Insomnia

[MrBishop]

I'm an occasional insomniac. Not sure what causes it or what makes it go away. I know that I can sleep well and easily for months on end, and then poof...I can't sleep. For a few weeks, or a month...sleep eludes me.

I've tried hot showers or baths late at night, avoiding coffee and caffeinated drinks after 5pm, avoided sugars, I take nightly walks for up to 1 1/2 hours on end, I read, write and sometimes wander the internet...all in the quest for blissful sleep.

I'm looking for alternatives, cause although being stopped by the police at 2am while walking in my own neighbourhood on a Monday night can be exciting, it gets dull after a while.

I grow my own camomile for tea, but that doesn't work very well. Kava kava has been taken off the market.

Any homeopathic cures that you know of? Over the counter pills?

 

[PT]

It's not over the counter, but I use Ambien from time to time. I've tried some of the OTC stuff and they usually leave you feeling a little drugged up the next day. Never had that feeling with the Ambien.

 

[Professur]

I've tried some of the OTC stuff and they usually leave you feeling a little drugged up the next day.

Somebody put that into our advertising, willya.

 

[Luis G]

I regularly have nightmares. Don't know if that's worse than insomnia.

 

[ResearchMonkey]

Sounds a little like cycling to me, ever been manic?

 

[ClaireBear]

Sounds a little like cycling to me, ever been manic?

Wow! RM nice... !

*CB hands RM a sledgehammer...*

It may be more subtle!

First I would look at what happens repeatedly in your life which may increase (unbeknownst to you) your stress levels... is it the credit card/store card/mortgage payments each month? is it a monthly meeting with your boss? Is it a biannual visit from the inlaws?

From there I would consider lifestyle changes and using herbal remedies... then perhaps consulting a doctor for something a little stronger or simply to discuss other options with a professional.

I'm not an insomniac but like Luis I can suffer from extreme nightmares which often makes me too scared to sleep...

I get those ones where I feel like there's someone in the room with me... in the corner... some times watching me other times with her back to me... she keeps moving forward and forward towards me.. until shes looking right at me her face inches from mine... the scary thing is I can FEEL her presence!!!!! Its like she's holding me down.... I want to wake up but I can't..... and I can't move.... *shudder*

God its aweful....

 

[Gato_Solo]

Read your motherboard manual...If you don't fall asleep, you'll at least be well on the way. )

 

[Digital]

Read your motherboard manual...If you don't fall asleep, you'll at least be well on the way. )

That thing is cool! Too bad I lost it.

I found that truck stop speed works. Confused? Let me explain: After a week of no sleep, I realized that work was REALLY suffering. A few months back, my friend told me about a little thing called Jellow Jackets (Now known as Yellow Swarm) It's chalked full of ephedrine, caffeine, ginko, and other energy products. I'll tell you now: I hate this shit. But it does keep you up for work and wear the SHIT out of you. When I got home that night, I slept until 1:00 the next afternoon.

 

[Sharky]

I regularly have nightmares. Don't know if that's worse than insomnia.

Same here. It's really bad when they are lucid dreams. I wake up feeling like I never slept.

 

[MrBishop]

Sounds a little like cycling to me, ever been manic?

It's not that regular and I havn't been manic. I keep an eye on that with schizophrenia in my family.

Though it isn't something that I had taken into effect. Cyclical depression and insomnia.

 

[Dave]

Sounds a little like cycling to me, ever been manic?

legitimate question.

if this is something that has been going on for years now, i'd consult a doctor. at the very least, maybe you could get a script for some sleep meds like PT mentioned (which a lot of people that have used it, swear by it)

when i have tough time sleeping, i ususally just take some benadryl. it can leave you feeling a bit dopy in the morning though.

i sometimes dream i'm at work all night long. when that happens between two workdays, it can feel like one very loooong day...

 

[tonksy]

when i lived in LA i never dreamt. nowadays i dream quite frequently...weird huh? i would try taping golf tournaments...terribly interesting but the whispering voices always knock me out.
oh! and i toke ambien once...thought that my drug dulled self would be able to withstand it...shit made me fall asleep sitting up...it's a godsend.

 

[Wacky Nacky]

I have insomnia too sometimes :$ I take melatonine now, everynight. It's over the counter, you can get it at a health store. You're going to want to sleep about 30 mins after taking it

 

[ResearchMonkey]

Wow! RM nice... !

*CB hands RM a sledgehammer...*

It may be more subtle!

blah blahy blah . . . . .

*takes sledge-hammer from clairbear before she harms herself anymore with it*

Mania does not mean someone needs hospitalization or medication. Some of the most successful people in history have been manic. You, my dear, are locked in the stigma of the word and it associations.

I have light episodes of both mainia and depression. I have used medication before, I would gladly again if I needed too.


Bish,

I am just fishing here looking to see if there is more.

Do people ever comment on how much you're able get done at times? Do you sometimes have an spontainous idea then complete the project in 2-days and stun people? (like building a rock garden in the yard)

If you having 'insomnia episodes' (periods of several days or weeks with out sleep) and find there is a pattern (not a perfect pattern like the moon cycles), you may want look more closely at what you do during an episode. Do you have alot of wondering thoughts. (your writing, walking, surfing, etc).

Not that any of this is bad, its only if it interferes with you living a fairly *normal life that it becomes an issue. Going more then 72 hours with out sleep is *usually a concern.


Whacky and Bish,

Meletonin will usually work, but there is often long term side effect using it regularly. It is a neuro-transmitter that induces sleep when there is a lack of light stimulus .

When you add meletonin to your body regularly your body reduces its own production of meletonin to keep the *correct levels . The pituatary gland may or may not ever beable to go back up to nomal production levels of your natural meletonin after a long periods of in-activity.

Ofcourse this a fully debateable subject as it is with neuro transmitter (since we don't know what 9/10 of them are.)

Read up on it. As with any medcation; if the risk are worth it for you, then its the right move for you.

 

[Leslie]

I've read that too about Melatonin...was gonna start it up but decided against it.

 

[Sharky]

Guaranteed insomnia cure: Listen to Skip Carey call a Braves baseball game on the radio.