# Sleep-Starved: Insomniac Check-In **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 14, 2017, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-starved-insomniac-check-in/788950 "2017-06-14T17:16:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-starved-insomniac-check-in/788950/41 "2017-06-15T04:57:29Z")
I am not prudent. You may have noticed. One of the reasons Wife’s death was a surprise. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-starved-insomniac-check-in/788950/42 "2017-06-15T05:02:56Z")
> [@JackieLikesVariety](#): > > biotop, what is this? I have had ambien in the past and find it really works as long as you don’t use it too often. does NOT work if you take it frequently. > > so, what is the substitute? Poor choice of words on my part. It’s the same medicine. The generic Zolpidem Tartrate 10mg. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-starved-insomniac-check-in/788950/43 "2017-06-15T05:18:15Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > I am not prudent. You may have noticed. One of the reasons Wife’s death was a surprise. I know things are rough right now. I’m sick myself, so I’m not doing so well with my posts. Forgive my lack of eloquence. Your are a worthy person. Please take care of yourself. Your absence would be noted. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-starved-insomniac-check-in/788950/44 "2017-06-15T05:26:49Z")
Tried it under several voluntary suspensions. No, I wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-starved-insomniac-check-in/788950/45 "2017-06-15T06:05:21Z")
I don’t think I’m developing insomnia, I sure hope not, but if I am woken by some random bit of nonsense (a tiny noise, or a weird dream) late enough into the night, say 4am or so, and I’m alert enough for my brain to fully engage, then I find it very hard to go back to sleep again. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-starved-insomniac-check-in/788950/46 "2017-06-15T06:20:00Z")
Prehistorically, we aren’t designed for eight in a row. We did a few, poked the fire while gabbing with our mates, then nodded off for a couple until it was again our turn to poke the fire. Fires don’t maintain themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-starved-insomniac-check-in/788950/47 "2017-06-15T06:55:06Z")
I used Ambien right after I was diagnosed with cancer. I learned quickly to take it when I was in bed because about 15 minutes later, my legs wouldn’t work. They were noodles. I’ve been on the sleeping every other night schedule so I’m due tonight. Thank you to everyone that’s posted! ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-starved-insomniac-check-in/788950/48 "2017-06-15T07:36:30Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > But how does this comport with real world responsibilities like a job? Even just personal relationships? Sure, most insomniacs could find some relief if they were able to sleep anytime they wanted. Unfortunately, the number of insomniacs who could adopt this strategy would seem to be the minority. I solved this by not having personal relationships and shunning responsibility. YMMV. I’m not really recommending that path, fwiw. I would say it works for me, but only for very specific values of “works”. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-starved-insomniac-check-in/788950/49 "2017-06-15T08:02:18Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > That may be true. But DOES it induce sleep? This is a fav harp of MD’s. “It is NOT _Real_ sleep!”. Until recently, all I needed was to get to sleep. Once unconscious, I would be down until I was finished with REM/dream state. The new pill is scary - how do I wake up exactly one hour later for each pill taken? Why doesn’t the sleep last as it had for the last 50 years? Yes, kids - lifelong insomnia. Be afraid. Get your sleep sorted out while young. Booze is an easy trap. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-starved-insomniac-check-in/788950/50 "2017-06-15T08:05:56Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I don’t think I’m developing insomnia, I sure hope not, but if I am woken by some random bit of nonsense (a tiny noise, or a weird dream) late enough into the night, say 4am or so, and I’m alert enough for my brain to fully engage, then I find it very hard to go back to sleep again. This in spades. I use foil on windows – permanent night in the room. Neighbor’s dogs get 120db painful noise when they bark. Living on a streetcar line for 25 years really honed adaption skills. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-starved-insomniac-check-in/788950/51 "2017-06-15T12:23:56Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Prehistorically, we aren’t designed for eight in a row. We did a few, poked the fire while gabbing with our mates, then nodded off for a couple until it was again our turn to poke the fire. Fires don’t maintain themselves. Really, campers, trust me. I’m an anthropologist. (I don’t get many opportunities to say that.) And you can use your breeding to explain to your boss why you need a siesta. ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-starved-insomniac-check-in/788950/52 "2017-06-15T12:39:50Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > Poor choice of words on my part. It’s the same medicine. The generic Zolpidem Tartrate 10mg. oh, I see. well, again, Ambien works like a charm for me as long as I only take it now and then. meanwhile, cannabis works but now my job is ending as the company was bought by a bigger, stupider company and they do drug tests. so since I have chosen SLEEP I won’t have a job as of July 1. why is it their business what I need to sleep? it isn’t. :mad: ironically, I would have less trouble sleeping if the job wasn’t so damn stressful. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-starved-insomniac-check-in/788950/53 "2017-06-15T12:48:26Z")
I am so sleep deprived and miserable right now. I have two fucking meetings I’m leading, too. I managed to drop off after only an hour, but then woke again at 4am. I got like three hours of sleep the night before and constant interrupted sleep before that and fuuuuuuck. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-starved-insomniac-check-in/788950/54 "2017-06-15T16:23:33Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Really, campers, trust me. I’m an anthropologist. (I don’t get many opportunities to say that.) And you can use your breeding to explain to your boss why you need a siesta. I always thought the idea of a siesta was a good one. Even if I couldn’t sleep, I could still rest and not get in trouble for it. But Spanish-speaking countries are doing away with it to conform their work schedules (inherited from us) to family life. > **[The end of the Spanish siesta?](https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35995972)** > > Spain's acting prime minister has announced proposals to abolish the afternoon siesta, which means the normal working day ends later than elsewhere in Europe. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-starved-insomniac-check-in/788950/55 "2017-06-15T18:17:28Z")
Just got a note from the “PCP” (soon to be ex-PCP) stating that Since I use to many sleeping pills, she will no longer prescribe any. Back to vodka and Unisom? NO. New clinic, new hospital, new doctors all around. If you want me use use a single pill, I gave you 4 names and doses which DO work. “But your kidneys will kill you”. They haven’t yet, but did make an impressive run back in Feb. (unconscious for 4 days, with no memory of the conversations I had had with the nurses) I am a grown-up. I will die. Until then, I would like to be pain-free and rested “Nasty” drugs handle both of them. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-starved-insomniac-check-in/788950/56 "2017-06-15T18:31:21Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Just got a note from the “PCP” (soon to be ex-PCP) stating that Since I use to many sleeping pills, she will no longer prescribe any. > > Back to vodka and Unisom? NO. New clinic, new hospital, new doctors all around. > > If you want me use use a single pill, I gave you 4 names and doses which DO work. > “But your kidneys will kill you”. They haven’t yet, but did make an impressive run back in Feb. (unconscious for 4 days, with no memory of the conversations I had had with the nurses) > > I am a grown-up. I will die. Until then, I would like to be pain-free and rested “Nasty” drugs handle both of them. More drama. Yawn. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-starved-insomniac-check-in/788950/57 "2017-06-15T21:51:23Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Just got a note from the “PCP” (soon to be ex-PCP) stating that Since I use to many sleeping pills, she will no longer prescribe any. > > Back to vodka and Unisom? NO. New clinic, new hospital, new doctors all around. > > If you want me use use a single pill, I gave you 4 names and doses which DO work. > “But your kidneys will kill you”. They haven’t yet, but did make an impressive run back in Feb. (unconscious for 4 days, with no memory of the conversations I had had with the nurses) > > I am a grown-up. I will die. Until then, I would like to be pain-free and rested “Nasty” drugs handle both of them. I hope you get it straightened out. Doctors think the goal is the longest life possible and don’t consider the quality. The lack of sleep affects our health, too, so maybe it turns out to be a wash, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-starved-insomniac-check-in/788950/58 "2017-06-15T22:40:22Z")
And another favorite insomniac game, “Should I drink caffeine or not?” Helps me survive the day, totally fucks me over for getting to sleep that night. I chose straight sugar (Sprite) instead, managed to hobble pathetically through my meetings, came home, slept for two hours, and still feel like death. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-starved-insomniac-check-in/788950/59 "2017-06-15T22:42:19Z")
And I left the gas cap open on my way to work. Not the cap, the flappy thing. And distributed copies of the wrong grant to all my coworkers during the meeting. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-starved-insomniac-check-in/788950/60 "2017-06-15T23:44:29Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > (my bold) > > Given the number of powerful medicines you are taking, are you even positive that the melatonin is _doing anything_? Like, have you taken out that ingredient and judged the effectiveness of the prescriptions alone? > > ETA: I’m not suggesting that it applies to you but I’m reminded of the cancer patient who attributes their newfound health to the “miracle cure” that they used. That chemo and radiation? Phsst, it had no influence. 😉 Well, I was having trouble establishing a good bedtime, because I was still having trouble with my mind racing, a little. I’d go to bed, but I’d get up to check to make sure I’d paid bills, locked the door, the pets had water, and soforth. By the time I calmed down enough to sleep, it would be past my bedtime. But that wasn’t every night. Most of the time the tricyclic seemed to work, it was just sometimes that it didn’t. I probably had something else I was worried about, but I was trying not to sort it out, because I would have been up past midnight if I’d done that. So I asked the doctor if I needed an increased dose of the tricyclic, or maybe an OCD med. He said he hesitated to increase the dose because the medication could have a lot of side effects at higher doses, and it would be better to look for something else altogether. I could try an OCD med, but those had side effects too (those at the time were mostly the SSRIs that killed your libido). He said why didn’t I try something, give it a week, and see if it did any good, and then we’d look at changing the prescriptions. And he said try 5mg of melatonin. Now, I suppose there could have been a placebo effect, but considering how many meds I’d been on and off of, and how many things hadn’t worked, I doubt it. I know that relative to the other stuff, melatonin seems like a sugar pill, but I might actually have a melatonin deficiency. There is autism in my family, and many autistic people have melatonin deficiencies. I have never had a blood test, but I’m sleeping well now, so I don’t want to mess with what I’m doing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-starved-insomniac-check-in/788950.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleep-starved-insomniac-check-in/788950.md?page=4)