*hugs* I know,its pretty scary. I had the sort of the same symptoms. I sleep during the day since I work third shift. I take the prednisone before bed along with the plaquenil and famitodine. When I changed dosages with the pred it felt like my heart was beating fast while I layed in bed. When I finally fell asleep I wake up 2mins after gasping for air dreaming that I Was being sophicated. I had strange and nightmare ish dreams. I like watching horror movies..but now after watching those movies..they have highten my nightmares. I had nightmares like this when I used to take melatonin too. I'm thinking about taking melatonin again too since the pred has only enable me to get 5to hours of sleep instead of my needed 7-8. I work in a hour and I feel so terrible. Blah.

I had weird dreams when I take Advil Congestion close to the time I take my Cellcept! It is like weird 1960's patterns in my head -weird and scary! I don't take them close to each other anymore!

Krissytin - I thought I read somewhere that melatonin isn't the best with autoimmune disease. I could be wrong, but thought I read it on a post.

Hope you are all sleeping better!

O man, thanks for letting me know. I did some research on it and found out that it can make symptoms worse. :-0
I'll have to figure something else out. :/
Working a 10 hour shift after only having that amount of sleep isn't going to cut it for me.

Brenda, I completely understand your situation. I wake up around 2-3am each night. I think and think about so many things. I spend a lot of time in prayer too. I have been reading my pastors numerous books and I study the bible a lot. I am not worried, but I think a lot about where do I go from here? I have feeling in my chest that gets scary and the thought of death approaching does come to mind. I am not afraid of death, but going through that process is not too appealing.

I try to think about the thrill of meeting The Lord in person. I having been doing a lot of bible study so that when I meet famous people in heaven, I will be able speak with some knowledge to each person.

I have not reached a point of hallucination yet, but my head does feel weird. I do think prednisone can cause so many problems.

I was having issues with waking up about 230 or 3am and not getting back to sleep until 5 or 6. Mind running like crazy. I talked to my naturopathic doc and she put me on CALM a magnesium citrate powder. it is used for people with restless leg syndrome and also work for sleep. It has helped alot. I didn't want the hangover effect from sleeping pills and the handful I take in the morning is enough already!! LOL

Take care of yourself and rest when you can!

I have found over the past few years that a lot of people wake between the 2-3am hour. I call that my talk with God time. At first I was a little confused and wondered if that was the time that God would call me home, when He was ready for me, but then I started thinking that we all need quiet time to talk with Him and 2-3am is pretty quiet in my house. I now talk with Him, say some prayers and just try to listen, I think that is the hardest part--listening. But these other waking times are not part of it. I don't have a good feeling when I wake and the dreams prior to waking up don't reassure me. I dream about people that I have not had contact with in years or have no interest in talking with. I don't take any meds before bed. I do have a sleeping med that my pain specialist gave to me prior that worked, but once I started taking Opana for my pain, I didn't want to mix them so I stopped taking it. I don't take melatonin anymore mainly because it never worked for rme, but I also forgot that we aren't suppose to take the supplement because of our condition. The things that normally make the general population feel better works against us as we have to suppress our immune system. It will be us as sufferers who will find out what actually works to realieve our pain and our multiple conditions as we know what works and what doesn't.

I'm sure the Opana is giving you the funky dreams. When I take narcotics, my world can be very colorful.

At diagnosis I was on 130 mgs of solumedrol daily, 25 mgs of MTX daily, and 100 mgs of imuran daily. The first night of being on 130 mgs of solumedrol I did have hallucinations. I noticed that if they did not give me all of the drugs all at once and first thing in the morning with a full breakfast, I couldn't sleep and I'd have hallucinations. When I finally came out of the hospital I was on 80 mgs of prednisone daily, 25 mgs of MTX daily, and 100 mgs of imuran daily. Again, I made sure to take all these pills first thing in the AM and with a hearty breakfast (steak, hash, and eggs or something like that). The nightsweats went away, the bad dreams went away, and I was able to sleep through the night. What worked for me was adjusting the timing of my meds - maybe this could work for you?

Hi Red. Are you sure you were taking MTX daily. It's usually taken weekly unless I am wrong. I have taken it in the past. I now take Azathioprine (Imuran) daily. Autumm

Thanks for catching that for me, Autumn - At diagnosis I was on 130 mgs of solumedrol daily, 25 mgs of mtx WEEKLY, and 100 mgs of imuran daily...