Waiving the White Flag on my Sleep Problems!!

[Anonymous]

I've tried everything to sleep. Cut out any sort of screen time for an hour before bed, taken baths with Epsom salt, I religiously take magnesium, mediation, hot tea, warm milk, cutting out alcohol...the list goes on and on. NO MATTER WHAT, I fucking cannot sleep through the night. I have no problem falling asleep, but have a hard time either getting into a deep sleep or staying asleep. MANY mornings I wake up at 2AM completely for the day. It is brutal. I'm so tired during the day, sometimes I feel like I'm going to collapse. The exhaustion is so profound, sometimes I feel like it is killing me. My brain is mush, I can't focus, my eyes water, I yawn constantly, I'm sort temperd, I have no interest in sex and by 6PM I have no energy left.

I've borrowed some anti-anxiety (benzos) from my sister from time to time and sleep AMAZINGLY. On those nights I've woken up with a completely different outlook on life. Literally it changes my brain. I really loathe the idea of using drugs to sleep, but after years of this, I just can't any longer. I'm going to make an appointment with a doctor to get a script. Maybe I have anxiety that Im not realizing. I don't know, but what I do know is this sleeplessness cannot possibly be healthy.

[Anonymous]

Have you seen a doctor?

How much alcohol were you drinking before? That could have messed up your liver, which could cause problems.

[Anonymous]

Get the pills. Don't cheat yourself out of the rest you need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you seen a doctor?

How much alcohol were you drinking before? That could have messed up your liver, which could cause problems.

Um, 5 glasses a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you seen a doctor?

How much alcohol were you drinking before? That could have messed up your liver, which could cause problems.

Um, 5 glasses a week.

Oh and yes, they were dismissive and asked me if I wanted Ambien which I tried and it made it VERY VERY difficult to walk up in the morning. Did not feel rested AT ALL. More like hung over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get the pills. Don't cheat yourself out of the rest you need.

I know, this is the conclusion I'm beginning to have to face. I HATE and I mean HATE to have to take any sort of medication for sleep or what not, but I think the alternative is much worse for my body. I have co-workers telling me I look tired and if I'm OK. This is pretty much the last straw for me.

[Anonymous]

Okay, 15 year insomniac here who finally turned to drugs. All I can say is DO IT. Xanax is good in the short term, but you desperately need to reset your sleep cycle.

You have sleep maintenance insomnia. I would try either Lunesta, or the newer drugs that have come out that are short acting for middle of the night wakings.

While you are doing this, resetting your cycle, try CBT-I. I am not suggesting, I am telling! It is life changing.

Go see a sleep specialist or your family doc for the drugs, and google CBT-I therapists in your area.

Or, if you are like me and don't want to deal with a person, try some of the online CBT-I programs. I used ShutI, but there are several good programs.

I hate that I am an expert on this, but over many years of trial and error, I have done and seen it all.

Two weeks or more on drugs resetting your cycle, and CBT- simultaneously.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay, 15 year insomniac here who finally turned to drugs. All I can say is DO IT. Xanax is good in the short term, but you desperately need to reset your sleep cycle.

You have sleep maintenance insomnia. I would try either Lunesta, or the newer drugs that have come out that are short acting for middle of the night wakings.

While you are doing this, resetting your cycle, try CBT-I. I am not suggesting, I am telling! It is life changing.

Go see a sleep specialist or your family doc for the drugs, and google CBT-I therapists in your area.

Or, if you are like me and don't want to deal with a person, try some of the online CBT-I programs. I used ShutI, but there are several good programs.

I hate that I am an expert on this, but over many years of trial and error, I have done and seen it all.

Two weeks or more on drugs resetting your cycle, and CBT- simultaneously.

Good luck!

THANK YOU. I am printing this!!!

[Anonymous]

Have you heard of the phenomenon of segmented sleep, or two sleeps a night with a break in between?

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16964783

Basically, research and primary source documents suggest that humans naturally would sleep in 2 four-hour stretches, with a break in between.

So if you go to bed at 10 and wake at 2, that's your body doing what it's designed to do.

Where we mess up is when we start FREAKING out that we're awake at 2...which causes all kinds of stress and anxiety that keep us awake.

What would be ideal to do is light a candle, have a cup of tea, read a book by candlelight, or have sex when you wake up at 2. Enjoy a break from slumber for an hour or so. Don't turn on the lights or electronics or do anything too stimulating. And just tell yourself that you're all right, that it's time to sleep again soon.

The adjustment that you may have to make is to go to bed an hour earlier, so that you can have your first 4 hour stretch and then time for a break in between.

Once I started accepting that some nights my brain needs a break from sleep, I slept SO much better. I actually sleep all the way through more often...it's almost like it removed that low-level anxiety I had that I was doing it wrong.

I'd caution really strongly against long-term benzo use.

[Anonymous]

PP here. I would also recommend a sleep study if you think sleep apnea is even remotely possible. It will cause restless sleep and middle of the night wakings. I did not have apnea, but I did the sleep study just to see.

There are so many great meds out there for short term. If you have a circadian rhythm disorder, sleep maintenance, sleep onset--there is something for you.

But Ambien can have really bad hangover effects for some people, so I do not recommend that. I have never had a true sleep specialist recommend it either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP here. I would also recommend a sleep study if you think sleep apnea is even remotely possible. It will cause restless sleep and middle of the night wakings. I did not have apnea, but I did the sleep study just to see.

There are so many great meds out there for short term. If you have a circadian rhythm disorder, sleep maintenance, sleep onset--there is something for you.

But Ambien can have really bad hangover effects for some people, so I do not recommend that. I have never had a true sleep specialist recommend it either.

OP here, I have thought of doing a sleep study, but HOW IN THE HELL could I sleep with shit hooked up to me? I'm a princess sleeper and have to have all light blocked out, a firm bed, cotton bedding, and absolutely NO NOISE. I could just imagine myself at a sleep study doing no sleep!

[Anonymous]

Also try neurofeedback. I have struggled with sleep for years and I know that complete inability to function you are talking about. It is brutal. I did all those relaxation and sleep hygiene things too and more, plus Ambien for a while. Neurofeedback is where I turned the corner for real. It strengthens your brain's neural pathways to reduce anxiety and increase normal healthy functioning. It was a miracle in my life!!!

[Anonymous]

My psych prescribes me Klonopin (a benzo) which I use mostly for sleeping. She says it's pretty innocuous when used like that, and probably more benign than Ambien, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here. I would also recommend a sleep study if you think sleep apnea is even remotely possible. It will cause restless sleep and middle of the night wakings. I did not have apnea, but I did the sleep study just to see.

There are so many great meds out there for short term. If you have a circadian rhythm disorder, sleep maintenance, sleep onset--there is something for you.

But Ambien can have really bad hangover effects for some people, so I do not recommend that. I have never had a true sleep specialist recommend it either.

OP here, I have thought of doing a sleep study, but HOW IN THE HELL could I sleep with shit hooked up to me? I'm a princess sleeper and have to have all light blocked out, a firm bed, cotton bedding, and absolutely NO NOISE. I could just imagine myself at a sleep study doing no sleep!

Same here. Sleep study showed severe sleep apnea. hey let me go home at 330 AM

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay, 15 year insomniac here who finally turned to drugs. All I can say is DO IT. Xanax is good in the short term, but you desperately need to reset your sleep cycle.

You have sleep maintenance insomnia. I would try either Lunesta, or the newer drugs that have come out that are short acting for middle of the night wakings.

While you are doing this, resetting your cycle, try CBT-I. I am not suggesting, I am telling! It is life changing.

Go see a sleep specialist or your family doc for the drugs, and google CBT-I therapists in your area.

Or, if you are like me and don't want to deal with a person, try some of the online CBT-I programs. I used ShutI, but there are several good programs.

I hate that I am an expert on this, but over many years of trial and error, I have done and seen it all.

Two weeks or more on drugs resetting your cycle, and CBT- simultaneously.

Good luck!

My husband has sleep apnea and uses a C-PAP, but he travels a lot internationally. His doc said basically all this to him yesterday and prescribed him Lunesta.