Thursday 20 September 2012

Managing sleep

I haven't posted in a while, but this is largely due to the fact that very little has changed with either my stoma or my lifestyle. Generally, things have been great: I'm back at work full-time, I don't have much trouble with food, and my stoma is now thoroughly normal for me. I couldn't pin-point exactly when it was, but at some point I stopped thinking about it so much and my affection for and appreciation of it has grown.

Unfortunately, one thing that hasn't gotten back to normal is my sleeping pattern. I just can't consistently sleep for more than five hours straight, which is a problem for me - someone who generally needs at least seven hours.

The result? I'm grumpy more often. I sleep on my commute, to try and make up the hours, but only end up being bitter at having to give up my valuable knitting or reading time just because my stoma decided to continue to be active well into the early hours. I've been having to work at home more at short notice, just to try and stay awake and get some work done. Not ideal.

A lot of the forums and websites that I looked at seemed to say that it was just something that you learn to cope with or work around. Well, I've tried that for a while and I honestly don't feel like I'm being the best that I be. I'm sure that this problem can be solved! And so I asked around, gathered various suggestions, and set about trying them out.

1.  Not eating after 7pm


I've noted before that this helps and it does. Ideally, I'd eat my main meal of the day at lunchtime, but that would mean having it away from my husband, which isn't great (or cost-effective). Unfortunately, it's not a guarantee that my digestive system is going to be done before bedtime. Since I've started eating more healthily (more vegetables, finally!), I've found that food can take anything between two and twelve hours to go through. Doesn't make planning bedtime easy!

2.  Eating a less adventurous diet


Mashed potato (not chips), bread and cheese go through my system in a very standard, easy fashion. They're predictable. Unfortunately, they're also not that great for feeling healthy; especially not if that's all you're eating. I - somehow! - managed to mainly eat this stuff for the past 18 months, but now I'm starting to crave vegetables and salad, and notice how much energy I have if I eat better (always chewing properly, of course!).

3. Loperamide/Imodium


My Occupational Health doctor and stoma nurse both suggested that I try taking loperamide or codeine to try and slow my digestive system down during the night. I avoid codeine, because I took lots of it during my big flare and don't like how it masked so many problems.

So, loperamide. Results were inconsistent and I found it difficult to match a dosage to whatever I'd eaten for dinner. One day I ended up with what felt like constipation after just taking two tablets, which was rather painful and - ha! - kept me awake!

4.  Changing to a 2-piece bag


This is my latest attempt and, so far, I'm pretty impressed. My stoma nurse originally suggested that I change to a 2-piece because I was having trouble fitting my bag to my stoma when it's longer, but then I realised that another benefit of having a 2-piece is that I can change the bag before I go to bed, thereby starting my night with a new filter and avoiding a build up of gas in my bag. 

Wow. I'm liking this system! Up until last night, when I had to wake up for other reasons, I had my first three consecutive nights of uninterrupted sleep (that's right - over six hours each!) in over a year. I really hope that this works long-term. If it does, it's just going to be a matter of finding the 2-piece that lasts the longest (my stoma nurse gave me the Dansac system; I'm currently trying one from Coloplast), because I'm aware that they're more expensive than 1-piece systems. Of course, another option is to try and find a pouch with a superior filter that could last for more than a day, which I'll also try.

Well, there we go - my quest for more sleep! Ongoing, but I feel like I'm making progress...

No comments:

Post a Comment