible toll on you.