Oh for a good night's sleep!

One of the most un-agreeable effects of Parkinson's in my case is the sleep pattern has gone out of the window. Because for many years I worked on farms as a herdsman I got into the routine of early to bed and early to rise as the morning milking started by 6am. On a nice summer morning I loved walking across the misty fields to bring the girls in for miking with my trusty rescue dog 'honey' who learnt to round the slow ones up for me!

So it got ingrained in me even years after I no longer had to do so,  to go to bed by 10.30 and get up by 06.30. However, these days I am having 3-4 nights a week where I just cannot sleep, and I'm one of these people that cannot just lie in bed if I cannot sleep. Thank goodness for 24/7 television and my trusty laptop to pass the night hours away. Most of you know that I am a full time carer to my young adult daughter and she frequently wakes during the night so I have turned down my doctors offer of pills to help me sleep, as I have the fear of Gemma waking up and possibly falling and me, under the influence of sleeping pills would not hear her.

So, is it the Parkinson's Disease or the pills I take that causes the problems with sleep? to be honest I don`t really know but  Parkinson UK ( http://www.parkinsons.org.uk ) recognise that disturbed sleep is common in people with Parkinson's. Of course I am now getting into the negative habit of falling asleep in my chair for a couple of hours after Gemma has gone to the day centre, which I feel guilty about, but maybe I'm being too hard on myself, and I need to adapt and go with the flow a bit more. I am just so determined not to let it get the better of me for years to come, both for my sanity and the fact I have a busy life as a carer too.

I am hoping to move into a bungalow in the near future too, my landlords have agreed to this mainly at this time for Gemma's benefit as the poor girl is struggling on the stairs now, but also it will benefit me too in the future. Also I am being hit with the 'Bedroom Tax' as my son has left home so we are deemed to be living in a property too big for our needs. Plus the fact that we would release a 3 bedroom property partially disability adapted  would be an incentive for the housing association to agree to the transfer. One  2 bedroom bungalow is soon  to be vacant about 100 yards away from us so I have emailed our landlords and the fact that they rang me back saying yes we will be considered when the time comes, gives me a glimmer of hope. If we are lucky enough to be offered the tenancy, it will mean Gemma can use the same transport etc and she is familiar with the village so this will be a big positive as she doesn't cope well with change!

Well apologies for the rambling folks it just poured out!

Take good care of each other, and watch this space..........

Tony