Long term insomnia effects

An added problem from my debilitating tiredness is feeling cold and my body temperature is seldom over 95F (35c)

Hello, again derek sorry to hear you are suffering like this. I suppose you've tried all the usual stuff? Gentle exercise, warm bath keep bedroom just for sleeping, stick to regular times, no watching tablets or phones , warm bedtime milky drink don"t take your worries to bed write them down etc? I have persistent loud tinnitus and when I first got it I couldn't sleep for weeks. Add to that sleeping on a wedge or sitting bolt upright putting pressure on your bony coccyx and it makes you want to get up and do the ironing

I did what you do stopped fretting about it and got up and did stuff.

I try not to nap in the day but what really helped me was audiobooks. Like being a kid again having someone read a bedtime story! Not sure if that's any use to you or not. Being retired changes a lot of things you begin to feel you don't matter anymore I think but time is probably more precious now than anytime? Good luck.

In short, insomnia sucks. 😕

Sorry to read about your struggles again, Derek. As you know, I too drag myself around in an exhausted state, trying to convince myself that the sleep I get is enough. when it obviously isn't.

My wife sleeps like a log, too. I think that's good, as much as I would sometimes like for her to understand what I'm going through, still I don't wish this on anyone, and also I think two insomniacs in one home would only feed each other's insomnia. This way at least some level or normalcy is maintained.

Have you tried sedatives? Not that I'm pushing them, just though they might get you some relief, short term, if they work.

Isn't it terrible, having a whole day for yourself and just spending it in a vegetative exhausted state.

And I too wonder about long term effects of all this,but like someone already said, they are impossible to measure objectively.

Try drinking a glass of hot adult formula milk 1 hour before sleep. It might help. If you could drink 2 glasses a day but space it out or you end up going to the toilet middle of the night.

Google how digital devices have blue light which disrupt sleep. Try install apps like twilight to switch your phone to block blue light and see if it helps. You could also try not to look at digital devices 1 to 2 hours before bed. It does disrupt your sleep. You might want to try getting a pair of block blue light glasses and wear it few hours before sleep. It will help.

Soak your feet in a small basin before bed in slightly hot water. It helps too.

Most nights I get off to sleep OK. My problem is waking up almost exactly two hours later. I get up for awhile and hopefully back to sleep but soon waken up again. This happens three times and I end up with more difficulty in getting back to sleep each time.

Its past 4 in the morning as im writing this, I have suffered from what you would call 'chronic' insomnia for nearly 2 years now, before that i at least could get some sleep 3 or 4 times a week. Now i am lucky to get 2 hours of fitfull sleep a night. Just cannot get to sleep. When i do manage its in snatches of 30 mins or so. After 3 or 4 days of this i used to catch up and sleep for 6 hours or so but not anymore. I barely function like i used to. I suffer from Rheumatoid arthritis as well so my sleep problem worsened. Somone in the comments mentioned sleeping tablets. I think docs have been scared off prescribing anything like mogadon ect so now give you advice like stop smoking, dont drink alchohol and so on. Ido wish any fellow sufferers luck in finding some effective help . If you are feeling like me i would give almost anything for one good nights sleep.