WoolPippi
Senior Member
- Messages
- 556
- Location
- Netherlands
Every 3 AM I wake up with night sweat. I lie awake fully alert (with dopamine/cortisol peak) for at least one hour. I do get a bit of sleep afterwards but it's crappy and not restoring at all.
My insomnia is not an ME symptom but did facilitate it.
Cause: food piles up in my slow colon, stretches it and causes a stress reaction. IBS-C related. No pain though. No indication insomnia was gut related at all. I didn't guess it for decades and I've been searching.
Solution: speed up colon. Eat no fibre whatsoever. Up serotonin.
Supplements: 2 x 100 mg 5-htp; 2 x 1000 mg vit C; squeeze half a lemon twice a day; eat no fibre whatsoever. Take two rests a day and massage stomach. Lie on right side for a few minutes to help food/air pass the hepatic bend (flexure).
I thought my insomnia had to do with my brain and its neurotransmitters (I'm homozygous for MAO A and MAO B) but it turns out the cause is in my stomach.
Well, gut hormones are brain neurotransmitters I guess.
ignore rest of post if you're tired.
THEORY:
Serotonin and dopamine regulate colon motility. Dopamine slows it down, serotonine speeds it up. This is why anti-depressants have loose stools as a side effect. And why better balance healed this person's Crohn's disease. Why lots of wired and hyper people don't have regular stools (they are high dopamine people). Why lots of us here on the forum have faulty MAO A and constipation?)
There are two kinds of constipation:
1. the one where people eat junk food and need more fibre/fluid and
2. the one where there's not enough motility/energy to deal with fibre. Can be because of high dopamine/low serotonine; can be because digestion takes a lot of energy and someone with illness doesn't have the energy to spare.
RESULTS:
I now have regular bowel movements and have been sleeping a solid 7 hours for 2 weeks straight. This has never occurred before! I am 45 years old and have had this insomnia all my life. Got ME at age 37. Am in recovery progress for 8 months now. Started serotonin and vit C 2 weeks ago.
During the day my posture has improved, no bloating anymore. Way more energy. No more Fight or Flight. It's Rest and Digest only now.
One side-effect: too much serotonine will deplete my dopamine and cause sluggish brain occasionally. I have a tiny dose of methylphenidate (ritalin) on standby to balance that (2,5 mg). And I need to avoid tyramine rich foods even more now.
Gut hormones are brain neurotransmitters are gut hormones.
PS
it has been this full alert insomnia that helped me battle ME.
In 2008-2010 I was bedridden and didn't know my own name during the day. But I had this one hour of super clarity every night. That's when I read this forum and medical journals. Got educated and devised trials to investigate possible solutions. Left myself little to-do lists on the bedstand.
Very detailed lists because daytime-me was a zombie. Night-time-me didn't even bother trying to explain the why and how. It was a weird time.
My insomnia is not an ME symptom but did facilitate it.
Cause: food piles up in my slow colon, stretches it and causes a stress reaction. IBS-C related. No pain though. No indication insomnia was gut related at all. I didn't guess it for decades and I've been searching.
Solution: speed up colon. Eat no fibre whatsoever. Up serotonin.
Supplements: 2 x 100 mg 5-htp; 2 x 1000 mg vit C; squeeze half a lemon twice a day; eat no fibre whatsoever. Take two rests a day and massage stomach. Lie on right side for a few minutes to help food/air pass the hepatic bend (flexure).
I thought my insomnia had to do with my brain and its neurotransmitters (I'm homozygous for MAO A and MAO B) but it turns out the cause is in my stomach.
Well, gut hormones are brain neurotransmitters I guess.
ignore rest of post if you're tired.
THEORY:
Serotonin and dopamine regulate colon motility. Dopamine slows it down, serotonine speeds it up. This is why anti-depressants have loose stools as a side effect. And why better balance healed this person's Crohn's disease. Why lots of wired and hyper people don't have regular stools (they are high dopamine people). Why lots of us here on the forum have faulty MAO A and constipation?)
There are two kinds of constipation:
1. the one where people eat junk food and need more fibre/fluid and
2. the one where there's not enough motility/energy to deal with fibre. Can be because of high dopamine/low serotonine; can be because digestion takes a lot of energy and someone with illness doesn't have the energy to spare.
RESULTS:
I now have regular bowel movements and have been sleeping a solid 7 hours for 2 weeks straight. This has never occurred before! I am 45 years old and have had this insomnia all my life. Got ME at age 37. Am in recovery progress for 8 months now. Started serotonin and vit C 2 weeks ago.
During the day my posture has improved, no bloating anymore. Way more energy. No more Fight or Flight. It's Rest and Digest only now.
One side-effect: too much serotonine will deplete my dopamine and cause sluggish brain occasionally. I have a tiny dose of methylphenidate (ritalin) on standby to balance that (2,5 mg). And I need to avoid tyramine rich foods even more now.
Gut hormones are brain neurotransmitters are gut hormones.
PS
it has been this full alert insomnia that helped me battle ME.
In 2008-2010 I was bedridden and didn't know my own name during the day. But I had this one hour of super clarity every night. That's when I read this forum and medical journals. Got educated and devised trials to investigate possible solutions. Left myself little to-do lists on the bedstand.
Very detailed lists because daytime-me was a zombie. Night-time-me didn't even bother trying to explain the why and how. It was a weird time.
