Make sure you take all of your dosage in the morning even if you have to take a large dose. I find eating a late night meal will not help with sleep. I always had to take a 10mg Ambien to help me me sleep.Talk to your doctor about both sleep medicine and have the doctor to give you something for your nerves. Try to go to bed at tge same time every night and limit any day time naps. Hope that helps because Predisone does help with reducing a Crohns or UC flare but the side effects are not fun. Hope you feel better soon.

Hi! I use a natural sleep aid called melatonin you can get most any where in the vitamin section. I went through the same thing when I was taking care of my dad and that was two years ago. There were no side effects. I wish you the best.

I second the Melatonin recommendation. It's probably the gentlest option. Melatonin is what your body produces naturally to put you to sleep. If that doesn't work, you might need to go with "harder" stuff.

I've also used Trazadone. It's not a typical sleep aid (like Lunesta) but that's what it was prescribed to me as a sleep aid. It think it's typically used to treat depression. It doesn't have the strange side effects that some people occasionally report with things like Lunesta.

thanks for the advice. I will try melatonin and will ask the doc for something stronger if that doesn't work.

As happy as i am that the prednisone stopped the bleeding, it is a huge price to pay to be functioning on so little sleep.

i don't nap, couldn't even if i wanted to, and i am taking the prednisone first thing in the morning. thanks for the tips. :)

I really hope you find something that works. Last time I was on pred I had that awful side effect, and normally sleep is never an issue for me. My sleep patterns sound so much like yours (being able to sleep 8-10 hours and falling asleep without any problems). I did all the typical stuff, take warm baths, benedryl, various teas, etc. I also heard that valerian root was good herb to try.

The dangerous thing regarding melatonin is that it actually is not regulated by the FDA, while other pharmaceuticals are regulated. For me, benzodiazepines work best because its a stress thing and it will quiet your mind.

now that i have tapered down to 30mg, i am getting more sleep, still not the usual 8-10, but 6 hours a night is a huge improvement.

sadly, now that i am down to 30 mg, the bleeding is back, not severe, but any bleeding is a problem. *sigh* and so the cycle continues...

as everyone else has said, I always used melatonin. But after awhile I would wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and have to use the wall for support because of how "loopy" I felt. It helped but just be careful! I stopped using it after awhile and ended up just listening to music half the time to try and relax. I hope you feel better soon!

I'm curious if the poster found something that worked for them?

i am now down to 25mg, and am sleeping normally every other night. i get 7ish hours on the good nights and 2-3 on the alternating nights. no magic cure found.

to the poster: any luck with anything? i have am on 40mg and tapering very slowly. i maybe get 4-6hrs of sleep on a good night, i have tried ambien, melatonin, teas, baths, all kinds of stuff.

have you found anything that helps at all?

Melatonin can help, but was not always strong enough for me. My first Dr. prescribed an anti-depresant that helped with sleep, but if I forgot to take it my head was all messed up from 'withdrawl' symptoms after just one missed dose, so I stopped using that.

I have had some luck with Tylenol Sleep, but was worried about using it long term.

I am going to try straight Benadryl (traditional 'sleepy' formula) to help me sleep. Plus it will help with any minor unknown allergies that may be affecting me too.

Rachel

I would work out and keep myself super busy all day so that I would tire myself out for the evening.

It included exercise, errands and anything else that kept my body from standing still.

When I was on Pred, I was typically only getting about 3-4 hours of non-restful sleep. My doc prescribed Trazadone, an antidepressant. It was prescribed for its primary side effect of drowsiness. Its often prescribed for insomnia. I took a low dose at night 50mg and another 50mg if I woke in the night. This is about 1/3 of the dosage generally prescribed for depression. It helped me get much needed rest.

You might want to try Entocort EC (available as a generic).

Unlike prednisone, Entocort is an enteric coated steroid and does not dissolve until it gets to the ileum area of the small intestine. Unlike predisone, less of it gets into circulation because it works directly on the IBD in the intestine.

Prednisone's absorbtion in the digestive system is what causes the side effects.

http://www.medicinenet.com/budesonide/article.htm