Anyone here ever suffer from insomnia?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

I mean the real thing. Not trouble getting to sleep, but not sleeping for days in a row.

I've had stress out the kazoo lately in my life, and as a result I can't sleep. I've slept about 9 hours in two weeks. It's insane. I might fade out for a bit here and there, but no real rest. It's driving me crazy.

I try to lay down and just end up flipping and flopping. Then I settle for staring into the darkness and thinking.

I went to the doctor, he prescribed Ambien. They don't touch it. Tonight I thought I would take two, not a good idea. I was kind of bitchy, still no sleep. (Apologies to anyone I might have offended) I finally broke open a bottle of merlot a while ago, now I think (hope) I might be able to sleep.

What the heck do you do when you you just cannot sleep?

I guess I'm off to try and get some sleep. Wish me luck!

[Nite Owl]

1. Sweet dreams

I'm not an insomniac just can't adjust to the going to bed at earlier than 3-4 am.

[RadicalMom]

10. I've always been a night person, but..

once I got to sleep it was very deep and at least 8 hours at one stretch. Now I have many many nights where I wake up constantly, BUT I've been really helped by two natural products. One is melatonin, though it didn't work for me by itself. I take it in combination with a product called Deep Sleep, which I get at the local health food store, and they have it at Whole Foods, too.

[WCGreen]

2. I'm up everynight....

I sleep maybe two hours at a crack, twice a day if that...

I am always tired, but can bever sleep long enough to get refreshed....

[Sannum]

3. I haven't slept well since 2000.

Honestly, I don't think there is anything left for me to try. It just gets worse and worse. I have no idea how I function anymore.

[Wapsie B]

4. Exercise helps me.

But I do it in the morning and not at night. Milk and carbohydrates like bagels or waffles help too. I've also seen relaxation therapy work wonders for patients, but many aren't receptive to that kind of treatment.

[RevCheesehead]

5. Room-temperature or warm milk..

The cold temp "wakes me up"

Sometimes a couple of Tylenol do it for me...
and then there's tonight, almost 2a.m., and I'm HERE.

Good luck!

[Maple]

6. All my life

Read in bed. It will help disconnect your mind from your own life, and get you involved in something else.

When the words blur, put down the book and roll over. Try to keep your mind on the story though, not on your own situation.

Remember that there is another day tomorrow, and you'll handle any problems then, but right now there is nothing you can do anyway, so you might as well sleep.

If your mind is still active, focus on relaxing your toes, one by one, then your arch, then your ankle, then your calf...do this for each leg, and work your way up slowly, relaxing each muscle.

See how far you get before you drift off.

[shraby]

8. I used to get super hard crossword

puzzles and worked them in bed. After I dropped the book twice, I'd turn out the light and could go to sleep.

[the Princess]

7. I'm part Vampire I think

I'm up all night and sleep during the day. It's the way my body wants to work I cannot sleep at night. When I am exhausted and need to sleep - I eat carbs. Like toast or cereal. It knocks me right out.

I had insomnia for a while - I thought I was gonna go insane. I was put on Anti-depressants and they helped a ton.

[BamaGirl]

9. I do.

Severity comes and goes. It's been pretty bad since the election. Exercise usually helps (not this round), and I have a prescription, but I hate to take it. I've always had sleep problems so I guess I'm used to it. Sometimes a boring book and a hot bath help. Good luck!

[murielm99]

11. I have periods of that, sometimes.

I have cycles when I sleep for about two hours in thirty-six.

It drives me insane for a short time. Then I start to accept that that is the way I am, and I begin sleeping again.

I convince myself that I am not going to MISS anything while I sleep. I relax, and sleep returns.

It is hit or miss, though. I am insomniac every month or so.

I like the night. And the Internet does not help. It is always open for business.

A warm bath and a glass of wine helps me. But an accepting state of mind helps more.

[DS1]

12. I had issues in the late nineties

tonight's just my fault, shame about my finals tomorrow :crazy:

[ghostsofgiants]

13. I have, it's brutal.

This past summer I had a few bad bouts of it.

I used valerian root. Worked nicely.

[ellie]

14. Yes

In fact, I am up now and have been up all night. I have to work in less than three hours. I go through periods where I can't sleep for a week or so, then go back to normal. It used to drive me crazy, but now I just go with it. I let myself drag around when I can't sleep; I gave up coffee and all caffeine because I thought it was the reason, but it wasn't. I never did go back to drinking coffee.

[RagingInMiami]

15. I have insomia too

Sometimes it seems that no matter how tired I am, once I lay my head down on the pillow, my mind starts spinning, keeping me awake.
But lately I've been taking melatonin, an over-the-counter sleep aid.

Have you ever tried it? It works better than other OTC sleep aids.

[pnutchuck]

16. One more reason to advocate the legalization of medical marijuana.

I had insomnia for nearly 6 months, sleeping only 2 or 3 hours per week. It got so bad I broke out in shingles, at only 26 yrs old, because my body was so stressed. I was a health nut, excercised every morning, ate healthy, took vitamins, but my stress from work was relentless on my brain. I hadn't smoked weed since college, but a lawyer friend, and avid smoker, recommended it to help me sleep. And what do you know? Knocked me right out! I didn't start smoking, nor do I smoke now, but all I needed one was that one or two great nights of uninterrupted sleep to get me back on schedule.

However, if that is completely out of the question, the suggestion below for relaxation therepy works pretty good. I like the book idea but I'm the type of person that gets so involved with my books that I rarely can fall asleep and end up reading the whole thing if it takes all night. Also, the light is said to inhibit your natural release of melatonin and putting yourself on a regular schedule requires the lights to go out about the same time every night.

Meditation or relaxation at the same time every night really can help, maybe not right away because the body isn't like McD's. It's hard at first to separate your mind from your stress so, I recommend getting an ambient music CD, something like Buddhist chants, or Celtic music. The CD should be soothing without many comprehendible words otherwise, your brain starts listening to the words instead of relaxing your body.

[RagingInMiami]

17. I sometimes go through phases where I smoke weed to sleep

The only problem is that I end up gaining weight because I can't control the munchies.

[pnutchuck]

18. Try hash if you can get it.

The chemicals that cause the munchies are not in hashish, just the THC that induces relaxation. I lived in Amsterdam for a while and got a great education on the different varients of THC. The government is already aware of them and have tailored marijuana to suit the disorder such as for HIV, cancer, and glaucoma. I don't smoke now because I don't have problems with sleep anymore and it's too expensive. I no longer work in the corporate world and no longer have the stress that used to cause my insomnia.