Insomnia. Why?

I suffer from insomnia and I was simply wondering how many others do as well. I had severe sleep deprivation yesterday and that is what prompted this thread. It was to the point that I was hallucinating, the room was spinning, it was wretched. Do you suffer from insomnia and why? Is it because you just simply are never tired? Is it because you can't shut your mind off long enough to get some sleep? Is it because you have horrible nightmares and make yourself stay awake dreading when you fall asleep?

I cannot sleep because I can never shut my own mind off. That perpetual voice in my head will never stop. I lay awake until I get so tired that I want to go to sleep, then I shut off the television or laptop, whatever is distracting me at the time, and I will lay in bed all night in complete darkness STILL not being able to get any rest.

My mind goes over what has happened in the past day, the past week, the past year, the past several years. It thinks about what I can write, what I can draw, what I can do to occupy my brain tomorrow. It goes over what could happen in the future, it goes over what I could dream about if I did fall asleep, it goes over what conversations I have had and how I could have had them differently. It goes over alternate scenarios of where I could be in my life now if I would have made small or large decisions differently. It goes over things such as "What if I lived on Mars?", or "What is the soul?", or "Who is God and is he totally pissed at me?". I simply cannot turn off this inner monologue. Sometimes I get so frustrated that I find myself yelling at my own brain, (yes, I know this sounds slightly crazy, but it is true) telling my own mind, "Shut up! I just want to get some sleep!"

I have suffered from this for my entire life, for as long as I can remember. I have never actually looked into what causes insomnia, and I'm not sure if anyone would have an exact answer or not. All I know is that it is extremely frustrating and I wonder if any of you fellow ATSers suffer from the same thing? As a child I thought it was great, I could stay up all night and watch TV while my parents were asleep, I could sneak outside and do whatever I wanted then get back to bed and pretend like I was sleeping before my parents ever even woke up. But as I have gotten older it is simply an inconvenience and I absolutely detest it.

Tell me your stories, and if you have found anything that helps you with your insomnia, please let me know.

reply to post by qualm91


Your describing what I the psych community calls "racing thoughts". During the day they are tolerable, but at night they really suck!

I suffer from the same problem. What helps me is to read fiction before I go to bed, until I have a hard time keeping my eyes open...... It seems that when I close my eyes, my mind is still focused on the story I was reading and I easily fall asleep....

I used to take meds to get to sleep, but I refuse to take Big Pharms poison anymore!

Anyhow, I wish you the best, no matter how you try to solve your problem!

When I have trouble sleeping it's because I didn't exercise or eat properly. I don't know your habits, but I've known many people complain about this who wouldn't ever lift a finger to exercise on purpose. Oh and television/internet aren't helping you any, don't do any tv for a few hours before bed but listen to soft soothing music with headphones and read a book. Yeah, those old dusty things with the words written on them.

so many questions so little time you need too shut that little voice down go out for a run tire yourself out stop drinking caffine ? and turn off the wifi and tv not good for you . try reading a book

reply to post by seeker1963


I used to take meds for it, too, but I hated them. They were behavioral meds and I hated how they masked my emotions during the day along with putting me asleep at night. I still take Benadryl to knock me out every now and then when I don't have anything to do the next day, but I try to avoid it if I have something to do because it makes me really groggy. Usually when I can't sleep I read, too. After a couple of hours of laying around in complete darkness and silence. But even that doesn't help! Haha. When I close the book I still find myself laying awake and thinking, "I wonder what will happen next, I wonder what prompted this author to write this particular story, I wonder what I would do if I were the main character, I wonder how much money the author made from this book."

reply to post by centhwevir1979


I exercise every day (yoga, specifically), eat healthily, and even meditate every day.

Hey Qualm, interesting you bring this forward.

Generally I sleep well but these few days I wake up during the night WIDE AWAKE, can't sleep. I have all the energy in the world. Takes me a couple of toss and turns to knock out.

Want to sleep like a baby? Buy an Amethyst gemstone. It's great for insomnia. I recommended this to others who also have insomnia and it seems to help them. Put it on top of your bed when you sleep, or wherever is convinient around your bed. Do this, and let me know if it helps or not.

Well there we go, pharmaceuticals aren't helping you any. Discontinue all drug use, including, duh, caffeine. Embrace a healthy lifestyle, get up early and eat some fruit and exercise. Get out and get some air, run up some wooded hills. Ride a bicycle, go have a swim at the beach. Do some gardening. Acknowledge the power of your mind and learn to control it in a calm, confident manner. You are your own best tool, don't look to external sources for your solution.

reply to post by PurpleVortex


I used to have an Amethyst necklace but it got lost a couple of years ago. It helped with a lot of things, actually. I bought a couple of dream-catchers that I hung above my bed because when I do actually get to sleep I have terrible nightmares, though I don't try to keep myself awake to avoid them, I thought it might help. It has not. I will certainly buy another Amethyst, though, and see if it helps. Thank you for the suggestion.

reply to post by centhwevir1979


Wonderful suggestions. I used to spend literally ALL my time outside, but recently I have not been. And, come to think about it, I did sleep pretty well when I spent time outside during the day. Maybe there's something to that.

These are usually Vitamin D, magnesium and zinc deficiencies, get some and get some rest too. Vitamin D3 is best, 1500-2500iu/25lbs of body weight.

A 30 minute soak in a bath of Epsom salts before bed will work wonders.

reply to post by toastyr


I have done epsom salt soaks before and they do not help. They help to relax my body but turning my mind off is the problem. I am anemic, I have very thin veins and hardly any iron in my blood. Could this account for insomnia?

Chicken or the egg, which came first? Insomnia or fibromyalgia, don't know which was first. I roll around for an hour or two then give up. Meds help for a couple of days then stop working. Occasionally melotonin helps: like one out of 10 times. I stay up till I crash, then sleep for a few hours. I've seen the floor undulate like the ocean. I get eye ticks like Inspector Dreyfus from the Pink Panther movies. The fibro makes it difficult to exercise because If I do to much I'm knocked on my butt for a couple of days plus the fatigue makes it hard to start anything. I try everything I read about but nothing helps. Well thats enough of my whinning for now!

I can only give you my own experience of insomnia that I suffered for many years. I too had racing and anxious thoughts, sometimes twitchy legs, but above all could not sleep.
It was not until I had a blood test for having collapsed that it was discovered that i was anaemic and not only that I had very low ferritin levels. Apparantly even slight anaemia can cause insomnia. After six weeks of taking Spatone, a water with high levels of iron I began to sleep again and a few more weeks later i was and still am sleeping like a baby EVERY single night. I have had no sleep problems at all since my iron levels reached 11 and my ferritin is almost at normal levels. If you try this method you really have to stick religiously at the iron but if your anemia is the problem you should start to see the difference in a couple of months. The spatone contains enough iron for one dose and I used to take three sachets a day and many months later i still take two sachets every day.

I will never stop taking iron now as I never intend to have insomnia ever again!!

reply to post by Magister


I definitely understand where you're coming from. I was a skateboarder for a few years, sponsored and everything. It messed me up a lot physically. I've broken almost every bone in my body and I've had three knee surgeries and I'm only 22 years old. These things hinder me from running and such, I do yoga because it helps stretch my muscles and work my bones which hurt me constantly. But even still, the yoga doesn't help much. You're right, meds help for a while but I repeatedly have to up my dosage and I am a recovering drug addict so I am staying away from meds. It's incredibly frustrating not being about to make myself tired enough through exercise because I cannot exercise enough without physically hurting myself to make me sleep better and I cannot take meds to help me. I just wonder if there is a way that I can turn my mind off without these outside stimulants. Meditating helps me more than anything but it only helps less that half the time.

reply to post by Elliot


Wow, I didn't know that low iron could actually attribute to insomnia. I will certainly look into this. Thank you.

reply to post by qualm91


I had the same question when I read it.


...not his best.

reply to post by qualm91

Try the Spatone! Be patient and good luck!! I thought I would go mad from lack of sleep but i can promise you that if your problem is the same as mine once your iron levels and particularly your ferritin levels rise you will start to sleep! I LOVE sleeping now!!!!

reply to post by this_is_who_we_are


Lmao. No, certainly not his best. I must admit. His new one, though, JFK. INCREDIBLE! Have you read it?

reply to post by qualm91


Try a magnesium chloride spray, might work better. Also, Vitamin D3 is a cofactor of magnesium try both and see if it works better this time. Take the vitamin D3 in the morning and then soak in the Epsom at night.

Definitely get some iron supplements as well if you are low, that can also trigger insomnia, calcium and zinc and vitamin C too, while you're at it.