Because I had one last night and it freaked me the fuck out! Seriously, I really don’t like this feeling. My body is exhausted, but my mind is fresh and completely clear. There was absolutely no reason why I was kept awake last night. It’s just like my brain decided “Sleep is for pussies. We’re skipping a night!” and that was that.
What if this is the new normal? What if I never fall asleep naturally again and have to rely on big time, no-nonsense sedatives? I’m genuinely unnerved by this. Has anyone else ever involuntarily gone a full night without sleep? How do you deal with it?
Who me? Why do you ask at 4 in the morning? Isn’t everybody still awake?
Usually I can get a couple of hours sleep after being up at least 24 hours. But I’m old now. I used to just work around the clock when this happened. So after being up 40 hours straight I could definitely get to sleep.
Now you’ll have to explain how you convert one sleepless night into a new normal for you. I’ve had sleep issues all my life. Maybe you just had a little too much caffeine.
I’m a pretty good sleeper, but in my early twenties, I went two nights in a row without a wink. No obvious stressors or anything, just didn’t get sleepy. I chalked it up to a temporary biochemical thing that sorted itself out by the third night, but I don’t know for sure what the cause was, although when it was happening, I was a bit worried about it.
Welcome to my life. As a life-long insomniac, this happens to me pretty frequently. It usually resolves itself in a day or two, and I get back to a ‘normal’ schedule, which, for me, involves only waking up every 2 hours instead of spending the whole night awake.
I’ve never really resorted to regular sleeping pills - I’ll use the occasional diphenhydramine tablet if I think it will help, though it’s pretty rare. Usually on day 2 or 3 of not getting sleep and I’m too jittery; it will calm down my body, even if my brain keeps going. Once or twice I’ve taken Gravol (dimenhydrinate) because it will definitely knock me out (dimenhydrinate is a mix of diphenhydramine and 8-chlorotheophylline anyways) but that’s only if I don’t have diphen- in the house.
Just stick to your normal routine for the next couple of days. Perhaps cut back on any stimulants (coffee, tea, coca-cola), especially in the evenings. If it’s not a chronic issue for you, it will probably resolve itself and you’ll be back to normal soon.
Otherwise, welcome to the Insomniac Club and the joys of 4am re-runs of CSI on Spike-TV.
It happens to me once in a while, for no reason I can find. There’s nights when my brain won’t just shut off and then I wander around in zombie mode all day the next day. It probably doesn’t even happen once a month, so when it does happen it annoys me but I figure it’s nothing to worry about.
It used to happen at least 2-3 times per week for me. I usually did manage to get an hour or two of sleep in there most nights, but it had become a very normal occurrence for me. I knew the late night/early morning TV line-up very well.
I went to the Dr. to try and get some relief and she said to try Benedryl. That lasted all of one night with me ending up in the ER. Apparently it makes some people wacky. Ambien was a fun experience as well. I cut out caffeine a year ago, I don’t drink, and I quit smoking. I exercise and eat well. It has helped some, but the only real help has been with pharmaceuticals.
Most nights I have no problem and can lay down and fall right asleep and stay asleep all night long, other nights, not so much and I need help to either fall asleep or stay asleep.
I alternate between being a sound sleeper and an insomniac. When I miss a night of sleep and sense that an insomniac phase may be coming on, I disrupt my sleep pattern (i.e. I try to sleep in a wholly different position, or better yet, a different room) so that I won’t “learn” to associate the experience of trying to sleep in a particular way with failing to do so.
It’s not exactly for no reason though, a combination of pain meds and being stuck in bed for weeks has removed any sleep pattern I used to have, though I’ve always been a bit of an insomniac.
I wish I could say it was for no reason, but I take amphetamine to wake me up during the day to offset the lethargic effects from morphine. Sometimes they do too good of a job and I find myself awake and unable to sleep for a night or two in a row. Yeah, it kinda freaks me out as well, because I should be exhausted but I don’t feel tired at all.
Oh god yes. At least once a week I go an entire night without sleeping, and get maybe 3 to 4 hours the other nights, and that’s when my insomnia isn’t bad.
If it gets bad, I go 3 or 4 days at a time without sleep. I’ve tried every OTC sleep remedy there is, tried every tip I can find to help sleep (counting sheep, exercising vigorously during the day, not eating and drinking after a certain time, drinking warm milk, blocking all outside noise and light, playing soothing music, etc.) I’ve even gotten prescription sleep aids from friends and family to see if they’d help, nothing.
I’ll second the melatonin advice. What little sleep I do get is because of those wonderful little pills. Just a word of warning though, some people get really vivid, really weird dreams on them. The warning label won’t warn you about that either.
This used to happen quite a bit until I read something that Dr. Oz said about keeping the house colder at night. Now that the house is chilly, I sleep much better and longer.
When I make a dedicated effort to taking B vitamins, it’s much more difficult for me to get to sleep and stay there. Did you eat a lot of green vegetables yesterday?
If you go the melatonin route, keep in mind that a normal dose is way lower than what any pill or liquid will advertise. 0.3 mg a night is all you need, but many doses go up to 5 or 10 mg. This will cause a hangover of low-alertness the next day, which you don’t want. Cut the pills or get a liquid and measure a smaller, more appropriate dose.
There’s always a cause even if you don’t know what it could be.
Have you started any new medications recently? I have had difficulty getting to sleep ever since I started a new medication. Some of them are notorious for causing insomnia.
I’m not so sure… or maybe I’ve just given up figuring it out. But I find if I just accept it and lie still with eyes closed, then it’s almost as good as sleep (an audiobook going helps me drift off, or at least drift in and out).
I do. I always get bad sleepless nights before my period, and if the house is too hot, forget it. No way. I keep my house around 60 degrees at night. My in-laws keep theirs around SEVENTY and it kills me. Then they give me these gigantic fluffy blankets because they are afraid I will be cold. I know they are being kind, but last time I ended up throwing the blanket on the floor and sleeping there out of desperation.
I also get sleepless nights if I don’t have enough potassium in my diet. Eat moar bananas.