Insomnia, and NOTHING works to fix it. I am looking for those who might be able to offer their exp

Originally posted by ofhumandescent
reply to post by beezzer

 

Yep your right on half of a 3 mg pill will knock me out in about 15 minutes.

Good post!

I'm a chronic insomniac. Have been since I was a teen. (I'm old now ) Been to sleep centers, sleep labs, have had valium, ambien, and assorted drugs RX'd for me. Got tired (pun) of the drugs.

Went over-the-counter with melatonin and have been having 6 solid hours a night for over a year. It's been a godsend!

Let me also say that the taking of alcohol, painkillers, sleeping aids, relaxants, or any other drug that causes your muscle tone to relax further then normal, may at best be worsening your problem and may even be causing it to begin with. Decrease in muscle tone allowing the airway to collapse during sleep is what causes apneic events to occur.

You really need weaned off the tranquilizer and if you need an anxiety med, there are things that are non-addictive, like Busbar.

You have built up a tolerance and you have to fix it because it's getting the best of you. Lunesta has one of the foulest aftertastes I've ever came across and personally I think it sucks as a sleeping aid. On the other hand Ambien is the stronger med but it's only a temporary fix. Usually after 30 days of being on it, you probably would end up taking another half and quickly work up to 2 pills a night.

If you want your life back, have your Dr. wean you, go with a non-narcotic anxiety med and use the Wal-Mart brand gel sleeping pills.

reply to post by TheArchaeologist


I've been to treatment centers where people come in very often complaining that they have trouble sleeping. The first thing they give most people is Trazadone. It's an anti-depressant, but people take it as a sleep aid even if they feel fine.

To disagree with the pharmacist, ambien is like candy to me, as is lunesta. I surely would be very sleep on 10mg of klonopin, but I would never be prescribed that. Nobody in treatment is because they don't stock it because it's a narcotic.

I have problems sleeping myself. I was diagnosed bipolar years ago, and without medication, I can sleep but not quality rest...and eventually, it "catches up with me." It takes something to slow me down before I can get tired. Point is, I can tell you what I take and tell you it's used for the people who have the most trouble falling asleep (it even has a very wide dosage range and high dosage ceiling), but unless you're possibly bipolar yourself or tell the doctor you're hallucinating, I don't see any reason why they'd write you a script for it. The name is Seroquel, though, if you want to try.

It's powerful enough that people in jail or prison fake symptoms to get it so they can sleep away their sentences. They call is Susie Q.

Smallest dose is 25mg. Largest is 600, but I've heard of people taking more.

Hi There,


lots of advice and suggestions here...so hopefully you'll find something to relieve your lack of rest/sleep.

End of the day it really is a case of what works for you. People will swear by this or that due to it working for them or people they know...but we humans and our brains are quite individual beasts...hence what completely knocks someone for six barely even touches the sides on someone else.


Personally...and this is coming from a Mental Health professional:
I'm suspecting that you've said it yourself in your opening statement: You've experienced a traumatic event that has pretty much blown a circuit in you.
One of THE most difficult things to overcome is PTSD and its associated trauma-induced disorders such as insomnia.
You can throw all manner of pills and potions at it, you can dance a jig and bark at the moon if thats whats suggested...but it can be a bit like constantly adding a can of STP Stop Smoke to your engine at each oil change to alleviate the mechanical symptoms of a smokey engine.

While adding that can of Stop Smoke might initially reduce the amount of burnt oil coming out the exhaust-pipe its not actually fixing the worn piston rings or guide-seals or whatever the base mechanical fault is with the motor. All it is doing is masking it...for a little while...even then if the parts are worn to a greater extent then you could add all the Stop Smoke you want but it won't make a lick of difference, aside from causing the motor to run sluggishly if at all.


Basically the core issue needs to be addressed. The motor needs to get fixed.



You've said you've been through therapy. Cool. Good on ya for giving therapy a go...too many people won't even go there due to feeling it makes them seem 'less' or 'weak' or whatever. Takes some guts to actually go ask someone for help...so again, good on ya.

That said, there are many many different methods of therapy out there...and just as many different therapists who utilise each particular method. Not all therapists are created equal...neither are all therapies...so again its going to be a case of finding the therapist AND the therapy that works for you.


I'm aware I've likely been no assistance at all...so most definitely am wishing you all the best and most definitely hope you find what works for you.



Chin up dude.



Cheers.

This sounds very familiar to another thread here on ATS that I responded to.

Take your pulse and record your heart rate at rest. Find out where your "beats per minute" range is while you are at rest. If it is above 60 beats then you may have found a solution. You need to lower that just a tad and you will fall right to sleep!

I was at that place where I actually was running 80-100 and sometimes 120 beats per minute while at rest. My mind would race through the night and I would go days without sleep. Some have described this as "Manic" but I described it with a few more choice words than that! I finally demanded that I get something to lower my heart rate and so I was given Beta Blockers; the cheapest heart drug on the market.

It cured me and I did not even have to stay on them for long; my heart-rate immediately fell in the 35-40 beat range and I fell right to sleep!

I normally fall asleep pretty easily. I lay on my right side and think about something specific. For example, I have been coming up with ideas for a bit of fiction that I'd like to write. So I will play out pieces of the plot in my mind. Pretty soon I am sleeping.

However, there are occasions when I struggle to sleep, an hour goes by and I'm still tossing and turning without feeling tired at all. For the longest time I was unable to deal with it except by waiting it out. Then I tried something different, and it works for me. Maybe it will for you as well.

Find a comfortable position, such as one you've regularly fallen asleep in before. Relax. I mean relax completely, and focus on doing so. Make sure things such as your mouth, jaw, tongue, neck, and face are relaxed. Once you're fully relaxed, think about something peaceful and serene, something that you can picture in your mind. Perhaps it is an experience from your past, or something from a book. As you're imagining that, concentrate on your breathing. You want to breathe slow and easy. Let your body slow down while your mind is dwelling on peaceful, relaxing thoughts. I found that the key seemed to be working on my breathing. Once I was able to slow my heart rate (or at least it seemed that way), I could relax and stop tossing and turning in my bed. Sleep came shortly after that.

This may not help, but I wanted to throw it out there because it has helped me when I am restless even though the clock says it's well past my bedtime. I do hope you find something that allows you to get regular, reliable sleep.

I feel your pain as I too had a problem sleeping even years after seeing my sister pass away on her daughter's 11th birthday. I tried all the pharma available and finally resorted to a very expensive natural path. He put me on a regiment of 5 HTP (tryptophan the stuff that makes you sleepy when you eat turkey) derived from Griffonia simplicifolia and vitamin B6. I took B6 in the morning, 2 capsules 5 HTP (can't remember dosage) at lunch and 2 capsules 5 HTP at dinner and by weeks end I could not stay up past 11pm. I am not a doctor and am only sharing my personal antidotal evidence with you. It may not work for you but it is relatively inexpensive and it may change your world if it works for you as well as it worked for me. As a side note I do not use anything for sleep now!
Give it a try and let me know if it offers you any relief.
Peace, prosperity and happines
brice

en.wikipedia.org...

I have always suffered from it probably always will. I was at one point immune to Ambien and over the counter sleep aid. I never tried anything else cause im particular about what goes in I don't drink much. I even have a high tolerence to alcohol too thats one of the reasons I don't drink often.

I started to study cannibis long before I got into use. After looking at the chemicals both pharma and herbal including future side effects, I decided to try it.

Well it worked no side effects, slept good and woke up refreshed. Yet 3 Ambien can not do it so I stopped taking all drugs and stuck with the weed for a bit.

I slowly got the best sleep ever for about a year. I finally came to the conclusion that I will always be this way and if im going to stay up anyway, might as well do something that is safer for me and my body, so i quit taking it all.

Basically, if your a REAL isomniac, and yes I have had countless tragedies myself, but if it's a hardcore case, you may just have to accept it and just stop taking everything and focus on calming the mind best way you can.

I know you said you ain't into it, but maybe you should try it, you may be very surprised. If it wasn't illegal around most of the U.S. you could bet the house alot of new medicines would come out with a strain for sleep, sad but true so many people will lie awake with choices of alcohol, dangerous OTC's, and taking too much of a prescribed narcotic that you have grown immune to on the table..

try a binaural tone with the left at 50hz and the right at 55hz. Induction through headphones usually takes from 20 minutes to 1 hour depending on the individual and will induce 5hz brainwave pattern replicating the brainwave pattern of the mind in the state it is between sleeping and waking. After a successful induction sleep should come easily. I recommend a pair of in ear headphones that can produce a 44100hz signal. If you cannot create a sound of this type i will gladly create one for you. U2 me if you are interested.

I'm not a doctor, so I can't tell you what to do, but I can tell you what I did that started to work.

I started having sleep problems after I got hit by a drunk driver back in 2006. It kept getting worse and I tried a bunch of different things. I'd get pain in my legs when I would lay down - probably similar to 'restless leg syndrome'. Calcium helped, and so did orange juice (most likely the 450 mg of Potassium in each glass - Potassium helps maintain muscles). But it didn't seem to help enough, and I still wasn't getting to sleep well.

Last week I started taking Vitamin D (2000 units), and every time I've put my head on a pillow since then, I'm asleep within a minute or two. I think it might be putting me back on a day/night schedule or something. Your body generates Vitamin D when it's in sunlight. But the weird thing is that I feel like I'm in a better mood during the day. I'm laughing more. And it seems to start improving my mood about a half hour or hour after I take it. I didn't think I was depressed or anything, but maybe the stress of not getting sleep was wearing on me. I do know I was annoyed.

Hope that helps

reply to post by TheArchaeologist

I was drawn to the title and once I read your post I knew I had to reply. First, for those who recommend music and warm milk I don't believe you fully understand how deep this problem goes, it isn't really that simple.
About eight years ago I too experienced something catastrophic, it has altered my sleep pattern and I honestly don't believe that will ever change. My doctor at the time informed me that nobody has ever died from lack of sleep, this was after prescribing every sleep medication known to man without success. My current routine involves taking obscene ammounts of OTC medicine in waves, I take a bunch, wait an hour, take more etc. until I finally am able to put my head on a pillow. It doesn't always work but most nights I can get three to four hours.
I have gone DAYS without sleep on many occasions, here is how that turns out...........
After two days you have trouble keeping track of the hours, as one day turns into the next it becomes difficult to keep track without a sleep "seperator" to close one day and begin another. After three days you don't care anymore and you stop keeping track. As the sun comes up the birds begin their day, I hate them, their songs sound like jackhammers and I close all the windows. When I finally do fall asleep it's three or four hours, there is no additional rest to make up for the hours I lost.

Op,thanks for this post,as it has produce many remedies for sleeplessness
I have had this problem for as long as I can remember.
After my teens,I resorted to drinking myself to sleep.
But,that just led to trouble down the road after many years of it.

So now,I have to watch my activities, caffeine,and a regiment.
I have to start early with it,get a schedule.
No naps.
Wind down early .
But it's hard to do,and I easily fall out of the regiment.
Life gets in the way,and I can stay up until the wee hours of the morn.
But,now,I will try some of the suggestions by the posters on here.
Thanks. .

Hi, I havent read through all the comments so dont know if anyone covered this one. You sound like your trying to acheive perfection and until this incident with the child you believed you were ok. I dont know what's been discussed in therapy and i'm not really up on insomnia, but I have only recently started to suffer from anxiety and sleeping issues. What's helped me is asking lots of questions about my beliefs and why I behave in the way I do. Understanding alone won't be a cure but it will help - do you spend your life doing what YOU want to do OR do you spend your life doing what you BELIEVE you want to do? If you are unable to sleep you could try reading about your beliefs, where they came from. I'll take a wild guess that your parents are/were rich, successful, professional, expected top grades and you didnt go without anything financial or material as a child. Anyway just a suggestion, good luck.

Originally posted by tomten
reply to post by TheArchaeologist

 

Read a book.
And put on a CD with ocean waves sounds.

It sure makes me sleepy.

You does not need drugs to sleep.
What you need, is make your brain -want- to sleep.

lol

Well staying up for 4 days makes the 5'th day sure seem like my brain wants to sleep.

on topic.

As a fellow insomniac, I understand what you're going through. And I hope someone has working advice later on in the thread!

heres my short term insomia fix.

lots of vodka till I'm pretty hammered.
then a good meal right afterwards.

it ain't healthy, but it works.

First rule of Fight Club.....no one talks about Fight Club!

I personally use a valerian and melatonin capsule. About 30 minutes before bed. It worked better (for me) than klonopin or ambien.

Something like this:

Sleep and restore

reply to post by TheArchaeologist

My mom went for 15 years sometimes only getting 4-5 hours of sleep in One week total.

It ended up being that her Anxiety of Life in general (raised two kids, scraped to get by, always worried) ...well her anxiety in a sense crystalized itself. Like the watchfulness and worrying became the permanent state.

What happens when falling asleep is a profound LETTING GO. The muscle lose tension and the mind retreats and falls back within ...very deep within into a sort of resting point for the mind. In metaphysics advanced meditators see this point as the Cave of the Heart ...where the mind rests during deep sleep.

Once she started doing ground exercises like breathing into her HARA point in the belly, maintaining awareness of and breathing into the heart, and lots of letting Go and surrender to LIFE ...is when she could finally fall asleep.