Where's the off switch?

Sleep sleep wherefore art thou sleep?

It's 4:30 am as I begin to write this blog and I haven't been to sleep yet. It's not that I don't want to go to sleep but I am wide awake in pain and have 1001 things running through my mind.

                      

     
Disability and dosh.

Tonight I have money worries on my mind. I either need a winning lottery ticket or a money tree neither of which are very forthcoming. Having a disability is a massive strain on the purse. There is so many things that are hidden extras that you need when you have a disability that you might not think about. As I don't drive I have to rely on public transport and the bus fares can soon mount up even when you are taking short trips. When I am bad I cannot use public transport as much especially if it's longer distances and therefore a lot of my money goes in taxi fares. Money soon goes.

                                                   

As a single mummy I struggle money wise as it is and survive on benefits. When you have something wrong with you that provides you from working you firstly have to go through the battle of getting a diagnosis to enable you to even begin to apply for an disability benefits from the government. Now a lot of people think it is easy to get and claim disability benefits due to what the government has called our 'benefit culture.' Getting anything to do with disability is a massive battle and many people have died whilst waiting to be correctly assessed by the dreaded ATOS who assess what you get. They have a quota of people they have to knock back so many people have to go through months and years of appeals. I am now about to start this dreaded process of claiming disability money and fully expect to be knocked back first time.

This money struggle that I am facing is playing on my mind. Christmas is on of the hardest times of year for everyone financially and this year is one of the hardest for me financially. I need to start getting a better grip on my finances and re look at what I am spending and try and get some of my debts down.

The river dance.  

So tonight as with many nights my legs have been doing the river dance in bed. Restless leg syndrome - RLS is commonly associated with having Fibro and it's one of the things I suffer with. This causes pain in the legs so much that you just have to move them or get out of bed and walk around. I even get involuntary movements sort of like spasms causing the river dance affect.

                              

Sleep quality and Fibro.

Periodic Limb Movement Disorder PMLD runs alongside RLS and it is very similar but only affects night time sleep. It can be quite violent causing intermittent movement during deep sleep. This can be very exhausting and hurts already painful joints.

When you finally manage to get to sleep pain can often wake you up. People with Fibro often fail/struggle to reach stage 3 and 4 sleep stages which are the deepest stages of sleep. 80% OF people who suffer with Fibro can also suffer with sleep apnoea. Sleeping alone I don't know if I suffer with this or not - according to my girls I snore loudly though.

                                 

75% of people with fibro also experience TMJD Temporomandibular Joint Disorder. This causes pain in the face, neck, shoulders and back and often leads to grinding of the teeth. This occurs when sleeping and sufferers clench their facial muscles together and this can lead to grinding of the teeth. This is why I often wake up with pain in the jaw and why my jaw clicks.

Sleepless in Coventry.

It looks like I will be sleepless now as I have given up trying to get to sleep as it's 5:40 am and nearly time to take my morning meds and the girls will be up soon. It's typical I wont even get any chance to nap tomorrow as it's Sunday and we're off visiting my dad and I promised to take the girls to the park by him too. Fingers crossed tomorrow night the pain wont be too bad and I find the off switch to my brain!