Dealing with Severe Insomnia

[sheath]

Thank you for the welcome... you're one heck of a strong, insightful, smart cookie!

Wow...*blushing*. Thanks.

Well, as you can see, it's two in the morning. But...aha! I took another nap this afternoon. And I had a grand night. I will be going to bed soon and I have no doubt I will sleep, because not only is my body tired, but my MIND is, too.



Thanks again, all of you, for all the help.

S.

 

[Owlz]

Howdy, all.

Several weeks ago, I did a search on sleep and insomnia, and I came up with many threads that had many suggestions. I tried virtually all of them, within reason, of course...

And my problem still persists.

Sleeping perhaps one hour, two hours at a time...six hours straight is my record in the last month, and that was only after two days of no sleep at all. When I do sleep, I sleep hard...but then I am up for hours on end.

I began keeping a sleep journal, which tells me that my average is three hours in a twenty-four hour period. I sleep better during the early evening hours (four, five PM) than I do at any other time. I sleep soundly, without nightmares, for the most part, though I have begun having those.

I'm doing all the things I should do...limiting caffeine intake, an occasional drink before bed, same bedtime every night, comforting routine, trying to de-stress...though THAT is not really possible. I'm under one hell of a lot of strain lately, both personally and professionally.

My doctor's suggestion was sleeping pills. He ruled out sleep apnea, because it isn't a matter of having difficulty sleeping...it is a problem with going to sleep, period. The sleeping pills didn't work, for one...and they made me feel really bad...groggy, dizzy and generally horrible.

I HAVE found things that work...I sleep much better when someone is sleeping beside me, and I sleep better when I have white noise, or when I'm listening to someone else breathe. Probably because it makes me feel so safe. Which might harken back to the intense stress thing.

Has anyone dealt with SEVERE insomnia? I don't mean just a few weeks of not being able to sleep. I mean, chronic insomnia, as my doctor termed it. What did you do? How did you cope? This is getting absolutely ridiculous.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

S.

Hi, sheath. I, too, have trouble sleeping. One of my docs prescribed Seroquel, and it works for me. Technically, it's a med used for schizophrenics (no, I'm not.), but it's also used to help people sleep. Ask your doc about a low-dose prescription at first.

 

[sheath]

Re: Re: Dealing with Severe Insomnia

Hi, sheath. I, too, have trouble sleeping. One of my docs prescribed Seroquel, and it works for me. Technically, it's a med used for schizophrenics (no, I'm not.), but it's also used to help people sleep. Ask your doc about a low-dose prescription at first.

Good to see you again, my friend.

Thanks for the suggestion. The insomnia is much better now, but you never know...things like that can come and go without rhyme or reason. I'll keep your suggestion in mind if it ever comes to that again.

S.

 

[Owlz]

Re: Re: Re: Dealing with Severe Insomnia

Good to see you again, my friend.

Thanks for the suggestion. The insomnia is much better now, but you never know...things like that can come and go without rhyme or reason. I'll keep your suggestion in mind if it ever comes to that again.

S.

Good to see you again, too, sheath, my friend...and glad your insomnia situation has improved.

 

[P. B. Walker]

I have incredibly bad sleeping problems. I basically have severe difficulty getting to sleep, sometimes even when I'm tired. I've had 2 sleep studies done and both ruled out the common sleeping problems like sleep apnea. In fact, when I actuallly do get to sleep, I sleep very well, actually a tad heavy. I'm very hard to wake up. And I can sleep for 12 to 14 hours sometimes.

I've basically tried everything I can think of and other people have suggested to help me get to sleep. Some work for a few days and then I fall right back into the same rhythm.

The main problem with this is that I live my life on an altered schedule from everyone else on the planet. I falled to sleep between 4 and 6am and wake around noon or 2 pm. Sometimes I don't roll into work until 3 or 4pm. Yes our workdays begin at 8AM. So you can imagine that my work is not very happy with me, but they do realize it's a problem and that I'm not just doing it on purpose.

I believe I have what is called DSPS (Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome). Here's a good site that talks about it, but you can also google it and find more sites about it: http://www.sleepdisorderchannel.net/dsps/

Unfortunately, there's no magical cure for this problem. It's basically controlled by keeping a very strict sleep regimen, which is very difficult for me since I have so much trouble waking up at a regular time. And everyday that I sleep past a certain time just throws off my ability to get to sleep the next night at a decent time. I do use a drug prescription from time to time that I got from my doctor. It's supposed to knock you out quick but not stay in your system. This way I don't wake up like I have a hang over in the morning, which is what most sleeping pills do. I did try ambien, but it requires that you have a 8 hour sleep period. And I've found if you wake up before that, you feel like you are drugged out. This new pill I'm trying is called Sonata. It's been working pretty good. But I don't like to use it much because I think my body gets used to it after 2 or 3 days and I basically don't fall to sleep with it anymore. So I save it for emergencies.. (like having to get to sleep the night before an important meeting or appointment, or if I have a early flight in the morning).

I really wish I could somehow fix this, but for now I'm just living with it and I tend to go in cycles. For a month I'll do pretty good and make it to work before noon... and then I'll go into a bad cycle and get to work after 3pm for about 2 weeks until i get sick of it and do something drastic, like using the chrono treatment they describe on that website. Or I'll start using the sonata again.

 

[sheath]

Wow...what a way to live, P.B. It must be so frustrating...

I found that occasionally I did the same thing...not being able to fall asleep until four or so in the morning and then sleeping very hard for a few hours. But I never slept THAT hard, hard enough to sail through until noon. I wish I had, actually.

If my insomnia hits again (and I'm hoping it doesn't, I'm hoping this good streak I'm on is not just a fluke in my sleep cycle), your post will be one of the first ones I read over again.

Thanks, P.B.

S.

 

[Owlz]

I have incredibly bad sleeping problems. I basically have severe difficulty getting to sleep, sometimes even when I'm tired. I've had 2 sleep studies done and both ruled out the common sleeping problems like sleep apnea. In fact, when I actuallly do get to sleep, I sleep very well, actually a tad heavy. I'm very hard to wake up. And I can sleep for 12 to 14 hours sometimes.

I've basically tried everything I can think of and other people have suggested to help me get to sleep. Some work for a few days and then I fall right back into the same rhythm.

The main problem with this is that I live my life on an altered schedule from everyone else on the planet. I falled to sleep between 4 and 6am and wake around noon or 2 pm. Sometimes I don't roll into work until 3 or 4pm. Yes our workdays begin at 8AM. So you can imagine that my work is not very happy with me, but they do realize it's a problem and that I'm not just doing it on purpose.

I believe I have what is called DSPS (Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome). Here's a good site that talks about it, but you can also google it and find more sites about it: http://www.sleepdisorderchannel.net/dsps/

Unfortunately, there's no magical cure for this problem. It's basically controlled by keeping a very strict sleep regimen, which is very difficult for me since I have so much trouble waking up at a regular time. And everyday that I sleep past a certain time just throws off my ability to get to sleep the next night at a decent time. I do use a drug prescription from time to time that I got from my doctor. It's supposed to knock you out quick but not stay in your system. This way I don't wake up like I have a hang over in the morning, which is what most sleeping pills do. I did try ambien, but it requires that you have a 8 hour sleep period. And I've found if you wake up before that, you feel like you are drugged out. This new pill I'm trying is called Sonata. It's been working pretty good. But I don't like to use it much because I think my body gets used to it after 2 or 3 days and I basically don't fall to sleep with it anymore. So I save it for emergencies.. (like having to get to sleep the night before an important meeting or appointment, or if I have a early flight in the morning).

I really wish I could somehow fix this, but for now I'm just living with it and I tend to go in cycles. For a month I'll do pretty good and make it to work before noon... and then I'll go into a bad cycle and get to work after 3pm for about 2 weeks until i get sick of it and do something drastic, like using the chrono treatment they describe on that website. Or I'll start using the sonata again.

12 to 14 hours??? Color me jealous. However, I sympathize with your difficulty getting to sleep. Been there, done that...and it sucks.

My neurologist said I have something called Periodic Limb Movement Disorder, also described on that website. (Thanks for the link.)

 

[JoseIsWild]

I have a prescription for Ambien. It works very well. I am out within an hour (2 at the max). Also, an OTC solution I use is to take 2 Benadryls.

 

[ecstacey]

Looks around the room.....OK who the hell gave me Sheath's insomnia??

Actually..first time I have actually cracked a smile today was the suggestion of masturbating. *snicker*

HAY, WHATS WRONG WITH MY IDEA!?!

 

[done_got_old]

Howdy, all.

Several weeks ago, I did a search on sleep and insomnia, and I came up with many threads that had many suggestions. I tried virtually all of them, within reason, of course...

And my problem still persists.

Sleeping perhaps one hour, two hours at a time...six hours straight is my record in the last month, and that was only after two days of no sleep at all. When I do sleep, I sleep hard...but then I am up for hours on end.

I began keeping a sleep journal, which tells me that my average is three hours in a twenty-four hour period. I sleep better during the early evening hours (four, five PM) than I do at any other time. I sleep soundly, without nightmares, for the most part, though I have begun having those.

I'm doing all the things I should do...limiting caffeine intake, an occasional drink before bed, same bedtime every night, comforting routine, trying to de-stress...though THAT is not really possible. I'm under one hell of a lot of strain lately, both personally and professionally.

My doctor's suggestion was sleeping pills. He ruled out sleep apnea, because it isn't a matter of having difficulty sleeping...it is a problem with going to sleep, period. The sleeping pills didn't work, for one...and they made me feel really bad...groggy, dizzy and generally horrible.

I HAVE found things that work...I sleep much better when someone is sleeping beside me, and I sleep better when I have white noise, or when I'm listening to someone else breathe. Probably because it makes me feel so safe. Which might harken back to the intense stress thing.

Has anyone dealt with SEVERE insomnia? I don't mean just a few weeks of not being able to sleep. I mean, chronic insomnia, as my doctor termed it. What did you do? How did you cope? This is getting absolutely ridiculous.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

S.

I've suffered with insomnia off and on for 30 years. I've tried meds, drinking and sex.........still couldn't sleep. Here are some things that worked for me.

A friend who's a clinical psychologist told me to set my alarm clock to the desired time (I never used one before) and not get up until it went off. Within 2 weeks I was sleeping.

Changing the sheets on my bed and showering before going to bed also helps.

You should do only two things in the bedroom.....sleep and sex. That's to train your mind that when you go into the bedroom, you're going to sleep.

Going to bed and getting up at the same time every day works for me.

I read last year that exercising in the morning will help you sleep. I tried that. I got up 45 minutes earlier to exercise. By the time I got home from work I was so tired, that I was sleep at 6.

I also sleep better in hotels, whether I'm alone or not.

Hope this helps.
YAWN

 

[P. B. Walker]

I have a prescription for Ambien. It works very well. I am out within an hour (2 at the max). Also, an OTC solution I use is to take 2 Benadryls.

I've tried that. It didn't really knock me out quick and the downside was that you definitely needed 8 hours of sleep otherwise you'd wake up feeling very hung over. It's a good product if you definitely have that amount of time to sleep. But I rarely did. That's why I switched to Sonata which is supposed to knock you out quick and wear off fast so that you aren't hung over in the morning.