Come and tell me your stories of extreme sleep deprivation/insomnia

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I can’t sleep but I need to sleep in order to get me through the next few days. Right now, it would be comforting to hear about how little sleep you’ve got and how you managed to get through. Thanks

Barely slept in 2 years with a breastfeeding toddler and just constant night waking. Since I started taking creatine I’ve found that I can make it through the day quite well.

Sleep deprivation is the worst.

When I had a baby and a toddler I fantasied about being hospitalised, just so I could get uninterrupted sleep.

I can’t remember how I managed to get through it, lots of morning cups of tea I think!

Sending

Are we talking one night or over time?

last week I averaged c.4 hours a night and culminated with 90 minutes on the last night followed by a day of travel and sport. It was fine - maybe not fun but fine.

coffee and sugar are good short term fixes

@IwilladmitThats the sort of thing I need to hear. Thanks for commenting.

It’s just a few nights, thankfully, but I’ve always been a good sleeper in the past so this is a bit alarming.

When DS was a newborn, he never slept. I was so sleep-deprived that I once put the milk jug on the ground outside the back door, and it was only when I found myself trying to put an unimpressed cat into the fridge that some bit of my benumbed brain woke up to something being ‘off’.

I had to do a day of reference-checking at a London library while I was on maternity leave and DS was about three months old. I was so tired that I walked out of the library, got onto the tube, got out at our old stop and was literally turning in our old front gate when I remembered not only did we no longer live there, we no longer lived in London, and I needed to go back to St Pancras and get on a train north.

When dd was a baby with intractible ear infections I "slept" in the nursingnchaor with her upright in my arms from Christmas until the 20th March. Otherwise she screamed.

Thankfully, I was not working.

I had some episodes of insomnia last February as I was about to turn 30. I felt like I was going crazy and ended up getting a one off prescription of Zopiclone from GP which worked wonders. I then ended up doing a bit of research and started to reset my sleep clock and some “gentle sleep restriction therapy”.

I’ve learnt to accept that nothing bad happens if I don’t sleep, although I do feel crappy the next day. It’s horrible but it will pass.

When DS was a very new baby he had an absolute poonami in the middle of the night. I cleaned him and changed his nappy but somehow put him back into his sleeping bag thing with it buttoned up backwards. When I went to get him a few hours later I was so tired I thought I had somehow screwed his head round 180 degrees....

A few weeks later I carefully put him in his car seat, buckled him all in and drove a few miles up the road only to realise that although he was belted in safely, the car seat hasn't been strapped in. That was a bit of a wake up call that I wasnt coping with so little sleep......

Im 68, and haven't slept a full night since menopause, not unusual , but can be debilitating when you need to be on point, I wake with pain every night due to arthritis, and have always had trouble falling asleep, but a few weeks ago a friends daughter said to try Habi gummies by Boots , only herbal and floral not cbd! I bought 3 lots , for me, my daughter and best friend, I was very cynical ( ex drug rep and nurse) but im now sleeping better than i have for years , falling asleep within 10 to 15 minutes and having a deep restful sleep , even if I get up at 4 for the loo, im asleep again straight away .My daughter has had the same results but my friend has not had such a good result , though is responding.and no hangover the next day !
So for £10 for 60 gummies ( one a night) they're worth a shot ! Good luck , insomnia is a killer .

I have narcolepsy and what people don’t realise is that because we spend so much time in REM sleep and little to no time in restorative sleep, we feel constantly like we’ve been awake for 48-72 hours. Our night sleep is extremely fragmented and we go in and out of wakefulness/REM for most of the night. This is why we feel so sleepy and often fall asleep in the daytime.

Ive lived this way for 15 years but have managed to work and live a relatively normal life.

All I can advise is try to to eat well to give your body some decent fuel.

This was me in November

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5446741-i-am-overseas-on-a-work-trip-and-i-just-cannot-sleep-like-at-all-wtf-am-i-supposed-to-do?reply=148676011

Might help you?

My first child didn’t sleep for any longer than 2-3 hours at a time at night. Was up for the day from 4am onwards.
Until he was 5 years old and at full time school he didn’t sleep a full night through.
Breast fed hourly day and night until around 5 months as he was low birth weight. Had colic so would scream and scream for hours.
When teething, unwell, had croup, a cough, temperature, his sleeping was zero. He would not sleep but occasionally would settle on me.

At 12 months I went back to full time work. Shifts, 12 hour day and 12 hour night shifts sometimes both in one week.
That meant, that regularly, I was up through the night, every 2-3 hours then up for the day from around 4am up all day, he didn’t nap either, to then go and work a night shift.
I had very little help from any family so sometimes had to stay up
after a night shift, after being up the night before with my child all day until dh got home from work and only then could I sleep. This went on for years.

I remember feeling physically sick most of the time, dizzy and light headed holding on to the kitchen counter to stop me from passing out. I had no memory of whole chunks of time, couldn’t drive because I was unsafe.
I was a walking, desperate corpse.
I looked a the floor of a public toilet once and considered locking the door and lying down such was my utter utter desperation.

Family members knew about my non sleeping child and my shifts. Not one of them, not a single one offered any help, support or relief. Not one.

I do not know how the fuck I survived. I don’t know why I did not die.
I would drink coffee and save cleaning jobs to do each hour in the day so I would not be seated.
I counted the hours to dh coming home from work, minute by minute.

I was given anti depressants and told by my male GP to go swimming 3 times a week to help with my energy levels. I was also HORRIFICALLY iron deficient. Of course, swimming and fucking anti depressants don’t do anything for iron deficiency.

Dark dark and desperate days.

Most people are commenting on long term sleep deprivation. OP asked about short term.

you’ll basically be fine OP. Are you worried about something in particular?

I’m so glad it’s not just me 😂

when my youngest was a baby I was stood at the back door of my house pointing my car key at it, pressing the button getting more and more pissed off that the door wasn’t opening. My eldest took the keys off me and put the actual key into the door while looking at me like I needed to be committed 😂😂😂😂

You honestly sound like your going through a life stage trauma and need to handle it? When my mum passed away I couldn't sleep for a few nights and needed to work whilst dealing with it and handling a toddler. Honestly I just got through it by being kind to myself. I got worked up and in a worse position when I tried to force sleep. Rest is helpful if sleep isnt possible don't add to the stress.