I almost started this thread around three this morning. By then I was on my 43rd hour on just two hours of sleep. I finally feel asleep around four and slept for about three and a half hours before I had to get up.
It wasn’t a matter of not being tired. I was so tired I couldn’t sit up. My eyelids were lead. If my hand fell on the floor it took me fifteen minutes to get it up on the bed again. But still, I did not sleep.
It’s now 9.30 pm, I’m a sleepy zombie, and I’m scared of a third night of no sleep. I don’t have any work for a few days, so that’s not a problem, but the idea of facing the endless lonely darkness of a sleepless night is in itself enough to frighten me. By now, it’s become a thing. I fear not being able to fall asleep, so I believe I won’t because I fear it, so I fear it even more.
I’m gonna try all the household remedies. A hot shower, some hot tea with honey, and relaxing for thirty minutes before going to bed with a good book. I’ve had some liqueur thinking a nightcap might help and I don’t want anybody to panic, but I may have overdone it slightly. I keep forgetting my alcohol tolerance isn’t where it used to be. Still, any sleep looks like good sleep right now.
I’m with ya. Melatonin helps me sometimes. Learning to meditate helped quite a bit. But I still have nights when I wake up in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep.
It’s almost one and I’m not particularly tired. I’ve slept a grand total of five hours out of the last sixty-five and I’m sitting here wide awake. The universe is not making sense.
Have you checked out Ambien? A friend of mine uses it, after a traumatic event made it difficult for her to sleep. I think it’s helped her a lot. (Also, sometimes she posts to her LJ after it’s started kicking in, which inevitably results in hilarious nonsense.)
Then walk in circles in your house/apartment. Might be because of my overall health problems, but I can wear myself out that way. Sometimes I even do a slow jog, since my house is designed in such a way as to provide a reasonable circle if I don’t go too fast. Obviously not a good thing to do if you’re in an apartment with neighbors downstairs, though.
Walking in a circle (or pacing) and counting from one to four over and over again is also hypnotic, especially if you do this in the dark (provided you can do this in the dark without running into things). I’ve generally used that to get through pain that was keeping me awake, but I think it could help in other circumstances too.
Have you tried sleeping somewhere other than your bed? Sometimes I can fall asleep on the couch when, moments before, I’d spent hours wide awake in bed. Or a nice comfy chair or rocking chair might do the trick.
Benadryl is something that makes a lot of folks drowsy, and that a lot of folks use for sleep problems. However, I’m not sure if it’s safe to combine with alcohol, so I wouldn’t take it tonight without making certain.
Finally, if there is something making you anxious or afraid and that’s what is keeping you awake, look for ways to lessen the anxiety. Or at least tell yourself repeatedly to think about it later if you find your thoughts going back to it again.
I feel your pain. I’m running on 7 days in a row without a full night’s rest and I’ve been sick to my stomach all day because of it. Insomnia is a problem I’ve long-battled for years. I just get too keyed up and I can’t silence my brain. Lately I’ve been falling asleep just fine, but waking up too early in the morning.
The best method I’ve found for falling asleep involves three steps, in this order:
Take two Tylenol PM.
Take a hot bath.
Drink chamomile tea.
It only works if you have a full 8 hours available to sleep. Otherwise you wake up groggy.
I did a post on this not too long ago. I, too, suffer from insomnia and my longest stint was around 10 days - not fun.
I was first given a prescription to help me, but since it caused significant weight gain I stopped taking it. I thought about changing meds, but changed my mind when I heard of many people - incl docs and nurses - who have become addicted to certain ‘popular’ highly advertised sleep aids.
A nightshift nurse told me her ‘secret’ - take one benedryl and melatonin (found in the supplement/vitamin section of most stores). Since my insomnia tends to be on the more severe side, I take 6mg of mel. with the benadryl. It knocks me right out - but it took about a week to build up. It was slow at first, but it was worth the wait. It takes awhile for the mel to kick in so take it at least 30 min prior to turning in.
Also, I heard alcohol is the worst thing to take to help you sleep because you are more likely to wake up or have a restless sleep.
I’ve had bad insomnia since I was a child. I consider it to be a chronic illness, but since my family has always stressed that you should take as little medicine as you can in order to get by, I have never sought drugs for it but I rely on herbs and meditation. I take 1 capsule of Lemon Balm (Mellisa) and one of Valerian about an hour before bed, and drink some Chamomile tea with Lemon Balm. Hot shower, read no more than 3 chapters of a book, knit five rows. Lights out. If I absolutely cannot get to sleep for two nights in a row it’s Excedrin PM or Benadryl. Also stay warm, especially your feet. Wear socks if you have to, or use a hot water bottle or heating pad.
Sorry Priceguy, I started reading your thread, thinking maybe I could help, but I fell asleep. I’ll try to finish it another time, getting sleepy again. Going to bed. G’nite.
I have to get extremely exhausted to fall asleep easily (fortunately, I’m not one who tends to wake up in the middle of the night). I remember once in my childhood that I slept easily, after a long, energetic day. I used to read in bed until I was ready to sleep, but that doesn’t work well when you have a partner and the DS screen is too bright in a dark room Lately I’ve tried to avoid sugar and caffeine in the evening–that’s not helping either. The aggravating thing is that getting ready for bed often wakes me up, no matter how tired I am, so going to bed usually makes it harder to fall asleep :smack:
Orgasms make it easier to rest both my body and mind, but they don’t help me actually sleep.
Hopefully Priceguy is not responding because he’s getting a good night’s sleep!
I’ve had insomnia before and it’s not fun at all. A very difficult dark loneliness in the wee hours of the night. I’ve tried many of the above – tea, booze, excercise, etc.
At the end of the day, for me it ultimately takes getting into a comfy bed, lights off, no distractions – and focusing on one thing. It doesn’t matter what that thing is, but I have to focus on it and nothing else. It’s the only way to shut down my brain.
Nowadays, with a little fella who gets us up at 6am, insomnia isn’t so much of a problem. Frankly, sometimes I’m snoozing away at 9pm from exhaustion.
Well, kinda. When I finally went to bed around two I had no trouble falling asleep but I woke up at 7.30 so I’m still loads and loads of sleep in the hole. Still, it’s a huge improvement over tossing and turning for hours on end.
Lately I’ve tried to avoid sugar and caffeine in the evening–that’s not helping either. The aggravating thing is that getting ready for bed often wakes me up, no matter how tired I am, so going to bed usually makes it harder to fall asleep :smack: