Posted , 6 users are following.
When I go to bed I generally spend around 4/8 hours awake, to the point where I'm hallucinating from tiredness in the night. It's been going on for about a year now, what should I do?
0 likes, 6 replies
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vicky51471 Mrbruce02
Posted
Hi there Mr Bruce
YES YES Lack of sleep is awful as you've said you don't get much at all. Have you been to your dr at all for help with this.
There's obvious things that you can try like no cafine after 8 pm. Try not yo go on computers and phones late( here's me doing it lol) maybe a herbal remidie will help there are many out there.
If you've not been to your dr maybe think of making an apointment with them for some advice.
I have a massive trouble with sleep nd take medication for this but they are not working ad I'm currently on a med change I do have zopiclone as well this is ment to be given only for a short course. It's an hypnotic which tricks your brain to think it's bed time. then it's ment to get you into a pattern. I find they help but I have been on them for years ( despite only ment to be a short course!!! so my body gets used to them So they don't work so effectively then.
i hope you get this sorted it's horrible watching night turn to day with not much sleep in between therefore I never feel refreshed.
take care
vicky
NECKBONE Mrbruce02
Posted
Hi, sorry to hear about your troubles.
1. Do not spend a bunch of time in the bed tossing and turning, trying to go to sleep. If you can't get to sleep within about 20 minutes, get up and go do something like reading, laundry, etc. until you are sleepy enough to go to sleep.
2. Try to limit you time in bed to just the total time you are sleeping right now. If you only get 5 hours of sleep a night, only stay in the bed for 5 hours total. This will be hard at first but gradually you will start sleeping that entire 5 hours. When that happens for an entire week, extend your time in bed for 15 minutes and sleep on that schedule for a week, and so on.
Your sleep/wake cycle is just a little jacked up right now and your brain does not associate the bed with sleep like it once did. The above protocol will put you back on a better track.
Whatever you do, DO NOT start taking pills. They do not work and in fact only make the problem worse. It is so enticing to think that a pill is going to help you get 8 hours again but that is a pipe dream. I have taken them all and they are garbage, every single one. What works is getting your sleep cycle reset, and proper sleep hygiene.
angela91414 NECKBONE
Posted
I agree with all your advice above. I also have problems with sleeping and sometimes I don't sleep all night and the next day feel terrible and then start feeling anxious about not sleeping again that night. The trouble is I have tried getting up when I can't sleep and everyone says go back to bed when you feel sleepy but I don't feel sleepy just anxious that I can't sleep. No matter whatever I do my mind seems to be saying you are just doing that because you can't sleep!! I am so sick of it! I do occasionally take over the counter Nytol just to try and get a couple good hours. Thank goodness for this forum it doesn't make you feel so alone.
Best wishes. Angie
NECKBONE angela91414
Posted
It's tough I know. There were more nights than I can count where I went to sleep at 9PM, only to wake up at 11PM and toss and turn for hours on end before finally drifting off to sleep 30 minutes before I had to get up and go to work. There is a mental shift I had to make to see any progress with sleep hygiene, and that is not fearing a night where I don't get much sleep. Half of the battle with insomnia is defeating the anxiety you feel about poor sleep. But if you don't fear a night of poor sleep, you won't have that anxiety anymore and ironically, you will be able to sleep better. Think about it for a minute; how many nights of poor sleep have you already had? How many days have you already functioned adequately without good sleep? What is one more day going to matter? Not very much. If you wake up in the middle of the night and get out of the bed, I know everyone says to go back to sleep when you are sleepy but there is no guarantee that you are going to get sleepy. There is definitely no use getting back in the bed if you are not sleepy. Just stay up and work on something, go ahead and start your day. I would jokingly tell my wife when she asked how I slept that I had to "work the early shift this morning."
It is not the end of the world and hopefully you will be more sleepy the next night, provided you don't do any napping or go to bed super early. You are far, far better off getting no sleep than you are tossing and turning and drifting in and out of sleep every minute or two.
Nixy Mrbruce02
Posted
Hi Mr Bruce,
Sorry to hear you are suffering... I've suffered too for years and its taken me years of trying all the pills (prescribed and natural) to realize none of them help. For me, I fall asleep quite quickly, say 20 mins but I wake a lot during the night. As Neckbone has already explained... don't spend too much time in bed, if I go to bed when I'm not tired enough, I toss and turn all night. When I wake in the night, my negative thoughts often keep me awake.
Do do you suffer at all from low mood, or maybe anxiety? I would love to hear from everyone on this forum, if this is the case for them??? I think this is the absolute route of my insomnia. I have tried anti-depressants over the years but as one of the side effects is insomnia, it only makes my problems worse.
One day, maybe there will be an antidepressant that doesn't effect R.E.M. Sleep, that would be a god send😴
NECKBONE Nixy
Posted
Hi, not trying to hijack the thread but just responding since you said you'd like to hear from other. Anxiety and depression is a common theme on this insomnia forum and were definitely factors in how mine started. I took antidepressants (Welbutrin) and anti-anxiety meds (Paxil) for awhile and they didn't really have an impact on my sleep. I was already sleeping very poorly and it didn't make it any better, but at least it didn't get worse. What helped my depression and anxiety more than anything was cognitive behavioral therapy with a psychologist. If you read some of the research on depression, a combination of CBT and Antidepressants seems to be the most effective treatment, but that combination is only slightly more effective than CBT alone. Give therapy a try, I bet it will help. Also try to get some exercise every day. I know that's what everyone says but it has been so helpful to me. Take care-