Insomnia

I've had my first bout of insomnia in a few weeks just now. I was lying in bed and it got to that point where I thought, "Nope, I'm not getting to sleep" and I was wide awake. The problem is I felt more relaxed getting into bed than I have in ages, I was chilled out in bed, I had some nice droney music on and it still didn't happen. AND! I've drunk far less coffee than usual today, which isn't supposed to make me more awake.

I think I know what the problem is. I've been cutting back a good bit on my food (again.) When I was first diagnosed with depression I was on medication that 30 minutes after taking I became incredibly hungry, to the point of an aching pain. So, I would eat. And I discovered very quickly that eating after this medication made me doped out as all tings. Like my body weighed a tonne and everything was woozy and great. Then I'd pass out in bed within seconds. So of course, for a few years, I self-medicated with this weird combination: pill, food, doped up, bed. I genuinely think I was addicted to this pattern. I put on a phenomenal amount of weight during that period (which I am now trying to lose.) However I don't think I've lost the mental association between feeling full and falling asleep. For the past few days I've only gone to bed when I've been up for ages, but tonight I went to bed when I was simply feeling tired. So I'm sitting here, tired, hungry and thinking that the key to getting to sleep is by munching down on those tortilla chips in the kitchen. Which I don't want to do. And I'm fucking pissed off about it all.

Sympathy Like for Millie!

Time to get worried, I think. I slept 2.5 hours and am now wide awake. This means I have gotten a total of 3.5 hours sleep in the last 36 hours. Not cool. I'm going to try laying back down for a bit, I guess...

Pre-CT-scan insomnia. Have spent a fair amount of tonight bonding with the roommates and generally trying to make sure we're all cool, calm, connected, and on the same wavelength. Now I finally packed both of them off to sleep, only to find myself tossing and turning and thinking about everything that could possibly go wrong tomorrow. Screw it, time for ElfQuest comics ALL NIGHT LONG.

Hell, I have the easiest job of all tomorrow. I'm not working, I'm not driving, I just have to go get my innards poked at and photographed. The hell am I worrying about? :P

Three days of sleeping too much, and now I'm awake at 4am. And starving. I wish I had pie...

I'd share mine with you if you weren't on the other side of the country :(

Ugh. It's not insomnia, exactly, but I had a fever a couple days ago, which caused me to sleep a ton. And when the fever broke and I started to get normal amounts of sleep, my sleep schedule happened to be inverted. And that's where I remain, three days later: sleeping all day (poorly) and not able to sleep at night. I don't know why I can't just switch it back; but I stayed up most of yesterday, and yet my body was convinced last night that nighttime is totally the "stay awake" time. So now I'm operating at a sleep deficiency, and debating whether I should try to stay awake another day or just give in to my body & sleep. During the day.

Goddamn circadian rhythms. YOU VILL SLEEP VEN I TELL YOU TO!

Well, this is awesome! For some bizarre reason my body has once again decided that, despite being tired, I won't sleep. It's especially great because I have an exam at 8AM tomorrow and I"ve got to be up at five to ensure I get there in time. :\

I guess I'll just do math for the next hour or so and hope that whatever it is that's keeping me awake passes.

otoh, based on how I'm doing, I am wicked at math when sleepy!

I have insomnia pretty bad. I have tried lots of things to try to get to sleep, but in the long term, almost all of them have not worked out. This doesn't mean it won't work for you, though. Excercise is one, I find it actually gets my brain working more even if it tires my body out, so I don't end up feeling like I need to sleep. I used to use melatonin, but I felt too drugged on it. I also tried valerian, but it didn't work after the first night. Sleeping pills have no effect on me (this is normal for me). I have tried Benadryl as well, and it either leaves me feeling drugged the next day or doesn't work. I have tried drinking camomile tea, and it didn't do anything. I can't listen to music, because I stay awake the entire time, the same goes with white noise or nature sounds.

I've been told to go to bed and get up at the same time, but since I don't seem to need the same amount of sleep every night, it's hard for me to stick to a schedule. I have also tried meditating or counting breaths while lying in bed at night, which seems to work to some extent. I read this trick in a book: close your eyes, relax, and move your eyes back and forth at one second intervals for thirty seconds; let your eyes rest for about thirty seconds to a minute; then move them back and forth again for another thirty seconds. This is supposed to trick your brain into thinking that you're in REM sleep. I have had varying success with this method, but most of the time it gets me relaxed enough so that I end up falling asleep.

Of course, there are some nights where absolutely nothing works.

Just like last time; 5AM rolled around, still haven't done more than dozed a bit. Last time I ditched my early class, not an option today cuz if final exam. :(

Sometimes it helps me to count backwards by decimal places. Counting by whole numbers is too easy. Counting to the thousandths place is much more mind-occupying.

When I can't sleep, usually because my brain is going a billion miles per hour, I lay in bed and try to relax every single muscle in my body starting with my face down to my toes. Usually I fall asleep before I get to the toes! I'm constantly amazed each and every time at how tense the muscles in my face are. Like, without even thinking about it, so tense.

I do the same exercise, but I do it from the toes up. It's relaxing, but it doesn't always help me. Same with mindful breathing type stuff: for normal "Just a little antsy tonight" type insomnia it puts me right down. For the two occasions that were my reason for posting in this thread? Not in the slightest.

One thing that was really weird both times: I had music going in my head. Constantly. I just could not stop it. I guess it was just a bizarre sign of how active my mind was?

Hellooooo insomnia thread. It's almost 4am and I can't fucking sleep. Fuck.

Can't sleep because of anxiety and dread. Trying drawing, it's not working out too well. I just keep getting frustrated.

uuugggghhhh can i just skip to the 29th and then immediately to the 4th please

Why hello, four a.m. Here's hoping Mom can entertain herself tomorrow, because once I finally get to sleep, I'm certainly not engaging before at least one.

One of my brothers reminded me about this song, seems appropriate for the thread. Especially at night.

Holy Jesus Fuckballs I wish I could get back to sleep. Even worse than not being able to sleep is being doped up on pain meds when I can't sleep, because I'm too stupid to do anything useful or interesting. Fucking hell.

Hello insomniacs!

Something I noticed when I was younger and going through a hippy phase was that regular meditation made me drop off to sleep exceptionally quickly.

I seemed to get practiced at shutting the brain down and making it go quiet (the point of meditation) and that followed through to going to sleep.

Maybe something worth learning and trying if your insomnia is really a pain.

It's excellent advice, and I do sort of a meditation-type thing to get myself to sleep sometimes. My problem is that I can't stay asleep. I did a sleep study a couple of weeks ago; I'm hoping my doctor has the results when I see him on Wednesday,

Oh, and update: managed to get a final hour of rest, and then woke up so awake that I've been cleaning. O.O

Four bags of trash, one load of empty boxes, and one load of dishes later... Maybe I should always get up this early. I'm kicking some serious ass here. I'd vacuum and do the laundry, only everyone else is asleep and I don't want to wake everyone...

Gotta love a good cleaning frenzy. I need one of those right about now (my apartment is getting kinda dusty, blech). On topic though, I think I may have become slightly nocturnal. Oops...

I've had a lot of issues with insomnia myself, so I hope it's okay for me to offer what coping methods I've tried over the years.

Melatonin supplements are nice, but as previously mentioned, don't use them constantly (I'm rather fond of them because they give me even more vivid dreams than I usually have).

Certain types of teas help. Sleepytime was what I used to drink; it wasn't the best tasting, but it helped. I find a nice cup of decaf (for the love of all things good, if you have insomnia, STICK TO DECAF; it makes a huge difference) tea with jasmine in it helps lessen my anxiety, which is the usual cause of my insomnia.
On a semi-related note, I've found burning incense is also helpful sometimes.

Certain medications can also help. Sleeping pills are obvious, but it's really easy to become dependent on them, so they're best for short-term help, like for temporary stressors.
I was given Remeron for sleep about 6 months ago, and it worked wonders...unfortunately, it had a few nasty side-effects and I had to stop taking it. I've recently begun Cymbalta for its antidepressant/antianxiety effects. Unfortunately, it's working TOO well and I'm sleeping whenever I get the chance.

So far, my favorite insomnia helper has been my weighted blanket. I was briefly hospitalized back in 2011, and they let me try one; I fell in love, and my family bought one as a gift for me recently. They're expensive, but I know in my case, at least, it was worth every penny. It's like getting the biggest, best hug ever, and it's incredibly soothing.

Yeah, Seroquel made me sleep 22 hours a day, so I feel you. Stupid medications...

I've never tried Seroquel, but I've been routinely prescribed Remeron by several doctors. I haven't had any adverse side-effects, but it sort of just stopped working for me a couple months ago. I was prescribed Keppra XR, which is supposed to make you sleepy, but it's not working so well. It's also an anti-seizure medication. I'm at a loss as to alternatives, but damn it all, I need to sleep. Crap like Unisom or equivalents just fail.

I slept like 12 hours last night! And I only woke up twice! It was totally awesome. Right before I woke up for the final time I had a nightmare that a bunch of you guys were storing your files on my Google Drive and I accidentally deleted them all...

I had mild insomnia last night; I loaded up Chopin's nocturnes and they put me to sleep after a half an hour or so. Still, it wasn't fun!

One thing I've noticed: whenever I get insomnia, I always have the perception of being very overheated. Like I feel ridiculously warm and I imagine that I'm dripping with sweat, even though I'm not. It's a bizarre physiological accompaniment.

A good friend and co-worker of mine has chronic insomnia; there are some nights when she just doesn't go to sleep at all.

She's being referred to a neurologist for a sleep study, but I'm wondering this: how does a sleep study work if you don't actually, you know, sleep? She thinks her problem might be stress-related and maybe needs help turning her brain off.

Oh, yeah, she's been on Ambien before but took herself off after some unfortunate Ambien Walrus incidents involving text messaging.

Even if she's not sleeping they'll be able to monitor all sorts of wacky physiological stuff; maybe they'll find a reason that she's not sleeping.

It is regularly taking me over an hour to fall asleep these days. This can't be normal.

I've always found it extremely difficult to fall asleep with any ind of (certain types of) noise around even if it is extremely low. I'm pretty sure I can hear televisions turned on in apartments several rooms away from by bedroom.

What I've found best in those situations is to use a sound generator, specifically this one that emulates rainweather/storm. I set it to a volume just high enough that I cannot hear the sounds that are bothering me and it always helps.

Why d' hell am I suffering from insomnia after a really great first date? Shouldn't be before the date when I am all nervous?!?!?

At least I'm on Spring break; no class manana.

Between a snoring partner, the infestation of crows outside our building, and throbbing carpal tunnel arms, I have managed about two hours of sleep. And that looks like a maximum for today. I suppose it makes sense, really; depressed naps in the afternoon = more sensitive to insomnia triggers at night.

A new disappointing thing that makes me fall asleep in an instant! READING.

I freaking love to read. It's something I really enjoy. But for some reason, when I try to read anything for an extended period of time, I end up getting really sleepy. Two chapters of something and I'm out like a light.
SO I GUESS YOU COULD TRY THAT, FOLKS! C:

I can read for hours and hours at a time -- unless I try to do it in bed. Zzzzzzz...

I tried reading on the couch? Naptime. I tried reading on the bus? Flopped over sleeping. I try studying for class in the library? A quick nap can't hurt... Needless to say, reading in bed never ends well, hahaha.

Yikes. As long as I'm a) upright and b) not under blankets, I have no problems. Sorry about the bus thing. That would be dreadful. ((hug))