I Have Trouble Sleeping And It's Really Getting Annoying

[Lady of Longbourn]

It messes with my day, my night, my daily goals, my school work. It frustrates me to no end waking in the middle of the night and not being able to sleep again until the early morning. It frustrates me too not being able to go to bed at all until the early morning becasue I normally have to be pretty exhausted to finally sleep.

In some ways my sleep has improved. I now keep a bit more structured sleep by waking up around the same time every day between 7 and 8:30 even when I go to bed late. This is better then sleeping until 2 in the afternoon. While I may be tired during the day I see this as an improvement becasue at least then I have a forfilling more daily life.

https://www.myptsd.com/threads/new-goal-healthy-sleep-hygiene.39104/

I started the above thread and now I feel like it's mocking me. I have had this problem since I was a child.

I do take a medication that stabilizes mood and helps me sleep. But I am resentful towards it for a number of reasons and I feel it's even worse waking up in the middle of the night all drugged up and not being able to sleep.

I have tried melatonin in the past but it's really the same issue as above.

I don't really want to take more sleeping medication becasue I already take a medication that makes me sleep and sometimes it makes me sleep for 12 hours at a time which I don't like. If I sleep most of night (usually going to bed late) then 12 hours is not acceptable.

It's getting really frustrating.

 

[desiderata310]

Sounds familiar. Lots of trouble with sleep. Been averaging 4-5 hrs for....a really long time. Usually can't get to sleep and the once I do I have nightmares that will wake me up and won't let me back to sleep. My therapist has been insisting for the last two months that I see about getting a medical marijuana card. I've given every excuse in the book, one being that I couldn't find a clinic/ doctor who gave them out. He sent me an email with the name and number of a doc so tomorrow I go in and try THAT. (No I am not anxious about it at all!!!)
I am also going to try meditation I suppose if I can ever calm my brain down enough.

 

[therisa]

@Ayesha, am, in the same boat as you, with regards to sleeping, although currently free of medication. I know, as a child, I had trouble getting to sleep, and when I did, would sleep 10-13 hours, if my parents didn't wake me up. Only a migraine headache for the past 2 days, allowed me to get proper sleep, with my apartment blacken out more.

Pardon me, for asking this, Ayesha, but are you avoiding anything that could stimulate you, like the TV, radio, computer/laptop/tablet or smart phone, for an hour before you sleep? My nurse practitioner suggested that I read a physical novel, to tire my brain out. Problem with this suggestion is, I get too involved with the book and read it, until it complete, meaning I could read the night away.

Sigh.

I wish I had a solution, Ayesha, which was universal, to solve this problem.

 

[Reds]

I guess I am in a different boat, I sleep all day and all night. I just can't stay up. I am taking vitamins and other meds to help me stay up even with that I struggle to stay up.

I wait for the weekends so I can sleep it off, I am not sure which is better between less sleep and too much sleep. People think I am just lazy.

@Ayesha, I hear chamomile tea is good and will get you to sleep within a few minutes. Maybe you can also try some natural products?

 

[franciemarnie]

It is so frustrating.

It has been the same for me most of my life, although for a while when I worked, anti-depressants helped me sleep. But they also buried my feelings and made me like a zombie.

It undermines your sense of well being on every level. It has felt like torture sometimes.

The only thing that works for me is if I can blank my mind, which is very difficult. I feel vulnerable not thinking. Plus that's not natural. But that can work for me if I can do it.

But even though sleep hygiene is important, we have a different chemistry than other people IMO. My racing heart will wake me after half an hour. Sleep hygiene can't help that. I get a burning hot flash - head to waist (Not menopausal hot flash. I have always gotten that from twenties on.) that wakes me up. I will wake from stress hormones swarming my body and sudden fear - in my sleep or as I am falling - regardless of my thoughts sometimes.

It's the human condition for me. Calm acceptance helps when I can do it.