Insomnia?

[Riven]

Does anyone here have insomnia, like true insomnia were you just CAN NOT sleep, not that you don't or you're a night person or whatever.

I go through cycles of insomnia and I'm in a really bad one. I've been to the doctor about it and he just puts me on Ambien which makes me "sleep" but I don't get a REM cycle so I walk around like a zombie until I get to the point where I literally can't function properly.

I've read all of the usual "read a book" (I'm an avid reader), "drink tea", do a "boring chore" like cleaning... and my response to this is I'll just still be up at 600 exhausted with a clean house, hydrated body, and another book read.

My husband can fall asleep in literally less than a minute after closing his eyes, he doesn't understand at all and offers "helpful suggestions" like maybe if I didn't sleep in during the mornings... which is usually the only time I've actually gotten to sleep long enough to hit a REM cycle.

I just want to be able to go to sleep and wake up feeling like I went to sleep... does anyone have any suggestions? I did the melatonin and it worked for a while, but not when it gets bad like that. I've been exercising, warm shower to relax, meditating... I'm just so frustrated right now and all the doctors around here want to do is drug me up.

 

[EMSChins]

I'm there with you Nicole! It runs in my family. I have 10 brothers and sisters and all of us have this - so wonderful for my mother to share! Ambien does not work for me at all when it sends most people blissfully off to lala land!

I go through cycles. Sometimes I cannot fall asleep and seemingly am up all night - never hitting that elusive rem stage (not sure I even know what that is). Other times, I can fall asleep without an issue but wake up after only an hour or two and cannot seem to fall back to sleep, after 4 or 5 hours I manage a fitful doze and then am wide awake by 5 am. And sometimes, I wake up at the exact same time in the middle of the night - like 2 am and never do get back to sleep so I wonder aimlessly around the house trying not to wake the family or the dogs who would just want to go outside and bark! That is the kind that I have been fighting for the past 6 weeks or so. Once in a while I will hit a stage where I can sleep for 4 hours straight and that is a good phase for me.

I never sleep past 5 am no matter how late I go to bed. There have been many late nights after getting home form a chin show where I do not drop into bed until 3 or 4 am and no matter how exhausted I am - I am up at 5 am and cannot go back to sleep. One day I would just love to sleep in until 7 am! I am so jealous of people who can sleep in!

You would think that this would make me a night owl but I am useless after 9 or 10 at night because I am so tired all of the time.

I don't have any secrets, nor do my physicians as I have tried just about anything without success...but thanks for giving me something to rant about at 2:08 am - my time!!!

 

[Jenn]

I have been an insomniac for at least 20 years. It got worse after I had my boys and had to get up throughout the night for feedings. It continues to be an ongoing issue because my husband works rotating shifts, and because I get up through the night to put wood in the fire in the winter months.

I've tried everything over the counter and nothing works. I won't take a prescription for it so I just suffer through it. What makes it even worse now is that I have restless legs. I do have a prescription for that since it is so bad, but the prescription doesn't work the entire night, so by the early morning hours my legs are restless again and keeping me awake.

I've just kind of gotten used to the idea of never getting any sleep. It does affect my memory, my concentration, and the bags under my eyes are not appealing.

Here's what I know. Don't eat too late. If your body is trying to digest food, it will interrupt your sleep making it difficult to initially fall asleep. Don't be overly active, like no exercising, later in the evening. No tv, music, anything an hour before bedtime. No tv on in the bedroom. Your bedroom should be as dark as possible. Alarm clocks should not be right next to the bed. No caffeinated products, ideally after noon, or at least not in the evening hours. Also, go to bed early because your best sleep is before midnight.

I used to think falling asleep with the tv on helped me sleep, with the volume on low, but I have learned to turn the tv off and I do fall asleep faster. I still wake up in the middle of the night frequently, but I try not to look at the clock and obsess about the time. I usually can't sleep past 6:00 a.m., no matter what time I go to bed. I think, for me, part of the reason I can't get a good night's sleep is because our bed is uncomfortable. We have a pillowtop mattress that sucks but can't afford a better mattress right now.

Do you snore at all? Could you have sleep apnea? My husband had it really bad and since wearing a sleep apnea device, he gets really great sleep now and his snoring has stopped. So at least I don't have to listen to him snore away anymore....which did make it difficult to sleep.

I hate doctors first impulses to be to prescribe medicine. What should be learned if you have a medical reason why you can't sleep. Maybe a sleep study would be helpful to find out if anything more than simple insomnia is going on.

But I am a fellow insomniac and figure someday I'll be dead and get endless sleep. lol

 

[Narcissus]

have you tried hypnosis? I have waves of insomnia, and for weeks I can't sleep. my acupuncturest taught me "systematic hypnotic breathing" a type of meditation. it works 95% of the time. I have also found that my room must be completely dark, any small light will keep my brain going. I have black thick curtians blocking outside light and put a curtain over my door at night to block out the light from the hallway night light (for my kids). I used ear plugs for awhile but now I can block out sound by focusing on my breathing. Sometimes my husband will sleep in our guest bedroom because just his breathing and movement will keep me up. I also use chamomile (tea, and pills) when I need relax before bed..... hope it helps.

 

[Raindog]

I have suffered from insomnia off and on throughout my life, mostly during periods of high stress. I have always been a slow sleeper, I remember being shocked when I found out it doesn't take most people an hour or more to fall asleep.

I am so tired and just about falling asleep sitting up so I turn off the light and lie down, boom, wide awake. My problem is my mind, I think, because if I can focus my mind correctly I can usually fall asleep.

Tricks I use are white noise, like a fan, or I will go into the hedgehog's room and listen to him run on his wheel. Focusing my mind on one thing, like counting my breaths, or reciting a favorite song, if my mind wanders away from this task I start over from 1 or the beginning of the song. I have gotten into the bad habit of watching TV on the computer to try to fall asleep. I like the computer because it only plays one video at a time. It will shut off if I fall asleep.

Have you seen this website, http://www.well.com/~mick/insomnia/ ? I have tried some stuff from here and it has helped. The toe wiggling, sleeping on my back, some of the visualization stuff.
You can try going to an herbalist, or look into Reiki treatments if you are interested in eastern medicine. Here is a DIY Reiki article. http://www.ehow.com/how_2302617_use-reiki-better-sleep.html

If all else fails, have you tried a different doctor? If all they want to do is drug you up maybe you should look into a sleep study.

 

[Riven]

Room is dark, I usually also sleep with a towel on my face like an eye mask but I don't like things attached to my head, lol. I don't drink caffeine other than a soda maybe once a month ( when we eat at the Mexican place a couple towns over), I exercise before noon most days, but never in the evening. I rarely watch TV, and will usually get off the computer before bedtime to help reduce "blue light", we don't even have a TV in our room so no worries about that, lol. I do acupuncture as well sometimes it helps some, sometimes it doesn't.

We sleep with a fan on, I can not sleep without the air circulation and white noise, sometimes I use my sound machine with waves or crickets as well. Some nights it just makes it worse. I don't snore, no apnea. Have done the melatonin ( which DID work for a while) and the valerian root as well.

I've tried several different doctors as well. Last night I did do about an hour of meditation then got to sleep for a while until my husband got called out at about 2:30 or so, then at 6:00 the dog wanted out, then AFTER that I finally hit a REM cycle because I remembered dreaming vividly right before waking again ( LOVE that my kids are old enough I can sleep in when I do sleep!)

The Ambien made me such a zombie and I never suspected it to find out I had to go off all of my meds and start picking them back up one by one to see which one was doing it. My grades started dropping in school because I simply couldn't remember or think right at all because I was actually sleep deprived and didn't even know it.

I'm glad to know others have cycles too! Sometimes I feel like I'm going crazy because it's just sleeping... everyone sleeps right? Why don't I get to sleep?! What is wrong with me that I can't sleep?!

I will definitely review those articles when we get back from town!

One thing I've thought about, I don't know if anyone's tried it or not, but listening to like a guided sleep mediation through ear phones? I suppose I could just use a regular radio, my husband would probably just sleep through it all anyway... I was just worried that I wouldn't hear to wake up (I have sound blocking Bose headphones that ROCK like that) for I'd end up in a tangled web come morning.

 

[Jenn]

I would go right to a sleep study to see if that shows anything that happens while you sleep. Like I said, my husband did it and it was extremely helpful. You get there early evening and follow your home routine. Meaning, go to bed at your usual time, read or watch tv before turning off the lights, like you would at home. Try to make your stay as close to possible as you would experience at home. You then come home early the next morning. Within a couple of weeks you go back and go over the findings. Insurance should cover this visit. It would be good to know if there is something medical going on that is preventing you from sleeping. I need to do the same thing some day, but I have (even more) trouble sleeping in foreign places and in foreign beds.

I forgot to ask if you nap during the day. I can't nap during the day, no matter how tired I am. But for those who do, it shouldn't be any longer than a quick power nap or it will also interfere with nighttime sleep. And keeping your bedtime schedule routine is a must. But knowing all of this really doesn't help the sleep come, does it?!

 

[Riven]

If I nap, I don't sleep so unless I'm exhausted from days of nights without good sleep, I won't nap. Every once in a while I'll nap if I'm just so tired that I'll take the sleep when I can get it.

 

[Lynn & The Chins]

Sadly, I think that this is a part of the menopausal series of events that happen to us all.

I used to be what I called a "World Class Sleeper"...just show me the pillow and I was out!!! Even if I woke up during the night to go to the bathroom, I could fall right back asleep.

For about the past month or so, I have been dealing with the fact that now I CAN'T fall asleep some nights, but toss and turn and just can't get comfortable. I think part of it is due to the pain from my kidney disease, which also causes restless leg syndrome, so I have just been limping along. Finally, at about 4 or 5 a.m., I am able to fall asleep and stay asleep until 9 or so. Since I can only work part time now, that's OK...I'm not late for work.

I've tried the list of activities above, some of which work sometimes, but never reliably. I have found that if I turn the TV on to MSNBC and turn the volume down very low, the low talking acts like white noise. I am sorry to be able to tell you that there is, in fact, a show which comes on at 4 a.m. whose name is "Way Too Early"!!! That made me laugh the first time I saw it, but it IS a great title!!!

I know you said you don't have a TV in the bedroom, but if your couch is comfy, maybe try it some night. I know that I was always able to fall asleep and nap on the couch before I started having back issues that keep me from lounging on the couch.

Good luck and hopefully sweet dreams!!!

 

[Riven]

I can't fall asleep if there is a tv in front of me. Because I rarely watch TV ( we don't even have cable...) if a tv is on I'm tuned in no matter how tired I am or what is going on around me, lol. Like my brain is compared to telling a kid to go to bed early because we're going to Disneyland in the morning I guess, it'll never happen! LOL

That is funny you say that, because I have wondered if I have a hormone imbalance, but they've checked everything from my estrogen to my thyroid and nothing is "out of normal" range.

There is one thing that often helps... it's laying in the shower with the water running over me. If I could make a blanket to do that I think I could sleep all night! The bad thing is eventually the hot water runs out... I wake up then can't go back to sleep once I'm in bed, but I'm too groggy to really dry off and everything, but unable to get back to sleep usually...

Like Lynn said sometimes some of the things work, but nothing consistently. I think I'm going to do more research into sleep and hormone levels to see if there might be something there!

 

[Jenn]

Good luck, and if you find the secret to a good night's sleep, be sure to pass it on to your fellow insomniacs!

 

[Riven]

I definitely will!