1. Are you a current, recovering or recovered insomnia sufferer? current
2. Did you always suffer from insomnia or was there a trigger? always
3. What are you doing to treat or cope? Is it working? Nothing special, just trying to follow good sleep hygiene even though it doesn't seem to make a difference.
4. Any major break-through lately that has helped you sleep. No real breakthoughs or anything, but last night I got a magical 7.5 hours of sleep total!!! Granted it was all broken up and took about 14 hours to get there, but I just stayed in bed until I couldn't sleep anymore and managed to keep falling asleep.
1. Are you a current, recovering or recovered insomnia sufferer? Current
2. Did you always suffer from insomnia or was there a trigger? After birth of my first child, I developed depression. Which triggered the insomnia
3. What are you doing to treat or cope? Is it working? I take ambien. It works but I recently switch medication for depression which helps me fall asleep faster!
4. Any major break-through lately that has helped you sleep. Aside from the new medication, nothing new. I feel ok sleeping wise right now. Less anxiety about it.
I don't think I qualify as actually having insomnia, just takes a super long time to go to sleep. Would it be ok if I asked a couple sleep related questions in this thread?
Of course! Insomnia is used here as a general term.
For example, I have Narcolepsy. I have symptoms of both insomnia and EDS (excessive daytime sleepiness).
1. Are you a current, recovering or recovered insomnia sufferer? Current - Permanent.
2. Did you always suffer from insomnia or was there a trigger? Always. Night terrors when I was really young. Insomnia for as long as I can remember.
3. What are you doing to treat or cope? Is it working? Ambien. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I've found that if I can sleep get atleast 6 hours, but no more than 8, I function much better during the day. I also find going to sleep at 1am seems to be good for me.
4. Any major break-through lately that has helped you sleep. I am on-call. My sleep is frigging awful right now. The only reason im awake is because of my medication.
So my question is about over the counter sleep meds. What have people had success with? Any recommendations? I started using Unisom a couple months ago. I started with the tabs that you take half hour before bed, i think they helped, but not one hundred percent better. Then when I needed more I got the gel caps. I think they helped less? Is it possible that my body would get used to them and they wouldn't work as well?
My "sleep problem" is mainly connected to my ADD I think. My mind just spins and won't shut off. And always takes me half hour to go to sleep = non-existent napping. It's really not enough to badly affect my life, but a bad pain. The worst nights it's two+ hours till I go to sleep, but I do sleep fine then.
Which Unisom are you using? The doxylamine or diphenhydramine? It's probably possible that your body just got used to it, but it could also be that some nights it's going to work and some nights it's just not. Do you take anything for your ADD that could be contributing to your difficulty falling asleep? If so, you might consider taking your last dose earlier in the day. I know that was a problem I had when I was still taking Adderall.
So my question is about over the counter sleep meds. What have people had success with? Any recommendations? I started using Unisom a couple months ago. I started with the tabs that you take half hour before bed, i think they helped, but not one hundred percent better. Then when I needed more I got the gel caps. I think they helped less? Is it possible that my body would get used to them and they wouldn't work as well?
My "sleep problem" is mainly connected to my ADD I think. My mind just spins and won't shut off. And always takes me half hour to go to sleep = non-existent napping. It's really not enough to badly affect my life, but a bad pain. The worst nights it's two+ hours till I go to sleep, but I do sleep fine then.
Which Unisom are you using? The doxylamine or diphenhydramine? It's probably possible that your body just got used to it, but it could also be that some nights it's going to work and some nights it's just not. Do you take anything for your ADD that could be contributing to your difficulty falling asleep? If so, you might consider taking your last dose earlier in the day. I know that was a problem I had when I was still taking Adderall.
I mean my mind never stops. I'm always planning out what I'm going to do/make/tell my boss, etc. And when I want(need not usually want) to sleep it gets worse like I think I should be doing all this stuff. I think of myself as a night owl, but that's maybe just being irresponsible with my sleep patterns.
My ex-BF did the Chronotherapy. He had become such a "night owl" that he had completely thrown off his circadian rhythms.
Basically I'm just trying to work on a consistent sleep schedule and wanting the Unisom to get me to sleep when I want to get my body used to normal hours. I will also go back to the doxycycline tabs dice they seemed to work better. Another thing I've been trying: I read an article about someone that used a breathing rhythm to help relax and fall asleep. Doing the exact rhythm messed up my breathing too bad and I'd start gasping for oxygen, but if I just concentrate on breathing slower and holding my breath just for a second in between every breath it does help me relax. I think the science behind it is you relax your body+ less oxygen puts you to sleep?? I'm hoping eventually I'll get somewhere with this approach. The consistent sleep schedule is really hard for me to keep tho, esp with DH studying way into the night sometimes.
I have to take 3 unisom to be able to sleep more than 2 hours. It's rough.
I don't know if I could do that breathing technique. It would make me panic. However, I get where they are going with the relaxed breathing.
I have to take 3 unisom to be able to sleep more than 2 hours. It's rough.
I don't know if I could do that breathing technique. It would make me panic. However, I get where they are going with the relaxed breathing.
That is rough. I'm sorry. I started using "Sleep as Android" so I'll see what that tells me. Pry gonna get an activity/sleep tracker sometime. Told DH that's what I wanted for my birthday in June but he doesn't see the point of them.
1. Are you a current, recovering or recovered insomnia sufferer? Current
2. Did you always suffer from insomnia or was there a trigger? After my second child was born. I had always been a night owl, but had no problem sleeping in on weekends or napping if needed. My anxiety went up exponentially after my second was born, and it manifested itself as severe insomnia.
3. What are you doing to treat or cope? Is it working? I have focused on reducing anxiety more than sleep itself. I exercise 3-4 times a week and do yoga and they help me a ton. As far as actually falling asleep, I still rely on my playlist. I have tried a few sleep aid type podcasts and they just weren't for me. I ended up creating a list of radio show segments, people on YouTube (storytelling type) whose voices I found soothing and calming. I switch the playlist once in a while. I have to be interested in the story, but it can't be anything that evokes emotion or reaction. Very mundane stuff. It may take an hour or two to actually fall asleep, but I have consistently been getting 5-6 hours the last couple months. Of course there are days I just lie awake the whole night but that is no longer the norm. I am so thankful.
4. Any major break-through lately that has helped you sleep. See above .
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