The sleepless nights came out of nowhere. Almost two years ago, at the age of 27, one bad night seemed to follow another. Within the space of a year, I had learned to dread my evenings. Night time meant fatally monitoring my alertness, watching the clock move from 2am to 3am.
The worst part is that I had nothing swirling in my head, simply adrenaline. I could have found solace if there were objectively more problems on my mind. I could tell myself that this was just a stressful period, but for the most part, my life was the same as it ever was.
I would journal feverishly before bed in the hope of expelling any of these subconscious thoughts, which I feared were the cause of this strange sleeplessness. I meditated in case I needed to calm my nervous system. I had hot baths and read for hours. But nothing worked. Three times a week, without fail, I would be wired and awake.
The truly frustrating part was that before this year-long stint of insomnia, I had been a fantastic sleeper. I could sleep within a few minutes, all without curtains or earplugs. Was it age? Was it life’s pressures? Had I suddenly metamorphosed into a different person? These questions started to keep me up then, too.I went to see a therapist. I offloaded everything and anything until one day, she offered a confusing piece of advice: “Might it be your hormones?” She was going through menopause and was currently experiencing similar difficulty drifting off. Her usual sleep cycle had been thrown off-kilter by a natural drop in progesterone, and she saw some similarities in our experience.
After a few more sessions of trying to hack into my psyche, I gave in and went to see a gynaecologist. I told him my symptoms: alertness at night; occasionally irregular period; anxiety for several weeks of the month when previously I had been fine. Could it be a hormonal imbalance? For the first time in my life, a doctor agreed with me. He agreed that low levels of progesterone might explain why I was suddenly anxious and wired at random times of the day – times I had usually been relaxed and drifting off without a care.
square LIFESTYLE At 52, I'm having a friend cull - how to know if a friendship has run its course
Read More
I did a blood test and then some ultrasounds, and sure enough, my wonderful therapist was right. I had low progesterone caused by polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a condition in which women have higher testosterone, and lower progesterone, which causes irregular periods, high anxiety and other symptoms such as weight gain, facial hair and harmless ovarian cysts. According to the World Health Organization, up to 70 per cent of women with PCOS remain undiagnosed. This means that while 6-13 per cent of reproductive-aged women have PCOS, a significant majority of those affected are unaware they have the condition.
I had previously been diagnosed with PCOS once at 19 after struggling with severe acne, but a GP later told me this was a misdiagnosis. For the next nine years, I hadn’t given hormonal imbalance a second thought.
Dr Deepali Misra-Sharp, a registered GP and specialist in menopause and women’s health, says hormonal insomnia is common. “Hormonal imbalance is a well-recognised contributor to poor sleep,” she says. The underlying physiology is complex. “Progesterone has a GABAergic effect [which means to calm the nervous system], promoting a natural sedative. A decline in progesterone often results in lighter, more disrupted sleep.”
Women in the menopause often report disturbed sleep – fluctuating hormones affect our circadian rhythm, body temperature and brain function. But what’s less well known is that hormonal changes can affect sleep in younger women too, says Dr Atta Naqvi, lecturer in pharmacy practice at the University of Reading.
“Both PCOS and menopause highlight how sensitive women’s sleep is to hormonal shifts at different stages of life,” he says. Along with altered levels of oestrogen and progesterone, women with PCOS often experience insulin resistance, which also harms sleep. “The hormone insulin controls how the body uses sugar for energy, so insulin resistance leads to higher blood sugar levels that disturb sleep,” he says.
The idea that my sleep problem had been caused by something out of my control was liberating. Until then, all the messaging I’d consumed placed blame on the sleeper for not doing their due diligence. Did you avoid blue lights for two hours before turning the light off? Did you eat too late? Did you read? Did you do enough exercise? Now I knew it was not my fault – and it was something that I could be helped with.
My gynaecologist prescribed me the combined hormonal pill Yasmin, which includes progesterone drospirenone.
Within two months, my sleep had returned as easily as it vanished and seemingly random feelings of anxiety had begun to dissipate. “With the right medical advice, the combined pill is usually more effective than the mini pill [progesterone only] at managing hormone-related imbalances such as PCOS,” says Dr Naqvi. “It helps regulate cycles, reduces excess androgens [male sex hormones], and has been shown in research to ease hormone-linked sleep problems. The mini pill is a good contraceptive option, but it has a limited impact on hormone balance.”
square WELLBEING How a lack of sleep affects you after a day, a month, a year, a decade
Read More
We worked out that my insomnia had started because six months before I had come off another oral contraceptive that was pumping me with the progesterone I didn’t know I was lacking. Now my body was showing its true hormonal dysfunction. For all these years, the pill had been balancing out deficiencies I wasn’t aware of. I had been so convinced that the natural body would be healthier without artificial hormones that during my rigorous self-reflection into my sleep, this detail had not seemed important.
There are a variety of ways to treat PCOS, and not every woman is the same. Although it has been revolutionary for me, Dr Misra-Sharp warns that the combined pill doesn’t solve the long-term risks of the condition. “It is not always the most appropriate choice. Risks include blood clots (particularly in women with a BMI over 30, or those who smoke or have a family history), migraine with aura, and possible adverse effects on mood in some women,” she says. “Importantly, it does not address the metabolic consequence of PCOS: namely insulin resistance, dyslipidaemia, and increased risk of type 2 diabetes.”
For that reason, lifestyle interventions such as weight training and keeping a balanced diet with lots of wholegrains and omega-3 remain important for managing PCOS. Dr Misra-Sharp notes that there are other forms of medication for treating insulin resistance and metabolic symptoms, such as metformin.
For now, I’m relieved that I have been able to solve my sleep anxiety with a singular pill. Despite having read and written about the impact of our hormones, I had no idea how deeply they could shatter my sleep cycle. Had it not been for the wisdom of a perimenopausal woman, I probably wouldn’t ever have put the two together.
So take it from me: if you are struggling with your sleep, it may not have anything to do with your thoughts or your routine. Put the journal down and think bigger.
Hence then, the article about at 28 i was an insomniac but taking a pill cured it was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( At 28, I was an insomniac – but taking a pill cured it )
Also on site :
- 11 Colorado schools receive threats, several on lockdown
- Aurora man arrested on suspicion of starting massive Leetsdale Drive fire
- Indiana Toll Road shut down after pileup crash involving around 29 vehicles