Sierrah, my heart goes out to you. I just found this post as well because I'm going through another major bout of insomnia (been dealing with it for 5years now pretty consistently). I've tried just about everything I can think of including many types of prescription meds. I found that although some of them work, they cause such terrible side effects that I'm not sure which is worse anymore--being sleep deprived or feeling like crap the next day from the meds. Anyway, we should talk sometime--venting to someone who understands might be refreshing for both of us! Also, what hasn't worked for me might work for you and vice-versa. I believe that someday this dreadful disorder/disease/whatever you want to call it will be a thing of the past for me, but in the meantime it is absolutely life-sucking. I just want to sleep like everyone else I know!!
Had this since I was a kid. Now, without medicine, I'd wake up all night. Get a sleep study.
I think hormone imbalance has messed with my sleep. So did deficiency in Iron and Vitamin D. I took a magnesium test, but those are fairly useless.
Raising my Vitamin D level really improved sleep. I still take Vitamin D3 because once I raised my levels, I stopped taking it daily or took too low of a dose and my levels dropped almost in half within 4 months.
Magnesium has helped a lot too. Taking it a few times a day (orally and transdermally). Never more than 100-200mg per dose because the body won't be able to absorb more at each sitting. If you start to have loose bowels then your body is saying it's reached its magnesium tolerance. Then you take a bit less till things are good again.
Vitamin B12 has also helped me.
My 54-year-old daughter has been diagnosed bipolar. She has had trouble sleeping at night since childhood. She learned to live with it by sleeping after school, knowing she would lie wakeful all night. After school she took jobs on the night shift, sleeping during daylight hours.
Now she sleeps no more than 10 mins at a time. Lately, she has developed a debilitating stutter. She's also experiencing seizures and is afraid to drive, naturally. One of her doctors has requested all of her medical records so he can refer her to a neurologist.
On a hunch, I researched "sleep deprivation" and learned that, if the body cannot get 4,5 or 6 hours of continuous sleep, it cannot properly restore itself and will be vulnerable to such conditions as high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke - and even weight gain.
Has anyone tried remedies such as chamomile tea or an herb called valerian which has been used for centuries as a sleep aid and to ward off anxiety?
I'm urging my daughter to start with chamomile tea at bed time and report to me on the results. I hope to have something helpful to share with this site shortly.
I realize this is an old thread, but I'm also a sufferer of sleep deprivation and extreme insomnia. I've been dealing with insomnia nearly nightly since I can remember. I can't remember what it feels like to go to bed and fall asleep like a normal person.
I've been taking sleep aids under Doctor supervison for years, and recently decided to stop due to strange occurrences with no recollection. It's been 8 months now since not using prescription sleep aids, and my health has deteriorated enormously. I feel sick and I've gained weight from boredom at night and eating rather than doing something productive. My friendships have suffered. I've begun drinking to fall asleep. I'm a mess and crying typing this. I just don't know what to do. I'm so tired... tiiiiired of this curse I've been born with. I can't sleep unless I'm drunk or drugged and it's taking a toll on me.
I've spent a couple of nights being tested throughout the years. I don't have sleep apnea and when I sleep, I hit REM. I've tried breathing techniques to not using electronics before bed, to Melatonin. I'm simply at a loss...
I wouldn't wish this upon my worst enemy.
This pranayam will gradually allow you to sleep better.
Build up your timing gradually.If you feel tired or dizzy, stop and resume after one minute.
Anulom Vilom –
Close your right nostril with thumb and deep breath-in through left nostril
then – close left nostril with two middle fingers and breath-out through right nostril
then -keeping the left nostril closed deep breath-in through right nostril
then - close your right nostril with thumb and breath-out through left nostril.
This is one cycle of anulom vilom.
Repeat this cycle for 15 to 30 minutes twice a day.
Children under 15 years – do 5 to 10 minutes twice a day.
You can do this before breakfast/lunch/dinner or before bedtime or in bed. Remember to take deep long breaths into the lungs.You can do this while sitting on floor or chair or lying in bed.
While doing anulom vilom, keep your eyes closed, concentrate on the third eye (point in between the eyebrows).
After you can do anulom vilom for 15 minutes or more, you will start to relax and get better sleep.Continue for rest of life, to keep the body in balance.Your feedback will help others.
I have the same kind of sleep problems. While I was working part time I was sleeping good, now that I have gone back to full time I wake up about every hour or so. It *****. I am scared if I take the Xanax I am prescribed that I won't get up in the morning for work and I will accidently turn off the alarm clock... so I know how you feel!
Hi, welcome to the forum, you seem to have insomnia. In young to middle aged individuals, sleep maintainance problems tend to be associated with stress, anxiety, or circadian rhythm sleep disorders.
They may also be associated with sleep disorders (eg, sleep apnea, periodic limb movements), medical conditions that cause pain, psychiatric diseases (eg, anxiety, depression), or the use or withdrawal of alcohol, nicotine, or other substances.
The investigations which will help to diagnose the type and cause for insomnia are Polysomnography, Multiple sleep latency test and Actigraphy .
The therapy for this condition includes retaining of normal circadian rhythm by non-pharmacological therapy which includes; Photo therapy, maintenance of sleep hygiene. You need to go for morning exercises and work out which will make you fresh and active all day and tiredness at the end of day will help you to induce sleep naturally.
As for type of drug therapy suitable for you, you need consult sleep specialist for appropriate prescription. I suggest you to consult physician. Take car and regards.
Your insomnia far exceeds the insomnia I now experience. I too spent two nights in a sleep clinic at a major medical center. I am an old man now, and I just accept that my sleeping habits are not going to change. I have GERD, and I am afraid if I took sleep medication, and I had an acid- reflux during sleep, my stomach acid could aspirate into my lungs, and I might suffocate to death.
As a man, I understand how women's hormone levels can affect your sleeping habits and rob you of needed sleep. I wonder whether your Gynecologist has offered any advice to you that might help you break the insomnia. I have
awaken every night two hours after I fell asleep, and I get up and sit in a chair with the lights off hoping to get sleepy and return to bed. There are TV channels I turn to to pass the time. Sometimes, I get a little sleepy at 4 AM, and I fall asleep never expecting to and sleep to maybe 8 AM. This is a typical night for me.
You probably know that it is the pineal gland in our brain that secretes the sleep hormone, melatonin, but the secretion is only activated in a darken room. I have a sleeping mask, but I have not yet tried to use it. This is not a sales pitch for the next comment: a company was created by three scientists, two Ph.Ds and one MS in physics. The chief scientist here worked forever for the General Electric Lamp Division, and deduced that the blue wavelength of the Electromagnetic Spectrum reduces the melatonin level produced by the pineal gland. If you took physics in school, the rainbow we see after a rain exhibits 7 colors: ROY G BIV( red, orange yellow, green, blue,indigo, violet). The blue wavelength is emitted from lamps, TV, computers. If you block the blue wavelength from these objects, your pineal gland restarts its work to produce melatonin. I wear special glasses sold by the company that initially took about 5 days to rechange my circadian rhythms so I could become sleepy. I wear the glasses three hours before I go to bed. The glasses help me fall asleep faster, but two hours later, I awake as normal.
Harrald
You should get your endocrine system checked (thyroid, adrenals, etc.) As well as your electrolytes (Magnesium, Potassium, Calcium, and Sodium.)
"Sleep disorders caused by magnesium deficiency are usually agitated with frequent nocturnal awakenings. Nocturnal instrument monitoring reveals major organization of sleep disorders. The deficiency may be severe enough to be diagnosed on the basis of clearly low blood magnesium levels."