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any insomniacs?

mlpieters

mlpieters

the princess of PINK
Joined
Apr 12, 2007
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me.

you?

i've had it for at least 13 years. :groan manageable at times - sometimes not so much. hit a stride of really not great sleep an made a new appointment with a sleep specialist.

oh. i do not like him. well, maybe personally. but not his instructions. no sirreeee bob.

anyway. no more naps for me. :imok apparently normal people - i mean normal sleepers - can get away with naps. not an insomniac. and a whole bunch of other stuff.

i'm a little out of it sometime because i'm so stinkin tired - but i'm willing to try these crazy things (a set bed time) for awhile to see if it works cuz hoonnnneeee they're ain't nothing like a good night's sleep.

anyone else dealing with this?
 
I have dealt with it every since going through chemo 2 1/2 years ago and then after my hysterectomy at 29 and not able to take hormones (apparently trouble sleeping is one of the awesome side effects!--can you read the sarcasm?), I have been on and off sleep aids since then. I have just resigned myself to it for a while.

So sorry you are dealing with it, can't even imagine it for 13 years!!
 
I've had it since I was a kid. Sometimes it's much worse than others. I feel for you, it completely sucks to be exhausted and still not be able to sleep. I did try a prescription sleep med once (ambien) but it gave me the most horrific nightmares, so even the sleep i got wasn't great. My niece just went through a sleep study and they have her on melatonin, which is natural and OTC. I think I'm going to give that a try.

Sorry you are going through a bad patch with yours - because you are SO right...a good night's sleep...ahhh soooo good.
 
i don't have that problem LOL With the little sleep i get cause i have a baby who at 8 months still wake up multiple times a night. Whenever i am in a horizontal position i am going to fall asleep fairly quickly.
 
I had it for many, many years (and Melatonin worked for me - it's the natural chemical in you brain that tells you your sleepy) but after having kids that don't sleep well I no longer have insomnia! Of course I still get no sleep but it's for different reasons!

I hope you can find something that works for you.
 
I'm another melatonin user. Trader Joe's chewable melatonin, to be precise. I also passed insomnia down to my son, so he also takes melatonin. Mine stems from an anxiety disorder, which I do treat, but sometimes for no particular reason I'll go through a day or two where I can't turn my mind off at night and I'm up the whole time. And it's never during normal scenarios where I should be anxious - when I have presentations, dentist appointments, a ton of work to do - I'll sleep like a baby. Then on some random Tuesday night for some reason I won't be able to stop thinking the stupidest crap. Then the NEXT night I'm so anxious about the PRIOR night that I drive myself nuts again. In the past three years I haven't had much of a problem, though.

You should try the melatonin, it's a supplement, doesn't require a prescription. I also take it because if I take it regularly it stops my recurring tension headaches. It really helps with trying to get on a schedule, though. I cannot go to bed at the same time every night - I fight sleep. Sleep is like giving up for me. LOL Once I'm asleep I want to sleep all day, and I hate mornings. But at night I feel like I have so much left to do.
 
I'm so sorry you ladies have to deal with this - it must be so frustrating. Peppermint, I suffer from terrible tension headaches on a daily basis too. Maybe I'll give the Melatonin a try. Thank you for the suggestion.
 
This must stink! I sometimes stay up way to late when my husband is out of town and can't sleep well but other then that I sleep well whenever my 2 year old is in her OWN bed! ;)
 
Peppermint said:
I fight sleep. Sleep is like giving up for me. LOL Once I'm asleep I want to sleep all day, and I hate mornings. But at night I feel like I have so much left to do.
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wow that's me exactly! It's so weird to hear someone else put into words something you've never been able to explain to yourself!
 
Awww hugs to all the non sleepers! Mine comes and goes. I will sleep ok for a couple months and then total insomnia for a couple weeks and then back to normal. Wierd. I also get restless leg syndrome from time to time, which sucks.

I tried Melatonin and had a bad reaction to it. I broke out in a hot rash all over my body both times, but then again, I am allergic to most medications, except Advil, and thank goodness: Prozac. LOL.

I like naps too, but now during the week I just try to take a 15 minute power nap on the couch while DD is taking her nap and that seems to help. Any longer than that and I wake up groggy and cant sleep that night. Fun stuff!
 
Yes, me! For several years, but especially the last 3 years I've operated on 4-5 hours of sleep, which does not make me a happy camper. :) I finally asked the doctor for some medicine, and he gave me Ambien. I took it for about a month straight, and it did help reset my sleep cycle. Now I only take it as needed. I usually will sleep well for a week or so, then have a bad night or two, repeat, repeat, repeat.
 
Peppermint said:
Mine stems from an anxiety disorder, which I do treat, but sometimes for no particular reason I'll go through a day or two where I can't turn my mind off at night and I'm up the whole time. And it's never during normal scenarios where I should be anxious - when I have presentations, dentist appointments, a ton of work to do - I'll sleep like a baby. Then on some random Tuesday night for some reason I won't be able to stop thinking the stupidest crap. Then the NEXT night I'm so anxious about the PRIOR night that I drive myself nuts again.
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This is me, exactly!!!!
 
i have tried melatonin in the past.

also went through a series of trying sleep meds. ambien? ha. my body laughs at ambien.

settled on temazapan. it's a benzodiazepine. it's worked pretty good for 7 years now. when i hit a stride where things seem to not be working i look into it. in the last 7years alot has changed about sleep knowledge.

my first adventure was to have a sleep study. i was put on a cpap machine. that was april 2007.

then about a year ago i started seeing a nurse practioner specializes in women's health. my hormones were all wackadoo. (yep, out of balance or lack of hormones is a HUGE contributor to lack of sleep). things went real well up until november last year.

my new sleep specialist went over my sleep study and told me that i don't have sleep apnea (hello!) but sleep disturbed by snoring. and that i do have restless leg syndrome (moved my legs 20 times per hour).

i get to spend these next 2 weeks on a trial med for the RLS, create my new sleep habits and have a new sleep study done.

last night was okay. 7 hours. i fantasize of getting 8-9 solid hours every night.
 
AmySumrall said:
This is me, exactly!!!!
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can totally relate. before i was diagnosed i would actually wake up in the middle of the night and be interrupting my brain having it's own conversation with itself. it would be like walking into a room with two other people already talking. very weird.

that part doesn't happen much these days but i still deal with a racing mind. i can get to sleep fairly well these days - reading before bed is a must - - but if i wake up before morning there's like a 2-3 minute window where if my mind starts up it's all over for me.

one of the things on my to do list every day is to practice meditation. now for a christian this is a tricky subject. my doctor recommend jon kabit-zinn. i watched him here and found it interesting and relaxing.

i have to practice meditation during the day to have it help at night. the biggest lesson i've learned so far is not to 'fight' my brain. what i know how to do is to stand all tense over my brain and try to kick every racing thought out.

in meditation you just sorta ignore these thoughts and refocus back to what you were doing. my mini "ah ha" about that was - it's sorta like "don't think about pink elephants". ha. we all know once we say that we ALL are thinking about pink elephants. so it's more of a have a different thought not "don't think" of that. does that make sense?

i'm still practicing and learning but i'm already seeing a difference in my racing mind.
 
mlpieters said:
i have tried melatonin in the past.

also went through a series of trying sleep meds. ambien? ha. my body laughs at ambien.

settled on temazapan. it's a benzodiazepine. it's worked pretty good for 7 years now. when i hit a stride where things seem to not be working i look into it. in the last 7years alot has changed about sleep knowledge.
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my body laughed at ambien too. I take temazapam as well, but have to take the 30 mg and not the 15 mg. I like it because it doesn't completely knock me out within like 15 minutes. I usually take it 9ish if I want to get in bed at 10ish.
 
bderby said:
my body laughed at ambien too. I take temazapam as well, but have to take the 30 mg and not the 15 mg. I like it because it doesn't completely knock me out within like 15 minutes. I usually take it 9ish if I want to get in bed at 10ish.
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my regular dose is 30 mg but i have 45mg to take on bad nights. that's when i know something is off - when i'm taking too many 45mgs in a row.
 
i battle with it occasionally but nothing near your level, Lauren! I've always been a night owl but the new job requires me to get up at 5:15. It's impossible for me to turn my brain off before midnight most nights and that equals not nearly enough sleep. I do know that the lack of sleep has contributed heavily to me gaining 20 lbs in the last year. For that reason alone I need help.
 
Wow. That's really rough. I have never even imagined it could get that rough. I'm definitely a night owl if I allow myself to be, but I also have to be an early riser. I've learned that if I don't think about how little sleep I'm getting, I'm fine. But forcing myself to go to bed when my DH does has helped. The biggest problem is when he is away. I just can't find my way to bed at a decent time. And it's not even productive stuff I'm doing that's keeping me up. But I do eventually drift off. Now during the day, I can fall asleep driving if I'm not careful. It's really annoying. But I'm going to stop whining now, because I see I really have nothing to whine about, lol.

I hope all the things your doctor wants you to do works! Then it will be worth it.
 
i have issues with sleep because i feel i have so much to do. i have to keep a pad of paper next to my bed so i can pop up and jot something down when i wake up and think about it. it's a problem.
 
actually the pen and paper by the bed is a great trick. at least it's out of your brain.
 
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