The inability to sleep or sleep deeply is a common symptom of chronic inflammatory disease and can be exacerbated during periods of immunopathologyA temporary increase in disease symptoms experienced by Marshall Protocol patients that results from the release of cytokines and endotoxins as disease-causing bacteria are killed.. Restful sleep can help a patient to cope with other symptoms. It is not necessary to get all one's restful sleep at night. In fact, if a patient can, sleeping during the day may give him or her enough energy to accomplish any responsibilities for the day.
Main article: Sleep medications
Patients considering the Marshall Protocol (MP) may already be taking medications that help improve their sleep. No sleep remedies are specifically contraindicated on the Marshall Protocol. They should be considered temporary palliative aides and used judiciously only as needed.
Like many drugs, sleep medications can act in immunomodulatory ways, sometimes in ways that have yet to be fully understood. Although the ultimate goal of someone using sleep medications is to discontinue their use, consistent sleep of a minimum quality is essential. In so far as sleep medications may aid MP patients in achieving improved sleep, they are not contraindicated.
Those of us who do not need to force our body to be sleeping at certain times should not be taking drugs to do so. I recall that my sleep patterns varied widely as I recovered, and still do, depending on how hard I am working. Sleeping when you feel tired, as long as you wake refreshed, should be the goal. If you don't wake refreshed then close your eyes and nod off again [if you can].
Trevor Marshall, PhD
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<div class=“patientinterviewname”></html>Guss Wilkinson<html></div></html>
sarcoidosis, psoriasis, insomnia, kidney stones
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<div class=“patientinterviewname”></html>Paul Albert<html></div></html>
chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), depression, food sensitivities, insomnia
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Interviews of patients with other diseases are also available.
My sleep improved very early in the Protocol. I felt that I generally got to sleep quicker and slept more deeply. My sleep is now very normal, with good quality sleep and few wake ups during the night. If I do wake up, I rarely have trouble falling straight back to sleep. Dreaming is also regular but I don’t move in my sleep. This is something I seem to have lost along the way and I wake up to turn over.
Vicki SA, after two years on the MP, MarshallProtocol.com
I use a CD by Stephen Halpern called Sleep Soundly. I have played this CD as I go to sleep for several years now and it has really helped my insomina.
Joy, MarshallProtocol.com
Benicar made my insomnia much worse at first. I just toughed it out, and my sleep is absolutely fabulous now after years of insomnia before the MP.
Shamutooth, MarshallProtocol.com
I too experienced weeks of insomnia which was not a problem for me before or since: so obviously a case of severe immunopathology. Thankfully it was not painful as was much of my IP at that time, so I did not worry about it, just lay there thinking, sometimes with soft music to listen to, or reading when my husband was away.
Sallie Q, MarshallProtocol.com
I hadn't been able to fall asleep naturally for over 40 years. I started taking tranquilizers at age 19 to enable me to sleep. Within the past 5 years (prior to the MP), I was needing more and more medication to enable me to sleep. From the moment I would wake up in the AM, I would be thinking about the next night's sleep. In all this time, especially the last 10 years (prior to MP) I never woke up feeling refreshed. I was taking so many sleep meds that it was probably dangerous. I was in a constant state of exhaution.
Now, 2.5 years into the MP and I am falling asleep quite naturally and waking up refreshed. It was a gradual change so it's impossible to pinpoint the exact time this happened, but I believe there was a steady and gradual improvement after I had been on MP for one year. It is wonderful to be able to fall asleep, wake up for my Benicar, and roll over and fall asleep again. If it has happened for me, it will work for anyone, I am convinced.
Aunt Diana, MarshallProtocol.com