[pepper]

i have really low iron, not anemic but close. it's chronic, i supplement all the time. three months on, three months off (or until i start to feel depleted, believe me i can tell when i am). it's in an ok range, i just got tested, still lowish but acceptable. i take a desicated liver supplement with vit c, manganese, folic acid and b12 added. it's good, i feel it working. i read to take it with dinner, is there a better time than that?

what about 5htp? i considered it when i was feeling so low but the st john's wort worked really well for me. does it help with sleep as well? can i take it during pregnancy or should i just stick with the melatonin? and can i take one when i wake in the night or will that not be as effective as taking it at bed time? i never know when i'm going to be restless until i am.

[chachaheels]

Pepper, a little bit of melatonin is better than taking valerian (just cause so many of the "kalmerite" or "nervine" herbs end up being used for pregnancy and childbirth, so you should avoid them at this stage). Trying a small dose in order to avoid a routine use might help.

I think that lots of women experience surges of sleeplessness--like having "too much" energy--during pregnancy. Also the 4 am waking time might indicate a need for more iron in the diet. Were you prone to the anemia that a lot of women have when pregnant?

Erinjane, I think the journalling idea is a good one, just to give yourself a bit of a mental break from carrying all this stuff around with you so much. Maddy asks some great questions--like what aren't you thinking about?--that could really help calm down some of the anxiety. I get the sense from your writings here that all of this mental activity is a result of a lot of difficulty and trauma in your life, so it does have to at least be acknowledged. But I also think the melatonin might be able to just give you a bit of rest (those exhaustion dreams are actually mirroring what's happening on the physical level--no sleep=no physical power). If you do decide to give it a shot, I really hope it works.

[maddy29]

uuuuh, i HATE those dreams! so upsetting, and they always leave me emotionally wrung out and weak feeling, yuck.

try the journaling thing-my mom had major anxiety that was keeping her up and she was just not getting any good sleep, so she started writing about her fears, and found it helpful.

especially with the "stuff i have to do"-you can just write it down, thenyou don't have to worry about remembering it in the morning, etc. i'm an avid listmaker, myself. it's something i do when i'm anxious, just start making lists. it weirdly helps me, cause otherwise it feels like my brain will just explode.

the other thing i've found is, when i'm thinking about tons of stuff, what is teh ONE thing i'm NOT thinking about? that is-does your incessant thinking actually protect you from thinking about something else? or keep you from feeling something?

hm, not sure that made sense. but dang, i love sleeping and my heart goes out to y'all who can't sleep that just totally sucks. if you aren't getting rest, how can you do anything else?!

[erinjane]

erin- one great thing to do when you are awake because you are thinking about things-get up and write it all down, or type it all out. that way it's out of your head, and on paper. sounds dumb, but it's really worked for me.

what things are you thinking about at night? what are your weird dreams about?

That's an idea. I might try that next time it happens, probably tonight. I think about things that upset me, like a fight i had, or all the stuff i have to do, or just feel sorry for myself and when I try to steer my mind somewhere else I always come back to it and end up crying.

I get these dreams from time to time but they've been happening more lately where I'm either trying to scream, but can't, trying to run but it's really hard, or fighting with someone but my punches have no power behind them, like I feel weak, and often I"ll wake up right after i have a dream like that. Weird.

[pepper]

what is with me? i keep Waking Up In The Middle Of The Night.
sometimes it's because i really have to pee (thank you pregnancy) but other times it's just for no reason what-so-ever. i woke up at 4:20 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep forever and now i'm dragging my sleep deprived ass around the house like a zombie. ugh. why can't i just relax? can i take anything, valerian, melatonin, anything? i spritz my linens with lavendar water, i sleep in a dark quiet room that i ONLY sleep in, there are no work related things in there, my room is the right temperature, i can't see the clock from the bed unless i sit up a bit, grr! i'm doing it all right, Why Can't I Sleep.

i'm going to throw out the tv and not even watch an hour of it at night and see if that works. maybe those stupid shows are messing with my unconcious mind or something.

[maddy29]

erin- one great thing to do when you are awake because you are thinking about things-get up and write it all down, or type it all out. that way it's out of your head, and on paper. sounds dumb, but it's really worked for me.

what things are you thinking about at night? what are your weird dreams about?

[erinjane]

I might give it a try. I want to talk to my doctor first though. My main problem is that I just can't stop thinking about things that make me anxious and then I wake up repeatedly over night after having weird dreams. I've also started waking up earlier and earlier.

[chachaheels]

Maybe you could try the melatonin, Erinjane? It might be helpful, it isn't expensive, and it isn't harmful to you.

[erinjane]

Yesterday my doctor prescribed trazodone for my mom and me as a sleeping pill. We each took one last night and it didn't help with sleep at all. I got so frusturated I was crying and was having horrible anxiety. My doctor wants to try and get my sleeping under control and see if that relieves my anxiety and stress. Ugh, i'm falling asleep at work here. So tired.

[chachaheels]

Blakcherry, I'm so glad you found the melatonin useful especially since the prescribed drugs didn't work. Sometimes it really is because we're not making enough melatonin that we don't sleep easily.

I found a melatonin that comes in 3mg pills that you take sublingually--they dissolve right away, and they work in less than 10 minutes (for me, and that's after spending the evening drinking coffee).
I can usually get a bottle of those for about $6 at the health food store.

[rocketslide]

Oh god, I wanna poke holes in my brain sometimes. I'll wait up, and out of nowhere I'm picking a fight with someone in my head. I'm creating drama about nothing & worrying about stuff that hasn't even happened. The only thing that seems to improve my sleep patterns in exercise. I make a point of wearing myself out a few times a week, and then I"m able to sleep almost through the night. Having 2 cats doesn't seem to help the situation.

[erinjane]

treehugger, i'm the same way with my thoughts just not turning off. Christ, it's unbearable sometimes.

[blakcherry]

Im sure my post is COMPLETELY unrelated,but as soon as I scrolled down and saw "insomnia" I instantly empathized. I've had difficulty sleeping for as long as I could remember. I've even taken some prescription meds (they were either too strong or not strong enough). I'm currently using melatonin and it-is-AMAZING! Sorry, I don't mean to invalidate anything that anyone has been saying. I just feel like I found a miracle cure for me and want to shout it from the rooftops.

[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)