Anybody else have insomnia?

[Tinaj]

I don't have insomnia constantly, but do have sleepless nights occassionally. Try acupuncture. The night after a treatment I sleep so soundly and so deeply it is amazing. It also seems to just make me feel better all over. I think it is time for another treatment

 

[arabianequine]

At my house my son and dh and me all stay up really late but still sleep 8-10 hours nightly. It is hard for me and my son to fall asleep to begin with or take naps. Dh passed out anytime of the day in a matter of seconds. My mom takes atavain/lorazapam nightly to help her sleep and ambein. Do not take 2 of the ambein makes you black out and you won't know what happened till you wake up or if you do....it is a very dangerous medication.

 

[Whitewater]

I have what most people *think* is insomnia, it's not. I have Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder, basically, a circadian rythym issue. Most of the time I don't think it's a problem -- my life is such that I don't have to wake up to go to work, I can schedule my own hours etc and therefore can accommodate the non-typical sleep pattern that I have. (Except right now, my MIL wants us for lunch tomorrow, actually, technically, later today, and that means that I'm going to be very short on sleep, 'cause I'm supposed to get up in 7 hours when my body needs 9 . . . oh well. I can always have a nap!)

I haven't been formally diagnosed yet because of various issues surrounding doing a sleep study, but I hit every diagnostic criteria, and have for most of my life.

Wiki has a decent article about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_sleep_phase_syndrome

The ONLY things I've found that force me to sleep earlier (like, when I have to get up early the next day for something) is a combination of drugs and meditation when lying in bed. If I can relax my muscles enough (I learned a whole body technique from a director I worked with) *while* the meds take hold, I can usually fall asleep if necessary. But that's at least 25-50mcg of Benadryl PLUS 1000mg of Tylenol (Rapid Release) AND about 1000mg of Valerian. All at once.

In fact. . .since I have to get up before noon tomorrow and it's already 4am, I should go take my sleep-inducing cocktail and get into bed.

HTH,



Whitewater

 

[watersoflethe]

Quote:
i think i remember learning about this disorder sometime during my college career (i have a b.s in clinical psychology). i dont know why i have never thought about it... but i also have diagonsed insomnia that my doctor gives me trazodone for. but doesn't really work that well. now that you mention it i'm thinking that rather than insomnia i might have DSPS....
i think i need to discuss this with my doctor.
thanks for mentioning this. it felt like you lit up a light bulb in my head.

 

[theoldchick]

I haven't slept more that 4-5 hours a night in over 30 years. I'm an early riser-3 am and go like the dickens until 1:30. Then I take a 15 minute meditation with my lunch hour and wind down for the rest of the afternoon. I'm in bed by nine except during the summer. I've always been like this since a kid. I was the one up at dawn and doing chores before anyone else.

I spent a few years thinking I needed 8 hours sleep but I had a doctor say I was fine, and since I'm not falling asleep during the day, I should not worry. Since I'm getting good REM sleep I function well during the day. I learned not to worry about my sleeping habits. People are different. Some are morning folks. Some are night owls. Ain't nuthin' wrong with us. Just the way we are.

 

[Beth G.]

Hey There, DO NOT Take Vicodin to go to sleep! It actally does different things to different ppl. I have a very bad genetic disorder that is fusing my spine. I often have sleeplessness do to pain. If I take a vic I am sure not to sleep it gets me wired! The ambien thing is great except I found you have to do it 3 days on 2 days off. The two days I am off I take an all natural supp to help me sleep. It's called Melatonin. It works great and helps you to go to sleep. I went to my Doctor when Ambien was not really working all the time and b/c she told me the 3 days on 2 days off, She told me to supp with the following: Melatonin 6mg/B6 20mg/calcium 126mg. It's not a guarentee since you have to be ready to go to bed within 10 mins after taking it. It is an all natural way of making your brain feel like it's time to lay down and relax. Most times it works but, a couple of times a month I am up all night and do not sleep. But, I figure it's all natural and worth a shot to anyone willing to try it. Good Luck and I wish you a good night sleep soon

 

[booker81]

I used to be an insomniac, but it was more due to a combo of bipolar disorder and pain problems (when you dislocate your shoulders and hips when you sleep, you tend not to sleep well!)

I go to a rheumatologist who is very interested in sleep patterns (and bloodwork, he loves blood tests). We did many, many different drugs and drug combinations before hitting my magic cocktail - 2 Ultram (pain killer), 2 Tramadol (muslce relaxer) and one Mirapex (Restless Leg Syndrome med) at night. In the morning I take 100mg of Zoloft (SSRI/antidepressant but good for helping pain management). I also take Prilosec in the morning due to GERD fun and a pretty dysfunctional valve to my stomach (aka if I cough, I throw up. Awesome).

The mix helps me sleep well and deeply for about 8 hours, and I wake up refreshed and ready to rock the day. I have minimal pain at night (even with dislocations), and tolerable pain levels during the day, which is mucho better than it was.

Since my surgery however, I'm all out of whack again. My nighttime mix was traded for a cocktail of morphine, dilaudid, toradol, and percocet, though I did get my Zoloft in the moring. I was on compazine for nausea. All this jacked me up, and though I'm weaned pretty much off everything (they sent me home with percocet), I'm still going to bed at 10 or 11pm and up at 2 or 3am. I just lay in bed and "daydream" or cuddle up to DH until it's a reasonable time to get up like 5:30am.

I can't wait til all the nasty is out of my system, and I can get back to my normal, healthy sleep pattern. I will probably be on my cocktail forever, but I'm ok with that, as I will always have the joint problems that cause the pain anyway.

 

[KimberlyJ]

I usually don't have problems sleeping, but on occasion I have a few nights in a row where I wake up and stay awake for a few hours and then can't really get back to sleep. So far this streak is four nights and counting--it started with a disagreement with my mother.... Last night I straightened my hair at 2AM (at least I looked good.) I've never tried medication except Advil, I tell myself it will help and sometimes that does it. If I don't get out of bed and try to lay there and breathe really deeply and count the breaths I can sometimes fall back asleep. But if I get outta bed I'm up for awhile. I just keep hoping that if my body needs the sleep it will eventially sleep. Since I usually play games while I'm awake, my DH referes to it as recess!

 

[JetBlack]

Quote:
I hear ya. On the 5 days thing... in college, during Hell Week, I stayed up for four days. I was hallucinating, by the end. Then I couldn't get to sleep. Too tired to sleep? WTH? When I finally fell asleep, I woke up 8 hours later and had the house to myself, for 10 hours. It was great.

 

[JetBlack]

Stupid insomnia.