Insomnia

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What to do, what to do?

Been up so long, my head's started hurting.

Someone at least add me on MSN and start chatting so I won't feel so lonely...

Gosh, I'm so melodramatic...

I'm gonna go for a walk.

Someone alert the police if I'm not back in a month or so...

I hate insomnia. I don't usually call something unfair, but now would be the time. Insomnia is not fair! Sometimes I will have days when I'm dozing off in class, and I can hardly keep my head up, and I'll ride home, put my head on the pillow, and just lie there for hours, trying to get to sleep. It makes no sense!

I recently learned (by accident) if I turn the heat up to like 78 I fall asleep very quickly. Try that.

I just don't waste any time sat in bed doing nothing but waiting for sleep. If I can't sleep I'll stay up doing stuff until I can.

Wish I could turn the heat up. Can't afford the bills though, so it gets turned off before I go to bed.

If you're up all night and have to get up the next day for something you end up losing a lot of sleep, and your attention can really suffer.

Find a job where you can work to your body's clock and sleep when it wants to.

That is so weird! In order to fall asleep I need to open the window (with the sound of traffic outside) to let the cold air in. I can only fall asleep once the temperature drops low enough.

If heat doesn't work, try cold.

Try turning the heat down in your bedroom but place heavy blankets on top of you, three or four maybe, and the weight of the blankets should feel really good and you will drop off to sleep---this is what I do, plus I take 50 mg. of benedryl if I napped during the day and that is the reason for my insomnia.

Well, as a experienced insomniac, I try to get tired.

If that doesn't help I usualy take a couple of antihistamines lowering me to sleep state.

I can't remember where I read this, but I once read that people experience a drop in body temperature a while before going to sleep. The article suggested you take a shower an hour or two before bedtime, so that when you get out of the shower, your body temperature will drop and signal that it's time to sleep...Actually this seems to work for me!

I've not been able to sleep for over 2 months now and I am not sure what to do. I have been on some anti-depressive medication that also controls my anxiety and I have no clue as to what to do, other than staying up all night and play games on the internet.

One of my psychs (oh god that sounds terrible) worked with me for about a month on my terrible long standing insomnia and I've improved a fair bit since then.

I was on sleeping pills for a while but that ended badly, not going back there ever,

The most important thing I got from her was to commit to a regular sleep routine. At the same time everynight do the same things to let your body know you are about to sleep.

My routine is that I have a shower, watch 15 mins of television in a darkened room, drink some warm milk, brush my teeth, listen to 10 mins of music/read a book and then turn the lights out. Takes a while to get into it but it helps.

Also good for me is having a fan on, even if just lightly, because that constant soft sound lulls me to sleep.

and try and learn some breathing/relaxation techniques. Quite simple stuff of breathing in deeply, holding it for two seconds then exhaling completely. While doing this try to clear your mind and relax, don't think about your schedule for the day.

DIET is very important to. Cut back on your caffeine, alcohol intake and sugary foods. Have your dinner earlier on in the evening, and dont eat anything in the three hours before sleep (if you're body is digesting food, it can't rest fully)

Anyway, that has helped somewhat for me.

Except for a couple of blissful weeks last month, I have had chronic insomnia for about the past two decades. (I'm not sure why it went away last month, or why it has returned.) Mostly my insomnia manifests itself in the form of difficulty falling to sleep at night. I have tried many different things over the years, with little success, but for what it is worth, here they are:

(1) Non-pharmacological methods. These include various cognitive-behavioral techniques, light-therapy, etc. You can find information about these all over the internet; e.g.,
BBC: Science & Nature - How to sleep better
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/sleep/

(2) Pharmacological methods: Non-prescription. There are a variety of over-the-counter (OTC) drugs you can try. Roughly, these fall into two categories: (i) "natural"/ herbal remedies and (ii) others. In the "natural"/ herbal category, Melatonin and Calms Forte are worth trying. Most of the other types of OTC drugs contain antihistamines. Before purchasing any of those, take a look at the OTC allergy medications for sale because it is often cheaper to buy antihistamines (e.g., diphenhydramine) in allergy medication than in sleeping tablets.
Also, this is an entertaining piece about some of these drugs
To Sleep: Perchance To Take Lots of Pills. Testing over-the-counter sleep aids, herbal and non.
By Seth Stevenson
http://www.slate.com/id/2062791/

(3) Pharmacological methods: Prescription. Speak to your doctor about these.

A few additional things about sleeping pills in general.
- All drugs have side effects (including tolerance and "rebound insomnia").
- I recommend starting with a small dose, and then increase it as needed. You will find that as you increase the dose, the effectiveness of the drug(s) increases, but so do the side effects.
- For chronic insomnia, I recommend *not* taking the same drugs two nights in a row. I find that varying the drugs varies the side effects, and reduces the amount of tolerance. Also, try to limit the more addictive drugs to only one or two nights per week.

Sweet dreams.

I only sleep about 4 hours a night, and then I sleep untill 1pm on weekends. The few times I have been able to sustain periods of decent sleep:

1. workout rigorously at least 4 days per week, 7 is better
2. no caffiene after 2:00pm
3. absolutely no using the computer or playing any kind of games for at least a full hour before sleep, these types things wake up your brain. Use the TV to shut it down
4. no alcohol, it actually wakes you up, contrary to popular opinion
5. eat regular meals: no late eating or snacking, it kickstarts your system
6. get small things done that you might otherwise obsess about when you close your eyes
7. go to bed and wake up at the sime time every single night without exception, stick to a pattern!
8. did I mention no computer or gaming of any kind before going to bed?

Your music is cool dude, I like the tune I listened to on your myspace---so, is it time to send out a search party yet? Wabs

Nah. I didn't wander that long.

I'm glad to hear you are ok, I'll call off the search team and the big dog with the barrel of booze he carries in a keg under his neck, oh yeah! St. Bernard! The monks said that's too far for the dogs to travel anyway....Denmark,sheesh!
You probably are still having your insomnia troubles, it seems to be something one either has or doesn't have...
Hey, have you heard of an artist named Damien Rice and his cd "O"?Give it a listen if you haven't heard it yet.
Try the blanket thing for the insomnia and an over the counter sleep aid, next time you get desperate, but listen, don't mix any amount of alcohol with drugs, k? Stuff like that can damage your kidneys and liver even if it doesn't kill you and it's all about taking care of the machine you carry your soul around in, capiche?
My favorite song on that cd is a song called The Blowers daughter, the melody is haunting and the words are exquisite.