Dear Stephen,
The worst symptom I have from Lyme disease is a complete inability to sleep. It really interferes with almost every aspect of sleep. The antibiotics I am taking actually exacerbate this problem. I’ve taken melatonin before, but it only seems to make me feel worse and does not work. Is there anything you can recommend, aside from melatonin, which can help with sleep?
The worst symptom I have from Lyme disease is a complete inability to sleep. It really interferes with almost every aspect of sleep. The antibiotics I am taking actually exacerbate this problem. I’ve taken melatonin before, but it only seems to make me feel worse and does not work. Is there anything you can recommend, aside from melatonin, which can help with sleep?
Stephen’s response:
I have had a lot of experience with sleep difficulties in chronic conditions such as lyme. After a lot of different approaches here is what I have found works best.
I have had a lot of experience with sleep difficulties in chronic conditions such as lyme. After a lot of different approaches here is what I have found works best.
- Do not eat a heavy meal at dinner and eat no later than between 5 and 6 in the evening.
- Go to bed between 8 and 8:30 pm so that you can go to sleep by around 9pm.
- Just before bed take one half ounce (yes, 1/2 ounce) of a combination tincture mixture of motherwort and american wood betony (Pedicularis species, NOT the European betony which is another species entirely).
- If you wish you can start with a lower dose, say 1/4 ounce. I found that for me, anyway, the larger dose worked best. NOTE: this tincture will not work as well if you take it after you are awake and laying there thinking of all the things you have to do the next day.
- Get regular massages, at least once per week. This helps a great deal over time to regularize sleep patterns; however, I generally notice benefits within a week or two.
- Benedryl can be of benefit. 1/2 to 3 caplets just before bed depending on your individual response to it.
- A great many people have told me that cannibas helps a lot with this problem, but since it is illegal in most states I have trouble overtly recommending it. [Editor’s note: Please check with your state or your physician to confirm whether medical marijuana is legal in your state.]
- For those so inclined, a good book just after the tincture combination and going to bed can help a lot with the impacts of the herb/benedryl/etc. It tends to keep the mind from worrying by distracting it with something pleasant.
Stephen
Perhaps it’s possible that the brain has an inflammation. Inflammation causes high amounts of cytokines to be active in that area. Cytokines can cause insomnia directly and indirectly (eats the ATP in the brain whereafter the brain will ask the adrenals for adrenaline).
I am having this problem as well. I noticed as well that I won’t sleep when I’ve exercies, even a tiny bit, over day. This can be explained because the body makes extra cytokines as a response to exercise to go anabolic. But this is exhausting if you already have a shitload of cytokines in your body.
Anyways, tonight i’ll be trying:
– Acetyl-L-carnitine (intracellular antiinflammatory)
– Mung beans (decreases HMGB1 activity)
– Curcumine (has alot of decreasing and modulating effects on cytokines)
– Ginger (more than 20 antiinflamatory compounds)
– Nettle (Th1-specific IL-2 and IFN-gamma)
– Echinacea purperea (TNF-α mRNA modulating)
– EPA+DHA (antiinflamatory)
– Inosin (chelates peroxinatrate)
– L-theanin (+GABA, sedates)
– Hop (opens the GABA receptors)
– CBD-oil (calming)
I’ll update it here if it works, which should if my theorie is correct. In any other case, I have no clue what to do the be honest. Insomnia is one of the worst things I’ve ever experiences.
Dominique the inflammation of the brain is a result of the intruding pathogen being inside the brain. As long as the pathogen is inside your head, you will experience the tinnitus and the inflammation + the resulting cytokine storm
acc to one source benedryl no rec. for elders: “Antihistamines like diphenhydramine can have anticholinergic effects as well. … Older people should not use diphenhydramine if they have a history of closed-angle glaucoma, constipation, urinary retention, asthma, or severe liver disease. There may be long-term effects on memory that increase the risk of dementia.”
Woah. This was me a year and a half ago. I’m not fully certain I have Lyme as my Elisa and Western blot came back negative (but that’s not uncommon), and I am in a high likelihood to have Lyme as I work in the forest and have bit by ticks on several occasions. I slept 1-3 hours for 1.5 years. It was torture. I took an organics acid test, which showed low serotonin and high quinolonic acid. I resolved the issue by taking antiinflammatories, and 5-htp, along with antiparasitics. I’m sleeping much better but still on the journey to rid myself of any illness.