HELP I have really bad Insomnia

[madmax]

I have always been a light sleeper but recently I am lucky to be getting 2.5 - 3.00 hours a night and this is very broken .
I am either laying in bed looking at the ceiling or I try to read a book but in the end I tend to just give up and get up.
This means that I am getting up at around 4.00am and this is making the days really long.
I am taking more exercise than ever and only have the normal every day stresses.
I do get "hot flushes" and am quite often in a lot of pain and get very stiff if I lie in the same position for to long.
I have tried all of the old tricks, a warm shower before bed, a hot milky drink, spraying my pillow with lavender and chamomile I have even tried Kalms from the chemist.
This is really starting to get me down now and I dread going to bed as I know I am going to be laying in bed looking at the ceiling for hours.
So ANY HELP would be great

 

[donna255]

There was a 'sleep doctor', on BBC morning news some months back he was giving tips on sleeping. He thought people took too many sleeping pills etc.

Right, he said "Pick a word", THE, was the one he chose. When laying there just in your head say THE over and over and over again. Do not stop to let any other thoughts to enter your head. Its something to do with the brain not being able to wander around if it has to concentrate. Not sure if its the boredom of repeating the one word but your brain will go to sleep it seems. THE, did not work for me, I prefer to think Blue Skies and keep an image of a beautiful deep blue sea.

 

[BusyMum]

sympathies madmax, I never sleep right thru the night but I don't know what the answer is - I do think you seem to get yourself into a cycle which is in fact a vicious circle! I have a love-hate relationship with the bedroom..they say make your bedroom welcoming and relaxing don't they and I've tried all the lavender on the pillow etc etc too, it doesn't work for me either. In my case it's often my digestive system that either wakes me or keeps me awake in the first place so I'll be sucking mints or swigging soda water, like I was last night - woke at 1.10 and still awake at 3am trying to find the elusive thimble-ful of wind that won't come up! The one tip I once read years ago which did seem to work for a time was "keep your eyes wide open" - don't even blink till you have to, and then they are supposed to close and you get off to sleep! If you find the answer, please come back on and tell us what it is!

 

[petpixie]

I don't sleep well either MM. I wish I had the answer as it's so depressing getting into bed knowing you're going to be lying there for ages. When I do sleep it's so lightly ~ I'm conscious of vividly dreaming all night and waking up in terror several times because my dreams are always horrible! I would love to fall into bed go to sleep and wake refreshed and raring to go. I can't remember when that last happened. I hope you find the answer for you and let us know if you do. In the meantime you're not alone in the wee small hours!

 

[kitten_with_claws]

I sleep shockingly badly Madmax, so sympathise greatly!

I have never tried the repeating a single word but do some similar things, which usually work....eventually!
My favourites are to:

1. Think of a subject (can be anything, e.g. breeds of dog, garden flowers, QVC brands! lol) & go through the alphabet thinking of 1-6 (depending on how well you know that subject) things beginning with that letter.

2. Similarly, think of a subject & see how many things you can name, e.g. British towns, countries, trees etc. Set a realistic number but make it hard. For the really bad nights my own personal favourite is 30 breeds of cats, 60 breeds of dogs, 180 breeds of horses - if I get to the end of that & still haven't dropped off, I know it's hopeless, so get up & make OH get up as well & make me bacon sarnies & hot chocolate whilst I bemoan my miserable lot in life! lol

(I have others if you get desperate! lol) :nod:

 

[madmax]

While I am so glad that I am not alone in my night time troubles I am so sorry that you are all suffering with me.
Thank you for all of your wonderful ideas I will try some of them and have used several in the past, but forgotten them so will give them another go.
What I don't understand is that if I am not very careful I can fall asleep in front of the T.V in the lounge but once I wake up and go to bed I have no hope of sleeping so have been known to spend the night in the chair in front of the T.V but it really isn't a long term answer.
I don't take sleeping tablets as such just the herbal ones from the chemist but as they are not very effective it won't do any harm to give them up and see if that helps.
I do have an appointment for the pain clinic next month and am hoping that they might have some suggestions it has to be worth a try.
I will be thinking of you all when I am laying awake during the night and might even get up and log on to see who is around!!

 

[BusyMum]

Maybe we should start a "Midnighters" thread..!

 

[Akimbo]

I couldn't sleep back in my teens and early 20s and my dear old dinosaur of a GP gave me a list of things to do, some of which still help.

Always follow the same routine at bedtime ( a little like you do with young children ) and everytime you get out of bed repeat the last few stages religiously. For me that's now as simple as going for a pee (even if I don't need one). Always get up out of bed if you don't start dozing within a few minutes ( yep minutes). Eyes open works or try eyes shut but roll your eyeballs up (like looking upwards) as this is roughly where they go when you're asleep and it also stops your eyes flicking open and shut. Try it you can't open your eye with them in this position. I used these when my kids woke up and it helped them and I also read the same story over and over or asked them to mentally pack a suitcase in their heads..boring enough to block out other thoughts from creeping in. Don't lie in bed awake and in the morning get up when you wake up. At night get up and go downstairs and sit for 20-30 minutes with a water bottle, hot wheat bags or blanket so you don't get woken up so much by the cold. Don't watch TV or read, just sit still. If you can't keep thoughts from entering your mind, write them down and give yourself permission to look at them tomorrow instead.

#1 golden rule is don't be scared of not sleeping. By my late 20s I was working 12hour shifts all round the clock but the same techniques helped with trying to sleep during the day. Later, when my kids were babies, having worked shifts really helpd me adjust to night feeds and not be scared of coping on 3 hours sleep some days.

Finally I've accepted that I don't need to sleep as much as some people, I used to hate staying at people's houses when I'd still wake at 6-7am and everyone else had a lie in, so I make sure I know where everything is in the kitchen and make sure I have a book with me or pile of magazines. Even on a mega dose of anti-depressant dosulepin (125mg a night) which causes drowsiness, there are still nights when I toss and turn and I repeat the pattern: 20minutes up, go for a pee, try to sleep until it works.

I have added to this the self-hypnosis techniques I use for coping with pain and I always start on my left side but roll to the right to sleep...it's the minutiae of the routine that seems to work. Daytime naps aren't always helpful for insomniacs but if you can catch a 40minute nap before 2pm this shouldn't per se stop you sleeping later that night. 40minutes is supposed to be the optimum nap length (40 winks?) or two lots of 40 ie. 1 hour 20mins. If you start nodding during the morning set a kitchen timer to wake you up in 40mins. It's all about the routine and so have a timer set to 40minutes so you can simply press one button if you trat to nod.

Sorry to ramble on but there's no right or wrong solution and I still have broken nights for no obvious reason. It's worth googling "sleep hygeine" and "self-hypnosis" for lots of other suggestions.

night bless
Jude xx

 

[WildRose]

I do think Jude has a real point, as we get older we need less and less sleep. Working yourself up to dredding nighttime reinforces the whole thing like a circle., and used to get me more wake periods then I was having already. I have given up worrying about it now, and will get up and do housework, read or catch up with the TV - anything basically - and have even been known to clean my windows from the inside at 6 am! God only knows what the neighbours must think. But: I will be determined not to go to bed until at least 11pm the next evening, evenb if I found I got up at 2am. If I find myself dose off I will get up and do something to wake up, washing ironing: anything to keep awake. That somehow seems to do the trick for me, and the realization that every now and then I just have to read a lot during the night or have very clean windows