severe long term insomnia

Insomniated1

Im a 33 year old and for the lat 10 years I've struggled with severe insomnia.

When I was younger I never had an issue with sleep. In college I would sleep from 12am to 12pm every night, uninterupted, not even woken by my 9am lecture alarm. I literally did not have one bad nights sleep up until I was 23 years of age. Then, suddenly and out of nowhere, it hit.

The summer after I finished my final year in college I worked as a painter and decorator. One night I struggled to get to sleep and could not stay asleep once I had. The following day in work I was exhausted but got through the day, knowing I'd sleep like a baby that night. However, the next night the same thing happened - I tossed and turned and even when i did fall asleep, it didnt last long. Needless to say, the following morning i was completely exhausted. For the last 10 years, this has been my life, with about 5 or 6 days in the week where im completed shattered a bad nights sleep.

To go back to the beginning, after those first 2 nights, things went back to normal for a couple of months. Then, I found an office job in Cork and moved there. The fist week in the job I slept 1 or 2 hours a night. I was surprised & frustrated but I put it down to the change in lifestyle - i'd moved to a city, was working in an office job for the first time in my life, and was living with strangers. However, the insomnia didnt relent. I remember, back then, it generally took the form of not being able to fall asleep, and a growing sense of panic as the clock ticked passed 3am, 4am. Most days, I was a zombie. That was until I found Zimovane. I first got Zimovane from my Mum, who has struggled on and off with insomnia most of her life too. The first time I took one, I slept 8 hours, straight, for the first time in months. It was ecstasy. So, naturally, I went to the doctor and got a prescription. Then when that ran out, I went back and got another. When that ran out and my doctor refused to give me another prescription, fearing - correctly - i'd become an addict, I went to another doctor, gave him the sob story and got another prescription. This continued, unabated for 3 years. As with most drugs, the affect began to wear off and I had to take a little bit more. Eventually, I was taking 2 pills a night but back to only getting 3 or 4 hours sleep a night. Long story short, I went cold turkey and finally got off the sleeping pills. The firt 3 months were extremely bad - i slept 1 or 2 but i'd taken time off work in anticipation of this. I expected that after a few months off them, my natural sleep would come back. I'd read that when over-indulging on sleeping pills, connections between neurons in the brain that react together to make you sleep become weaker because the drug takes over their job of making the body fall asleep. The theory was that once free of pahrmaceuticals, the natural sleep process in the brain eventually returns. However, 7 years later, I still struggle virtualy every night to get a proper deep sleep.

This is what a regular night is like for me now: I go to bed at 12.30am and fall asleep within 15 minutes. Hoever I usually do not fall into a deep sleep. I repeatedly wake up and get back to sleep. Then around 5am, im awake with no prospect of getting back to sleep. I get up about 6.30am, exhausted, depressed, angry and frustrated. In work im unsociable, short-tempered and dispirited. I get constant quick sharp headaches, my head is foggy and my memory is dreadful. The follwoing night, the same pattern is repeated. I literally have not had 8 hours sleep in 10 goddamn years.

Here's what I've tried:
- sleeping pills - worked for 4 weeks then became addicted and it destroyed my brain cells
- valaerian - useless
- melatonin - useless
- mediatation - useless for insomnia but I still practice it because it helps deal with anxiety and depression
- hypnosis - useless and the hypnotist tends to be a 250 euro an hour conman
- sleep specialist in Mater hospital - i've been about 4 times down through the years and have found it outrageously expensive and the advice insultingly basic (dont drink coffee, read Eckhart Tolle)

I've even went overseas and had an overnight sleep test done (to do so in Ireland it very expensive, naturally). The results weren't too helpful: tests showed I woke up 88 times during the night. I wasnt aware of most of most of these awakenings, but, essentially, I awake constantly throughout the night. The test also showed I have great diffcultuy achieving stage 4 of sleep (stage 4 is the deepest sleep). I go between stage 1 and 2, occasionally dipping into stage 3 and never achieved stage 4. That was pretyy depressing because it told me what I already know - I can call asleep reasonably quickly but the sleep is shallow, disturbed and short-lived.

Im writing this post out of desperation because in the last 6 months the insomnia has become more and more debilitating, to the point where it looks like I'll soon ahve to give up my job. These days, I sleep reasoably well (5 hours of fairly undisturbed sleep I consider great) about 2 out of 10 nights. Oddly, I find that if I have a lot of drinks on a saturday night, Ill sleep very soundly on the sunday, but dreadful monday, tuesday, wednesday etc. I tried avoiding alcohol altogether for 3 months but the sleep did not improve.

So please, if anyone ahs any advice, or knows of some insomnia miracle worker based in Ireland, please let me know. Im not sure how much longer I can go on like this.

unjedilike

<SNIP>

This sort of advice isn't helpful and while not technically medical advice it's still contravening the charter

endacl

<SNIP>

Editing out quoted material from previous post

I'd recommend talking to a therapist. A calm mind can sleep. A worrying one can't. Yours won't switch off, OP. Insomnia is a feedback loop. Worry leads to worry. The catch 22 is when you start worrying about the condition itself.

Insomniated1

@unjedilike

I should have mentioned that i've tried marijuana already. Its good for falling asleep but not for staying asleep. I fall alseep pretty quickly, the problem is that its a restless low quality sleep.

Insomniated1

@endacl

I dont lie in bed worried about not sleeping - this has been going on for 10 years so im completely used to getting through the next day on 2 hours sleep cos ive done it so often. I fall alseep quickly but once asleep, i cannot stay asleep. i wouldnt say im a worrier either.

Weirdly, every 3 months or so I have 1 week where I sleep like a baby - 7 hours straight, and feel great. This period happens suddenly, and then just as suddenly im back to my normal tossing and turning. Ive tried to examine this by looking at my diet during that week, or anything else I did differently. But i've never noticed anything different.

George Michael

god man that sounds really bad. the one thing i need is a good nights sleep for the next day. i dont know what to say.

Shint0

Have you ever had your Vitamin D levels checked?

Insomniated1

Shint0 wrote: »

Have you ever had your Vitamin D levels checked?

I've had lots of tests done - everything is always normal though im not sure if they specifically checked vitamin D though. I've a healthy diet anyway. I eat fruit and am a vegetarian so I doubt i would have a vitamin D deficiency.

George Michael

what about an anti depressent. some help you sleep

Polo_Mint

acupuncture?

TherapyBoy

Insomniated1 wrote: »

I've had lots of tests done - everything is always normal though im not sure if they specifically checked vitamin D though. I've a healthy diet anyway. I eat fruit and am a vegetarian so I doubt i would have a vitamin D deficiency.

Diet contributes very little to your vitamin D level, it's still mostly a skin-in-sunlight thing & I believe most Irish people have low levels anyway because of our lovely weather.

Shint0 wrote: »

Have you ever had your Vitamin D levels checked?

I have had problems with insomnia & my vitamin D was recently tested as quite low but I haven't seen/heard anything about vitamin D deficiency causing problems with sleeping. Is there a link between them?

Insomniated1

George Michael wrote: »

what about an anti depressent. some help you sleep

I've tried these but always quit due to the side effects. I know there are others i could try though that are good for sleep. I really don't want to have to rely in pills just to sleep though, it seems completely unnatural. As a last resort, I may try them again however

Insomniated1

Polo_Mint wrote: »

acupuncture?

Yes I've tried that it didnt help. I'd be very sceptical of acupuncture. Scientifically, it hasnt been proven to work for any ailment

Riven_Sky

Insomniated1 wrote: »

I've had lots of tests done - everything is always normal though im not sure if they specifically checked vitamin D though. I've a healthy diet anyway. I eat fruit and am a vegetarian so I doubt i would have a vitamin D deficiency.

Sorry to hear about all you've been through. You mention being vegetarian and having trouble with quality of sleep particularly. Vitamin B12 is one thing that comes to mind. There is evidence (admittedly not a huge amount) that a deficiency in it effects the sleep cycle, particularly how restorative sleep is/how you progress through sleep cycles.

There's a reasonably good chance you've had it checked already and been told it's normal. Just be aware that what's considered deficiency in B12 in Ireland is usually under 200pmol/l. In other countries deficiency is anything under 500 and there is evidence that people experience symptoms of deficiency while having what would be considered normal levels here. I'm one of those people and a discussion with my doctor about the above in the context of my symptoms was enough for them to agree to treat me. Just something to consider which is relatively straightforward to remedy. It does take time to build the levels up and reverse any symptoms. It might be worth getting your levels checked again with your GP and taking it from there.

Low vitamin D can also contribute to insomnia, is a common deficiency here due to our lack of good sun, and isn't always routinely checked so might be worth getting checked alongside B12.

rucksack

Sleeping pills destroyed brain cells after taking them four weeks?

Jobsearch16

I also developed insomnia when I was 23, so have been unable to sleep for the last 17 yrs. At the same time I developed social and general anxiety. I believe my insomnia stemmed from working ridiculously long hours in a very stressful IT role. Out of desperation, I turned to sleeping pills when I was 32 and they destroyed my life. I was addicted for 8 yrs. I quit taking them 8 days ago and have turned to exercise instead. Last night I slept 2 hours which for me is a miracle.

Have you tried exercise? Something that will exhaust you?
Like you, I have tried everything, therapists, herbalists, hypnotherapy and nothing worked

Insomniated1

Jobsearch16 wrote: »

I also developed insomnia when I was 23, so have been unable to sleep for the last 17 yrs. At the same time I developed social and general anxiety. I believe my insomnia stemmed from working ridiculously long hours in a very stressful IT role. Out of desperation, I turned to sleeping pills when I was 32 and they destroyed my life. I was addicted for 8 yrs. I quit taking them 8 days ago and have turned to exercise instead. Last night I slept 2 hours which for me is a miracle.

Have you tried exercise? Something that will exhaust you?
Like you, I have tried everything, therapists, herbalists, hypnotherapy and nothing worked

You sound like you're very similar to me. I exercise almost every day. I've never found it helped with sleep. In fact, if I do a very hard session, I'll sleep worse that night.

Do you ever have a short spell, maybe 4 or 5 nights, where you sleep normally? Every 4 months or so, I suddenly will sleep well for 4 or 5 nights, then its back to 4 hours a night again after that

Insomniated1

rucksack wrote: »

Sleeping pills destroyed brain cells after taking them four weeks?

Is this in reply to me? I took them every day for 3 and a hal years and i firmly believe they have altered my brain chemistry irreparably

Insomniated1

Riven_Sky wrote: »

Sorry to hear about all you've been through. You mention being vegetarian and having trouble with quality of sleep particularly. Vitamin B12 is one thing that comes to mind. There is evidence (admittedly not a huge amount) that a deficiency in it effects the sleep cycle, particularly how restorative sleep is/how you progress through sleep cycles.

There's a reasonably good chance you've had it checked already and been told it's normal. Just be aware that what's considered deficiency in B12 in Ireland is usually under 200pmol/l. In other countries deficiency is anything under 500 and there is evidence that people experience symptoms of deficiency while having what would be considered normal levels here. I'm one of those people and a discussion with my doctor about the above in the context of my symptoms was enough for them to agree to treat me. Just something to consider which is relatively straightforward to remedy. It does take time to build the levels up and reverse any symptoms. It might be worth getting your levels checked again with your GP and taking it from there.

Low vitamin D can also contribute to insomnia, is a common deficiency here due to our lack of good sun, and isn't always routinely checked so might be worth getting checked alongside B12.

Yes, I've had multiple medical checks done and B12 has never been mentioned. I'll look into this, thanks

rucksack

Insomniated1 wrote: »

Is this in reply to me? I took them every day for 3 and a hal years and i firmly believe they have altered my brain chemistry irreparably

Yes it was reply to you. I thought you said 4 weeks

Spanish Eyes

Taking a magnesium supplement has helped me enormously. It is also good for mild anxiety too. Take it with a glass of milk when in the bed.

I know may not help everyone, but is worth a try.

The B12 tip is a good one too.

rucksack

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Taking a magnesium supplement has helped me enormously. It is also good for mild anxiety too. Take it with a glass of milk when in the bed.

I know may not help everyone, but is worth a try.

The B12 tip is a good one too.

why is it very fast to act?

Spanish Eyes

rucksack wrote: »

why is it very fast to act?

Just works for me, I can feel myself drifting off when reading the kindle!

Nothing to stop you taking it earlier.

caviardreams

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Just works for me, I can feel myself drifting off when reading the kindle!

Nothing to stop you taking it earlier.

I find it helps me a bit too - definitely worth a try but make sure you get a bioavailable type and take enough of it. Avoid Magnesium oxide as the body doesn't absorb it well.

Jobsearch16

Unfortunately, I don't get any time where I sleep any number of nights. I have seen a number of psychiatrists also looking for help with anxiety and one of those just blatantly said "you are an insomniac, nothing can be done except to prescribe a stronger sleeping pill, which he wouldnt advise as it withdraws from the body really fast and causes terrible side effects. He went on to state that due to not sleeping every part of my life would be more difficult. Its been nearly 2 weeks since I stopped the sleeping tablets. The exercise during the day helped me to sleep for 2 hrs for the first few days. Last night at 3.30am, I had to take 2.5mg of valium as I had been up for 50 hrs straight. You are correct about the damage that sleeping pills do to the brain. My long term memory has been obliterated. Most of my life experiences are now a blank, I can not remember anything. I also tried the magnesium, unfortunately it doesnt work. What does seem to work is alcohol. As Im not working, I dont really have much money to socialise. If I do go out and have a few drinks, I get about 4 hrs sleep. The next night I am wrecked, so I get about 6 hrs. As I dont drink at home, this rarely happens.

Insomniated1

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Taking a magnesium supplement has helped me enormously. It is also good for mild anxiety too. Take it with a glass of milk when in the bed.

I know may not help everyone, but is worth a try.

The B12 tip is a good one too.

Will try this thanks

Insomniated1

Jobsearch16 wrote: »

Unfortunately, I don't get any time where I sleep any number of nights. I have seen a number of psychiatrists also looking for help with anxiety and one of those just blatantly said "you are an insomniac, nothing can be done except to prescribe a stronger sleeping pill, which he wouldnt advise as it withdraws from the body really fast and causes terrible side effects. He went on to state that due to not sleeping every part of my life would be more difficult. Its been nearly 2 weeks since I stopped the sleeping tablets. The exercise during the day helped me to sleep for 2 hrs for the first few days. Last night at 3.30am, I had to take 2.5mg of valium as I had been up for 50 hrs straight. You are correct about the damage that sleeping pills do to the brain. My long term memory has been obliterated. Most of my life experiences are now a blank, I can not remember anything. I also tried the magnesium, unfortunately it doesnt work. What does seem to work is alcohol. As Im not working, I dont really have much money to socialise. If I do go out and have a few drinks, I get about 4 hrs sleep. The next night I am wrecked, so I get about 6 hrs. As I dont drink at home, this rarely happens.

Quitting sleeping pills entirely is a must. Its hard but has to be done. One thing you should do is spend no more than 6 hours in bed. So if you go to bed at 12, get up at 6am. Stick to this no matter how hard it is. Its vital not to lie in past 6am. After a few days, I guarantee you will notice you sleep better

George Michael

do you work op? if i was an insomniac there is no way i could work

Insomniated1

George Michael wrote: »

do you work op? if i was an insomniac there is no way i could work

Yes, i have to. You get used to it, its been 10 years. A lot of nights ill get 4 hours, which is enough to work

northgirl

OP I really relate to and empathise with your situation. I don't sleep well in general but going through an acutely poor phase of insomnia for a number of weeks. Almost called in sick today to work which I never do but I didn't in the end. It's affecting everything at the moment and it's hard not to let it get you down.

SwimFin

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InTheTrees

RLS or Restless Leg Syndrome is an extremely common sleep disorder which is often overlooked too.

I've had it for years and it wakes me at least once a night every single damn night. Sleeping pills dont work it just wakes you and you feel groggy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restless_legs_syndrome

Mountainsandh

I'm guessing you have probably investigated the sleep apnea, respiratory, or even cardiac problems areas ?
It's just that I often see sleep apnea mentioned in relation to poor quality of sleep.
Wouldn't it be great if it was a simple physical problem that needed to be fixed, like tonsils or some physical nose/throat problem ?

I sympathize big time OP, I sleep very little but my case is a lot simpler (lots of bad habits) and I'm able to sleep well when I put in the effort.

Hope you find a solution.

Insomniated1

Mountainsandh wrote: »

I'm guessing you have probably investigated the sleep apnea, respiratory, or even cardiac problems areas ?
It's just that I often see sleep apnea mentioned in relation to poor quality of sleep.
Wouldn't it be great if it was a simple physical problem that needed to be fixed, like tonsils or some physical nose/throat problem ?

I sympathize big time OP, I sleep very little but my case is a lot simpler (lots of bad habits) and I'm able to sleep well when I put in the effort.

Hope you find a solution.

Yes I have, and I've taken the sleep apnea test. My breathing was normal.

I've often thought a physical problem would be much more preferable. Im regularly amazed to realise how little doctors actually know about sleep. I've gone to 159 euro an hour 'sleep experts', which degrees in medicine and PHD's etc, and the advice has amounted to 'avoid coffee' and 'try meditation'. When I had the sleep test done, they told me I wake up constantly throughout the night (88 times) and that was it. No indication of why I wake up constantly. No real understanding of the chemistry and biology of sleep. Its really shocking to see.

George Michael

InTheTrees wrote: »

RLS or Restless Leg Syndrome is an extremely common sleep disorder which is often overlooked too.

I've had it for years and it wakes me at least once a night every single damn night. Sleeping pills dont work it just wakes you and you feel groggy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restless_legs_syndrome

i have that. i had it last night. deep heat and rivotril do the trick for me. luckily for me i only get it an odd time, maybe once every two weeks and thus the rivotril doest lose its effect.

Mountainsandh

Insomniated1 wrote: »

Yes I have, and I've taken the sleep apnea test. My breathing was normal.

I've often thought a physical problem would be much more preferable. Im regularly amazed to realise how little doctors actually know about sleep. I've gone to 159 euro an hour 'sleep experts', which degrees in medicine and PHD's etc, and the advice has amounted to 'avoid coffee' and 'try meditation'. When I had the sleep test done, they told me I wake up constantly throughout the night (88 times) and that was it. No indication of why I wake up constantly. No real understanding of the chemistry and biology of sleep. Its really shocking to see.

You'd think they'd rise to the challenge and research the hell out of it. You can't possibly be the only one suffering from this.

F.Grimes

Were you taking benzo's/zopiclone for 3years, and came off them cold turkey?

Insomniated1

F.Grimes wrote: »

Were you taking benzo's/zopiclone for 3years, and came off them cold turkey?

For 3.5 years. Not cold turkey, i failed at that. I had to go into rehab to get off them. In there, I tapered off over 7 days

F.Grimes

Insomniated1 wrote: »

For 3.5 years. Not cold turkey, i failed at that. I had to go into rehab to get off them. In there, I tapered off over 7 days

Thats what I was thinking, it would have been quite dangerous to come straight off like that

RacoonQueen

I've struggled with sleep on and off for years. Went through a particularly bad spell from about November of last year to maybe March of this year...my sister gave me some sleeping tablets after I'd had 4 or 5 very bad nights in a row I took them and was asleep within half an hour and didn't wake up through the night.

I'm a light sleeper as well so when I do eventually get to sleep I can wake very easily, my housemate in the next room opening her curtains wakes me up all the time. My neighbours bathroom fan wakes me as their bathroom is right by bed. So I can wake up numerous times throughout the night.
Sometimes I just get up and do something as I know sleep won't come.
During my last bad spell I downloaded an iphone app and listened to that every night for about 2 weeks as I didn't want to stay on the sleeping pills and it 'seems' to have helped me regain an almost normal sleep pattern again. Though I've reverted to being quite bad lately.

I have a couple of other long term health issues that always seem to worsen when I'm going through periods of bad sleep so I'm not sure if it is that the poor sleep ad me being tired exasperates that or that that has started flaring up so it effects my sleep.

I only brought it up with a GP once and she practically pushed me out of the office, didn't give me the time of day.

Mountainsandh

I popped "absence of deep sleep" in French in the French Google search engine, a link came up to Chronic fatigue, but not exactly as we know it nowadays. The link seems a bit dated, but it does point to Quebec where it seems patients are taken a little more seriously.
I'll leave you to use Google translate, but there is also a bit in English at the bottom of the page.
The people observed had no deep sleep, just interrupted light sleep.

http://www.esculape.com/generale/fatiguechronique.html

Neurological/endocrin problems seem to pop up a bit too in Google searches.

RacoonQueen

I've used a sleep monitoring app which measure the noise or motion to detect whether you're getting into a deep sleep. after some nights and it shows me waking up about 4 or 5 times. :eek:

BlueFairy

I have struggled a lot with sleep too, though not to the same extent as you. I assume that you worked with the sleep experts and tried all the regular sleep hygiene recommendations about diet, expercise and sleep habits? I know that stuff like avoid caffeine seems simplistic, but you'd be surprised by the amount of people who don't realise how much stuff like this can affect sleep.


What helped me in a big way was making the bedroom completely pitch black like a cave. No light even from a digital clock or plug. I discovered that any small amount of light will bother me and wake me constantly, sleep is terrible unless the room is totally dark. If I'm away from home I always bring a sleep mask to block out light, doesn't work as well but it's worth a try.


Second thing to mention is that you might want to check if you have problems with acid reflux. It happens a lot easier when you lie down at night, and can wake you constantly. Doesn't evem have to involve the pain of heartburn that most people would recognise as reflux, you could look into silent reflux if you want to understand it better. This is something that also keeps me awake if I overeat, eat too close to bedtime, or if I allow too many acid producing/irritant foods in my diet. You could experiment with not eating for three hours before bed, eating smaller meals, and avoiding foods that produce more acid in the stomach.


Another approach is something I've seen mentioned in different spots across the web, take a camping trip to reset your body clock. That is, take a few days in a site where you only get natural light, and complete darkness at night. There has been research into this recently, take a look at this article on Scientific American.

Mountainsandh

Bluefairy's post is reminding me of something else I've seen online, that I had been curious about for ages : the side you lie on while you sleep influences the quality of your sleep.

This is a light reading site of course, but beyond the article I think there might be something to explore there : is it possible that lying on a certain side is causing your body to produce more or less of a certain hormone ? The spleen is on the left hand side I think.

http://www.lifehack.org/356391/this-why-you-should-sleep-your-left-side-backed-science

1. It bolsters the lymphatic system.
According to Ayurvedic medicine, sleeping on your left side allows your body to better filter lymph fluid and waste via the lymph nodes as the left side of our body is the dominant lymphatic side. Western research has also found that sleeping on the left side can help the body process waste materials from the brain. In contrast, sleeping on your right side can decrease the lymphatic system’s efficiency.

Under_Graduate

super interesting thread.

totally can relate to the "sleep hygiene" advice driving u nuts.

myself i lived like OP from 21 until.... 28. 4 hours a night, scraping through the days.
got fired from my full time job at 24, then part time for next 4 years.

Though in my case it was depression/anxiety caused so, even if i did sleep like, 6 or 8 hours, the chronic fatigue induced by the depression, left me totally wasted during the day regardless.

i'd be interested to hear any other symptoms the op suffers?
a history of illness in the family, a predisposition of any kind.
is it strictly sleep, and everything else is kool n the gang, r is there anything else to suggest it may be part of a larger condition, be it endocrine, gastric, psychological etc?

life goes by quick, n its a shame when the years slip by and we're only functioning at a fraction of our potential due to these conditions, missing out on the best years of our life.

Insomniated1

Under_Graduate wrote: »

super interesting thread.

totally can relate to the "sleep hygiene" advice driving u nuts.

myself i lived like OP from 21 until.... 28. 4 hours a night, scraping through the days.
got fired from my full time job at 24, then part time for next 4 years.

Though in my case it was depression/anxiety caused so, even if i did sleep like, 6 or 8 hours, the chronic fatigue induced by the depression, left me totally wasted during the day regardless.

i'd be interested to hear any other symptoms the op suffers?
a history of illness in the family, a predisposition of any kind.
is it strictly sleep, and everything else is kool n the gang, r is there anything else to suggest it may be part of a larger condition, be it endocrine, gastric, psychological etc?

life goes by quick, n its a shame when the years slip by and we're only functioning at a fraction of our potential due to these conditions, missing out on the best years of our life.

It really is as simple as not being able to sleep. Or more accurately with me, having a highly disturbed sleep almost every night.

I have no problem falling alseep. I literally cannot stay awake beyond 12.30am. The second my head hits the pillow im out. The problem is that, ill usuallly sleep well for the first hour or two, but after that im constantly waking up, or semi-waking up, all the through til the morning.

There is a history of insomnia in the family - my mum struggled with it for years.

But there's nothing else. No history of depression or anything else you suggest above. I also go to the gym or run every day, and eat a healthy diet with no meat (though I do drink a lot of coffee - ive experimented with avoiding coffee and it has never made a difference).

These days what I do is practice Sleep Restriction Therapy. This is the only thing that gets me any sort of quality sleep. It involves extreme discipline though, especially when working full time as I am. But at least I end up with 4 sometimes 5 hours of quality sleep. Still though, I really need 6 or 7 hours to feel good the next day. But that's very rare.

Under_Graduate

wow,well, take solace it's just sleep.
not making light of ur situation of course, but u work full time, can work full time, which makes me envious

some body builders say if they eat a lot of turkey before bed, cause its tryptophan heavy, it helps with sleep.

working out is great, but too close to bed can upset sleep sometimes.

ur lifestyle n diet is healthy as, no probs getting to sleep, no external sources of stress r worry...

pfff - can't think of anything that hasn't been mentioned.


i mean, im just trying to visualize myself in that situation...
when insomnia hit initially, i just made use of the extra time, to read, have an early workout, then id allow myself an hour of chill time later in the day, just being sedentary for recovery, even if no sleep.

then the chronic fatigue took over too, which existed regardless of sleep.

but perhaps building a routine that assist with restricted sleep...

either way, im still jealous of people that can work at all, let alone full time

SwimFin

Sleeping With Weighted Blanket Helps Insomnia And Anxiety

Deep pressure touch stimulation (or DPTS) is a type of therapy similar to getting a massage, pressure exerted over the body has physical and psychological advantages. A weighted blanket moulds to your body like a warm hug. The pressure also helps relax the nervous system. In a similar way to swaddling comforting an infant, the weight and pressure on an adult provides comfort and relief.

Traditionally, weighted blankets are used as part of occupational therapy for children experiencing sensory disorders, anxiety, stress or issues related to autism.

Insomniated1

Just an update on this - l've since been forced to hand in my notice in work because of the lack of sleep.

The last 3 weeks have been particularly horrendous. Each night follows the same pattern - I go to bed at midnight and fall asleep immediately. I sleep fitfully til about 3.30 when i awak fully. Im absolutely exhausted but not sleepy. I get back to sleep about 5am and sleep tol 6am when i have to get up and go to work. In work I have huge difficulty concentrating (and my job involves a lot of mathematics so concentration is a must) and I perform at about 40% of when I manage to get a good nights sleep. Its been like this for the last 3 weeks. I also get quick sharp headaches throughout the day. Literally from awaking at 6am right through to midnight.

In that time ive had to call in sick twice. I had a meeting last friday with management where I handed in my notice, explaining that I simply cannot keep coming in on 3/4 hours of fitful sleep.

Im not sure what i can do now. I havent been forced to resign from a job due to the insomnia in about 6 years. I could go back to the so-called sleep expert in Mater hospital for the 8th time but presumably I'll again be told to "avoid coffee" and then charged 100 euro.

Im actually thinking of writing to universities asking them if they'd be interesting in studying me to learn more about sever insomnia. I cant think of what else to do....

jopax

Hi op,

I just saw your post now, I have had trouble sleeping for years also & would take sleeping tablets which may help initially is not a long term solution as you obviously know.
I discovered something which helps me great & I was taking it for depression for a short time, its called amytriplyine. Its an older style AD, not used too much these days, anyhow what I did discover is that it helped me sleep great.
When I stopped using it the sleeplessness came back so I went back to doc and asked could I take it as a sleep aid, & he said yes.
I just take it a couple of hours before bed & I'm really sleepy by bed time, even when I do wake during the night, I'm still sleepy so I go back asleep easily.
Just an idea for you to try if you wanted to ask your doctor about it.
I hope you find some relief op.

northgirl

jopax wrote: »

Hi op,

I just saw your post now, I have had trouble sleeping for years also & would take sleeping tablets which may help initially is not a long term solution as you obviously know.
I discovered something which helps me great & I was taking it for depression for a short time, its called amytriplyine. Its an older style AD, not used too much these days, anyhow what I did discover is that it helped me sleep great.
When I stopped using it the sleeplessness came back so I went back to doc and asked could I take it as a sleep aid, & he said yes.
I just take it a couple of hours before bed & I'm really sleepy by bed time, even when I do wake during the night, I'm still sleepy so I go back asleep easily.
Just an idea for you to try if you wanted to ask your doctor about it.
I hope you find some relief op.

My GP recommended this to me for IBS with the added benefit of a sleep aid. He's suggested 10mg, is your dose something around the same? Thanks.