If you had sleep problems but now you don't please tell me what worked

[Lugol]

I can't do another week like this.
Since December I wake up at 2 am and then barely sleep till 6 am when I get up for work.
I've tried:
Epsom salt baths which are great for dozing off but I still wake up.

Sleep podcasts which were good but I don't use bluetooth headphones so I haven't found a good corded option that won't disturb DH.

Melatonin 3 mg good for getting to sleep, still woke up, 10 mg and felt zonked all the next day.

I just need some sleep and I just want to sleep all night through 😩

Magnesium also I started strength training 3 times a week. Mainly for restless legs & sciatica but that’s made a massive difference to my sleep too.

Magnesium. But you need to build it up over time.

Magnesium glycinate and Kirkland's Sleep Aid - half a tablet.

I get mine prescribed on repeat prescription because my local pharmacy act like you are trying to buy heroin.. I don’t know why because you can buy it over the counter.
I have brought it before on an online pharmacy website.

I go through periods of v poor sleep but they are usually short lived though I often need medication for a few nights just to reset my sleep and then I tend to sleep well again.

But if not using any medication, the things I do which do help are:

Getting up and watching TV for half hour or so. It takes my mind off lying in bed worrying about not sleeping and as long as it’s a funny / calm show, most of the time I get back to sleep when I go back to bed.

The calm app with sleep stories / relaxation which I use before going to sleep and if I wake up.

Breathing exercises.

Writing down my worries before bed or if I wake up.

And acceptance. Which is hard but I have found that telling myself it’s okay to be awake and to appreciate the comfort / rest I’m getting even if I’m not sleeping, does often help me relax enough to fall back to sleep.

Agree with this and cognitive shuffling. If one doesn't work, the other one generally does. I'm usually asleep in a couple of minutes max, can fall back to sleep quickly if I wake in the night and I'm also sleeping later too. Often to 7-8am after years of waking between 5 and 6.

Nutrition Geeks magnesium tablets are really working for me.

They are supposed to be the best magnesium tablets, @twohotwaterbottles. Sadly I can’t take them because they make my colitis flare up, so I use the cream instead.

Which Musicozy mask do people recommend please? I've just been looking but there are so many different kinds

This works for me every single time. Generally I fall asleep ok after a good while, and then like many wake up about 3am for the loo, and cannot (could not) get back to sleep.

Fizzy multivitamin Aldi or Berocca
Fizzy Ferroglobin + vit C
Fizzy Magnesium glycinate - or the powder inside a capsule.

Drop the three into about 200 ml glass of water. Drink HALF before lights out. When awake at 3am go to loo, then drink the other half of the mix.

Gone like a light! Occasionally it doesn't work so I use fizzy paracetemol without the caffeine ingredient and break one tab in half and knock it back. That's 250mg. Works great, but I don't have to do that often.

Everyone will find something that works for them. I cannot take anti histamines and don't want to take sleeping tablets of any description.

ZZZZZzzzzzz 😊

Promethazine my psychiatrist prescribed and it works for me. 8:00/8:30- 5:00am 8 hours kip = heaven 😴😴😴😴

Try just taking a magnesium glycinate capsule with a gulp of water just before bed. I do this now and have unbelievably stopped waking for a 2/3am wee!!

^

When all the above fails, antihistamine Phernagan

Magnesium, ashwangandra, sleep headband..

Amitriptiline and phenergan.

They are all pretty similar so don't worry too much. I've got three and all are different brands and all work exactly the same. You don't need to spend £££s - I don't think I've spent more than £20 on any of them, probably not even that much. You can get ones that cover your eyes so I guess think if you want an eye mask or not but that's the only consideration really.

Trip oil.

it works

I have always always struggled with sleep. But recently I’ve been getting better. This is what helps me.

No caffeine after 1pm. Regular cardio (early in the day), plus getting a walk every day. Sticking to a good bedtime routine nearly everyday, for me this looks like:

9:30pm 15 mins yoga
brush teeth etc
reading fiction in bed for 30 mins
box breathing 5 mins
headspace sleep cast as I fall asleep.

Not only have I been falling asleep easily but I have been staying asleep as I am not waking and ruminating over things. I also practice a lot of “thought management” techniques like seeing my thoughts float down a river etc.

It took me about 6 months of sticking to the routing for it to have an effect, and recently I haven’t been getting as much exercise as I’ve been sick and I really really notice the difference.

Good luck op. It’s so worth sorting it out.

Magnessoum.
Ripping my hair out through lack of sleep. Tried melatonin. Zopiclone, does the trick but you can't take them forever, can you?
Magnessium has done the trick for me, took about 6 weeks to kick in. I would choose a good online product, with no fillers and shit in them like the high street ones ones.
My db has just bought the magnessium butter that you rub on to soles of your feet, he says, pricey but v effective

Sleep restriction therapy

I watched a doctor on YouTube who said just lying there and relaxing is almost as good a sleep. Took the pressure off.

Also the medieval two sleeps. If I wake up then I just think about medieval people doing this and again it takes the pressure off. I just think to myself, if I fall back to sleep then great and if not I’ll feel like shit for a day.

I think accepting that you’re not a good sleeper is half the battle. I’ll never be like my dh who could sleep hours and never worry about it. It’s just what it is.

You don’t mention your age, but could this be a menopause symptom and HRT be the answer?
Otherwise/ as well as: a low dose of mirtazapine ( 7.5mg) at night.

I sympathise. I have always slept badly - when I was 13 I had to take half a sleeping pill to get sleep on a Sunday night before school (my father was a doctor). He always told me that if you can't sleep, just relax with your eyes closed and at least you are resting your body. It is so horrible to wake at various times during the night - I am just glad that light is coming earlier and earlier now so somehow light makes it all better.

I was at my wits end a year ago through waking up & not getting back to sleep. My gp prescribed mirtazapine & it's been a game changer & saved my sanity

Do these make you groggy the next day? My dh has been suffering with insomnia and the GP gave him promethezine (sp) which is also an anti histamine but he feels really groggy / almost drunk-like the next morning. He leaves for work at 5.30 and drives so needs to be awake and alert so can only use them on the weekend.

OP hope you find something that helps. I've found limiting blue light and not using my phone in bed helps me. I read before bed now.