What to do when you can't sleep?

[Boo Boo Kitty 3]

Hey ya'all I need some serious help. I am having trouble sleeping and I mean SERIOUS trouble.

It has been 4-5 weeks since I have slept a night through. I have been taking sleeping pills to even go to sleep. My mind is constantly racing, I feel like I never can turn it off.

What do you do when you can't sleep? Anyone got any good help, I am ready to die here. I am spending my days in a zombie mode, I am getting sick because of lack of sleep and now I am getting dizzy spells.

HELP! :thumbup:

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

This is a big problem in my life too. I have had insomnia pretty much all of my life. I would be lost without Ambien. I have quite a few different meds

or supplements I use. If I didn't I wouldn't sleep at all. I use melatonin &

valerian as well as other prescriptions. I have to switch around or they stop working. The dr. tried me on trazadone, but that doesn't work at all, although it works for some people. Amitriptiline made me want to eat like a pig.

It's a horrible problem. I wish more than anything I could sleep like a normal person. I am sure I sound like a horrible druggie pill popper, but I can't live without sleep. They did a sleep study on me which was even more ridiculous. If I can't sleep in my own bed, what made them think I could sleep with wires attached to me in a strange place. They concluded I have chronic insomnia. Tell me something I don't already know!:thumbup: and then charge me $2,000.00

[Pix 4]

Darlin I have had insomnia since I was a kid. Normally when it gets really bad I take ambien, but right now since my husband is deployed and I Have two kids, I suffer through it.

I have found that that simply sleep by Tylonal helps me fall asleep, and there is a tea called Sleepy time tea I don’t use them all the time, same with the ambien, and sadly when the hubby is deployed I wont take any pill for sleep, but I will drink the tea. It really does help my brain go to sleep sometimes. (sadly not all the time, but sometimes)

Sometimes it gets so bad that the ambien wont even touch it but those are the days that I have a horrid stress day though...

G'Luck .. I hope

[Mariposa Bella 3]

I too am an croniac insomniac.. I have just come to accept it.

I take Lunesta it doesn't give me side effects like Ambien did. (I took Ambien for years, ignoring the sleep walking side effects just to get some sleep.) I too have one of those brains that never, ever shuts off. Go see your doctor, maybe he can prescribe something that will help you.

[tinaf 0]

I too, have one of those brains that won't shut off..... I only woke up once or twice last night and that is VERY VERY rare. I have found that falling asleep with the tv on actually helps my brain relax.... I guess I can just drift off that way..... HOWEVER, then I usually wake up later to turn it off.

I couldn't really tell you the last time I went to sleep and slept all through the night---- seriously -- I don't know what my body would do. I have come to feel like a full night's sleep just isn't in the cards for me.... I've been on various sleeping meds but have found that the OTC meds work just as well - if not better. I try not to take it unless I REALLY need to sleep.

For some reason tho - I have noticed that since my surgery I've been waking up a little more "alert"....I'm just hoping that as the weight comes off - my zzzzzzz's will increase.

Sweet dreams all!

[Boo Boo Kitty 3]

WOW! I am glad to hear I am not alone but it doesn't sound like any of you have much relief. I am becoming a real bitch during the day, to the point I can't stand myself.

Right now I haven't slept a wink since Tuesday night, and that was only 2 hours. I am going to make an appoitment, I can not live like this..ugh...

[tarrn13 1]

Boo Boo Kitty, I am a night nurse 3 nights a week and then try and flip to a day schedule on the days i have off, so the inability to sleep I know it well and feel your pain!! On flip around days I really try and turn off the tv and or computer a couple of hours prior to bed since the blue light can be stimulating, I try and read my book or cuddle with my dogs, no talking on the phone or doing stimulating things, take a bath, have a cup of diet hot chocolate. Most importantly though I listen to my body, and if it tells me to nap then I do, if it tells me to get up and go to the gym then I do, the working out early in the day really helps me to be tired later in the day and able to sleep. some days I sleep 12 hours, some I sleep 3, not the best but neither is working 12 hour nights at the hospital under bright lights!! I hope you find some suggestions to try.

[Wheetsin 714]

If your sleeplessness is definitely tied to your thoughts (e.g. as you relax thoughts arise and you can't turn them off, or you fall asleep only to wake up shortly after and be immediately focusing on your thoughts), then consier seeing a psychiatrist. I know, they have such a stigma around them, but -- think of them as psychologists with medical degrees (can write prescriptions). A very dear friend of mine is a psychologist and tried the relaxation route, the OTC sleeping pill route, the prescription sleeping pill route, etc. but found no relief. Finally he went to a psychiatrist with his problem of, "I can't turn my thoughts off." He walked out with a prescription that's not a sleeping pill and not habit-forming (I really can't remember what the Rx was... he told me but this was a while ago and I'm drawing a blank), but he now sleeps well every night.

[georgia girl 35]

I have the same problem. My mind is constantly racing and I think about what happened that day, what I need to do tomorrow, and everything else I could possibly think of. Once I get to sleep I'm good for the rest of the night, it's just a matter of getting there. My Endocrinologist suggested I start listening to a relaxation CD (I got the sleepy ocean one). It has helped a little, but not near as much as I had hoped for.

[Boo Boo Kitty 3]

Well I finallly got a tiny bit of sleep today since I posted but I can tell you it is the weirdest place ever I HAVE FALLEN ASLEEP.

I went in to the ladies room, and there was a line. So I sat on the couch in there.....at 11:30 or so....I just woke up in the ladies room...about 1 pm....

I feel like a complete idiot to fall asleep in a rest room. My face is all jacked up, my sunglasses fell down and I smooshed them on my face....it is now all red....I LOOK LIKE A FREAK. But the good news at least I slept a bit...

What do you think the women that went in there thought? I was a curled up in the fetal position....lol....

[Kat817 19]

They probably thought you had a helluva night!!!

Do you take any other medications that might be causing this as a side effect?

They link weight gain and inability to lose weight to lack of sleep, isn't it amazing how many of us have those problems?

Mine is nowhere as severe as you speak of---mine is more of a natural time clock being at odds with my schedule!! If I could stay up til 1AM and sleep til 9AM I would not have a problem. Instead I stay up til 1--go to bed, freak out that I have to be up in 4 hours, and then cannot fall asleep--finally falling asleep only to have to be up 2-3 hours later.....repeat....repeat....repeat!!!

The few times I have used anything to sleep I used benedryl....not a great long term plan though, I was a space cadet all day following it.

Hope you resolve it soon!

Kat

[Boo Boo Kitty 3]

They probably thought you had a helluva night!!!

Do you take any other medications that might be causing this as a side effect?

Well they would be right. I am at Michigan State University, so I guess I can get away with it...lol..

No medications at all, which is the strange part.

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

Benedryl stopped working for me years ago. Lunesta doesn't work as well for me as Ambien. I am lucky I don't have any side effects that some people have with Ambien. I am telling you-it saves my life. I am so happy it went generic. It's way cheaper now.

[georgia girl 35]

Well I finallly got a tiny bit of sleep today since I posted but I can tell you it is the weirdest place ever I HAVE FALLEN ASLEEP.

I went in to the ladies room, and there was a line. So I sat on the couch in there.....at 11:30 or so....I just woke up in the ladies room...about 1 pm....

I feel like a complete idiot to fall asleep in a rest room. My face is all jacked up, my sunglasses fell down and I smooshed them on my face....it is now all red....I LOOK LIKE A FREAK. But the good news at least I slept a bit...

What do you think the women that went in there thought? I was a curled up in the fetal position....lol....

LOL, that is the funniest thing I have read in a while!! If I saw you asleep in the bathroom, I would have snapped a picture with my phone for blackmail, lol!

[Boo Boo Kitty 3]

LOL, that is the funniest thing I have read in a while!! If I saw you asleep in the bathroom, I would have snapped a picture with my phone for blackmail, lol!

OH SH*T...what if someone did that...OMG....check youtube...lol..