Help with sleep!!

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Help!

I can't sleep!

I currently think of myself as self diagnosed aspergers. I'm pursuing a clinical diagnosis.

I know insomnia is a common problem with AS. How do you all deal? i have found over the counter and Rx sleeping aids don''t work. Although I somewhat suspect anxiety drugs might help, because that is where I feel the insomnia stems. I have always had trouble with insomnia, but the past 3 weeks I've been REALLY bad. I'm usually up for 36-40 hours straight and then get a couple hours of sleep.

Anyway, suggestions welcome.

I've had that happen to me a few times myself.

Tim

I feel your pain; I'm a chronic insomniac in the middle of a bad bout myself. Can't offer a whole lot of advice, unfortunately, just sympathy.

Out of curiosity, what prescriptions medications have you tried? Restoril was the only thing that ever really worked for me. Well, except for Trazedone, which put me under, but only after about an hour of gently raving lunacy.

I took up meditation, and it has never let me down... when I can actually muster the self-discipline to actually stop and do it. Like not now. It also can take some practice before it really gets effective. But I feel my guided meditation cd's are worth every penny of the five bucks I paid for 'em.

Good luck

I honestly have no financial stake in this company, but I found that their product worked on me.
Needless to say if there's a history of epilepsy in your family this probably isn't for you and if you share your bed with anyone who isn't profoundly blind they're unlikely to be too pleased.

http://www.mindalive.com/2_1_1.htm

I found that writing thoughts down that were keeping me awake helped.

I also needed some medicinal help - in my case fluoxetine (Prozac) and Oxazepam - a mild tranquillizer.

Oddly, I also found that co-enzyme Q10+vitamin E helps me too if taken it in the evenings.

Also, avoid any caffeine or concentrated sources of sugar after 6pm, and if you take any stimulant medication, try to take it before the evening.

Don't eat too close to bedtime.

Hypnotherapy helped me too - my therapist gave me a CD and whenever I can't sleep, I play it through headphones and I normally get to sleep within half an hour of it finishing.

Also, I can't relax so I get a lot of muscle aches, stiffness, and sometimes spasms.
What helped with this (for me personally) was massaging the affected areas (espeically my calves) with Ruta Grav cream (homoepathic preparation). Also putting a pillow under my feet so my legs are slightly raised helped.

It also helps me to make sure the temperature and humidity in my room are comfortable for me as I am very sensitive to these and it keeps me awake. I use a fine mist spray bottle of water to humidify my room if the air is too 'dry' and I use heating and desk fans as necessary, depending on the weather, to regulate the temperature. Although you have to be careful of electricity bills - try and go for low energy consumption solutions.

Also make sure your bed and bed covers are comfortable and are not hurting your back or any other area of your body at all and also make sure the sheets and duvet and pillow are made of a fabric that you like the feel of and do not have any allergies or sensitivities to. Make sure the weight is comfortable for you.

I like the heaviness of a duvet, so even in summer I have to use a duvet - even if just a corner of it is resting on me, as a 'psychological prop' that makes things okay - I can't get to sleep with just a sheet as I need that feeling of weight.

These are just my individual experiences. I hope they may be of help to you in some way.

I think of something boring. I plot what I would do to the Bush administration if I suddenly had the powers of God.

I also take Trazodone ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trazodone ) - in small doses it can work very well at allowing the mind to relax. It is not a "sleeping pill."

Melatonin works wonders for me. Just one pill (3 mg) has me out cold in a matter of 20 minutes, and I sleep like a rock for the next six hours, if not more. The only downside is that it's a very strong pill, so if you gotta get up early the next morning (like for work or school), cut the pill in half, and take only half of it. You'll still fall asleep just as quickly, but you'll be able to wake up in time.

Nothing that I've tried has helped me, save drinking. That's not recommended.

Melatonin should work (due to how it acts biologically, neurologically, whatever is the more correct word for what I'm talking about. Alcohol likely doesn't help my memory in terms of that. ) but I just don't know where to get any readily. Since I couldn't recall from memory the exact pathway of action / production for it (in the brain,) I tried googling it. Melatonin.com had some info in the first couple of paragraphs that sounded right upon reading it, without going two in-depth. I'm not recommending the site for anything more than that, don't even know what the purpose of the site is.

Thank you soo much for all your responses. Some of your techniques I have tried and some are new to me and I will give a try.

The sleep meds i have been Rxed in the past are lunesta and something very similar to lunesta. Neither worked very well and would work less and less as time passed. I've never been given anything stronger. I'm afraid to ask and be treated as a drug addict. I also have crohn's and have been rushed to the hospital for severe abdominal pain only to be treated very suspiciously. Or maybe it's just the AS that makes me think this.

Anyway, does anyone have a suggestion on how to approach a doctor with a specific drug request? I moved recently and have only just started to get new doctors, so they don't know me very well either.

-Rae

try melatonin

melotonin dosent work for me i take 9 mg and im still to full of energy to sleep i dont realy miss sleep much i seem to be fine without it