Insomnia

[Cordelia Fitzgerald]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 1:37am

For the past couple of weeks I've been having a hard time getting to sleep but now it's gotten worse, for the past few nights I've been getting bout 3 and a half to 4 hours of sleeps. I've tried a bunch of different PM pills, I've been reading, I've been getting up every half hour as suggested by my doctor but nothing works....any sugggestions please?!

[Liverpool]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 1:50am

lots of alcohol.

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 1:50am

Updated On: 1/22/09 at 01:50 AM

[DAME]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 1:54am

I go thru periods of insomnia. I wish I could give you some helpful advice. Let me ask you.. has anything been troubling you? Are you perhaps anxious about something? Perhaps a anti anxiety pill as opposed to a sleeping aid might do the trick. And those p.m. tablets are awful. They throw your system out of sync for days.

[Cordelia Fitzgerald]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 1:57am

Well, I get really nervous when i try to fall asleep that I'm not going to be able to fall asleep if that makes sense...so i always end up giving myself time limits to when i should be asleep and that always makes me more anxious and the cycle just continues until I'm so worked up that i just sort of break down....but thanks for your help everyone!

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 2:01am

Updated On: 1/22/09 at 02:01 AM

[verynewyorkcurious]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 2:02am

Alcohol gets me to sleep fast but it makes me get up earlier than I want to. A lot of discomfort with too much alcohol.

LPF's advice about writing your thoughts down is a good one. I've never done it before, but I will try it. I think about the most random things.

I've been sleeping at 6 or 7 in the morning lately, so I'm not really one to give advice. I do take something though. Simply Sleep (which I assume you've already tried and doesn't work). The recommendation dosage is 2 pills but I take half a pill. 1 pill and I can sleep for around 9 hours.

Do any of you have to get up at a certain time, and before you go to sleep, you think to yourself, 'if I sleep now, I will get 8 hours of sleep.' and an hour goes by and it's '7 hours of sleep is fine' and then it goes down to like 3 or 4. Isn't that such a pain in the ass.

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 2:04am

Updated On: 1/22/09 at 02:04 AM

[Liverpool]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 2:08am

Do any of you have to get up at a certain time, and before you go to sleep, you think to yourself, 'if I sleep now, I will get 8 hours of sleep.' and an hour goes by and it's '7 hours of sleep is fine' and then it goes down to like 3 or 4. Isn't that such a pain in the ass.


welcome to everyday of my life.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 2:16am

I have been dealing with insomnia in some form all my life. One of the worst things we can do for insomnia is POST ON THIS WEBSITE!

Television and computers are "over-stimulators." It is recommended that you turn off your TV and computer at least 45 minutes to an hour before you want to go to sleep. (Obviously, I ignore this recommendation, which shows you how stupid I am. But I do know what I'm talking about. Oh, the irony!)

The other thing I suggest is trying crossword puzzles...but not the "easy" ones. I turn off my computer and then work on the NY Times Sunday crossword puzzle. I resist all temptations to "look things up" or go back online to do research. This really relaxes me and helps me fall asleep. But I have to get off of this goddam board in order to focus on my crossword puzzle!

I hope this is helpful.

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 2:19am

Updated On: 1/22/09 at 02:19 AM

[verynewyorkcurious]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 2:27am

BWW does anything but help me sleep! I always always have the TV on with the timer on before I go to sleep. I can't sleep just by turning off the lights and lie down. Doesn't work like that for me.

I've been falling asleep to Wings lately, which is one of my favorite, most comforting shows ever.

A couple of years ago 2am used to be late for me, and it has now moved up. Now 6am is late for me.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 2:32am

I learned about the "electronic over-stimulation" from pediatricians and sleep disorder experts because, guess what? My daughter is also a chronic insomniac! (I also believe that hormones play a part in this, but let's not go there.)

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 2:33am

Updated On: 1/22/09 at 02:33 AM

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 2:42am

My insomnia was passed onto me from my father who used to let me watch old movie musicals with him on TV that didn't end until 2:00 AM. Maybe that's part of it: those happy memories of watching old movies with my dad may be an underlying reason I never want to go to sleep. It's something special I shared with him that keeps me bonded to him now that's gone.

Posted: 7/1/08 at 2:43am

its always been difficult for me to sleep because my mind is always racing.

sometims in a good way, ideas that i want to develop, or in a bad way, imagining everything that can go wrong.

these days its hard to sleep because i have an IV in each arm & a drain installed in my back....try getting comfortable with all that equipment in you. yuck.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 2:47am

How many hours of sleep does each of you get typically (i.e. when you're not in the hospital or something like that)? How much do you feel you really "need" for a good night's sleep?

[Marianne2]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 2:58am

I am so guilty of this. Okay, it doesn't help that I actually hate to sleep. I think it's a waste of time. But obviously I know I'll eventually go crazy by not sleeping, so I do. I also just have problems getting to sleep and staying asleep. And now that it's 3am here and I need to get up at 7:30 to get ready for work, I think I'll try to sleep. I seriously need to stop doing this because when I get to work, I feel like going back to bed for an hour or so, which is not possible.

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 3:02am

Updated On: 1/22/09 at 03:02 AM

[Namaste]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 3:42am

I'm a card-carrying member of the club.

I LOVE when I get a good night of sleep and wake up early to enjoy the entire day, but that happens so infrequently that I gave up long ago.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 3:46am

I am definitely an insomniac.

It really can cause a problem when I have to get up at 5:40 for school.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 4:02am

We should have a name like all those people who rally around a show like the "Scaryotypes" or whatever they're called.

How about calling our group the "Insomaniacs"?

I think the president should be the one who has had the least time sleeping throughout their lives, which would most likely make him/her the OLDEST person in the group (if we assume that it's been a life-long affliction."

I'm probably the oldest (because these days I always AM!) so that gives me an advantage. Of course, I'm sitting here trying to establish an organized movement with bylaws and articles rather than TRYING TO GET TO SLEEP!!!! So I'm wishing you all "Sweet Dreams" and reminding you to "Brush your teeth before getting into bed."

ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Taryn]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 8:11am

Make sure that you're not reading IN bed. In fact, don't do most things in bed other than sleeping. Let your head know that your bed is for sleep, not other stuff. That's the one big thing that comes to mind. I don't usually have trouble, but my dad is a lifetime insomniac, so I picked up a few things over the years, and that is one of them.

[Cordelia Fitzgerald]

Posted: 7/1/08 at 5:14pm

Thanks a lot for your help everybody, I'm going to see a doctor in a couple of days and I'm going to see what he says!

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 7/28/08 at 1:19am

Updated On: 1/22/09 at 01:19 AM