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Mental Health I need somebody to find a creative way to help with my insomnia...

gloeek

gloeek

Bluelighter
Joined
Oct 18, 2009
Messages
13,576
Ok. I wasn't sure where to put this (here, OD, BDD?) idk I rarely leave the lounge much anymore.
Anyways...

I can never sleep. Right now I am on 10mg of Sonata, 600mg of Seroquel, 500mg of Thorazine in the PM. (I take 75mg of zoloft and 30mg of adderall IR in the morning) I had been using ambien at 20 mgs for a year and a half and it made me sleep, but I got extremely addicted to it and know it's in my best interests never to take it again. I've tried 6mgs of Lunesta, 200mgs of Trazadone, 200mgs of Vistaril (not all at once, but while I was on the seroquel and the thorazine) I don't particuarlly want to go the benzo route, but if I did I would give Restoril (Temazepam) another go round. I was on it at some point last year when ambien stopped working because my tolerance was too high.

So I'm asking you guys to be VERY creative with your answers. And don't post shit like, "have you tried melatonin, valerian root, kava kava, ect.?" Because YES I've tried everything obvious and everything over the counter. Doesn't work.

Thanks,
glo
 
This probably isn't what you want to hear but I've been looking for years and haven't found any miracle solution. I mentioned doxylamine in the lounge and I think you might wanna give it a try but don't expect anything amazing.
Obvious and pretty stupid question but how much do you exercise? That's the only thing that's made any kind of noticeable difference for me. If I go to the gym around ~5pm and have a good and exhausting workout I'm usually able to fall asleep about 2, as opposed to like 6 otherwise. It actually does help. Be careful not to exercise too late in the day though or it'll keep you awake even more.
Other than that, really the best you can do is try to make the most of your nights awake, get some work done, do some creative stuff, yknow...sorry, I'm not being immensely helpful but just wanted to say I empathise with your situation :\

And yeah, dyou know why you can't sleep? Or at the very least, if it's psychological or physical? It would probably help to find the root cause. Not that that would necessarily cure everything, since in my case the root cause is irreparable nerve damage. Mehhr. But still worth finding out just in case, especially if it's psychological.
 
The only insomnia medication I like to take is restoril (temazepam), because it doesn't interrupt my REM sleep.

Some of the medications you are on can cause insomnia. I don't know how you would feel about lowering/tapering some of your medications like Zoloft though, so I wanted to suggest such an idea to see what your reaction is.

Best of luck with getting sleep.

The best things you can do to help get to sleep:

get off the computer 1 to 2 hours before you want to go to sleep
make sure you exercise enough
make sure you aren't going to bed hungry
save your bed for sex and sleep only
meditate before sleep
 
^If I may, would just like to say it probably really isn't a good idea to start using benzos for insomnia. Rarely ends well. Just my 2 cents, but gloeek you seem to know that already anyway.
 
Have you tried not taking amphetamines?

Have you tried binaural recordings that change your brain waves to promote sleep?

Have you tried more exercise?
 
sometimes the only thing to do when you have severe insomnia is just stay up and stop worrying about sleep. I personally don't recommend going for temazepam or other z-drugs as their efficacy always seems to wear off eventually. I think seeing a Dr. and being properly medicated is your best bet, other than that, just tire yourself out. Binaural beats are about as useful for sleep as valerian root for me (useless).

i've tried pretty much everything for my insomnia and i've exhausted medications for sleep, my best advice is to not just lay in bed praying to go to sleep, if you can't sleep after 15-20 minutes, just get up and do something, it's less frustrating at least.
 
RobotRipping said:
I personally don't recommend going for temazepam or other z-drugs as their efficacy always seems to wear off eventually.
Click to expand...

I find temazepam's efficacy remains the same if you take it, at the most, once to twice a week. Any more frequently and the efficacy does start to decrease after one to two weeks usage.

I wish doctors would tell their patients this when prescribing benzodiazepines.
 
Like Pagey said, it totally depends on what TYPE of insomnia you have. What's causing it? Do you feel too excited/energetic, depressed, anxious, or you don't know?

The fact that you still can't sleep after taking 600mg Seroquel is pretty incredible.
 
Take ur meds and put on Bob Marleys legend cd on repeat. You should fall asleep before its through once, or at least feel better in the morning having listened too all that good music. :D
 
Hi glo, it's good to see you here. <3

Something that really helps me sleep is meditation (in particular body scanning). When I'm laying down I feel the tension in each part of my body, notice it, and then just let that part of my body relax. I usually start from my toes and move up, but you can do it from your head and move down or just figure out what works for you. If I have to, I start the process over again and do it until I fall asleep. Just noticing my breath helps too. Breathe naturally and notice how your body feels with each breath you take. If other thoughts start to take over, notice them but don't judge them and just let them pass as you concentrate on your breath again. There are a lot of guided meditations on YouTube that could help you begin this whole process too.
 
The best thing for me to do is make sure that I get a lot of exercise, take a hot bath or shower and then read in a dark room with a book light. When I absolutely cannot keep my eyes open to read anymore, I do this weird little thing where I pay very close attention to how cozy my bed is. I am going to go traveling in the third world pretty soon and I just revel in my cozy duvet, my soft clean sheets and pillows, the perfect temperature of my room, etc. I make myself feel lucky to be awake and appreciating my bed LOL. Then I try to make suggestions to myself about my dreams--people I wish I could see or talk to. Basically it is a way to create good feelings about that pre-sleep time and to distract myself from feelings of stress or anxiety about not getting enough sleep. The absolute worst thing you can do is to focus on the stress and fear of not falling asleep.
 
gloeek said:
Right now I am on 10mg of Sonata, 600mg of Seroquel, 500mg of Thorazine in the PM. (I take 75mg of zoloft and 30mg of adderall IR in the morning) I had been using ambien at 20 mgs for a year and a half and it made me sleep, but I got extremely addicted to it and know it's in my best interests never to take it again. I've tried 6mgs of Lunesta, 200mgs of Trazadone, 200mgs of Vistaril
Click to expand...

There's your problem right there !

Try getting off all of that shit, then you may find your body is able to bring itself back into some kind of natural rhythm.

Start drinking plenty of water every day, it will help flush out your system.
 
I can tell you how I fall asleep. It's the only help I can offer and you are free to take it or leave it. I know that insomnia is a righteous pain in the ass.

<snip>I listen to comedy on pandora. I made a Louis CK channel. It plays a lot of bits from different stand up comedians. By listening to funny stories, I focus my attention away from my own worries and concerns.

It works pretty well for me. I wish you the best of luck, gloeek.
 
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gloeek <3

I agree with webbykevin... you're on a lot of medications right now, and they are most likely disrupting your natural sleep rhythm. You can add more medications to your daily list to get some sleep, or you can try and work with your doc to lower your dosage of your medications slowly and try natural methods to try and regulate your sleep (which will be more effective and sustainable in the long run, imo) It's not an easy answer, but in my experience the easy route usually doesn't end up working for very long.

What's your bedroom like? Is it completely dark? Are there any noises that keep you up? Do you watch tv before you fall asleep? Do you have glowing stars on your ceiling? Something you could try is to black out your bedroom of any light, get the tv out of there, and straighten things up so that you feel calm, comfy, and there's no distractions in your room to keep your mind going. Do you make your bed in the morning? Something I find really helpful is to build a bedtime routine. Like pulling down your covers, getting all comfy, and reading a book before you turn out the light. Bed made, its daytime. Turning down the covers is unconsciously signaling to your brain its sleepytime. Don't bring your cell phone or laptop to bed with you. That kind of stuff just keeps your mind going, whether or not you think it does.

Try taking an hour walk then a hot shower/bath right before bed. Wear yourself out before you even try and sleep. go on a hike, play with a dog, swim. Read a long boring book. haha.

Good luck sweetie <3

Edit: duh i forgot about caffeine. Do u have any throughout the day, even in the morning? That can def disrupt your sleep even if you think its "worn off" by the end of the day. If you cut down or take a break from caffeine i bet you would notice a difference.
 
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I think my main problem is I get seem to shut off my mind. I'm physically exhausted. I exercise about 1-2hrs a day so I know it's not lack of physical activity. My sleep hygiene is good. I seem to be experiencing some sort of hypomania that occurs with my diagnosis. I'm not full on manic, but my thoughts are racing a lot. I would think that being on a high dose of seroquel and a moderate dose of thorazine would have me pretty level. I'm not willing to go up on either one or add any other mood stabilizer/anti psychotic due to the weight it makes me gain. I've worked really hard to lose the weight I have lost and I would rather not sleep and be hypomanic than to gain weight. I didn't take any adderall or drink any caffeine yesterday and I did fall asleep a little bit earlier, but not till about 4am and woke up at 7am. That's still not a lot of sleep. I can live with that much sleep, but it's extremely aggravating when everyone else is asleep and I'm awake (as if I'm not restless enough). I also stopped taking my zoloft because SSRI's normally make me a bit manic. I just use them for when I'm in a depressive state and when I start feeling manic I stop taking them. I seem to be doing everything right, but still no sleep. I see my psychiatrist tomorrow and hopefully he will be able to suggest something that I haven't tried or haven't tried in awhile. I really don't want to take the benzo route due to their addictive qualities, but I KNOW they will temporarily calm my mind down until I come down off of this slight mania. (at least I think it's mania of some sort. I know my brain pretty well and it seems to be hypomania.) Ya'll have come up with a lot of good suggestions for me to try and I will definitely ask my doctor about them and see what he thinks is best. Thanks for all your help <3
 
try a super strong b vitamin complex with lots of b6 and inositol and fish oils . cut out hydrogenated fat sugar caffeine and tobacco

thats what i did and now i sleep easily and i used to be awake for two days at a time and have a diagnosis of bipolar type 1

i'm on no meds but one thing i can tell you is speed will fuck up your sleep in a big way
 
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