Insomnia Support Group
Insomnia is a symptom, rather than a disease, and is characterized by inadequate quantity or quality of sleep. People with insomnia complain of difficulty falling or staying asleep, which results in significant impairment of daytime functioning. Insomnia is categorized as transient (shorter than one week), short-term (one to three weeks) or chronic (longer than three...
This question may seem out of the ordinary but I'll give it a try. For the past 4-5 months, I haven't been getting a good nights rest and there would be days where consecutively I would not get any sleep. Just last week I had a blood work done and my White Blood count was at 2.7 which is low. I'm experiencing chills and frequent urination along with it. Since the body recoup itself when you sleep, is it possible to cause my blood count to be low? Very distraught....
I have no idea if it could be related to sleep but im experiencing the same thing. Its weird because before my insomnia got bad my WBC was 9 and during the worst of my insomnia my WBC was 3.5 (which isnt as low as yours but it was still quite a drop).
My doctor says that your WBC can vary a lot, so you may have nothing to worry about ,but a low WBC can be a sign of something else like an immunity disorder, really bad allergies, some viruses, etc.
Good luck figuring it out, I know it can be stressful but im sure you will find that you are ok :]
You should try some ambien or temazapam to get some rest. Take them long enough to reset your sleep cycle.
You may also try sucking on zinc (it doesn't taste good, I know...) and taking some chewable vitamin C tablets, 3-6 per day assuming 500 mg each. Vitamin C can be taken in huge quantities safely. You will pee out anything you don't need. (Zinc and vitamin C support the immune system.)
I hope that you are exercising during the day. The lymph doesn't circulate otherwise. Exercise is also a good outlet for stress. I recommend a minimum of a 3 mile walk + 30 minutes of yoga. Yoga helps ease the mind and stretch the body. You learn to control your breath and can literally alter your physiological processes like blood pressure, heart rate, brain waves, etc... This is a scientific fact (at least for those who are well practiced. It doesn't happen overnight)! (I am a scientist, a chemist, BTW.)
Why can't you sleep? Do you have underlying issues such as stress, depression, anxiety? You need to get to the bottom of this. You might even consider talking to a psychiatrist about this. They Rx meds for sleep and may help you in other ways.
"They" don't know if the insomnia caused the symptom of "low white blood cell" or if the "low white blood cell" is a co-symptom of insomnia. Does that make sense?
Basically, if you force yourself to stay awake and loose sleep continuously, your immune system will weaken and you will have low white cell count.
On the other hand, if you suffer from some lack of nutrient or are too stressed, your white blood cell count will also go down and you will begin to suffer from insomnia.
by the way, would you be open to try some natural foods and vitamins to see if it makes any difference after a few days? if so, cut the carbs and forget about your veggies and continue to take 100mg of 5HTP per day and 500mg to 1g of glutamine per day along with magnesium, calcium, zinc and vitamin b-complex (make sure choline and inositol are included), acetyl-L-Carnitine, 500mg ribose, eat a lot of good quality beef (i eat it in stew form; easier to swallow) and as much as you can several times per day without undoing your belt. Also, with your meal, drink a few cans of coke (squeeze in a full lemon in to each can). Finally, throw in a good digestive enzyme capsule (available at the health food store).
You throw that mix in there and if you get any kind of good response by the first or second day, you know you got something going. But as I always tell people, take the vitamin stuff in the morning cuz it will energize you.
A lot of people don't ever give me feedback and i just never hear back from them but one person did come back and say that he actually felt a bit drowsy and real lazy after only one day. He described it as a type of lazy that you just want to lie in bed and enjoy lieing in bed! haha, so i hope you give it a shot.
The person I worked with is Joy Reichard and according to her web site, she is available by phone if you just can't make it to the San Francisco Bay Area. Here is her web site.
http://www.joyreichard.com/