Insomnia

[LadyKay]

Hello, it's almost 2am and I can’t sleep. So I thought I post something if that is okay. Any other insomniacs out there? If I could I would sleep all day and stay up all night. I like the night. So quiet and peaceful. Guess I should try to sleep now. Night All!

[odims_sphere]

I can't sleep either, i just wanna vomit.

[Scary Guy]

I've been an insomniac lately as I've been up all day the past week. It's rather annoying. Well technically it's not insomnia my sleep schedule is just off.

[Onyx]

I've always had the tendency toward insomnia.

This past year I've noticed it seems to go in cycles. Sometimes I can sleep 12 hours straight when I get the chance on weekends and sometimes I can only stay asleep 4 hours at a time, and sometimes I'm up all night and never ever drift off for a moment. I've quit fighting it and I'm trying to let my body sleep more when I can and just get up and do something when I can't.

Some things that have helped me at times:

- sometime during the day take a walk to get your muscles going. Walk until you are tired and later on you'll probably sleep better.

- try a nice warm bath for about 30 minutes with just one candle in the bathroom for light.

- after your bath, put on some good smelling lotion all over.

- warm soft socks on your feet.

- put your blanket in the dryer for a few minutes and then snuggle under it.

- be perfectly still and try not to toss and turn and wake yourself up again.

[Nienna]

I have pretty wicked insomnia occasionally and am just a horribly light sleeper the rest of the time. My mind tends to take any stimuli and twist it into really disturbing dreams..

Melatonin helps alot though. It may be worth a try, just don't take it every night. I heard it can mess with your hormone balance.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

I am the hardest of hardcore Insomniacs. Sleep just flat out will not come unless I've been up for 2 days, or there are some drugs involved.

The whole standard shtick of eating right / exercising / forcing your self to keep a regular schedule thing helps. Oh and mass freight-train style fucking before bed, that helps. But, since i never do any of this stuff since it would require either self discipline or socialization... i'd classify it more as rumor.

Oh and please feel free to post. Thats what this silly place is here for.

[Rayne]

I have horrid bouts of insomnia ... and Phee snores.

LOL, and my puppy doesn't quite sleep through the night yet.

[Fierce Critter]

I've been dealing with massive bouts of insomnia over the last 8 years.

A lot of it was due to my husband snoring. I had to start wearing earplugs, and became a light sleeper, easily awakened.

Part of that also is because he's prone to falling back asleep after his alarm goes off to get him up for work. I became worried he won't stay up and I usually end up having trouble sleeping with the worry.

He's on a c-pap now, so the snoring isn't an issue as much as it was. And he gets up for work well now, so that is gone.

Another reason I was losing sleep due to this was because I'd be up all night with the noise & worry, and then I'd go to sleep after he was finally up and gone. The house was then quiet, and I was better able to sleep. My sleep pattern changed so that I'd be up all night, then sleep for about 6 hours between 7:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. I don't have a job outside of the house, so I could keep those kind of hours with little impact to my daily routine.

Major clinical depression also had some impact on my sleeping.

Stay away from prescription meds if you can. They're not necessarily addictive, but are habit-forming. I have myself resisted Ambien & Lunesta, though my doctor has given me prescriptions for them. I threw them away.

I also recommend Melatonin. It comes in several strengths. I bought the highest strength, thinking that as an herbal supplement, it'd be pretty lame. It packs a MAJOR punch. The super-extra strength stuff will really knock you out. It can make it hard to wake up. I've gone so far as to split the tablets in half - and even in quarters.

I also use Benadryl. It has the same ingredient that they put in Tylenol PM - and it's cheaper. The dollar-store version works just as well.

And do try not to take it all the time, every night. You can become dependent, and also it can start to have the opposite effect.

Good luck

[TygerLili]

When I had a crazy retail work schedule(i.e.: 3-11 one day, 7-3 the next) I used to have a lot of sleepless nights, but now that I have the same schedule every week, and get up within an hour of the same time every day it's gotten a lot better. Lately, though I fall asleep at my normal time, sleep 3-4 hours, then wake up in the middle of the night and either can't get back to sleep, or have very restless sleep the rest of the night.

Exercising during the day, or even being outside for at least a half an hour, usually help me sleep, and taking naps too often definitely messes with my sleep cycle.

[Homicidalheathen]

Last night I made myself lay there....I slept a total of 3 hours and laid there for 6. I hate that.....but I didn't want to wake anyone up.