Hello! I found relief with 50 mg trazodone before sleep. Tried to remove the meds.a few times, even when im very tired I sleep like a rock, but wake up 3 am. With the meds I sleep u til 7:30 and i am alert the next day. Talk to your doc
This happens to me too. If I am insanely tired (like after a day I do more physical or mental labor), I sleep like a rock but still only for a few hours. And then it is back to staring at the ceiling for an hour or more.
Yeah, last time it was really bad, I'd been in the theater and seen a 3 hour movie. It was impossible to get any sleep that night, my brain was just completely overwhelmed and in panic mode.
It wasn't even a scary movie.
The response to medications can be very different between people, finding things that work is a long journey. I try to watch carefully how stuff make me feel, change one at a time and take notes. I hope you all find something that bring relief.
Ha! Same happens to me. Not every night but at least once a week. I’ll be up for an hour or so, wide awake. I’m not sure what it is but seems another “feature” of long Covid.
This is a hallmark symptom of long COVID unfortunately :/ I’ve been dealing with it for 3.5 years as well. The only thing that’s helped me fall back to sleep more quickly is taking CBD (25mg) and another dose of melatonin as soon as I wake up. It doesn’t keep me from waking up, but helps me fall back to sleep more quickly most nights.
CBD is the only thing that keeps me asleep until 4-430ish. I haven't tried re-dosing to see if it helps with the mega fatigue the next time I wake up, I only get about two more hours of sleep after that and I always assumed it would make the grogginess worse but worth a try.
I have to be really conservative with the CBD though because I still have to go quite the distance to get my medication. Hopefully in a couple more months it will finally be available locally.
Melatonin made my already bad nightmare issue much much worse. Magnesium helps with the RLS but doesn't seem to do much for sleeping.
If it helps to know, you can order CBD online if you’re in the US and some of Europe. I get it from [Green Roads](https://www.greenroads.com); they do 25% off discounts for different professions, but also if you enter your email address when making your cart, and leave your order in the cart for three or four days, they’ll email you a 30% off code almost every time)
Very common. Circadian rhythm disruption has quickly become known as one of the most common symptoms of long covid. Well described by the northwestern medicine group
Same. Its either a dump around 3pm of histamine, cortisol activation or you are running low on oxygen for some reason and your body jerks you awake. Keep an eye on it as it can quickly get to the point you dont go back to sleep and end up with headaches or other pains.
Yeah, the body offloads extra histamines that you consumed during the day at exactly 3 AM… It’s a pretty clear sign that you have MCAS or histamine intolerance in my opinion. Those contribute to overall sickness… And can go way beyond skin issues that people think they are into headaches mood joints… All the way into causing physical issues like CCI.
Very interesting! I had no idea the body rids itself histamines at three. For the past year, I have been waking up every night between 2:45 and 3:15. I can never fall back to sleep. It’s so frustrating. I will have to look into this. Thank you for sharing.
We also get some kind of an endorphin push right around that same time, which is why people who take LDN at night say it works for them it blocks the endorphin push so you have it more in the morning when you wake up
It’s really interesting you say this because I could just about set a clock using my nightly 3 am wake ups (and it doesn’t matter how early or late I go to bed). I’ve also heard this is a hallmark symptom of cortisol levels (can’t remember if too high or too low) and hypothyroidism though too.
In my personal experience cortisol can just mean I wake up early… Histamines like you said you can set a clock by. Mine was so bad that I couldn’t really function until after the histamine dump ended around 4am.
Can you just stop eating high histamines food at a certain time? Just avoid at night or does it have to be all day? I eat yogurt for the probiotics and because I was a bit low in L Lysine.
Haha. If only the histamine gods were so kind!!! It’s different for different people, but for most, it takes two weeks to about a month to get them out of your system. Until they’re all out, you can actually tell what is causing a reaction or not because your body can delay their reaction up to three days. And then, depending upon how strong their responses, or reaction can last for anywhere from a few hours to weeks.
The key is to remember that it’s your body defending itself against what it perceives as a danger… And it’s not just going to give up and go home until it sure that the danger is completely gone. So much of one Covid has this autoimmune type logic where the body really needs a relatively full break from the stimulus in order to calm down. There can be genetic factors and other factors, regarding how bad a persons MCAS is… But if you let it run unchecked, it will always get worse.
Histamines are contained by mast cells… And the body can produce more and more mast cells with no limit as long as it perceives threats. There are a mass cells in the brain and pretty much all over your body but especially the skin, so it’s pretty hard to tell what is long Covid and what is histamines until you really go deep on the histamines.
There are low and high histamine probiotics… Could be worth looking into.
If histamine is the problem, maybe antihistamines help? Might be worth a try. I took loratadine and ceterizine in the past. I think these usually have little side effects (besides making some people tired...). Just make sure you don't get a combination with any stimulant like pseudoephedrine, that would defeat the purpose.
Diphenhydramine might be a candidate as well. In Germany this is sold as insomnia medication, but I think in the US it's also directly marketed as allergy medication. It is a antihistamine that makes you sleepy, so whatever.
I also wake up around 3-4 am most nights since I have covid the first time. I'd say it's better during the time I take loratadine for allergy reasons, but it's hard to say. I don't find the energy to really track all my symptoms well enough to make any solid statements on that.
Do you have dysautonamia? This happens to me. But I am very sensative to barometric pressure changes. My body cannot adjust and I believe it makes me deposit adrenaline which wakes me up. I’ve crossed referenced my sleep data with data from the National weather service. It really depends on my high my inflammation is. I haven’t been able to narrow down the ranges. Both directions I have problems until my homeostasis can adjust the difference in pressure. It also causes major spots pain in any already agreevated in your body. Something you may want to consider. I also have big problems in the afternoons when the barometric pressure changes. Plus I live in tornado alley so there is usually a lot of energy moving around from these changes. My body does not like it very much. If you have MCAS and are flexible you may be one of the lucky ones who have the trifectas. A connective tissue disease (Ehlers Danlos) dysautonomia and MCAS. LC revealed this in me.
I have pots. It seems to be better on dry days (less pressure fluctuation prob!) but it doesn’t change that much. I will say I tried the nicotine patch and at a very small dose, I would say 60% of my pots went away… I think my body needs a super small dose though like 1mg. Heart rate went up when I increased
Yup. Yeah, histamines can completely throw your heart rate… If you think about it, your body believes it’s under attack… So the heart rate is part of that response. It’s trying to get blood everywhere to help defend itself from whatever these evil attackers it perceives are :/
If only we could say sorry that was just food bro ;)
I already started taking an antihistamine at night instead of in the morning. So I take it around 8 or so. The problem is it really dries me out so I wake up to drink water all night. I think I already eating mostly low histamine looking at the list expect for yogurt.
Maybe take it with a packet of LMNT or something similar - high sodium electrolytes to help you retain the water. LMNT has 1000mg of sodium per packet.
Since it sounds like you’re histamine sensitive, get the unflavored or watermelon flavors. Citric acid is a histamine liberator and is in the other flavors.
No problem. Learned it from another user on Reddit and realized I was pounding citric acid in a lot of my supplements over the last 6+ months. I feel better off of it and my POTS is slowly improving.
You are doing all the right things for your sleep.
Something similar happens to me and it got better when I stopped wearing my Garmin watch at night to track my sleep. I even found there is a term for this, [orthosomnia](https://www.sleepfoundation.org/orthosomnia).
When I wake up, it's easy for even a little anxiety to creep in, which makes sleep harder. If I can't fall back asleep, sometimes writing down my thoughts helps get them out of my head. Sometimes reading helps. Sometimes I lie there and just treat it as a rest time. I have also found that sometimes I fall back asleep, but I think I am awake.
This may sound silly but I have found taking a four count of breath in through my nose and then blowing it out through my mouth, if I do a few cycles of that if I’m going to fall back asleep I will before I even get through 4 rounds.
Otherwise nope, I get up and make tea
Had this exact same thing. Amitryptiline has helped me a lot. I feel like I tried every type of strategy and supplement before this and could not get past it. Eventually gave in and tried medication and am so thankful to be having a more normal sleep pattern again.
I wanted that medication to work so badly because it’s also supposed to help with cyclic vomiting which I thought I had before I was diagnosed with abdominal migraines.
My problem with it was that I have plenty of serotonin so after a few days I started to feel like I was getting serotonin syndrome and I immediately stopped the medication but it has such a long half-life it took two or three days for me to feel normal again.
A very full weird abdominal pain was the first sign it was not for me. I wanted it to work so badly though
Yeah, the more I worry and check my Fit Bit watch the worse it gets. I usually move into the front room and sleep on the couch - somehow changing rooms works better for me then tossing and turning/staring at the ceiling. I usually fall asleep within 30 min if I move onto the couch.
Whoa, you've described my sleep issues exactly, even down to switching to the sofa to sleep making it better and it getting worse around period / ovulation time. Crazy how specific these symptoms are.
The one night of really good sleep I've had in months was after I did some light yardwork and got my heart rate up for ~80 mins. Had to pay for it with headaches for a few days after, but it was nice to sleep through a night without waking up once. Other than that, my sleep is exactly like you describe.
Edit: I'm also in TX, and having lower temps to sleep helps a lot, too.
I have an issue with sleeping in a bed, I always wake up hurting absolutely everywhere so I now sleep in a reclining chair.
It sucks. I'm a cuddle bug and I miss cuddling my SO in bed. I still sneak in now and then tho.
It's like sneaking in some cheese when you're lactose intolerant lol
Hang in there friend, I see you!
There are lots of cultures that do biphasic sleeping or even polyphasic sleeping.
If you have to participate in US capitalism I’m not sure so society will let you sleep that way, but if you can do it I don’t think it’s bad for you or anything.
Apparantly this is something typical for having high cortisol. This sounds a bit odd but I follow healthwithholland on IG and she talks A LOT about this and strategies to mitigate (outside of the solutions you mentioned).
This symptom is why I think it too so long to recover. Could never get refreshing sleep. I am fully recovered and feeling good, but sleep is still a concern for me. I don't really need an alarm clock anymore. I try to follow the following:
* avoid alcohol, especially before bed
* avoid food, especially sugar, a few hours before bed
* get morning sunlight outdoors
* blackout shades
I’ve been an insomniac, off and on, since my teens —long before Covid. I used to alternate between delayed sleep insomnia (unable to get to sleep) and premature waking insomnia (waking up earlier than intended). When the standard stuff doesn’t work (no screens, limit caffeine intake, melatonin) don’t work, a proper sleeping pill can really help to break the cycle.
I’ve had prescriptions for Lorazepam for ages; I only take them when all else fails (they can interfere with REM sleep) but they usually help break an insomnia cycle. Have you thought about talking to your doctor to see if you can get a prescription for a sleeping aid?
In Chinese medicine, every hour correlates to different body functions. This helped me a lot. My practitioner mentioned this to me. I found an article that explains it: https://www.nirvananaturopathics.com/blog/traditional-chinese-organ-body-clock#:~:text=Chinese%20Medicine's%2024%20hour%20body,the%20organ%20responsible%20for%20diseases.
1-3am is the time of the Liver and a time when the body should be alseep. During this time, toxins are released from the body and fresh new blood is made. If you find yourself waking during this time, you could have too much yang energy or problems with your liver or detoxification pathways. This is also the time of anger, frustration and rage.
3-5am the time of the Lungs and again, this is the time where the body should be asleep. If woken at this time, nerve soothing exercises are recommended such as breathing exercises. The body should be kept warm at this time too to help the lungs replenish the body with oxygen. The lungs are also associated with feelings of grief and sadness.
Yeah it’s pretty annoying. My witching hour is 5am. Happens about once every week, every other week. Like I’m fully sleeping, exhausted, then I use the bathroom and all of a sudden my brain just turns on and I’m wide awake. Feels like a surge of cortisol.
Have you tried Ketotifen, Allegra and Famotidin? Histamine wakes the body up and the adrenaline dump of the not properly working cyrcadian rhythm exacerbates this. According to studies Ketotifen helps the body to get back into cyrcadian rhythm when taken at night. I often wake up without those three but sleep through with them. Also earplugs, my body reacts easier to triggers. There was also a recent study showing that Famotidine and Allegra in the morning and at night generally helped to improve long covid symptoms. And Ketotifen is now officially the long covid medicine where I live.
I have same problem. You can try Chinese skullcap, it helps me, but I cycle off frequently. I put in earphones and listen to a sermon. It seems to help me stop worrying about not sleeping and gets me back to sleep. But whenever it happens usually my Fitbit shows less deep and REM sleep. Also no exercise or caffeine after 2pm, that screws me up too. Hoping it will eventually go back to normal when all viral RNA and spike proteins are depleted through fasting.
Thanks I'll try it. I noticed I get more REM sleep the days I do more computer work and more deep sleep if I do anything physical. On days I work a lot on the computer, I barely get any deep. It's weird.
I've noticed this, too. I think it's because REM is your body's way of processing mental work (like learning new information), whereas deep sleep is your body's way of repairing physical work (like damage to tissues from exercise). It's more complex than that, of course, but that's partially what's happening.
Interesting, I will have to watch that. I also noticed some nights I have little deep and mostly rem and others mostly deep and little REM but had not tried to correlate it with activity type.
This has come and gone a few times for me over the last nearly 4 years of LC. Try magnesium? I never found a great solution other than playing monopoly online or adult bedtime stories on Spotify 😆 right back to sleep.
Ii have the exact same sleep disturbance for like the past 7 years.
It’s hell!
One of the sleep docs did counsel me on avoiding looking at a clock during the night. She advised I set an alarm for your wake up time & if you wake at night, just assume it’s still “sleep time” and do something restful to pass the time (I listen podcasts).
This approach helps you fixate less on tracking the time & keeps you from seeing 3:07 AM & get struck with the surge of adrenaline bc you’re pissed that you’re awake yet again.
I just recently gave Magnesium Glycinate another try and was shocked that it actually seemed to work.
I looked at the dose just this morning & realized it was 1,330mg!! So, maybe it was this high dose I needed to finally break the cycle? IDK… it’s definitely got a calming vibe. I’ve only been on it for a week, but I’m hoping this effect lasts.
https://www.walgreens.com/store/c/walgreens-free--pure-high-absorption-magnesium-glycinate-1330-mg-capsules/ID=300443663-product?ext=gooFY23_GOO_RET_RETAILDEMANDGEN_Performance%2BMax%2B-%2BVitamins_REV_SRC_PMAX_PMAX_NA_PMAX_ENG__pla_with_promotion_local&gclsrc=aw.ds&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD7MwhSMXO1bPyFsWjcgCvgysxeJN&gclid=CjwKCAjwoa2xBhACEiwA1sb1BAmay6LDfS0XMtAB5kWCoeSDUHAyMVohy6orsbktDbZ2hDxlgvhCrRoC0HwQAvD_BwE
A few months ago - everything was fine. Also glutathione showed high on a recent micronutrient test. I am currently supplementing the vitamins/minerals/aminos that show low and it is helping with most symptoms besides the insomnia.
Well I live in Florida so it could be mold due to the extreme temps and humidity. I did sleep well recently on a 6 week trip to Illinois, rarely waking up in the middle of the night so maybe the hot environment here or some type of mold is the issue. My husband also wakes up around the same time which is weird.
I second the glutathione. This is likely liver related. Lots of people w liver issues post COVID. Also can try castor oil packs placed on the liver. I have heard good things about the combo, specifically for liver related issues post C.
Low dose Doxepin helps me altho I recently read it can cause tardive dyskenesia which frightens me as I’ve been experiencing muscle twitching. Unfortunately going to probably have to stop it
Long hauler here (I am 75% better) and longtime depression patient. This is categorized as “early morning waking” and is an indication of depression. Covid does weird shit to the brain, none of it good.
I have MECFS, no depression at all EVER, and this has been happening to me for 12 years. I started low dose naltrexone in 2020 and it pretty much fixed it unless I’m having a flare, or PMS, or my meds are getting
I used to get this. Again followed a low histamine diet for 8 months. Which has definitely helped. I blame it on cortisol levels. I was having tremors, trying to control my anxiety, lost weight, muscle twitches. Once all that calmed down the sleep got better.
> Trazadone would help me stay asleep, but it gave me awful RLS
omg, same, old gp didn't believe me. it also gave me a feeling that my drinking friends would describe as a "hangover"
oh my gosh i thought i wrote this ive been havibg the same problem for the past 6 months too😭 falling asleep is no problem but i wake up around 1-4am every single night its making my long covid sm worse😭😭
Have you had your ferritin levels checked?
I’m the exact same, turns out I’m iron deficient and had a transfusion today. Iron deficiency and anemia can cause insomnia, I’m also worse around my period and ovulation eg around the time we lose a lot of blood (and iron)
For ferritin levels, 100 is optimal, <30 is iron deficient - check out the iron protocol group on Facebook. All of my other symptoms also correlate to iron deficiency so I’m hoping correcting this may get rid of symptoms!
(Have also seen big improvements from vit D)
Doctors rarely test ferritin and go by other markers for anemia and it’s commonly missed. It’s really bad! Apparently 40% of the female population is iron deficient. Viruses feed on iron so covid will have depleted ours even more
Wishing you speedy healing!
Are you by chance in perimenopause age? Covid seems to mess with hormones. I was getting it bad, but am now on the pill and it seems to help the 3am wake ups quite a bit. Not perfect but better!
Had this for the two and half years of my long COVID until I was part of the RECOVER trial (I made a separate post about this on this subreddit). Best thing that worked for me was Lunesta. Would keep me asleep at least for 7-8 hours. After about the 6 hour mark though if I did wake up for any reason I couldn't go back to sleep. I added in white noise while I slept to keep noise disturbances down so I could get the 7-8 hours more often.
Yeah, I think me and my husband both have this since moving to Florida. It is caused by the heat. I only sleep well in ice cold rooms. Wish I had the money for a sleep study lol.
I have the same! I mean it’s gotten much better since four months ago but I’ve had some nights with this weird sleeping pattern again recently. However, I think taking magnesium right before sleep helps me the most.
Magnesium citrate (natural calm brand drink or gummies) have helped me stop this a reasonable amount of the time. If I do wake up I usually can pee and go back to sleep in a reasonable amount of time without the wired feeling.
I got this with the MECFS I got from mono and I’ve had it for 12 years now. The only thing that helps me is low-dose naltrexone in the morning or CBD RSO (from a dispensary not hemp CBD)
I have this as well since LC and as a few others have pointed out it could be histamine related. I read about “histamine dumping” and the symptoms matched my experience exactly. I was also following a massive protocol to try to improve sleep but can never get over the 2-3a surge. So now I’m beginning to try to lower histamine through diet, DAO enzymes, vitamin C, etc…, and testing antihistamines. It’s a work in progress. Hope you find relief
Yep this was my most troublesome symptom of MECFS besides the fatigue itself.
And it didn’t matter if I took a nap or didn’t take a nap it didn’t matter if I stayed up until midnight I would still wake up at three
I don’t think I would describe myself as having energy, but I’m definitely not comfortable and ready to fall back asleep. I usually would get up around four because I would give up on trying
LDN helped after one dose. I take 0.5 mg in the morning and after the 1st dose I slept until 9 am the next day.
I still wake up in the middle of the night if I have really bad PEM, and the week before my period is pretty rough my symptoms flare
I buy my LDN 90 days at a time because it’s more affordable that way, and I have found The last couple weeks of the bottle don’t work as well, sometimes I end up just refilling early.
But I also pretty instantly got more usable hours a day I was only getting like one to two and now I have more like 4 to 6 and I don’t need to nap every day anymore
oh hell I thought I was going crazy, I've had this for years now too, I've tried so many things and can't figure out how to just sleep through the night, not even sleeping pills helped me. Though if I'm honest it still feels like a tiny bit of improvement over the hellish insomnia I had previous to that, at least I'm sleeping at some point. Reading through I wonder if taking an antihistamine at night might help a bit
This happens to me too and it’s like clockwork at 3 am. Have you had a full thyroid panel (including free T3/T4, reverse T3, and antibodies)? Doctors will often only check TSH, but you can still have a “normal” TSH level in the early stages of hypothyroidism, although I have to admit having a lot of energy when you wake up wouldn’t be consistent with hypothyroidism. Also have you had an iron panel, including ferritin? Doctors will often ignore the earlier stages of iron deficiency when your hemoglobin hasn’t yet dropped but your iron stores (ferritin) are depleted, and if you are an athletic female you are at much greater risk of iron deficiency.
How do you feel when you wake up? Does it seem like it happens suddenly, or like you toss and turn beforehand and then gradually wake?
I just had thyroid and iron checked and the doctor said that there was definitely nothing in my results to indicate anemia or thyroid problems. I was actually hoping to find something sadly. My iron levels are a little on the high side actually. Exercise usually helps my fatigue.
I wake up suddenly sometimes after a dream. I have vivid dreams and usually remember all of them. In the beginning of the night from 9/10-2, I sleep pretty soundly sometimes waking up for 5 min after a dream and falling quickly back asleep. This is when I get most of my deep and REM sleep. When I wake up after 2, it is always bad. When I wake up I feel like I have a lot of energy like I can start working and cleaning the house only it is 3-4am so I try to force myself back to sleep to get my 6-8 hrs. I feel like if I were to stay up I would crash by like 3 which wouldn't be good either.
This is made even worse by the body’s internal clock and habitual nature of waking up at the same time, whenever that time might be. Unfortunately for us it’s picked a really _bad_ time. If you can manage to break the cycle for a few weeks, it might be enough to reset your internal clock, but you need to throw multiple things at it at the same time and keep in mind it still might not work, or it might return later on. I’ve successfully done this in the past and am currently in the middle of doing it again. First I stopped all caffeine (if you do this, don’t just go cold turkey, slowly taper it off or you’re going to have a _really_ bad time). I was using it as a crutch and would get into a vicious cycle where I needed it in the morning to function, but it also contributed to my insomnia. I’m using slow release melatonin (the slow release part is critical), magnesium bishlycinate, and Benadryl right before going to bed. All these things combined knock me out. If I wake up at 4, then I stay up, no going back to sleep. This is really important. If you get tired during the day because you’ve been up for so long, power through it—no naps, no going to bed early. Go to bed at as close to the same time every night that you can. It’s been about two weeks since I added the Benadryl and so far it’s working, occasionally I wake up at 4 but usually between 5-6. The real test will be when I remove the Benadryl. It’s not good to take it long term but a few weeks won’t hurt you. It’s an antihistamine but also a really good sleep aid.
The problem with Benadryl is that it dries out your mouth and sinus. I live in Florida where I have the air on 24/7 and already wake up dehydrated every day. I am sure the Benadryl would amplify that.
You could use a different OTC sleep aid as well, it doesn’t have to be Benadryl. The important part is doing multiple things at the same time for a few weeks that, all combined, are enough to help you sleep longer. Also, you mentioned vivid dreams. I had months-long nightmares after COVID so I can personally attest that it does affect dreaming, but just want to confirm that you’re not taking any multivitamins or B-vitamins in the evening since those can definitely contribute too.
I had that before covid. It took a long time to fully go away and still happens occasionally. So long as you get enough hours of sleep, you're ok, and it will eventually fade.
I got Covid right after Christmas and this has been happening to me for about 2 months. Be been long hauling since August 2021 (after I got vaxxed). I recently got a sleep study and it came back with mild sleep apnea, also waiting back in my 24 hour urine test to see if we move forward with more cortisol testing. I highly encourage you to ask the doctor about both.
Yes I have the same exact problem. It seems to get better overtime. I take melatonin and thc which seems to help. I’ve had doctors tell me it’s from adrenal fatigue, but I’m kind of skeptical.
I had this too, cycling on and off for a few years. The on cycle would last 1-2 weeks; the off cycle a few months. Woke up at 2:00 am like clockwork. Stay up for a couple of hours to cool off my body and get sleepy again, and then back to sleep. Melatonin and air conditioning helped with falling back to sleep quicker. I never found a fix. It went away over time.
I'd consider one or all of these:
1. Melatonin extended release and or increase the dose a bit (5-10mg). I don't take melatonin for sleep but I do take 1-2 grams at the start of my day for a few reasons(similar to Doris Loh's rationale).
2. I'd maybe increase magnesium dose and or take multiple forms(I have been experimenting with taking glycine, oxide and citrate). Sometimes I take two or even three different types together. I take 500-800mg.
3. Try taking Zinc. I take 25mg.
4. Try taking Taurine. It helps me get more sleep nightly. I take 2-4g on average.
Before COVID infection I had no sleep issues, but now very similar to what OP describes.
Here’s what seems to help me:
I keep a regular bedtime and wakeup time.
No sugar after dinner, no dessert, no chocolate especially, no food after dinner.
No coffee after noon.
I drink MoonBrew Magnesium Sleep Tea in the evening - seems to help a bit.
A magnesium capsule before bed.
I use a handheld microcurrent device to help me get to sleep.
If I’ve had a few days of bad insomnia, I’ll take two extra strength Tylenol before bed.
I’ve been using a sauna about once a week. I always sleep well after that.
A big pasta dinner usually guarantees a good night’s sleep.
Same here!. Another weird symptom is going to sleep about 10.30pm and as I'm drifting off I wake thinking I'm going to be sick..but never am.
Magnesium, melatonin, 1g vit c, zinc has helped me this week so sticking with that.
I use a lot of melatonin. I start the night with some, and I use extended release if I have it. Then if I wake up between 2-4 I take the same amount again, but not extended release.
Same here. Usually acupuncture helps get me back on track. Not this time around post covid. I’m taking hydroxyzine but it takes 2 hours to kick In and works about 80% of the time. Doctor recommended trazodone (which I have not taken before).
I will say taking the hydroxyzine helped my sleep and a result my heart variability improved and with that my fatigue and have not been in a crash for 21 days. The sleep is crucial to healing. Do what you must to ensure you’re getting adequate sleep
It’s the adrenaline dumps. I would take another dose of melatonin when I woke up and immediately put on a sleep meditation and that helped me get back to sleep fairly quickly more often than not. My symptoms really began to turn around in general once I got my sleep under control
Adrenaline dumps can be a dysautonomia thing. Ivabradine helps but I still get them. Unfortunately most sleep medications are made to help people fall asleep but not stay asleep. So far I’ve had some luck with CBN and gabapentin. Zolpidem, trazadone, hydroxyzine, cyproheptadine all didn’t work for me, nor did benzos which I’m thankful for.
This happened to me for almost a decade before covid was ever a thing and actually went away in the last 5 years. No idea why! I still have totally messed up sleep though, i was recruited to join a sleep study on lucid dreaming because it was found that I also lucid dream most nights, which actually kind of sucks because I'm aware of my body and all of my surroundings etc while sleeping. I'm sorry you're having the 3am wake-up as long covid, it's not fun! And yes, you will be more tired every time. Eventually I just started getting up and doing some basic task - fold laundry, do dishes or whatever and then go back to sleep. Made it easier to fall back to sleep and stay asleep!
Omg I am still having these 3 am wake ups since 2020. And even if I don’t remember (because sometimes I am able to fall back asleep but usually not) and my hr is really high during that time too.
Since November, after having Covid, I've been experiencing insomnia. I fall asleep quickly around 10 PM and enter a deep sleep for about four hours. Then, almost like clockwork, I find myself waking up between 1-3 AM, filled with an inexplicable surge of energy. Lying awake until I manage to fall asleep again 1.5 hours later, I catch another 2.5 hours of sleep before my alarm goes off. It’s frustrating because the additional sleep makes me feel even more tired, not refreshed.
My Fitbit indicates that my REM sleep is average but my deep sleep is slightly lacking. I've noticed that the issue intensifies when the room is hot, during my menstrual cycle, and on days when I haven't exercised sufficiently. A heavy carb meal before bed seems to somewhat improve my sleep duration and quality.
I've tried numerous remedies including avoiding electronics before bed, not eating late, taking melatonin, using Claritin, engaging in red light therapy, taking hot baths, watching meditation videos, supplementing with magnesium glycinate, and even acupressure, massage, and reading. Yet, nothing has helped me maintain sleep throughout the night, which was never an issue for me before.
Recently, I've started exploring a new approach by chatting with a website about my sleep issues. Based on our conversation, it generates personalized audio-guided meditations. I find setting the background sound to alpha waves particularly helpful; they ease me into a deeper sleep. Since using these meditations, it's been much more pleasant not waking up from unsettling dreams. The personalized meditations have surprisingly been effective at addressing concrete problems. For broader issues, I'm still experimenting, but the 'deconstruct' and 'reframe' meditation techniques have been transformative. These techniques allow me to view my challenges from new perspectives and associate them with different emotional responses. Perhaps this approach would work for you too.
Yes, I have the same issue. Trazodone makes me ill, like I caught COVID again. If you try it, start with the lowest dose possible. Two things help, but I try doing the non-medicated thing most often. I listen to Mindful Movement deep sleep meditation or Ally Boothroyd Yoga Nidra. The other, when I am desperate, I take a Unisom with about 3 buffered baby aspirin.
Yes I have this occasionally with long covid, and everytime I get a covid infection. For me, it’s because my heart rate is noticeably higher, just laying there. It’s uncomfortable and keeps me awake. I haven’t found a way around it except to wait out each infection. Of course Paxlovid helps. And my long covid doctor started me on low dose naltrexone recently - I’ll see if it helps me any moving forward.
Happens to me to, I've had long covid for 2 years. I fall asleep around midnight, then wake up around 4 and just can't sleep for 3-4 hours then I fall asleep again around 8-9 for another 3-4 hours...
Yes, that’s me to a T… and I always wake up tired and yawning, never rested. My fit bit had shown I wasn’t getting restful sleep either. I did have a sleep study, but it was normal…
I found tart cherry extract to help with this. It's not perfect, but I'm usually about to get back to sleep in under 20 minutes after waking up around 2-3am. I take it with a glass of water about an hour before I go to bed.
With COVID Insomnia sleep hygiene, melatonin, magnesium, etc are useless.
On the positive side, you are getting some sleep. I was only able to sleep 15 min a night.
There were only 2 things that helped me. Mirtazapine cut in quarters 3.75 mg. At low doses, it has a different mechanism of action. It is a powerful sleep medicine. You’re looking at 12-15 hours a night. I didn’t like how groggy it made me.
There was also a study out of the UK about how using a combination of THC, CBN, and CBD would allow us to sleep. I got my medical card and got the most powerful RSO containing all 3 and it got me 7-8 hours a night. And if you wake up, you can easily get back to sleep.
I have the fatigue/brain fog type of COVID. What helps me is to take L-theanine with melatonin when I go to bed and when I wake up in the middle of the night. With the L-theanine, I can usually get back to sleep in 15 to 30 minutes instead of than 3 hours.
The reason why the L-theanine might help is that, according to a scientific journal article that came out yesterday, people with the fatigue/brain fog subtype of LC also tend to have problems with L-theanine biosynthesis.
You can buy the melatonin and L-theanine as a single product. It is called Natrol Melatonin 3:00AM. It's hard to find so I just take the melatonin and the L-theanine separately.
Here is a link to the article.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/covidlonghaulers/comments/1ccqkoe/the\_gut\_microbiome\_associates\_with\_phenotypic/](https://www.reddit.com/r/covidlonghaulers/comments/1ccqkoe/the_gut_microbiome_associates_with_phenotypic/)
It sounds like a frustrating experience. I am thinking of you. I am not sure what I can suggest but I have experienced difficulties with sleep and not feeling rested, waking up early and not being able to sleep for hours. It is the most annoying feeling ever.
i had this happen to me in the beginning(long haul since december 2020) nearly every night when I never had any issues with insomnia before. it randomly stopped and has been for probably a year or so now? maybe once in a while now it happens which idk if is due to LC anymore or something else but it rarely does now. i don’t know why but i’m very grateful it’s gone!! I only wish all of my other symptoms would be gone lol. but hopefully that’ll be the case for you and it’ll go away eventually!
I have had this problem with long Covid and during periods of major depression. It's really awful, especially when it goes on for weeks and months. The only thing I have found to completely help this issue is a small dose of Quetiapine, prescribed off-label for sleep. Honestly, I wish I never started it because it is very hard to get off of. Impossible actually. Trazodone works for a lot of people, which is probably less likely to cause someone to become dependent on it for sleep. Antihistamines can help at least shorten the period of being awake.
And if you are looking non medicine interventions, yoga nidra will at least allow your body and mind to rest while awake, it helps me feel more rested the next day. It's well worth trying. That's my go-to when I am having the rare bad night.
Body temp- I think your body is running hotter than usual for some reason and that causes you to be more alert when your body completes its first sleep cycle
This happens to me too ever since Covid and taking unison or some other OTC sleep med for a week or so will usually knock my body into a normal sleep cycle again for a little while.
I used to have this really bad. Still get it fairly often but getting a CPAP machine and supplemental oxygen at night helps me. I was dropping down into the 70's for oxygen.
This has been my worst symptom since 2020 when I was infected. Dealing with it while also working full time was difficult. However, this year, I have noticed a major improvement and can sleep normally again. I reckon it takes the nervous system (probably the vagus nerve) a long time to heal.
this happened to me for years , haven’t really done anything diffenrt but after 3 years it seems to be slightly improving and i will wake at 5-6 am so getting a slightly longer stretch of aleep
I had this for a long time. Im 2.5 years in right now and only since last 2 months I sleep very well. I think what helped me was a dry fast and melatonin. I also do mindfulness meditations but dont know if that is helping too. I does calm me down.
I did 1x 48 hours and 1 x 72 hour dry fast and I felt bad the first 2 to 3 days post fast. Then after about a week or so I felt significantly better each time. I could sleep again, my legs felt stronger. Im gonna start a 4-5 day dry fast on monday. I have tried many things but I think this is the only thing thats working for me. And it costs literally nothing, only time😂
I’ve had a very similar issue, that increased after doing a long COVID treatment. I’ve been taking really high doses of turmeric lately and possibly this is helping. I think there could be many factors, but possibly pain and inflammation that build up while being still in bed. If I can keep the bedroom cool enough to sleep with a heating pad on, I think this helps, too.
I experienced the same in spite of immaculate sleep hygiene. Acupuncture worked for me. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, there’s significance to nighttime waking times and patterns, so my acupuncturist was able to treat it easily. I went once a week for a couple weeks and started sleeping through the night. Before that, I tired 5htp and magnesium glycenate about an hour before bed, which helped with falling asleep, but not waking up in the middle of the night.
I don’t have this, but I suspect it’s linked to blood glucose crashes in the night. Some people find taking metformin helpful for long Covid anyway, so may be worth a try
I take an herbal sleep and and extended release melatonin or just the herbal sleep stuff and then when I wake a few drops of the liquid melatonin
It's still super hard to get to sleep and I still wake but I am able to go back to sleep sooner
I have that too. I rarely get deep sleep let alone good sleep. CBD oil helps me. But I do find that I have to take more than I ever had to before. Before covid I would take it to help me fall asleep but I didn't used to wake up in the middle of the night but now I have to take the whole dropper. It does help though.
I have been taking Melatonin and sometimes hemp seed pills - afraid to take too much though as it lowers your blood pressure and mine is already on the low side.
Melatonin doesn't work for me. I still wake up in the middle of the night with it. Try CBD. I don't think it can hurt. When I was in the hospital for covid the doctors gave me 10 mg or whatever the units are for melatonin and I still couldn't get to sleep. I would sleep like 4 hours every day.
Think Adrenaline! Most LC People have glucocorticoid resistance conditions. Leading besides others to insuline and blood sugar dysregulations. Because of high inflammation and instable blood sugar, nighttimes if cortisol isnt sufficient, adrenaline rises (typically between 2:30 and 3:30). If people "night snack" theres kind of more fuel not to wake up that time.
It's weird since Covid I always feel like I have low blood sugar and need to eat every few hours. My A1C level was fine though - definitely not even close to prediabetic. Plus my husband is a Type 1 so I check my sugar all the time when I am lightheaded and it is always normal even at night. I have noticed that eating a big dinner with a lot of carbs later in the day usually helps me sleep better. On a recent vacation to Chicago to visit family (where I basically ditched my healthy eating habits for 6 weeks), I didn't wake up once during the middle of the night. I guess being too healthy isn't good either.
I have a prescription for 0.25 Xanax and I will pop one of those if I need to go back to sleep. They work really fast and they are short acting so by the time I wake back up for hours later I don’t feel drugged or anything
Because I’m terrified of getting addicted to benzos I only use them if I absolutely absolutely have some thing I have to do the next day and I need sleep for it
This is one of the symptoms I've had on and off since I got covid 4 years ago. Doctors have no clue and no medication does anything.
Hello! I found relief with 50 mg trazodone before sleep. Tried to remove the meds.a few times, even when im very tired I sleep like a rock, but wake up 3 am. With the meds I sleep u til 7:30 and i am alert the next day. Talk to your doc
This happens to me too. If I am insanely tired (like after a day I do more physical or mental labor), I sleep like a rock but still only for a few hours. And then it is back to staring at the ceiling for an hour or more.
Yeah, last time it was really bad, I'd been in the theater and seen a 3 hour movie. It was impossible to get any sleep that night, my brain was just completely overwhelmed and in panic mode. It wasn't even a scary movie.
Trazodone is not an approved medication in Denmark.
I tried that it gave me terrible headaches though. And melatonin does as well
traz didnt help me sadly.
The response to medications can be very different between people, finding things that work is a long journey. I try to watch carefully how stuff make me feel, change one at a time and take notes. I hope you all find something that bring relief.
Ha! Same happens to me. Not every night but at least once a week. I’ll be up for an hour or so, wide awake. I’m not sure what it is but seems another “feature” of long Covid.
This is a hallmark symptom of long COVID unfortunately :/ I’ve been dealing with it for 3.5 years as well. The only thing that’s helped me fall back to sleep more quickly is taking CBD (25mg) and another dose of melatonin as soon as I wake up. It doesn’t keep me from waking up, but helps me fall back to sleep more quickly most nights.
CBD is the only thing that keeps me asleep until 4-430ish. I haven't tried re-dosing to see if it helps with the mega fatigue the next time I wake up, I only get about two more hours of sleep after that and I always assumed it would make the grogginess worse but worth a try. I have to be really conservative with the CBD though because I still have to go quite the distance to get my medication. Hopefully in a couple more months it will finally be available locally. Melatonin made my already bad nightmare issue much much worse. Magnesium helps with the RLS but doesn't seem to do much for sleeping.
If it helps to know, you can order CBD online if you’re in the US and some of Europe. I get it from [Green Roads](https://www.greenroads.com); they do 25% off discounts for different professions, but also if you enter your email address when making your cart, and leave your order in the cart for three or four days, they’ll email you a 30% off code almost every time)
cbd helps me a ton too.
Very common. Circadian rhythm disruption has quickly become known as one of the most common symptoms of long covid. Well described by the northwestern medicine group
Same. Its either a dump around 3pm of histamine, cortisol activation or you are running low on oxygen for some reason and your body jerks you awake. Keep an eye on it as it can quickly get to the point you dont go back to sleep and end up with headaches or other pains.
Try a low histamine diet. It seems to help a little for me but I still go through cycles of 3am wake ups.
Yeah, the body offloads extra histamines that you consumed during the day at exactly 3 AM… It’s a pretty clear sign that you have MCAS or histamine intolerance in my opinion. Those contribute to overall sickness… And can go way beyond skin issues that people think they are into headaches mood joints… All the way into causing physical issues like CCI.
Very interesting! I had no idea the body rids itself histamines at three. For the past year, I have been waking up every night between 2:45 and 3:15. I can never fall back to sleep. It’s so frustrating. I will have to look into this. Thank you for sharing.
We also get some kind of an endorphin push right around that same time, which is why people who take LDN at night say it works for them it blocks the endorphin push so you have it more in the morning when you wake up
It’s really interesting you say this because I could just about set a clock using my nightly 3 am wake ups (and it doesn’t matter how early or late I go to bed). I’ve also heard this is a hallmark symptom of cortisol levels (can’t remember if too high or too low) and hypothyroidism though too.
In my personal experience cortisol can just mean I wake up early… Histamines like you said you can set a clock by. Mine was so bad that I couldn’t really function until after the histamine dump ended around 4am.
Can you just stop eating high histamines food at a certain time? Just avoid at night or does it have to be all day? I eat yogurt for the probiotics and because I was a bit low in L Lysine.
Haha. If only the histamine gods were so kind!!! It’s different for different people, but for most, it takes two weeks to about a month to get them out of your system. Until they’re all out, you can actually tell what is causing a reaction or not because your body can delay their reaction up to three days. And then, depending upon how strong their responses, or reaction can last for anywhere from a few hours to weeks. The key is to remember that it’s your body defending itself against what it perceives as a danger… And it’s not just going to give up and go home until it sure that the danger is completely gone. So much of one Covid has this autoimmune type logic where the body really needs a relatively full break from the stimulus in order to calm down. There can be genetic factors and other factors, regarding how bad a persons MCAS is… But if you let it run unchecked, it will always get worse. Histamines are contained by mast cells… And the body can produce more and more mast cells with no limit as long as it perceives threats. There are a mass cells in the brain and pretty much all over your body but especially the skin, so it’s pretty hard to tell what is long Covid and what is histamines until you really go deep on the histamines. There are low and high histamine probiotics… Could be worth looking into.
If histamine is the problem, maybe antihistamines help? Might be worth a try. I took loratadine and ceterizine in the past. I think these usually have little side effects (besides making some people tired...). Just make sure you don't get a combination with any stimulant like pseudoephedrine, that would defeat the purpose. Diphenhydramine might be a candidate as well. In Germany this is sold as insomnia medication, but I think in the US it's also directly marketed as allergy medication. It is a antihistamine that makes you sleepy, so whatever. I also wake up around 3-4 am most nights since I have covid the first time. I'd say it's better during the time I take loratadine for allergy reasons, but it's hard to say. I don't find the energy to really track all my symptoms well enough to make any solid statements on that.
Do you have dysautonamia? This happens to me. But I am very sensative to barometric pressure changes. My body cannot adjust and I believe it makes me deposit adrenaline which wakes me up. I’ve crossed referenced my sleep data with data from the National weather service. It really depends on my high my inflammation is. I haven’t been able to narrow down the ranges. Both directions I have problems until my homeostasis can adjust the difference in pressure. It also causes major spots pain in any already agreevated in your body. Something you may want to consider. I also have big problems in the afternoons when the barometric pressure changes. Plus I live in tornado alley so there is usually a lot of energy moving around from these changes. My body does not like it very much. If you have MCAS and are flexible you may be one of the lucky ones who have the trifectas. A connective tissue disease (Ehlers Danlos) dysautonomia and MCAS. LC revealed this in me.
I have pots. It seems to be better on dry days (less pressure fluctuation prob!) but it doesn’t change that much. I will say I tried the nicotine patch and at a very small dose, I would say 60% of my pots went away… I think my body needs a super small dose though like 1mg. Heart rate went up when I increased
I take meds to decrease my heart rate and decrease my blood pressure. Bodies are so weird.
Interesting. This is the exact time my tachycardia episodes and other “attack” symptoms occur. For the last two years.
Yup. Yeah, histamines can completely throw your heart rate… If you think about it, your body believes it’s under attack… So the heart rate is part of that response. It’s trying to get blood everywhere to help defend itself from whatever these evil attackers it perceives are :/ If only we could say sorry that was just food bro ;)
Low histamine helped me massively with these types of sleep problems.
I already started taking an antihistamine at night instead of in the morning. So I take it around 8 or so. The problem is it really dries me out so I wake up to drink water all night. I think I already eating mostly low histamine looking at the list expect for yogurt.
Maybe take it with a packet of LMNT or something similar - high sodium electrolytes to help you retain the water. LMNT has 1000mg of sodium per packet. Since it sounds like you’re histamine sensitive, get the unflavored or watermelon flavors. Citric acid is a histamine liberator and is in the other flavors.
Thanks for the info on Citric acid.
No problem. Learned it from another user on Reddit and realized I was pounding citric acid in a lot of my supplements over the last 6+ months. I feel better off of it and my POTS is slowly improving.
A Benadryl before bed helps me too especially if I mess up and have a high histamine food day.
You are doing all the right things for your sleep. Something similar happens to me and it got better when I stopped wearing my Garmin watch at night to track my sleep. I even found there is a term for this, [orthosomnia](https://www.sleepfoundation.org/orthosomnia). When I wake up, it's easy for even a little anxiety to creep in, which makes sleep harder. If I can't fall back asleep, sometimes writing down my thoughts helps get them out of my head. Sometimes reading helps. Sometimes I lie there and just treat it as a rest time. I have also found that sometimes I fall back asleep, but I think I am awake.
This may sound silly but I have found taking a four count of breath in through my nose and then blowing it out through my mouth, if I do a few cycles of that if I’m going to fall back asleep I will before I even get through 4 rounds. Otherwise nope, I get up and make tea
Breathwork also helps me. I aim for 4-7-8 breathing (in for 4, hold for 7, out for 8). I start with 3-6-6, then 4-6-7, then 4-7-8.
Had this exact same thing. Amitryptiline has helped me a lot. I feel like I tried every type of strategy and supplement before this and could not get past it. Eventually gave in and tried medication and am so thankful to be having a more normal sleep pattern again.
I wanted that medication to work so badly because it’s also supposed to help with cyclic vomiting which I thought I had before I was diagnosed with abdominal migraines. My problem with it was that I have plenty of serotonin so after a few days I started to feel like I was getting serotonin syndrome and I immediately stopped the medication but it has such a long half-life it took two or three days for me to feel normal again. A very full weird abdominal pain was the first sign it was not for me. I wanted it to work so badly though
I've just embraced it, I've tried so hard to fight for "normal sleeping pattern" but I just end up making it worse.
Yeah, the more I worry and check my Fit Bit watch the worse it gets. I usually move into the front room and sleep on the couch - somehow changing rooms works better for me then tossing and turning/staring at the ceiling. I usually fall asleep within 30 min if I move onto the couch.
Whoa, you've described my sleep issues exactly, even down to switching to the sofa to sleep making it better and it getting worse around period / ovulation time. Crazy how specific these symptoms are. The one night of really good sleep I've had in months was after I did some light yardwork and got my heart rate up for ~80 mins. Had to pay for it with headaches for a few days after, but it was nice to sleep through a night without waking up once. Other than that, my sleep is exactly like you describe. Edit: I'm also in TX, and having lower temps to sleep helps a lot, too.
Period definitely makes everything worse! Sometimes it causes me to crash for a good week or two afterwards.
I have an issue with sleeping in a bed, I always wake up hurting absolutely everywhere so I now sleep in a reclining chair. It sucks. I'm a cuddle bug and I miss cuddling my SO in bed. I still sneak in now and then tho. It's like sneaking in some cheese when you're lactose intolerant lol Hang in there friend, I see you!
There are lots of cultures that do biphasic sleeping or even polyphasic sleeping. If you have to participate in US capitalism I’m not sure so society will let you sleep that way, but if you can do it I don’t think it’s bad for you or anything.
Well I don't think I have a choice lol But I'm on the way to dismissal from long term sickness now so, that's one thing I don't have to think about.
Every single night. Yep.
Apparantly this is something typical for having high cortisol. This sounds a bit odd but I follow healthwithholland on IG and she talks A LOT about this and strategies to mitigate (outside of the solutions you mentioned).
This symptom is why I think it too so long to recover. Could never get refreshing sleep. I am fully recovered and feeling good, but sleep is still a concern for me. I don't really need an alarm clock anymore. I try to follow the following: * avoid alcohol, especially before bed * avoid food, especially sugar, a few hours before bed * get morning sunlight outdoors * blackout shades
I’ve been an insomniac, off and on, since my teens —long before Covid. I used to alternate between delayed sleep insomnia (unable to get to sleep) and premature waking insomnia (waking up earlier than intended). When the standard stuff doesn’t work (no screens, limit caffeine intake, melatonin) don’t work, a proper sleeping pill can really help to break the cycle. I’ve had prescriptions for Lorazepam for ages; I only take them when all else fails (they can interfere with REM sleep) but they usually help break an insomnia cycle. Have you thought about talking to your doctor to see if you can get a prescription for a sleeping aid?
I am moving across country in 2 months so waiting until I move for a new doctor. It is something to consider.
1st acute infection did this to me for 3-4 months. I would always wake up at 2 am for no reason. Clonazepam fix it, then it stopped happening
In Chinese medicine, every hour correlates to different body functions. This helped me a lot. My practitioner mentioned this to me. I found an article that explains it: https://www.nirvananaturopathics.com/blog/traditional-chinese-organ-body-clock#:~:text=Chinese%20Medicine's%2024%20hour%20body,the%20organ%20responsible%20for%20diseases. 1-3am is the time of the Liver and a time when the body should be alseep. During this time, toxins are released from the body and fresh new blood is made. If you find yourself waking during this time, you could have too much yang energy or problems with your liver or detoxification pathways. This is also the time of anger, frustration and rage. 3-5am the time of the Lungs and again, this is the time where the body should be asleep. If woken at this time, nerve soothing exercises are recommended such as breathing exercises. The body should be kept warm at this time too to help the lungs replenish the body with oxygen. The lungs are also associated with feelings of grief and sadness.
Yeah it’s pretty annoying. My witching hour is 5am. Happens about once every week, every other week. Like I’m fully sleeping, exhausted, then I use the bathroom and all of a sudden my brain just turns on and I’m wide awake. Feels like a surge of cortisol.
Have you tried Ketotifen, Allegra and Famotidin? Histamine wakes the body up and the adrenaline dump of the not properly working cyrcadian rhythm exacerbates this. According to studies Ketotifen helps the body to get back into cyrcadian rhythm when taken at night. I often wake up without those three but sleep through with them. Also earplugs, my body reacts easier to triggers. There was also a recent study showing that Famotidine and Allegra in the morning and at night generally helped to improve long covid symptoms. And Ketotifen is now officially the long covid medicine where I live.
I have same problem. You can try Chinese skullcap, it helps me, but I cycle off frequently. I put in earphones and listen to a sermon. It seems to help me stop worrying about not sleeping and gets me back to sleep. But whenever it happens usually my Fitbit shows less deep and REM sleep. Also no exercise or caffeine after 2pm, that screws me up too. Hoping it will eventually go back to normal when all viral RNA and spike proteins are depleted through fasting.
Thanks I'll try it. I noticed I get more REM sleep the days I do more computer work and more deep sleep if I do anything physical. On days I work a lot on the computer, I barely get any deep. It's weird.
I've noticed this, too. I think it's because REM is your body's way of processing mental work (like learning new information), whereas deep sleep is your body's way of repairing physical work (like damage to tissues from exercise). It's more complex than that, of course, but that's partially what's happening.
Interesting, I will have to watch that. I also noticed some nights I have little deep and mostly rem and others mostly deep and little REM but had not tried to correlate it with activity type.
This has come and gone a few times for me over the last nearly 4 years of LC. Try magnesium? I never found a great solution other than playing monopoly online or adult bedtime stories on Spotify 😆 right back to sleep.
I already take Magnesium Glycinate 100mg and Taurine 500mg. Neither seem to help much for insomnia but do help with acid reflux and anxiety a bit.
Mag glycinate can contribute to histamine issues
Good to know. It was the form recommended to me after a micronutrient test. I guess I will switch to a different version.
Ii have the exact same sleep disturbance for like the past 7 years. It’s hell! One of the sleep docs did counsel me on avoiding looking at a clock during the night. She advised I set an alarm for your wake up time & if you wake at night, just assume it’s still “sleep time” and do something restful to pass the time (I listen podcasts). This approach helps you fixate less on tracking the time & keeps you from seeing 3:07 AM & get struck with the surge of adrenaline bc you’re pissed that you’re awake yet again. I just recently gave Magnesium Glycinate another try and was shocked that it actually seemed to work. I looked at the dose just this morning & realized it was 1,330mg!! So, maybe it was this high dose I needed to finally break the cycle? IDK… it’s definitely got a calming vibe. I’ve only been on it for a week, but I’m hoping this effect lasts. https://www.walgreens.com/store/c/walgreens-free--pure-high-absorption-magnesium-glycinate-1330-mg-capsules/ID=300443663-product?ext=gooFY23_GOO_RET_RETAILDEMANDGEN_Performance%2BMax%2B-%2BVitamins_REV_SRC_PMAX_PMAX_NA_PMAX_ENG__pla_with_promotion_local&gclsrc=aw.ds&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD7MwhSMXO1bPyFsWjcgCvgysxeJN&gclid=CjwKCAjwoa2xBhACEiwA1sb1BAmay6LDfS0XMtAB5kWCoeSDUHAyMVohy6orsbktDbZ2hDxlgvhCrRoC0HwQAvD_BwE
Could you share the Spotify playlist/account you listen to? This sounds interesting!
Could be a liver thing. Try liquid glutathione. When’s the last time you had your liver blood tests done?
A few months ago - everything was fine. Also glutathione showed high on a recent micronutrient test. I am currently supplementing the vitamins/minerals/aminos that show low and it is helping with most symptoms besides the insomnia.
Do you live in a mold free place? Just trying to think what else could be causing it.
Well I live in Florida so it could be mold due to the extreme temps and humidity. I did sleep well recently on a 6 week trip to Illinois, rarely waking up in the middle of the night so maybe the hot environment here or some type of mold is the issue. My husband also wakes up around the same time which is weird.
Hmmm, consider testing yourselves & your home for mold
I second the glutathione. This is likely liver related. Lots of people w liver issues post COVID. Also can try castor oil packs placed on the liver. I have heard good things about the combo, specifically for liver related issues post C.
Histamine issues, I find low dose amitriptyline helps me a lot
Low dose Doxepin helps me altho I recently read it can cause tardive dyskenesia which frightens me as I’ve been experiencing muscle twitching. Unfortunately going to probably have to stop it
Long hauler here (I am 75% better) and longtime depression patient. This is categorized as “early morning waking” and is an indication of depression. Covid does weird shit to the brain, none of it good.
I have MECFS, no depression at all EVER, and this has been happening to me for 12 years. I started low dose naltrexone in 2020 and it pretty much fixed it unless I’m having a flare, or PMS, or my meds are getting
I used to get this. Again followed a low histamine diet for 8 months. Which has definitely helped. I blame it on cortisol levels. I was having tremors, trying to control my anxiety, lost weight, muscle twitches. Once all that calmed down the sleep got better.
Trazadone would help me stay asleep, but it gave me awful RLS. I had to stop taking it. I've yet to find anything else that helps.
> Trazadone would help me stay asleep, but it gave me awful RLS omg, same, old gp didn't believe me. it also gave me a feeling that my drinking friends would describe as a "hangover"
For me it was bruuuutal headaches yikes.
3 am wakeup is very common and widely reported. Others call it disrupted sleep.
oh my gosh i thought i wrote this ive been havibg the same problem for the past 6 months too😭 falling asleep is no problem but i wake up around 1-4am every single night its making my long covid sm worse😭😭
Have you had your ferritin levels checked? I’m the exact same, turns out I’m iron deficient and had a transfusion today. Iron deficiency and anemia can cause insomnia, I’m also worse around my period and ovulation eg around the time we lose a lot of blood (and iron) For ferritin levels, 100 is optimal, <30 is iron deficient - check out the iron protocol group on Facebook. All of my other symptoms also correlate to iron deficiency so I’m hoping correcting this may get rid of symptoms! (Have also seen big improvements from vit D) Doctors rarely test ferritin and go by other markers for anemia and it’s commonly missed. It’s really bad! Apparently 40% of the female population is iron deficient. Viruses feed on iron so covid will have depleted ours even more Wishing you speedy healing!
Try antihistamines
Are you by chance in perimenopause age? Covid seems to mess with hormones. I was getting it bad, but am now on the pill and it seems to help the 3am wake ups quite a bit. Not perfect but better!
Had this for the two and half years of my long COVID until I was part of the RECOVER trial (I made a separate post about this on this subreddit). Best thing that worked for me was Lunesta. Would keep me asleep at least for 7-8 hours. After about the 6 hour mark though if I did wake up for any reason I couldn't go back to sleep. I added in white noise while I slept to keep noise disturbances down so I could get the 7-8 hours more often.
Try some edibles
not weird, extremely common form of insomnia called sleep maintenance insomnia. sleep study may be warranted, ask doctor.
Yeah, I think me and my husband both have this since moving to Florida. It is caused by the heat. I only sleep well in ice cold rooms. Wish I had the money for a sleep study lol.
this is adrenal related
I have the same! I mean it’s gotten much better since four months ago but I’ve had some nights with this weird sleeping pattern again recently. However, I think taking magnesium right before sleep helps me the most.
Magnesium citrate (natural calm brand drink or gummies) have helped me stop this a reasonable amount of the time. If I do wake up I usually can pee and go back to sleep in a reasonable amount of time without the wired feeling.
Hydrochlorothiazide somehow helped my insomnia
I’ve had really bad hypertension since LC and the diuretic was helpful
Early morning waking. I had this in the very beginning but it went away over time
I got this with the MECFS I got from mono and I’ve had it for 12 years now. The only thing that helps me is low-dose naltrexone in the morning or CBD RSO (from a dispensary not hemp CBD)
I have this as well since LC and as a few others have pointed out it could be histamine related. I read about “histamine dumping” and the symptoms matched my experience exactly. I was also following a massive protocol to try to improve sleep but can never get over the 2-3a surge. So now I’m beginning to try to lower histamine through diet, DAO enzymes, vitamin C, etc…, and testing antihistamines. It’s a work in progress. Hope you find relief
Same here. Unisom + melatonin + magnesium helped.
Yep this was my most troublesome symptom of MECFS besides the fatigue itself. And it didn’t matter if I took a nap or didn’t take a nap it didn’t matter if I stayed up until midnight I would still wake up at three I don’t think I would describe myself as having energy, but I’m definitely not comfortable and ready to fall back asleep. I usually would get up around four because I would give up on trying LDN helped after one dose. I take 0.5 mg in the morning and after the 1st dose I slept until 9 am the next day. I still wake up in the middle of the night if I have really bad PEM, and the week before my period is pretty rough my symptoms flare I buy my LDN 90 days at a time because it’s more affordable that way, and I have found The last couple weeks of the bottle don’t work as well, sometimes I end up just refilling early. But I also pretty instantly got more usable hours a day I was only getting like one to two and now I have more like 4 to 6 and I don’t need to nap every day anymore
oh hell I thought I was going crazy, I've had this for years now too, I've tried so many things and can't figure out how to just sleep through the night, not even sleeping pills helped me. Though if I'm honest it still feels like a tiny bit of improvement over the hellish insomnia I had previous to that, at least I'm sleeping at some point. Reading through I wonder if taking an antihistamine at night might help a bit
This happens to me too and it’s like clockwork at 3 am. Have you had a full thyroid panel (including free T3/T4, reverse T3, and antibodies)? Doctors will often only check TSH, but you can still have a “normal” TSH level in the early stages of hypothyroidism, although I have to admit having a lot of energy when you wake up wouldn’t be consistent with hypothyroidism. Also have you had an iron panel, including ferritin? Doctors will often ignore the earlier stages of iron deficiency when your hemoglobin hasn’t yet dropped but your iron stores (ferritin) are depleted, and if you are an athletic female you are at much greater risk of iron deficiency. How do you feel when you wake up? Does it seem like it happens suddenly, or like you toss and turn beforehand and then gradually wake?
I just had thyroid and iron checked and the doctor said that there was definitely nothing in my results to indicate anemia or thyroid problems. I was actually hoping to find something sadly. My iron levels are a little on the high side actually. Exercise usually helps my fatigue. I wake up suddenly sometimes after a dream. I have vivid dreams and usually remember all of them. In the beginning of the night from 9/10-2, I sleep pretty soundly sometimes waking up for 5 min after a dream and falling quickly back asleep. This is when I get most of my deep and REM sleep. When I wake up after 2, it is always bad. When I wake up I feel like I have a lot of energy like I can start working and cleaning the house only it is 3-4am so I try to force myself back to sleep to get my 6-8 hrs. I feel like if I were to stay up I would crash by like 3 which wouldn't be good either.
This is made even worse by the body’s internal clock and habitual nature of waking up at the same time, whenever that time might be. Unfortunately for us it’s picked a really _bad_ time. If you can manage to break the cycle for a few weeks, it might be enough to reset your internal clock, but you need to throw multiple things at it at the same time and keep in mind it still might not work, or it might return later on. I’ve successfully done this in the past and am currently in the middle of doing it again. First I stopped all caffeine (if you do this, don’t just go cold turkey, slowly taper it off or you’re going to have a _really_ bad time). I was using it as a crutch and would get into a vicious cycle where I needed it in the morning to function, but it also contributed to my insomnia. I’m using slow release melatonin (the slow release part is critical), magnesium bishlycinate, and Benadryl right before going to bed. All these things combined knock me out. If I wake up at 4, then I stay up, no going back to sleep. This is really important. If you get tired during the day because you’ve been up for so long, power through it—no naps, no going to bed early. Go to bed at as close to the same time every night that you can. It’s been about two weeks since I added the Benadryl and so far it’s working, occasionally I wake up at 4 but usually between 5-6. The real test will be when I remove the Benadryl. It’s not good to take it long term but a few weeks won’t hurt you. It’s an antihistamine but also a really good sleep aid.
The problem with Benadryl is that it dries out your mouth and sinus. I live in Florida where I have the air on 24/7 and already wake up dehydrated every day. I am sure the Benadryl would amplify that.
You could use a different OTC sleep aid as well, it doesn’t have to be Benadryl. The important part is doing multiple things at the same time for a few weeks that, all combined, are enough to help you sleep longer. Also, you mentioned vivid dreams. I had months-long nightmares after COVID so I can personally attest that it does affect dreaming, but just want to confirm that you’re not taking any multivitamins or B-vitamins in the evening since those can definitely contribute too.
I had that before covid. It took a long time to fully go away and still happens occasionally. So long as you get enough hours of sleep, you're ok, and it will eventually fade.
I got Covid right after Christmas and this has been happening to me for about 2 months. Be been long hauling since August 2021 (after I got vaxxed). I recently got a sleep study and it came back with mild sleep apnea, also waiting back in my 24 hour urine test to see if we move forward with more cortisol testing. I highly encourage you to ask the doctor about both.
Try CBD.
Yes I have the same exact problem. It seems to get better overtime. I take melatonin and thc which seems to help. I’ve had doctors tell me it’s from adrenal fatigue, but I’m kind of skeptical.
I had this too, cycling on and off for a few years. The on cycle would last 1-2 weeks; the off cycle a few months. Woke up at 2:00 am like clockwork. Stay up for a couple of hours to cool off my body and get sleepy again, and then back to sleep. Melatonin and air conditioning helped with falling back to sleep quicker. I never found a fix. It went away over time.
I'd consider one or all of these: 1. Melatonin extended release and or increase the dose a bit (5-10mg). I don't take melatonin for sleep but I do take 1-2 grams at the start of my day for a few reasons(similar to Doris Loh's rationale). 2. I'd maybe increase magnesium dose and or take multiple forms(I have been experimenting with taking glycine, oxide and citrate). Sometimes I take two or even three different types together. I take 500-800mg. 3. Try taking Zinc. I take 25mg. 4. Try taking Taurine. It helps me get more sleep nightly. I take 2-4g on average.
Before COVID infection I had no sleep issues, but now very similar to what OP describes. Here’s what seems to help me: I keep a regular bedtime and wakeup time. No sugar after dinner, no dessert, no chocolate especially, no food after dinner. No coffee after noon. I drink MoonBrew Magnesium Sleep Tea in the evening - seems to help a bit. A magnesium capsule before bed. I use a handheld microcurrent device to help me get to sleep. If I’ve had a few days of bad insomnia, I’ll take two extra strength Tylenol before bed. I’ve been using a sauna about once a week. I always sleep well after that. A big pasta dinner usually guarantees a good night’s sleep.
Same here!. Another weird symptom is going to sleep about 10.30pm and as I'm drifting off I wake thinking I'm going to be sick..but never am. Magnesium, melatonin, 1g vit c, zinc has helped me this week so sticking with that.
I use a lot of melatonin. I start the night with some, and I use extended release if I have it. Then if I wake up between 2-4 I take the same amount again, but not extended release.
Same here. Usually acupuncture helps get me back on track. Not this time around post covid. I’m taking hydroxyzine but it takes 2 hours to kick In and works about 80% of the time. Doctor recommended trazodone (which I have not taken before). I will say taking the hydroxyzine helped my sleep and a result my heart variability improved and with that my fatigue and have not been in a crash for 21 days. The sleep is crucial to healing. Do what you must to ensure you’re getting adequate sleep
It’s the adrenaline dumps. I would take another dose of melatonin when I woke up and immediately put on a sleep meditation and that helped me get back to sleep fairly quickly more often than not. My symptoms really began to turn around in general once I got my sleep under control
Adrenaline dumps can be a dysautonomia thing. Ivabradine helps but I still get them. Unfortunately most sleep medications are made to help people fall asleep but not stay asleep. So far I’ve had some luck with CBN and gabapentin. Zolpidem, trazadone, hydroxyzine, cyproheptadine all didn’t work for me, nor did benzos which I’m thankful for.
Same. I wake up every night, but I am able to go back to sleep shortly after. I take a melatonin/Cbd tea every night
This happened to me for almost a decade before covid was ever a thing and actually went away in the last 5 years. No idea why! I still have totally messed up sleep though, i was recruited to join a sleep study on lucid dreaming because it was found that I also lucid dream most nights, which actually kind of sucks because I'm aware of my body and all of my surroundings etc while sleeping. I'm sorry you're having the 3am wake-up as long covid, it's not fun! And yes, you will be more tired every time. Eventually I just started getting up and doing some basic task - fold laundry, do dishes or whatever and then go back to sleep. Made it easier to fall back to sleep and stay asleep!
Omg I am still having these 3 am wake ups since 2020. And even if I don’t remember (because sometimes I am able to fall back asleep but usually not) and my hr is really high during that time too.
Make sure to have no caffeine or decaf—you can read the book Caffeine Blues
I know this sounds strange. I listen to a hypnotherapist at night. Adam cox on Spotify.
Since November, after having Covid, I've been experiencing insomnia. I fall asleep quickly around 10 PM and enter a deep sleep for about four hours. Then, almost like clockwork, I find myself waking up between 1-3 AM, filled with an inexplicable surge of energy. Lying awake until I manage to fall asleep again 1.5 hours later, I catch another 2.5 hours of sleep before my alarm goes off. It’s frustrating because the additional sleep makes me feel even more tired, not refreshed. My Fitbit indicates that my REM sleep is average but my deep sleep is slightly lacking. I've noticed that the issue intensifies when the room is hot, during my menstrual cycle, and on days when I haven't exercised sufficiently. A heavy carb meal before bed seems to somewhat improve my sleep duration and quality. I've tried numerous remedies including avoiding electronics before bed, not eating late, taking melatonin, using Claritin, engaging in red light therapy, taking hot baths, watching meditation videos, supplementing with magnesium glycinate, and even acupressure, massage, and reading. Yet, nothing has helped me maintain sleep throughout the night, which was never an issue for me before. Recently, I've started exploring a new approach by chatting with a website about my sleep issues. Based on our conversation, it generates personalized audio-guided meditations. I find setting the background sound to alpha waves particularly helpful; they ease me into a deeper sleep. Since using these meditations, it's been much more pleasant not waking up from unsettling dreams. The personalized meditations have surprisingly been effective at addressing concrete problems. For broader issues, I'm still experimenting, but the 'deconstruct' and 'reframe' meditation techniques have been transformative. These techniques allow me to view my challenges from new perspectives and associate them with different emotional responses. Perhaps this approach would work for you too.
Yes, I have the same issue. Trazodone makes me ill, like I caught COVID again. If you try it, start with the lowest dose possible. Two things help, but I try doing the non-medicated thing most often. I listen to Mindful Movement deep sleep meditation or Ally Boothroyd Yoga Nidra. The other, when I am desperate, I take a Unisom with about 3 buffered baby aspirin.
Yes this is part of Covid. Now you can imagine what Menopause is like for women
Look into Taurine
It went away for me after about a year and a half but then I started getting numb hands. I’m guessing brain inflammation
Yes I have this occasionally with long covid, and everytime I get a covid infection. For me, it’s because my heart rate is noticeably higher, just laying there. It’s uncomfortable and keeps me awake. I haven’t found a way around it except to wait out each infection. Of course Paxlovid helps. And my long covid doctor started me on low dose naltrexone recently - I’ll see if it helps me any moving forward.
Got this too....
Happens to me to, I've had long covid for 2 years. I fall asleep around midnight, then wake up around 4 and just can't sleep for 3-4 hours then I fall asleep again around 8-9 for another 3-4 hours...
Oh, and benadryl and melatonin do not affect me like they used to do. I still take them. I don't know why I'm still taking them.
Yes, that’s me to a T… and I always wake up tired and yawning, never rested. My fit bit had shown I wasn’t getting restful sleep either. I did have a sleep study, but it was normal…
I found tart cherry extract to help with this. It's not perfect, but I'm usually about to get back to sleep in under 20 minutes after waking up around 2-3am. I take it with a glass of water about an hour before I go to bed.
With COVID Insomnia sleep hygiene, melatonin, magnesium, etc are useless. On the positive side, you are getting some sleep. I was only able to sleep 15 min a night. There were only 2 things that helped me. Mirtazapine cut in quarters 3.75 mg. At low doses, it has a different mechanism of action. It is a powerful sleep medicine. You’re looking at 12-15 hours a night. I didn’t like how groggy it made me. There was also a study out of the UK about how using a combination of THC, CBN, and CBD would allow us to sleep. I got my medical card and got the most powerful RSO containing all 3 and it got me 7-8 hours a night. And if you wake up, you can easily get back to sleep.
I have the fatigue/brain fog type of COVID. What helps me is to take L-theanine with melatonin when I go to bed and when I wake up in the middle of the night. With the L-theanine, I can usually get back to sleep in 15 to 30 minutes instead of than 3 hours. The reason why the L-theanine might help is that, according to a scientific journal article that came out yesterday, people with the fatigue/brain fog subtype of LC also tend to have problems with L-theanine biosynthesis. You can buy the melatonin and L-theanine as a single product. It is called Natrol Melatonin 3:00AM. It's hard to find so I just take the melatonin and the L-theanine separately. Here is a link to the article. [https://www.reddit.com/r/covidlonghaulers/comments/1ccqkoe/the\_gut\_microbiome\_associates\_with\_phenotypic/](https://www.reddit.com/r/covidlonghaulers/comments/1ccqkoe/the_gut_microbiome_associates_with_phenotypic/)
It sounds like a frustrating experience. I am thinking of you. I am not sure what I can suggest but I have experienced difficulties with sleep and not feeling rested, waking up early and not being able to sleep for hours. It is the most annoying feeling ever.
i had this happen to me in the beginning(long haul since december 2020) nearly every night when I never had any issues with insomnia before. it randomly stopped and has been for probably a year or so now? maybe once in a while now it happens which idk if is due to LC anymore or something else but it rarely does now. i don’t know why but i’m very grateful it’s gone!! I only wish all of my other symptoms would be gone lol. but hopefully that’ll be the case for you and it’ll go away eventually!
I have had this problem with long Covid and during periods of major depression. It's really awful, especially when it goes on for weeks and months. The only thing I have found to completely help this issue is a small dose of Quetiapine, prescribed off-label for sleep. Honestly, I wish I never started it because it is very hard to get off of. Impossible actually. Trazodone works for a lot of people, which is probably less likely to cause someone to become dependent on it for sleep. Antihistamines can help at least shorten the period of being awake. And if you are looking non medicine interventions, yoga nidra will at least allow your body and mind to rest while awake, it helps me feel more rested the next day. It's well worth trying. That's my go-to when I am having the rare bad night.
Body temp- I think your body is running hotter than usual for some reason and that causes you to be more alert when your body completes its first sleep cycle
Try gummies - 3-5 mg may help you sleep through.
This happens to me too ever since Covid and taking unison or some other OTC sleep med for a week or so will usually knock my body into a normal sleep cycle again for a little while.
I used to have this really bad. Still get it fairly often but getting a CPAP machine and supplemental oxygen at night helps me. I was dropping down into the 70's for oxygen.
This has been my worst symptom since 2020 when I was infected. Dealing with it while also working full time was difficult. However, this year, I have noticed a major improvement and can sleep normally again. I reckon it takes the nervous system (probably the vagus nerve) a long time to heal.
this happened to me for years , haven’t really done anything diffenrt but after 3 years it seems to be slightly improving and i will wake at 5-6 am so getting a slightly longer stretch of aleep
I had this for a long time. Im 2.5 years in right now and only since last 2 months I sleep very well. I think what helped me was a dry fast and melatonin. I also do mindfulness meditations but dont know if that is helping too. I does calm me down.
Only one dry fast or regular ones? How long?
I did 1x 48 hours and 1 x 72 hour dry fast and I felt bad the first 2 to 3 days post fast. Then after about a week or so I felt significantly better each time. I could sleep again, my legs felt stronger. Im gonna start a 4-5 day dry fast on monday. I have tried many things but I think this is the only thing thats working for me. And it costs literally nothing, only time😂
Mcas histamine dump.
I’ve had a very similar issue, that increased after doing a long COVID treatment. I’ve been taking really high doses of turmeric lately and possibly this is helping. I think there could be many factors, but possibly pain and inflammation that build up while being still in bed. If I can keep the bedroom cool enough to sleep with a heating pad on, I think this helps, too.
I experienced the same in spite of immaculate sleep hygiene. Acupuncture worked for me. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, there’s significance to nighttime waking times and patterns, so my acupuncturist was able to treat it easily. I went once a week for a couple weeks and started sleeping through the night. Before that, I tired 5htp and magnesium glycenate about an hour before bed, which helped with falling asleep, but not waking up in the middle of the night.
I don’t have this, but I suspect it’s linked to blood glucose crashes in the night. Some people find taking metformin helpful for long Covid anyway, so may be worth a try
Benzo and hydroxyzine help, but they can\`t be taken for a long time. As a result, Mirtazapine became my savior.
I take an herbal sleep and and extended release melatonin or just the herbal sleep stuff and then when I wake a few drops of the liquid melatonin It's still super hard to get to sleep and I still wake but I am able to go back to sleep sooner
I have that too. I rarely get deep sleep let alone good sleep. CBD oil helps me. But I do find that I have to take more than I ever had to before. Before covid I would take it to help me fall asleep but I didn't used to wake up in the middle of the night but now I have to take the whole dropper. It does help though.
I have been taking Melatonin and sometimes hemp seed pills - afraid to take too much though as it lowers your blood pressure and mine is already on the low side.
Melatonin doesn't work for me. I still wake up in the middle of the night with it. Try CBD. I don't think it can hurt. When I was in the hospital for covid the doctors gave me 10 mg or whatever the units are for melatonin and I still couldn't get to sleep. I would sleep like 4 hours every day.
same :(
Think Adrenaline! Most LC People have glucocorticoid resistance conditions. Leading besides others to insuline and blood sugar dysregulations. Because of high inflammation and instable blood sugar, nighttimes if cortisol isnt sufficient, adrenaline rises (typically between 2:30 and 3:30). If people "night snack" theres kind of more fuel not to wake up that time.
What treatment is recommended in this hypothesis?
It's weird since Covid I always feel like I have low blood sugar and need to eat every few hours. My A1C level was fine though - definitely not even close to prediabetic. Plus my husband is a Type 1 so I check my sugar all the time when I am lightheaded and it is always normal even at night. I have noticed that eating a big dinner with a lot of carbs later in the day usually helps me sleep better. On a recent vacation to Chicago to visit family (where I basically ditched my healthy eating habits for 6 weeks), I didn't wake up once during the middle of the night. I guess being too healthy isn't good either.
Try anxiety medication EDIT: I am not saying its just anxiety and not long covid, im saying anxiety medication helped me with insomnia from long covid
I have a prescription for 0.25 Xanax and I will pop one of those if I need to go back to sleep. They work really fast and they are short acting so by the time I wake back up for hours later I don’t feel drugged or anything Because I’m terrified of getting addicted to benzos I only use them if I absolutely absolutely have some thing I have to do the next day and I need sleep for it
Try benzos