[starship]

gah lately ive been struggling to actually go to bed/sleep before 4am. quite often not sleeping til 5. which would probably all be dandy if i didnt have early classes to go to each morning and a heap of work waiting when i get home

i blame depression but becoming increasingly worried i have some kind of sleep phobia. is that even possible:/

useless post also

gonna read through all your old posts for advice on how to do the whole sleeping thing

[crazyoldcatlady]

so it's not exactly 3 am, but i would like to go to bed. i've been ohsotired. and now, thankyou 8pm ginormous diet coke, i can't. i just keep ruminating on things and my brain won't shut up but i'm restless but paradoxically tired...

i thought i'd come in here to try and vent and see what's keeping me up, other than aforementioned caffeine OD, but i'm just sort of blocked.

/completely useless post

[Lily_Anne]

I try not to be on the computer after a certain time at night. It helps.
I also like the smell of lavendar. It's very calming.

[konphusion26]

Well I don't know if its this election anticipation, job hunt stress, or my growling tummy that has me wide awake. Just saw the hubby off to work. I'm so anxious to find out what's going to happen today. I can barely stand the wait. LOL Hope all you busties are getting some rest these days.

Smoochez!

[persimmon_grrrl]

i am finally going to sleep. it's 4:17 a.m.

[konphusion26]

Just spent the last few hours chatting it up with an old friend because I simply cannot go to sleep. I am wide awake as we speak. This is pathetic. the last two days have been rough. My husband will be up in 30 minutes and i'm still on the computer. When he went to bed I was on the computer. This cannot be good for my body at all. Crap!

[sassygrrl]

I'll try it. Been losing sleep a lot lately due to bad nightmares and new crying puppies...

[freckleface7]

chamomille is one of the active ingredients in it ap.
it's good stuff and no, has not ever given me weird dreams and I am one of those people w/ super sensative chemistry where I get the 1-1million people kind of side affects normally.

[auralpoison]

Calms forte, you say? I looked it up, it doesn't sound half bad. Does it give you the crazy dreams? A lot of the homeopathic stuff gives me crazy dreams. The melatonin, the valerian root.

When my mom was at her sickest & couldn't sleep, we did a lot of herbals teas to soothe her. The chamomille was particularly effective.

[freckleface7]

when I can't sleep (occassionally to often) I take 2 Calms Forte' tablets.
you can take more than that safely but 2 makes me pleasantly drowsy to drift off and for someone w/ an over-active mind, it's great.
they are homeopathic (health food store) and are also used for anxiety.

have been meaning to post that for a long time but procrastinated.
hope it is not a repeat, if so- sorry!

[funk0039]

With the sleeping pills that make you conk out for too long, could you cut them in half? I've done that before and it seems to work, but it's messy, and doesn't taste all that wonderful for a few seconds. I just grab a big scissors and cup my hand around it.

I wish I could help, despite my recent encounter with you. I'm not the sort to hold a grudge. This is all I can think of.

[auralpoison]

Y'know, TNR, if you don't have a headache, the Tylenol isn't really needed. You do just as well with an OTC bottle of it's active sleep ingredient, diphenhydramine AKA plain old Benadryl. Most OTC sleep aides are pretty much just Benadryl.

I myself have a chronic neuroimmune disease (EG; Lyme's, rheumatoid arthritis, FM, Lupus, etc.) & suffer from a sleep anomaly. I don't sleep much at all. It's embarrassing. I went on a six day long trip with a friend & didn't sleep for five whole days! By the end of night five, I was exhausted & just kinda collapsed.

I've done several sleep studies to no avail. I do NOT have apnea or anything like that! They think I have an alpha delta sleep anomaly, which basically means weird pain & that I never get a really deep sleep. I've followed regimen after regimen. Set sleep/wake time, no alcohol/food/caffeine/etc, cut out distractions, only use the bed for sleep/sex, blahblahblahblah. None of it fucking works. I follow all their directions to a T & I'm still not sleeping!

I know that in our culture it's not considered medically wise to put a person on longterm sleep meds, but often that's the only time I get an effective amount of sleep. I don't like the meds, though, because they make me sleep for crazy amounts (ramelteon or triazolam) or give me frightening dreams (zolpidem or eszopiclone) or just make me feel funky.

[thenewrussia]

I haven't been able to sleep for the past week. I think I got a total of 6 hrs. I do have alot going on in my life. I'm trying not to take an sleeping pills because I'm afraid I'll be addicted to them like my cousin was. Anyway...I'll try to get some sleep tonight. Maybe I can take two PM's to help me sleep.

[funk0039]

I realize this is a probably dumb thing to ask, but do you know anything about sleep hygiene? I could give you some tips if you want. I have a lot of problems with insomnia due to stress myself.

[oceangirl]

megnog,

finally another person in the insomnia forum with lyme disease too. i'm sorry you have lyme disease too. do you think your lyme is contributing to your insomnia?

i was diagnosed with lyme in november 2006. i've been symptomatic since 1994 (age 14) and my longest lasting symptom is insomnia. i've had it ever since 1994.

i would definitely like to discuss the lyme + insomnia thing more. are you still on treatment? have you found anything helpful?

i'm on IV antibiotic treatment. my symptoms aren't classic lyme (primarily neurological and neuropsych). misdiagnosed with depression, anxiety and later bipolar disorder. i started getting bladder irritation in 2004 and it took me 2 years to get a lyme diagnosis. i'm in canada where "we don't have lyme" (so the doctors love to constantly tell us -- yeah right we totally DO have lyme ugh stupid doctors). anyway please share more info about your lyme experience and insomnia when you get a chance.

i can't link my insomnia to any particular phobia. i am guessing it is from the lyme disease and i worry it won't go away (so maybe that is a phobia? i dunno). or maybe it is caused by some co-infection.

-oceangirl

I went to the doctor today and I have some interesting news I thought I would share with you all, it might help you. In September of 2006 I was diagnosed with lyme disease, which I have since linked to my insomnia(it causes fears, body aches, joint problems, problems getting comfortable). The doctor I speak of is my lyme specialist, but she's extremely knowledgable in all areas. (I got lyme when I was a baby, fyi), I have always been really afraid to fall asleep, still am. Night time rolls around and I DREAD it, so I stay up as long as I can. I'm strait up afraid to fall asleep. She's been testing me on a lot of different sleeping remedies, and today I finally fessed up to my BIG FEARS...root problem of why I can't sleep. I don't like talking about it because its embarrassing. She told me that I sounds like I have a form of post tramatic stress disorder....nothing terrible ever happened to me, but I had terrible things happen in my imagination when I was younger. This has been happening for so long now that I have linked falling alseep with being afraid and feeling vulnerable. She said that I can reverse this with sleep therapy...its a link in the brain. I'm so happy, I thought I was crazy for being so afraid....every night I think robbers are going to break into my house and murder my entire family. Anyways, theres hope I feel like. I thought maybe some of you have the same problem? Linking something to sleep....hence not being able to sleep. And if you have any questions about lyme feel free to ask.

ps: coela, what's zolpidem?

Also..my doctor gave me a handful of lunesta samples....so I can sleep, for now.

[sassygrrl]

I'm up writing. I know it's only 1, but I woke up at 7 this morning. I think it'[s due to depression and aniety due to this foot injury. Ugh...

I'm worried about moving in with Mcgeek ande my money situation. I lost my job due to this foot thing...

[dolor]

My pattern:

Almost always easy for me to fall asleep... but I wake up too soon. Esp. with depression. Waking up super early (3AM) tells me that I'm blue about something... even if I don't realize it

... very hard for me now to sleep for more that 5 hrs at a stretch, and often sometimes much less. This deficit leaves me seriously exhausted around 8-9 PM. (Which degrades my social life & my sex life.) But if I go to bed then... I wake up around 2PM. The worst! So sometime I have a heavy nap for an hour, between 8-10PM. Either I sleep with the light and the radio on (which awakens me in about an hour) or I have someone get me up. This can be very difficult, getting up then. I then stay up until 11-12 PM. Sometimes I then get into a "second wind" which then makes it hard to fall back asleep. I that case, I take melatonin, which I've just come upon in the past year. Much appreciated! It usually works.

When I wake up too early, I listen to the radio which I keep by my bed. News or music. This keeps my mind passive, my anxiety wheels from spinning. An essential aid, for me. I keep it on a timer, so that it turns off, in case I go back to sleep.

I'm now worried that this evening exhaustion is going to get me killed, when I sail off the road or into incoming traffic, asleep. I've fallen asleep once while driving, but fortunately was woken by the rumble strips. Thankfully!

I feel that if I had regular exercise, that this would help with insomnia-- not to mention depression, weight, blood pressure, etc etc.
I enjoy riding my bike... but don't do this enough.

[persimmon_grrrl]

ah la la...
i am awake still, my heart palpitating from dark chocolate, and i can't sleep. it's almost four in the morning.
oh my. it's hard to force myself to sleep. i stay up writing and obsessing and writing more.

[je.ne.sais.pas]

temazepam and triazolam were the only things that worked for me. These are both sedatives and are lovely. Unfortunately, these babies come at a price which i can no longer keep up with boo

[p_176]

i love simply sleep also. but i feel bad - last night 'simply sleep' and i had a hot date, which i broke :-(
so now i'm still tired! :-P