Long Nights: Sleep Eludes Women With Bladder Disorder
Main Category: Urology / NephrologyAlso Included In: Sleep / Sleep Disorders / Insomnia
Article Date: 01 Jun 2011 - 9:00 PDT
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opinions'Long Nights: Sleep Eludes Women With Bladder Disorder'
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The first study to document sleep problems in women with interstitial cystitis (IC), a painful and chronic bladder condition, has revealed the vast majority of sufferers are plagued by restless nights and ongoing sleep problems.
In the May-June 2011 issue of Urologic Nursing, Dr. Alis Kotler Panzera and her Philadelphia associates found 100% of the 407 study participants reported poor sleep, caused mainly by the need to urinate or from pain associated with IC. For the women, the sleepless nights cause daytime fatigue, loss of productivity, depression and an overall drop in quality of life.
The majority of the participants were from the United States, post-menopausal and between 55 and 60 years of age. The cause of IC, which affects 1.2 million American women, is unknown, and there is no known cure. The main symptoms are urinary frequency, urgency and pain.
In analyzing the results of the study, Panzera encourages nurses to use cognitive behavior therapy for insomnia and to educate patients about ways to improve sleep.
"Nurses should be aware that the cause of the poor sleep quality may be multi-factoral," she writes. "Therefore, appropriate screening of all conditions that may interfere with sleep in this population, such as chronic insomnia, depression and obstructive sleep apnea, should be performed."
As this was the first study to describe sleep quality in women with IC, Panzera says there are many issues remaining for future investigation, including better tests and treatments.
(Research: Sleep Disruption and Interstitial Cystitis Symptoms in Women; Alis Kotler Panzera, DrNP, APN-C, RN; Judith Reishtein, PhD, RN; & Patricia Shewokis, PhD, Urologic Nursing, May-June 2011.)
Source:
Society of Urologic Nurses and Associates (SUNA)
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26 May. 2012. <http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/227156.php>
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http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/227156.php.
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Visitor Opinions (latest shown first)
comments show ignorance of condition that was being studied (IC); pain meds are a major solution
posted by Karen Morison on 5 Jun 2011 at 10:47 pmThe comments by RaZZZ might be relevant to insomnia but they show the commenter's ignorance since the study was about not about obesity or stomach conditions, but insomnia IN PEOPLE WITH INTERSTITIAL CYSTITIS, which is a condition of the lining of the BLADDER, not the stomach. I can't see where your comments are either helpful or relevant to the topic of the study! Eat PEACHES when I have IC???! That's one of the most ridiculous recommendations I've ever heard, for an IC patient. I'd be in pain for days doing that!
I had no weight problems whatsoever when diagnosed and I could sleep beautifully. Then I came down with IC and there went my sleep -- forever. Touching on the researcher's conclusions/guesses, the idea that "cognitive therapy" would be useful at all to someone with serious chronic pain is absolutely ludicrous. The first and foremost issue MUST be providing the patient with medication to address the pain that is keeping that individual from sleeping. I could have a terrific view of myself and be quite confident and happy, but with IC, I'm still going to be missing sleep each and every night. Diet is helpful, but not the items listed by RaZZZ, since a number of those are bladder irritants. Forget whether foods bother the stomach as they do with other (I repeat - OTHER) conditions. We're talking about Interstitial Cystitis, and you can't just give the same prescription to every patient -- you must tailor it to the condition!!! I can't tell you how many times I've gotten advice from doctors about how to address various problems, that had I followed it I would have been in pain for days because it was exactly THE OPPOSITE of what I should have been doing. Please, doctors and nurses, take the time to LEARN about conditions you know little about and stop doing damage to your patients. And stop being so reluctant to prescribe pain meds because of some imaginary boogey man in your head or some silly TV drama you saw or anecdote you heard of. I've been on pain meds for years now, and it helps me to live a normal life. Forget all the addiction silliness you've learned -- you are just WRONG. I gave this mini lecture to my urologist, who refused to address the pain I was feeling even though he acknowledged that he had limited treatments to help eliminate its source. My primary doc took on this responsibility, and I've been much better every year since then. None of the Urologist's fears came to pass. Will he change his mind for the next patient? Not likely.
On the one hand, I'm grateful for studies done like this, that are finally being done after years of working with Congress and NIH to get IC research funding. But the conclusions that the researchers draw so often seem to go astray from what the science actually shows. This is where the doctors' biases creep in while kicking science out the window. Remember, doctors, 'data is not the plural of anecdote'(to quote a Harvard researcher with whom I co-authored a major social sciences study.)! I certainly agree with the researcher's advice to nurses about the multi-factoral reasons for poor sleep, and how addressing those can help everyone with IC and sleep problems (all 100% of us). Great advice. But if you really want to help us all sleep, have the courage to tell the doctors and nurse practitioners to also think this for treating their patients, until we have a cure: Methodone and Aleve for the pain, Prozac for the depression, plus Elmiron for the IC. Let's get real! (Note: the med names I put in here are really stand-ins for other, similar types of drugs. They merely stand for a long-lasting pain med, a strong OTC pain reliever, an effective anti-depression med, and the only drug named for IC treatment, Elmiron. Except for Elmiron, there are a number of other drugs that could be substituted here.) So just once, I wish some researcher would tell her colleagues who read these studies, "So in conclusion, until we have a cure, let's continue to fully address our IC patients' pain, their lack of sleep, their depression, etc., so they can continue to live their lives as fully as possible."
As strongly as I speak to these issues, I do consider the IC researchers to be my heroes, as they have my very life and future in their hands. I think about them and wish them good luck every single night.
Diet and your sleep
posted by RaZZZ on 2 Jun 2011 at 6:57 amDiet plays a huge role on your overall well being – there are no two ways about it, being overweight can seriously disrupt your sleep. If you suffer from obesity, you might want to start by addressing that issue as the main cause of your sleeplessness. Aside from the problems with being overweight, there are definitely foods that you want to avoid before bedtime as well as foods that can aid in sleep. Fatty foods, for example, require a lot of stomach work to digest and can keep you awake at night. In addition, spicy or acidic foods eaten during the evening can cause stomach issues and possibly heartburn at night.
Sleep inducive foods that you should include in your daily diet include those that are magnesium-rich like:
♣ dark green leafy vegetables, legumes, almonds, cashews, real molasses
Other foods that may help to promote a healthy sleep:
♣ halibut, pumpkin, artichokes, avocados, almonds, eggs, bok choy, peaches, walnuts, apricots, oats, asparagus, potatoes, buckwheat, bananas
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