No Sleep....

[Megan]

I haven't had a good night sleep in 2 years, which is going on 3 years now. It just seems like my brain is agitated 24/7. I only sleep when I take ambien. At first I took Tylenol PM for about 3 months, then roughly a year or so on melatonin which made me dizzy. Now I take ambien which makes me sleep in about 20-30 minutes apart from taking it. But I can not sleep without a sleep aid.

I slept one night at my aunt's house w/o a sleep aid, because I forgot it. I got up every hour on the hour. :(. I just don't know any more. I just feel like my life is useless because I'm always agitated.

Even with ambien I feel like I don't get enough sleep. Perhaps that is because my dreams are so good compared to my life when I am awake I just don't want to get up. I just feel like I'm wasting my life away, although I don't know what I want in life...never really did feel like I picked a major I wanted. I liked editing film so I just picked film. But i also liked video games, and movies, and everything, now I like nothing because I'm always feel like I'm in a bad mood.

From
Sleepless in NJ

 

[anthony]

Sleep is an important part of daily life. When you don't have it, as you aren't, then agitation, moods, relationships, health, family, employment, etc etc etc... all are affected as a result.

It becomes a very nasty cycle, though you have to find the core of why you aren't sleeping, and that is what you tackle. When you remove the core root of the problem, you then remove the symptoms, sleep being such, from the equation.

What you're doing now, by using a sleep aid, is acceptable until you solve the core root of the problem. Once that is achieved, you then taper back sleep aids, which become a behavioural habit, not a requirement, to learn how to sleep without them, thus no core root nor behavioural issues.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

Have you considered seeing a sleep specialist? I credit that, as well as Neurotherapy for getting my sleep back on track (my neurotherapist uses a sleep-frequency as my target Brain wave frequency during sessions... I often have a hard time staying awake on the drive home and sleep as soon as I get home). This, after going over two years without sleeping without meds. At one point I was on four sedatives at once (no kids, don't try this at home). Immediately prior to seeing these two professionals I went over a month where I was lucky to sleep an hour a day, sometimes going as long as three days with no sleep.

So my point is that drugs aren't the solution, just an intermediate aid. With proper treatment it is possible to sleep drug free.

 

[TSG]

I feel your pain on this. I have never slept well. It used to be, growing up, that I would get around 6 hours of sleep in a day but now it's down to 4, give or take. I have also never really had much success at uninterrupted sleep. For instance, I went to bed just after 2am this morning. I woke up three times that I recall but I have long-ago learned not to open my eyes because if I do then I'm up for good. I was out of bed at 6:20am. This has been my life for nearly four decades. I used to participate in sleep studies for my chronic insomnia but now I am disqualified due to a recent traumatic event (can't be within 5 years). Hope yours gets better. It sucks being exhausted all the time.

 

[ggsparky]

Sleeping pills don't work they can make things worse.