My average amount of sleep since I moved here has been about two hours during the night. This is possibly the most frustrating thing ever as a) it increases nausea b) it increases headaches c) it makes my illnesses flare up and d) it makes me feel like a crazy-ass zombie.
And trust me, no one wants to see me as a crazy-ass zombie. I’m crazy enough as it is.
Sometimes, if I’m a lucky girl, I can manage to grab a nap during the day. It seems to be a little easier to sleep during the day, like a forbidden fruit kind of situation. If I nap, I’m more likely to make my night sleeping worse, but if I force myself to stay up all day, it most certainly does not guarantee any more sleep than those two hours, so it really makes me think that I should grab the sleep while the sleep is taunting me. It’s probably taunting me because I’m hallucinating due to lack of sleepy times. AHHHH. MY BRAIN.
Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn’t power through the nights with a whole bunch of coffee and try to get something done and then crash out during the day. The way I’m currently approaching life is equaling very little done ever, which is not really how I like to live. I might have to try that some night soon.
I have numerous things to talk about when I book my next doctor’s appointment, and this is definitely going to be one of them. If I can’t learn to sleep, then I want a sleeping pill that will knock me out for a solid ten hours. I’ve been on every sleeping pill that I know of and have yet to accomplish this, but there has to be something better out there. One can only take so much.
Okay fellow insomniacs:
a) How on Earth do you get any sleep at night?
b) What are you taking to sleep at night?
c) Or do you party (if only) all night and sleep all day?
Answers would be much appreciated!
Oh yes, I know you well!
TRUTH. Unfortunate truth, but truth all the same.
I’m sending good sleepy wishes out to everyone who reads this!! Some people need to go sleep so I can live vicariously through them!
xoxo,
Annie
Hi Annie,
I’m so sorry. That sounds awful. Here are a few things that have helped me:
1) Sometimes I can’t sleep because my brain is going a million miles per hour. I’ve been listening to audiobooks now for a couple of years, and that gives me something else to concentrate on. You have to find a narrator that isn’t annoying and a story that’s not too sad, but by focusing on something else, it can lull me to sleep or entertain me for hours on end so that I don’t stress myself out even more. My favorite narrator is “gypsygirl” at librivox.org.
2) If I’m in a lot of achy pain, I’ve discovered that adding blankets helps. Basically if there’s something weighing down on me, it gives me some relief from the pain, which helps me relax and makes it all the more likely that I’ll fall asleep.
3) Have you tried sleeping in different places or positions? I’ve discovered that sleeping partially sitting up has been the trick sometimes. Also, for some reason, sleeping on the coach is somehow more comfortable because there’s something to lean my back against. I’m not really sure why, but I have another friend who has noticed the same thing.
4) Take a couple days off work/life and focus on making up the sleep deficit. (Or see if you can only work mornings for the rest of the week.) Otherwise, you’ll just drive yourself crazy. Plus, you’re not really getting anything useful done as it is. I’ve found that to be helpful as a starting point; once you’re not a complete zombie, then it’s a lot easier to fall back into a “normal” sleep rhythm.
I hope that this helps or that something starts working for you. I know how frustrating it can be. I’ll be praying for you.
Love,
Abigail
I wish I could average out my hypersomnia with your insomnia.
The rare occasions that I have insomnia, I find a half valium helpful in relaxing me enough to sleep. I heartily second Abigail’s suggestion for audiobooks. Anything by Jane Austen is nice and relaxing – no battles or murders or any events that will lead to bad dreams.
The one thing that doesn’t help is Ambien. It will get me to sleep, but it won’t keep me asleep. As soon as it wears off, I wake back up. The only time I use it is when I have a bad migraine an want to sleep it off. However, my mother (fibromyalgia) has been taking Ambien for years, so ymmv.
My mother also takes a long hot bath at bedtime to help relax her muscles enough to sleep. In her case it is pain that keeps her up.
Good luck. Insomnia is horrible. Much worse than hypersomnia, in my opinion.
Ugh, sleep. This is a big issue for me too. What I am currently doing is this: 3 Benadryl a couple hours before bed, 2 mgs of chewable melatonin about an hour before bed, and a muscle relaxer which has a very slightly sedating quality (which I take primarily for my muscle pain and it does help). Occasionally I also take one of my anti-anxiety pills (Klonopin). That really does make a difference in how I sleep, but I can’t use it all the time as it’s highly addictive and using it frequently will damper it’s calming effects, which is also something I really need at times.
I have tried various herbal supplements without much success. Making a STRONG kava tea does help me relax, but it ALWAYS makes me have to get up several times during the night to pee, so that kind of negates it’s positive effects.
There are some mental exercises you can do which help calm the mind and get you to sleeping; things like imagining your body is slowly submerging in a magical relaxing water, etc. Those kind of things can be helpful, but it’s a bit hit or miss for me.
I almost never just get up and power through; for one, it doesn’t help me to get to sleep when I do go back to bed, but the main reason is because it makes me feel so much sicker the next day. I’ve found that, for me, just laying quietly in a dark room is better for my body than getting up, even if I’m not actually sleeping.
Oh, I also have a special playlist on my Ipod of relaxing music which I play while going to sleep. Sometimes having the TV on can help, but sometimes it ends up keeping me up.
Good luck! I hope you can find some relief.
Thank you everyone for all the super helpful tips! I will be checking these all out, plus I got a prescription for zopiclone so that should help too!
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