Strategies for deep sleep when you have insomnia

I suffer from insomnia my entire life

I’ve suffered from insomnia my entire life. It’s been a great handicap for me trying to fit into the standard time of the education/business world. It seems that my body wants to go to bed at 4am and sleep until 2pm or so and nothing I can do can change that schedule. I started taking Tylenol PM years ago and I have to take it every single night or I can’t get to sleep.

Even so it takes from 2 to 4 hours to really work. And sometimes even that doesn’t work. I’ve never been able to be a good breadwinner since most employers want you to work when they want. And that usually means early in the morning.

I find the best thing to do is to try to stay on one steady schedule as much as possible. I try to take the TPM at the same time every night. However after a few weeks I’ll hit a night where it doesn’t work, then I have to try to function the next day on little or no sleep.

After that the lack of sleep builds up until I have to take a day off to “catch-up”. It sometimes takes two or three days to get caught up on my sleep. The whole thing is very frustrating and sometimes it makes me angry, but I have long since learned to come to terms with it.

I have talked to doctors but nothing they could ever do was any more helpful than what I was already doing. I know there are new medications for this condition but I haven’t tried them yet. One of the best things I’ve done is to invest in an expensive “memory-foam” bed that helps me relax and sleep better, once I do fall asleep.

Funny thing though I can’t fall asleep in my bed. I have to fall completely asleep in my recliner in front of the television first. Then I can get up (without waking all the way up) and go to bed. Then I can sleep. With the help of the TPM I can fall asleep by about 2-3 am most nights.

Insomnia after head injury

I began having trouble falling asleep after an accident that caused head injuries. It was a serious accident which involved a lot of pain. Therefore, for the first few years the sleep pattern was not noticed because of pain medications.

However, after the pain medication was removed then the sleeping patterns changed and sleep deprivation set in. In the beginning, maybe because I was in my twenties missing sleep was not a problem. I utilized the time by studying my college work or writing.

However, once work began and I got older the sleeping patterns started affecting my work and my family life. I was prescribed medications such as to treat bi polar disorders. Trazadone and depakote and zoloft. These medications which are non narcotic made my sleeping patterns more normal and regular.

I control insomnia with Ambien-CR and Zolpidem

I’ve had insomnia for several years, at first it wasn’t every night, but it kept getting worse. I used to just give up trying to go to sleep and find things to do around the house, pay bills, go online, watch television or read. Most of the time I would eventually get tired enough to go to sleep.

My problem was trying to shut off my mind; I couldn’t stop thinking about my day or what I needed to do the next day. Then when I did fall asleep I would often wake up after just a few short hours and not be able to go back to sleep. In addition to all that I also have nightmares, I have had them since I was a little kid and everyone said I would grow out of it. I never did.

Like everyone else I had an especially hard time sleeping when stress levels were high. Finally, I had enough and went to see a doctor. He prescribed Ambien-CR, to help me stay asleep.

First, I used the lower dose (6.25mg), but I would still wake up, so I switched to the higher dose (12.5mg) that worked great for me. I took Ambien at that dose for over a year, I am definitely dependant on them to get a good night sleep.

Now, due to new insurance changes, I have switched to the generic Zolpidem (10mg) and it seems to be working pretty well. I do wake up most days around four or five a.m., but I can deal with that. For me, I feel that medication was the right decision.

Insomnia is pattern of my life

Most people who suffer from insomnia can not get off to sleep, not me. Oh I have insomnia all right, but it is not the getting to sleep that is the problem. It is staying there. I do all the things that are meant to help. Warm bath, clean cotton pajamas and bedding, warm milky drink, herbal sleeping tablets, the lot, all to no avail.

I go to bed at ten o’clock, read a little, nothing to demanding just a little light fiction and never TV and then at ten thirty lights out, sleep by eleven, then awake by three.

It is not that I do not need much sleep I just wake up and I am tired, bone weary tired, but sleep will not come.

Any more until the following night and I know it. I do not even try any more, I get up and know I am in for another exhausted day. This has been the pattern of my life for the past couple of years and I can see no end.

Can’t sleep without Lunesta sleeping pills

I have been unable to sleep without pills, of some sort, for many years. Every night I use to go to bed with dread every night. Laying in the bed night after night unable to stop the random thoughts running through my mind, unable to go to sleep, it is torture. It wears down your body and befuddles your mind. It makes every morning an unwelcome eventuality.

The clock is a enemy. Ticking away the hours , counting down the time you have left before having to get up for work again. The weekends are not any better. On the weekends you get to stay up later trying to wear yourself out so you may sleep later. All you get for that is a worn out body and an even more befuddled mind! I have taken all the advice from doctors and friends.

No coffee, no tea, no heavy meals before bed, exercise, no exercise, reading, completely darkened room, and even painting my room and adding black out blinds! Many other natural remedies, as well, did not work. In the last ten years I have resorted to presciption medication, as welll as over the counter medication.

I have tried different sleeping pills and used “Lunesta” for a year. My doctor decided I should get off of the Lunesta after one year due to addiction concerns. So for a couple of years I took “Tylenol PM” every night. I started out taking two, but, within a couple of months I was taking three a night! When it started taking four to help me to sleep I went back to the doctor.

Needless to say she wasn’t pleased with my taking so many “Tylenol PM,” every night. She represcribed the “Lunesta.” Which worked very well, however, one year later the doctor makes me stop again! Now I am back on the “Tylenol PM,” but am managing, at the moment, with only three a night. I still have no answers about what my sleep deprivation. The doctor suggested it could be due to the fact I am bi-polar and take no medication.

I also started menopause in my late thirties and that too is a factor. I suppose it could be due to either one of these factors, or perhaps something totally different, the doctors have never given me a definitive answer. I worry about the fact I take so many pills. I worry what damage I may doing myself. I need to sleep at night, so I need the pills. I have had many conversations with friends on this issue and they agree I really need to find a way to sleep without the pills.

They really haven’t any real advice as how to do that though! So, I suppose that it is about time to go back to the doctor. I know that I will be needing that “Lunesta” prescription again, real soon. I will continue to try different methods, but, I am resigned to taking medications, at least until someone finds a different answer for we who are sleep deprived.

30 years with insomnia

I suffered from insomnia for 30 years before I sought medical help. At the onset of puberty I began to lay awake nights with my mind whirling, my body tense and my teeth gritted. I told my mother and she brushed it off as “hormones” and I continued to experience long nights and bleary days.

I tried stopping all caffeine, hot baths, relaxing music, reading very dull books and counting sheep but nothing worked. One thing that worked for a short while was to do subtraction of odd five digit numbers.

For example: 17,423 - 2,297 = ? Usually I would bore myself to sleep but this solution only worked for a year or so. Upon the advice of a friend I had met shortly after my 40th birthday, I spoke to my doctor about my problem. I was told that my problem most likely stemmed from anxiety as it had lasted so long.

I was prescribed 20 mg of Paxil which I refused to take; after all there was nothing wrong with me! After a particularly bad week at work compounded / caused by lack of sleep I filled the prescription and promptly told my boss what I was about to go through. The initial three weeks as my body adapted to the drug was dreadful I could not sleep at night but I dozed off at my desk every afternoon.

After taking the Paxil for approximately six weeks I realized one day that I felt so rested, calm, in control and where was the constant headache and knot in my stomach? I would have to recommend that if you are suffering from insomnia, perhaps you should check with your doctor to see if anxiety may be your problem. If not, you can lay awake at night as usual assured that you are not crazy like me.