Insomnia

[Clear.tranquil]

You've had it, so how did you get rid of it?

[Mittens]

Sleep on it.

[Jetsetlemming]

I didn't.

[Kannon]

Little red-and-blue Tuinal, lipstick-red Seconals.

[qwert]

See you're doctor.

[Swede]

Melatonin

[SlickWilly440]

How about staying awake the entire day, if you didn't get a good night sleep the night before, then go to sleep at your regular time (when you are all sleep from staying up all day).

[Clear.tranquil]

I tried that.
Last night I went to bed at 12 and fell asleep at 6, woke at 8.
I've tried staying awake now till night again, but like most other times, the cycle repeats.

Sleeping pills, teas, exercise, milk, whatever I have tried it.
Maybe I need a new mattress ><

[Jetsetlemming]

Try getting laid.

[haterllnation]

Take some sleeping pills and have a wank. Make a game out of it (as mentioned in "The 40 Year Old Virgin").

[Minibeefcake]

25mg benadryl

and make a sleeping schedule and stick to it religeously. If you pick 11PM to go to bed and waking at 7AM... do it everyday even on the weekends. Get your body bio clock in a rhythm and sleep should come easily at the same time every night.

If insomnia is occuring more than 1-2 days a week over several weeks, and nothing seems to work, perhaps you should go see a sleep doctor. There might be other health factors that's keeping you awake.

[Mittens]

Melatonin

This.
Find a drug that can up your dose of this.
If not, I'm sure there are lifestyle changes you can try to make that'd increase your melatonin levels.

[Swede]

This.
Find a drug that can up your dose of this.
If not, I'm sure there are lifestyle changes you can try to make that'd increase your melatonin levels.

They make just plain melatonin pills as a kind of dietary supplement or something that you can easily get at most stores that sell that type of thing. So long as you don't abuse it or get dependent on it, it works well methinks. Plus, as you kind of said, its something your body makes naturally anyway that's associated with your sleep cycle.

[qwert]

Melatonin is not effective (in my experience) although in large doses it does promote sleep for a few nights. I'm going to the doctor soon and going to ask about insomnia. It sucks to not be able to sleep. My current method to induce sleep isn't very healthy.

[Plekto]

Read. Few people can actually stay awake while reading a book for a hour or so.

Also, the most important thing is to get rid of stress. Eat more B vitamins or take a stress supplement, Also take a calcium supplement(coral calcium powder is better). This should get your body's PH more in balance. Also drink enough water. Also stop taking caffeine for a while - this messes up with your internal clock. Basically take vitamins, drink enough water, and no caffeine.

Exercise. If you actually exercise and work out for several hours a day, you generate loads of natural melatonin and your body usually doesn't have sleeping issues. But few people actually do hours of actual physical labor every day any more. I've been moving this last week and I'm dead tired as a result. And I still have another week to finish moving at the pace it's going.

[MNJetter]

^ Bull. Most people I know read for hours on end without falling asleep. Including myself. If I try reading before I go to bed, I end up staying up till like 2 in the morning because I can't put the book down.

I watch TV to get to sleep, but if I've got insomnia, I play music instead. The flickering lights keep me awake if I'm not in the right mood to stay asleep, but complete silence is even worse.

[Kannon]

complete silence is even worse.

THE worst. I have to have the TV on, or music, or even a freakin' fan will do. I usually go with TV, something that I've seen a million times (generally Friends reruns off the Xbox) with the sleep timer on.

[Dresh]

1. Look up people who may be speaking at a local community college or university.

2. Make sure a slideshow is involved in the presentation.

3. Attend.

[puzzo]

I sleep with no sound all the time O_o . I find sleeping with the window open on a very cold night helps alot, its less like you sleep and more like you hibernate though. Worst cases of insomnia for me I just sit there like a stubborn ass, and wait till I finally sleep, no matter how long it takes. If I absolutely need sleep for something in the morning, and have 8 or so hours to sleep, some xanax usually does the trick. Not that I would know :liar:

[MNJetter]

Speaking of insomnia, I was up till 5 this morning. ><

I tried everything. Watching TV, turning off the TV, turning on music, meditating, changing pillows. Sometimes you just can't win.

[Minibeefcake]

25mg Benadryl

totally serious on that one. It's over the counter, it's completely safe, and it is cheap. Not habit forming. Worst thing that can happen is you develop resistant to it and it stops making you sleepy.

Xanax isn't OTC in the US from what I understand. So you need a prescription from a doctor if you want to take those. And they could be habit forming.

[h2orowe]

Reading a book making you fall asleep doesn't work for me all the time. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. One time, I had to read the entire book of My Antonia for school in one day because I put it off as my Summer assignment. The problem is, I'm a slow reader. I always read with a distraction on or I'll get distracted by my thoughts if I don't have one on. (Really bad since I'm an English major.) Plus, I like to take time to analyze how the writer writes. I don't like reading it as a story, but more as an art depending on who wrote it.

It took me about 18 hours or so, with a 2 hour break, but I finished it at 5 AM the next morning.

[qwert]

Worst case of insomnia I have had was where I once was awake for three days (two nights). It's nuts because your body is physically exhausted, but your mind just won't stop thinking about things, which results in you feeling terrible.

As of now, my solution is 6-8 benadryl and 1-2 beers.

[Minibeefcake]

Yikes.

Orange, does your insomnia happen often? More than once a week? I would strongly suggest you see your doctor about it if it is that bad.

[Kannon]

I have that exact same problem, h2o. Actually I don't think I've ever realized it til I just read it, but yeah if I'm reading something with no background music, I get distracted by my own mind wandering. People will always tell me I would be more focused without the music playing, but it's the exact opposite.

[MNJetter]

Benadryl works well for me. It works a little too well. If I take one benadryl (I don't know how many mg that is), I'll be unable to wake myself for a good 10-12 hours. I took it at 2 in the morning once, and woke up at 1:30 the next afternoon, having slept straight through the whole time -- no bathroom trips, no dreams, no anything. And I would have just dropped back off and slept for hours more if I hadn't happened to look at my cell phone and see the time.

I'd cut the pill in half, but...well, that's hard to do with a liquid pill. :P

[Minibeefcake]

From what I see at the local pharmacies, all the tablets are 25mg each. So yeah 1 is usually enough.

I've probably not looked hard enough, I don't remember seeing liquid capsules:o :o

[MNJetter]

The liquid capsules are the dye-free kind. They're the only one my mom buys, and I'm not about to go get solid ones with my own money when she's got liquid ones here. A whole pill might knock me out, but it is very effective against allergens, which is the reason we keep it around in the first place.

[qwert]

Yikes.

Orange, does your insomnia happen often? More than once a week? I would strongly suggest you see your doctor about it if it is that bad.

I said in previous posts that I am going to see the doctor. I'm not doing the benadryl and alcohol thing tonight (I'm afraid it will some how negatively and irreversibly effect my brain) as I'm just going to drink lots of coffee in the morning to get through my lectures without missing anything. I usually fall asleep in the hours of the early morning and sleep for only a few hours before I wake up.

I have alprazolam, but it doesn't effect me like it did before and I'm afraid to become dependent on it so that is why I did the benadryl and alcohol thing, which is probably not good bc I'm also taking another medication that I shouldn't take alcohol with.

Hopefully I can get some kind of sleep prescription, more alprazolam that I take only when I need to (instead of every night), and just continue with the other prescription that I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

[Plekto]

I said in previous posts that I am going to see the doctor. I'm not doing the benadryl and alcohol thing tonight (I'm afraid it will some how negatively and irreversibly effect my brain)

Trust me. Your brain is in far greater peril hanging around here.



as I'm just going to drink lots of coffee in the morning to get through my lectures without missing anything. I usually fall asleep in the hours of the early morning and sleep for only a few hours before I wake up.


It sounds like your internal clock needs to be reset. This may require staying up a solid 30-40 hours, though.

[qwert]

Trust me. Your brain is in far greater peril hanging around here.




It sounds like your internal clock needs to be reset. This may require staying up a solid 30-40 hours, though.

I've tried the going to bed a few hours later every night until you reach your desired bed time a few times, but it doesn't seem to work. I've also done the stay up all night and the next day a few times as well, but that didn't work either.

[japanat]

I usually fall asleep in the hours of the early morning and sleep for only a few hours before I wake up.How tired do you feel in the morning? Is the lack of sleep affecting your ability to function, or just bothering you because you should be sleeping?

I had chronic insomnia as a kid, finally falling asleep at 3 and getting up at 5:30 to get ready for school. For a long time it really bothered me, because I thought that it was night-time, so I should have been sleeping. But I was never tired the next day. This went on from the time I was 9 until I was 13. So I started taking a flashlight to bed with me (my brothers slept in the same room).

The insomnia eventually went away, and it took me years to realize that it went away because my parents stopped fighting (they also stopped talking, but that was OK by me).

Just keep a bedside lamp handy, have a book for when you can't sleep, and try to figure out what stresses have caused this. And don't forget, many famous people, like Einstein and others, only slept 3-5 hours/night. One of my students sleeps 4 hrs, then takes a 2-hr nap every afternoon, and is perfectly adjusted to that schedule.

[stsparky]

Do talk about your body clock to your doctor. Wish you the best.

[Clear.tranquil]

I would have imagined it be stress related; however, I just got finished with vacation and as much as I tried, nothing.

[qwert]

At the request of my doctor, I got off alprazolam becaue of my fears of becoming ever more tolerant to it, I told him about the benadryl and alcohol and he wrote me a prescription for ambien and I got my other prescription refilled.

[Plekto]

There's always having more sex. ;)

That seems to make people sleep quite well.

[jindojim]

Take my advice w/ a pinch of salt (as I'm still learning this stuff), but here are some drugs you can ask your healthcare provider about.

Insomnia: first of all, is it just trouble falling asleep (but staying asleep once you do) or is it falling in and out of sleep? If you resort to drug therapy, you should take the shortest acting drug for your symptoms.

Benzodiazepines [Diazepam, Lorazepam, Temazepam, Alprazolam]. You may wake up with a "hangover" if you take a long-acting form. The adverse effects are considered "mild" [as in they generally won't kill you], but you can get drug tolerance and dependence from them.

Zolpidam. Works the same way as the benzodiazepines but you get less tolerance and dependence. It's mainly short acting though, so it's not good for keeping you "knocked out".

Ramelteon. Works via melatonin receptors, which mediate the sleep-awake cycle. Probably best for establishing a normal sleep pattern.

Valerian. Again acts like benzodiazepines by activating the same receptors.

Don't take these drugs w/ alcohol, as it also works by depressing your brain activity and has a synergistic effect w/ insomnia medications. [Incidentally though, alcohol does make you drowsy. So does marijuana if you're into those recreational drugs. Long term use though is ill-advised for any medication though.]

People have mentioned Benedryl (diphenhydramine), which does have the effect of making you drowsy. As the dosage is intended for its anti-histamine effect, rather than for insomnia, it should be used with some caution.

Natural alternatives include sex, exercise, staying active throughout the day, etc. If it's anxiety though that's keeping you awake, drugs do help.

[mawande]

There's always having more sex. ;)

That seems to make people sleep quite well.

Yeah... half the people fake that they've fallen asleep because the other half isn't nearly as good as they think they are. Foreplay. Any place that's not too ticklish to touch. Experiment! You know you've got most of the body involved when the skin all over is slick!

[Plekto]

I also eat an entire loaf of bread.

:clap: :clap: :clap:

Classic :)

[akitaka]

What do you do throughout your weekdays?

Back when I had it my issue was related to lack of daily activity (in highschool); I didn't use enough energy during the day leaving my reserves to wake me until the AM hours. These days there's at least something going on to tire me enough to make 9-11p sleep easy, so that waking around 6-7a is no longer an issue. Speaking of which I'm freaking sleepy. Good luck on your insomnia.

edit: the posting time's way off. It's like 10p here.

[freak]

k... looks like everybody has something to say on the subject... so i'm gona give my experience... not advice...

when i was still in college i there was a 3 months period that i had insomnia... i slept for about an hour every night... it was in some ways good for me... it supported my other habits... play games, read, watch movies, and a few things i care not to mention (in some ways i sometimes think could have also contributed to it...). the problem with it was that i was always tired, but just couldn't really sleep... if i fell asleep i would wake up about an hour later or sometimes even less... and no, not refreshed at all... just couldn't go back to sleep... i tried all other things, excluding medication(never believed in medical drugs... a tad ironic). In my opinion it was something in the back of my head that bothered me... couldn't have been school, i was half the time not there, and when i was i was also not completely there... but in my opinion the main reason for any time of insomnia is stress...

i have to say that i still have weird sleeping habits, even tho it's like 10 years later... i sleep about 5 hours a night... but that i'm use to and that's for me a good night's rest... i got use to that over the years... work, life, woman... they do tend to take all the time of your day and night...

anyway... the one piece of advice i can give... stay away from medical drugs... that just makes things worse... oh and btw... taking pills with alcohol is not just bad for your brain... it's very bad for your heart...

[akitaka]

freak: Based on your experience it seems like you had less to do in the day. Most people never consider lack of sleep for games, movies, and even in some cases study to be a good thing. If you manage yourself attentively rather than passively say "I have no time" and neglect the rest for most of the month, your less likely to screw up let alone get complacent. That is, unless you're a fisherman.

ps. Hail the nazis because your sentence structure is a little hard on the eyes. You don't need that many periods.