Health thingy

[Barry Admin]

Ever tried melatonin, @Barry Admin ? It's not licensed for sleep problems in the UK/EU but it's very easy (and perfectly legal) to order from the US. It's frustrating because it's a safe synthetic hormone that promotes natural sleep and isn't dangerous or addictive like sleepers. Used to take a lot of zolpidem myself but I wouldn't touch it now.

Yes, they prescribe it now but mostly to OAPs. This has been dragging on for a few years now, partly cause they insist on offering hospital appointments from behind withheld numbers (I've told them to leave voicemails now.) So I've been taking melatonin on and off for the last two or three years now, and do find it helps. Not taken it so much recently as I was waking at 6am every day, and I think it was responsible.

I haven't tried CBD, if I have money I get the odd bit of weed, which helps a bit. Listening to Miles Davis really does make it easier to get to sleep, it's staying asleep.thats the huge issue these days. I cut back on my fluid intake and stop drinking tea at 2 or 3pm now, but nothing fixes it.

[jamiefairlie]

Incidentally, melatonin is produced by the pineal gland rather than the pituatry, but there are things you can do to regulate its production. Its release is stimulated by low light levels and in theory you should start to produce more around sunset to prepare you for sleep but the process can be disrupted by artificial light sources, especially blue light from screens.

If you're in the market for some glasses it may be worth getting some lenses with the blue light filtering coating, and in the meantime maybe try the eye comfort settings on your phone, laptop etc. It could also be worth shopping for light bulbs with more of a natural colour temperature and replacing any which have a cooler (ie, more blue) colour. A SAD lamp may also help with sleep/wake cycles in the darker months.

I find that I really need daylight to feel properly awake, and I often find myself starting to yawn around 3.30pm in the depths of our Scottish winters. Good lighting makes an absolutely huge difference to me. It's like I have a pineal eye (which would definitely be the name of my prog rock band).

"I often find myself starting to yawn around 3.30pm in the depths of our Scottish winters."

That's just being in Scotland though!

Only joking, I'm Scottish so I get to do that!

[jamiefairlie]

I can't believe melatonin is not OTC in the UK but you can get codeine. It's by far the best sleep aid in terms of overall effect with zero side effects.

Others that are effective are magnesium citrate and L-theanine.

5-htp is great for overall stress and anxiety.

[Blue Jam]

Yes, they prescribe it now but mostly to OAPs.

Ah yes, I forgot, it's licensed for sleep problems in the over-55's, and the NHS only give out tiddly 2mg doses. I tend to go for the 10mg doses in slow release tablets, as my issue is also with staying asleep rather than falling alseep.

Listening to Miles Davis really does make it easier to get to sleep

I have found a few mindfulness apps that have helped and which are actually free to use. UCLA Mindful is one set up by researchers at UCLA (would you believe) and has some evidence-based meditations for sleep. Smiling Mind is one funded by the Australian government for use in schools and workplaces and includes two entire programmes of sleep meditations. Most other apps I've tried require a paid subscription so fuck that. Hope that's narrowed it down for you!

[Milo]

they insist on offering hospital appointments from behind withheld numbers (I've told them to leave voicemails now.)

I usually answer witheld numbers now, scammers seem to mostly be using fake numbers instead lately.

As for the mentioned issues, a slow growing pituitary tumour could potentially be a cause for other things that have been going on so at least that opens up the possibility of all that stuff getting sorted. Pituitary is linked to almost all hormone systems in the body, including the regulation of urine production if that's disturbing you in the night.

[Blue Jam]

One more thing: maybe this is a bit anecdotal, but I started on the vitamin B12 supplements lately and found I've had a lot more energy. Been exercising again, not had afternoon "crashes" and not felt like taking naps so much. I had been drinking Berocca every day but apparently it's not a great idea to take B12 and C together because C binds B12 and prevents some of it being absorbed. I'm not vegan or even vegetarian but I don't eat much red meat these days and I have also cut out a lot of dairy so maybe I was deficient all the same.

Or just get yourself some lovely Marmite but don't wash it down with orange juice.

[Schlippy]

Been exercising again, not had afternoon "crashes" and not felt like taking naps so much.

This has a huge effect on pretty much all aspects of physical, emotional and psychological health. Are you getting your steps, Barry? Especially important with your ADHD "motor" running constantly, deliberately tiring yourself out physically on a daily basis is a really useful way of counteracting some of the energetic excesses of ADHD.

[Blue Jam]

I should say that the exercising came after the vitamin B12. I've only just mustered up enough energy to go for a run and do some weight this week. Baby steps but I'm slowly getting my mojo back.

[Barry Admin]

I can barely get off the sofa when this is particularly bad and my left foot is aching, plantar fascitis again or something. So, generally, no. I stopped taking tramadol over a year ago now, so have more pain now, and am not that active at the minute. It's just not really an option right now. I appreciate all the other practical suggestions though.

[Jack Shaftoe]

Nothing useful to add but much love and hope all goes well. x

[KaraokeDragon]

Hope you're able to get diagnosed and treated soon Barry, knowing what it probably is but having to wait around must be really feckin annoying. Best wishes x

[Small Man Big Horse]

Nothing useful to add but much love and hope all goes well. x

Likewise, it all sounds horrible but I hope it's something they're able to deal with quickly and that you'll soon feel back to normal.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Well thank god it's only your brain. For a terrible fleeting moment I thought it might be something I'd miss, like your balls.

[lauraxsynthesis]

Damn that all sounds horrible and scary. Best of luck and tell us if we can take any tasks off you.

I guess sleep apnea has been ruled out?

[canadagoose]

Sorry to hear of your troubles, Neil - best wishes for getting them sorted out. Thinking of you.

[Jockice]

Without going into detail here (because my health situation is far too complicated to even try and explain) I apparently have something wrong with my hormones too. I can't offer any advice but just to let you know you're not alone and wish you all the best.

[Glebe]

Again sorry to hear what you've been going through Barry. The very best of luck, lotsa love and we're all thinking of ya.

[mippy]

Sorry to hear of all this, it must be horrible to not know if nothing else.

Re: the vision thing - I was at the eye hospital a while back having something checked and the opthalmologist just casually said 'oh, you have Fuch's dystrophy?' - basically, bubbles on my cornea that will cloud over time, leading eventually to the need for a transplant. "But you don't need to worry about that until you're 70!"

The internet suggests I probably *do* need to worry about it at the age I am now, and my eyesight has been weird for the last few months - blurrier, halos around artificial light to the point that I can't actually differentiate oncoming traffic in the dark, weird things like that, and I panic, thinking this is happening and I don't really have a plan. BUT. Your eyesight also changes a lot in your 40s, you can go from short to long sighted quickly, you start needing varifocals, so what's happening to me and what's happening to you could all be that too. Get yerself tested!

[Barry Admin]

Have to bump this to talk about my MRI, don't read this if you're getting one soon as I'm a giant baby. 

I had my adrenal glands tested recently, and that was dead on.  You lie on a bed and give blood from one arm, then you get a shot in your hole and a nice cup of tea and a biscuit. After half an hour, they come back and take blood from the other arm.  No results yet.

Today I had the MRI, and was lowkey dreading it. Friends (including people from here) had described the process and I had to stop reading as it was making me feel claustrophobic and tense. Some of what I'd heard was worse than what happened though, seeing as they only scanned my head.  I was told I might be lying in it for an hour!

Anyway, after I take off my metal stuff and lie in front of the scanner, they put this big plastic cage round my head.  I moved a little bit, felt it pressing on my neck, and freaked out lol - instinctively tried to push it off me as I already felt really trapped.  "I never thought I'd feel sorry for Hannibal Lecter!" I said.  They told me I absolutely couldn't be pushing it or trying to remove it when I was inside the scanner so I just had to say, nope, can't, sorry.  Was prepared to try it at the end if the pictures they got were no good (the head cage gives better photos of your noggin.)

Cause I'm a giant, I had to fold my arms like an Egyptian Mummy, then they started pushing me in the machine.  Ugghhhhhhh.  People told me there'd be music, there was no music, I didn't ask.  I refused the eyemask and just closed my eyes instead so I had some control there.  When they push you in, the machine is pretty close to your face, and you have ear plugs in cause it makes a real racket. Again, in my mind, I hoped I'd have Miles Davis on and conjure up some kind of serene, dissociative state as if I was in an isolation tank or something.  But I felt more like a pizza being shoved into an oven. 

For the last scans they put a cannula in my arm, and pumped dye through me, then wheeled me straight back into the machine.  "I'm gonna BE SICK!" Had a sudden and huge wave of nausea, they pulled me out again, lifted my knees up and got me a sick bag.  It passed quickly so I got pushed back in and got it all over and done with.

Awful, horrendous experience.  I told my Mum and she just laughed and said "I didn't know you were such a baby" but I've always been very explicit about that fact :-D Then I was just fucking exhausted from the anxiety and adrenaline, and light-headed from all that and the needle, but yay, I got it done. 

My mate made me feel more positive when I got out - he'd been in a motorway smash and got the full thing done, a whole big scan which left him feeling brutalised afterwards.  "Did you feel like you were gonna shit yourself then?"  No, I did not.  There's always a bright side, and in this instance evidently it was that I did not shit myself, nor did I ever remotely feel like I might. 

[Underturd]

Shit Barry that sounds awful. Don't worry about being a big baby, lots of people don't take well to scans so they're going to have seen it all before. I hope you feel better soon.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

honestly Barry that does sound terrifying. At least the staff listened to you when you said you were in distress and did what they could. Here's hoping you won't ever need another one.

[Barry Admin]

Thanks :-) yeah it just set my anxiety off something rotten, I knew I was a bit claustrophobic and would be anxious, but I got it done, yay. 

[shiftwork2]

I understood claustrophobia for the first time when I went in an MRI machine.  I don't think it has anything at all to do with courage.  They can benzo you up if there is a next time.  I'm glad it's done anyway.

[Buelligan]

Didn't read it all.  My brother has them quite often. It really haunts me to think about people I care about going through this shit.  Comfort myself with the thought that it helps people to help them but it's fucking awful.  Bro said, like with a lot of aspects of his illness (MS) taking drugs in the past really helped him with sitting outside himself in order to handle some of it.  Really sorry you're going through this stuff.

[druss]

MRIs are grim. I started getting severe shooting pains down both my arms and hands last year (in addition to chronic neck and back pain which it later turned out was related) and had to have an MRI on both elbows and both wrists. Had to lie on my front which I find painful anyway and then my arms were strapped to a contraction that was so big that my head had to press against the side of it whilst leaning. I can't imagine that stress positions used by torturers would be much less comfy. Was told to hold perfectly still for each scan which took 20 minutes each, so all in all had my head heavily pressed and tilted against the side of a big machine for just under an hour and a half.

Eventually found out that the issue is caused by a problem in my neck, which I'm fairly certain was exacerbated by this experience as both my neck and my back have been far worse since.

MRI= Massive Rancid Idiot machine.

[TrenterPercenter]

I felt more like a pizza being shoved into an oven.

Got me good with this.

There's always a bright side, and in this instance evidently it was that I did not shit myself

A daily life goal for many.


Sounds awful but you got through it which is the main thing.  The old man used to hate the MRI when he was having his chemo said the noise was unbearable.  I'll need to check in with him to see if he shat himself though.

[Underturd]

The noise is probsbly okay once you're used to it, it's when you're not I imagine it's pretty fucking oppressive.

[McDead]

I had an MRI a few years ago, and it truly is a brutalising, intensely claustrophobic experience. Made all the worse in my case by the music; when asked what tunes I wanted while recumbent inside Megatron's arsehole, I said "anything but Michael Bublé" and they heard anything BY Michael Bublé, so that's what I got.

Anyway, all the best Barry x

[Underturd]

Could you pretend that you're back in the womb and your pregnant mum's just sitting in a construction site or something like that?

[Vodkafone]

For the benefit of anyone else who ever needs to have an MRI, I had one once and thought it was fine. But then, I used to have to crawl inside a baler to unclog it (not while it was running). So maybe do the baler thing first, then have the MRI.

Glad you made it out alive and unsoiled Barry.