[treehugger]

My sleeping patterns SUCK lately. I fall right asleep but I wake up an hour later and don't go back to sleep till about an hour or two before the alarm has to go off. I have crazy thoughts in my head too...mainly work and money related. A sample of last night....

"so i gotta call forma tomorrow and find out what kind of door handle that freezer is supposed to have...or is it a bad switch...geez we just got that $90.00 assessment for condo repairs and the financial statement says they're 12000 in the hole..what am i going to do on thursday at work when s-and-s is gone..geesh i hope i didn't overextend myself on this place..gotta refill my medicine in the morning...i hope the problem with that freezer IS the handle..gotta get the minus 20 one back to the lady, i've had it for a month and nothing's going right...I am SO MAD about our new bathroom at work because the women have no access to first aid supplies!!! I wonder what'd happen if they took all the first aid supplies away from the men...it wouldn't fly i bet...i hope i get through to forma in the morning and the guy doesn't treat me like an idiot..

Lather, rinse, repeat. I just can't turn off the thoughts that keep me awake. I think it's related to switching to refrigeration work..it's much more stressful. And I sort of feel discriminated against at our shop. Ugh.

[erinjane]

Man, my sleep patterns in the last three years have not been as great as they were in high school, but since June when my grandma got sick, i've been perpetually tired and having so much trouble sleeping. I used to be the heaviest sleeper, I was constantly sleeping through my alarm in high school, but now anything wakes me up.

I just switched doctors and I love my new one. I've only had a intro meeting with her, but I see her again on Monday and she wants to talk about my sleep/stress/depression issues. I know that my sleep problems are linked to stress, but man, i'm so tired of being tired. Blech.

[raisingirl]

No sleep 'til Brooklyn!

(Just bumping this up... move along, nothing to see here...)

[midgemcgrath]

ugh. i went to bed to early cause i was really tired, and now it's late and i'm still s.o.l. geez. you'd think if it was too early i'd just fall asleep in a while, not hours and hours later!

[midgemcgrath]

periander--that sucks, it sounds like you're delving into actual anxiety about falling asleep, and that is definately not going to help you get any shut eye! have you tried therapy or even any self help books on techniques to battle this?

aquagirl- wow, is this a thinking pattern at all when you're awake too, or only when you're trying to get to sleep? i would seriously look into some counselling if i found myself consistently having these thoughts, that's definately not healthy!

hope you all got some good snoozes!

[periander]

Hi Aquagirl
That's exactly what happens to me when I turn out the lights. I can not stop my brain. Its like the silence and lack of visual stimulation allow my brain to go over EVERYTHING that I didn't think about during the day.
My stress tends to be more work or sickness related though I have been down the obsessed with death path before.
Why can my brain mot just switch off like everyone else. I am so jealous of people who are all like "oh I am asleep within 5mins of shutting my eyes" grrrr.

[aquagirl2]

I started a new teaching job this year which requires me to get up about 5:45, and also have a half hour commute, which I haven't ever had before. I have always fallen asleep in cars, but I started to have real problems because I could not get to sleep at night, even when I was super tired, and then 3 or 4 days a week I fall asleep driving home in the afternoon. Like, careen off the road asleep. I have gotten off at the wrong exit, and driven up a one way street the wrong way--a street right next to my house that I go on all the time!

I have been on Ambien for a while now and last week I did a full-on sleep study where they hook you up to all the wires. I don't think they found anything interesting so I spent $750 (that's WITH insurance) to figure out that gee, I'm just not getting enough sleep. It sucks. I don't want to take Ambien every night. But when I try to go to sleep without it, I lie in bed thinking:

DEATH DEATH DEATH MY MOM DYING MY HUSBAND GETTING TERMINAL DISEASES MY CATS DEAD MY FAMILY DEAD WHAT ABOUT WHEN I DIE I'M SCARED DEATH DEATH DEATH CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT THE SERIES FINALE OF SIX FEET UNDER. WHAT ABOUT WHEN I HAVE BABIES. HORRID DISEASES INJURIES DEATH DEATH DEATH.

I cannot stop barrages of horrible, negative thoughts. Does anyone else do this??? It's like the dark of the night brings them on. When I take Ambien, it's such a blissful, easy slip into the void.

It has gotten so common that unfortunately even if I was thinking about something else, I am now reminded that that is my problem when I try to go to sleep like: <i>wait, why can't I usually go to sleep? I feel fine! Oh, right. DEATH DEATH DEATH.....</i>

Anyway...just thought I would share my experiences...

What the f??? Why can't I put that in italics for the life of me??????? (Probably not enough sleep)