Is there any TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) practitioner in your area? Your sleep trouble can be addressed quite easily, maybe 6-7 TCM treatments and two courses of herbs (red clover and sage are too weak for what you are experiencing). I do not recommend self-medicating, please consult with an experienced TCM practitioner in your area. It can be very easily treated and you will be sleeping like a baby and without sweat.

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Heal the World
www.energizingtechnologies.com

Lots of things can help: a half-hour walk in the fresh air before bedtime is good,also some physical exercise during the day is most important;  lavender bags or a drop or two of oil on the bedhead - this keeps most insects away as well! - if you use sage, the Greek sage (Salvia triloba) is the one for hormonal problems and heat, works much better than the British varieties for this job; microfibre nightwear lets out sweat and helps to keep you at an even temperature  Don't let the problem persist too long - sleeplessness can lead to raised blood sugar. As others have suggested - go and see a good herbalist for full appreciation of your problem. Most intelligent people self-diagnose quite successfully but it takes another person to see the full problem.

I'm also a lousy sleeper and its got worse as i've got older (now 43) I had trouble falling asleep, staying asleep and would wake ridiculously early and not be able to get back to sleep.  I never drink coffee after mid-morn and have tried all the usual things to avoid eating or recommend eating at bedtime,  changing the time I went to bed, and so on and on and on!  Nothing worked so i resorted to over the counter sleeping tablets (the herbal ones had no effect) but the chemist i was buying from didn't like selling them to me on a regular basis, then one day a new pharmacist recommended Melatonin, which is apparently the natural hormone thats secreted at night to make you sleep.  It has no unpleasant side effects (there is supposed to be only one - your dreams can become more 'dramatic!' but mine are anyway so i haven't noticed a change) isn't addictive or harmful (he assured me) and IT WORKS!  He said buy it on the internet, which i did and experiment with your dosage - between 1-5 mg is usual and i take 3mg about 30-45 mins before bedtime and i haven't looked back.  By the way its also great for jetlag. I hope this is of some help, Nicola.

Try MELATONIN tablets.  I don't think it's available in this country, but www.worldwidelabs.com are a reliable source - or simply Google.

I keep SlumbeRmix by my bed nowadays and as a homeopath I also order it for my patients from a homeopathic dispenser in Surrey. It's a mix of herbal tinctures and is unlike all other tinctures I've tried in that you don't feel groggy in the morning so if you wake up at 3am (like I used to) and take 10-15 drops in water in the middle of the night you go back to sleep and still wake up feeling OK at 7am. It costs £9.99 for a 20ml bottle (+ P & P) and is dispensed by The Healing Pond. www.thehealingpond.com

Since a hormone (melatonin) puts us to sleep and another (cortisol) wakes us up if this person were my patient I'd be treating her for hormonal disturbance. Email me if you need further explanation:- naturalmedicine@tiscali.co.uk

 

Another possibility: I have had -,  ánd heard amazing results with the Nikken sleep-system: falling asleep more easily, no more tossing and turning, no more waking up in the middle of the night, no more sweats, waking up refreshed and bouncy etcetera. Even from people that hadn't had a good night sleep for years!               

Any Nikken -consultant in your area should be able to lend you one to try out. More expensive than a pebble, but if all else fails .....

 

Symtoms during the menopause are often not due to the menopause at all, but simply coincide with it.  As we age, depending on the lifestyle and diet we have had over the years, the liver and/or kidneys often begin to function less than optimally, so I would suggest doing a liver and kidney cleanse, supported by herbal tinctures, and see if this helps.  You may be amazed at what other annoying little symptoms clear up, and how much younger and more energetic you feel, once you have given this gift to your long-term health.  Your local herbalist will be able to give you the appropriate tinctures and there is plenty of information on the internet about how to cleanse the liver and kidneys through diet, as well as books on the subject..

There is a simple exercise that usually works for me if I find myself wide awake at night: observe your breathing.  Just focus your attention on each in-breath and out-breath without in any way altering the rhythm of your breathing.  If you become absorbed in observing your breathing, the sensation of the air entering and leaving your nose, the sound of your breathing, it narrows down your focus of attention and usually results in sleep.  You could also imagine yourself relaxing more deeply with every out-breath.  Of course the worst thing you can do when waking in the middle of the night is to feel angry about it, which will only bring you further into wakefulness.  I'm sorry if this all sounds a bit obvious but it has always worked for me.

- Richard Howard.

 

 

 

jwwoods:

Try black cohosh. Remifemin is a reliable product. Also, a dropper of valerian tinct little water at bedtime helps. Also, keep the room as cold as possible (this can be a problem if your bedmate complains of the cold - if that's the case, have a portable fan blow directly on you only). Natural cotton sheets are not as hot as synthetic ones and a cotton mattress pad helps.

I would be most cautious with black cohosh and Remifemin.   Just in the past two weeks there was a major report in the newspapers about it causing major damage to kidneys or liver (can't remember which) and people had died because of it.    I did not take particular notice at the time of reading as I did not take the product, having decided to just let menopause happen.  

My menopausal sleeplessness was CURED IN ONE WEEK when I subscribed to the Holosync programme.   Holosync is expensive but very effective.   However you can get a free promotional sample and see if it makes a difference.   I notice that someone on this forum has suggested an aural cure.   I would check that out also.    Most of these things work by playing one beat in one ear and a different one in the other and the brain tries to reach equilibrium, as in mediation.   A 'bi-product' of this is that an increase in DHEA results, we have lots of that when we are young and it decreases with age.   It sure worked a treat for me.

Good Luck...

Lorraine

 

I have a healthy little trick that works great for myself...Red Wine.  It have been well documented the Red Wine, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, has mutiple heath benefits such as protection from cancer and heart disease.  One glass 20 minutes before bedtime really does promote relaxation and deep sleep.  However, this is not an advised option if you have suffered alcohol dependency in the past.  And do not be fooled by worthless, unhealthy "wines" such as Boones Farm. A simple Merlot or Cabernet is usually dry, bitter and served at room temp.  Sip slowly.  My wife uses a splash of ice cold 7 up to spruce up her Cabernet but I do not support soda drinking in anyway.  The sugar may counter the effects of the Wine.  Give it a try.  You will know if it is going to help after the first full glass.

Sleeping is one of the body's most important physiological systems and regulates the function of the organs in this system i.e. thyroid, pituitary, etc. Unsurpisingly lack of sleep and poor quality sleep give rise to conditions associated with impaired thyroid and pituitary function. Lack of sleep affects the body's regeneration and preparation for the next day. Without sleep the body's health is affected. The body's systems affect regulation of other physiological systems so, unsurprisingly affects the stability of other physiological systems - commonly affecting appetite, satedness,  etc.

Sensory input through the eyes and to a lesser extent through the ears, nose, skin, etc; affects the stability of the physiological systems although as light comprises an estimated 80-90% of sensory input this is considered to be the most significant way to affect the body's physiological systems. 

There are a number of light/colour based approaches. We suggest Virtual Scanning which appears to be the most significant of these techniques.  

 

I would recommend that this patient try the herb ‘Hops’ first. 

That works for most patients.

If more help is needed, add the herb ‘Valerian’.

Dr. Johns MD, ND, OD, HD, PhD

Hi

 Just a few questions to get a clearer picture, as this is not always a clear cut problem.

When you say you get hot, is this the entire body or are your feet cold and only the upper body hot? Do you suffer from cold hands or feet on a regular basis? Do suffer from bloat or indigestion or gas? Do your legs feel irritable at night like you want to keep moving them? Do you feel flushed when you experience this 'hot' condition? Does this ever happen in the daytime? Have you suffered any back or neck injury in the last few years or any history at all of neck/back problems? Any stress emotionally, as in lost family member, or other traumas?

These questions are important as control of blood flow is different in the day as to the night and if the nervous system controlling it is malfunctioning it may not be able to balance out the blood flow correctly, sometimes causing a congestion in the upper half of the body or sometimes in the surface of the body all over. This nervous system can be weakened by any overload of stress, be it sudden or accumulative.

 Peter

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physiomitch

A good place to find different views on optimizing a person's sleep potential is ayurvedaonline@yahoogroups.com and putting "sleep" in the search engine on their message page - this is an open forum and there are many good practitioners there who are happy to help with many different complaints.  Some of the suggestions I have tried include walking outside before going to bed and breathing the fresh night air, milk contains Melatonin which helps with sleep, a drink of cold water helps, having a blue light in an otherwise darkened room is beneficial, going to bed at the same time each night helps, washing the hands and feet in cold water helps too. Of course a peaceful environment and working hard during the day all help to tire one naturally and not sleeping too long is a logical aid. Eight hours is quite a long tme for most people and yet people do expect to be able to sleep sometimes more than they really need.

 
Jane