To ask for your help/suggestions with terrible insomnia

[insomniacsdream]

I know if there was a cure no one would be struggling with insomnia but mine has got so bad lately I feel like I'm going mad.

I don't feel remotely tired at bedtime and feel wide awake from 2,3,4,5am.
I get up at 8 but feel absolutely awful all day like I'm in a trance and feel hungover. I start to wake up at about 8pm and the cycle starts again.

It carries on until I'm getting so little sleep from trying to keep a regular getting up time that I have one of those migraines with being sick that goes on for two days straight and I sleep for nearly the entire 48 hours, then it all starts over again.

It seems to be getting skewed so I'm staying awake later and later.

I've had sleeping pills (they work for the first day then stop working), tried CBT, sleep clinic, meditation, changing my diet, cutting out caffeine, making my room comfortable and tidy, trying to wind down and relax an hour before I plan to go to sleep. I've been going to yoga classes every day.
I've been back to my Gp so many times but she says she's out of ideas.

Can anyone help at all? I think I'll go mad if I'm still tossing and turning at 5am in a few hours!

I know how you feel. Have you tried herbal tablets or tea that have valerian? It’s supposed to aid sleep. Although tbh it doesn’t work that well on me

Eye masks transformed my sleeping, or lack of. Muscle relaxants help too, but my favourite sleep aid is gin & tonic or a few beers!

I take quetiapine for this, it works like bloody magic, and I say that as someone who hadn’t had anything resembling a normal sleep pattern for a good ten years prior to starting on it. It’s widely used for sleep (in low doses - in higher ones it functions as an antipsychotic), though I don’t know whether GPs can/will prescribe it for sleep.

@Butterflycookie I have tried a few of the bedtime teas. They're very nice and put me in a relaxed sort of mood but I don't get to sleep any sooner though.

@MovingThisYearDefinitely which kind of eye mask did you get? That is something I haven't tried. I know people drink to get to sleep, but I have such an addictive personality I know it would get very seriously out of hand if I went down that route!

@DixieFlatline that's a really good idea. Do you know how low the dosage you have is? I had it a couple of years ago for anxiety when STBXH was harassing me a lot at the time. It had me out like a light, but I also struggled to wake up. I think it was a very high dose comparatively though - about 120mg I think??
My only concern is - would you say that with the dosage you have you feel completely alert in the daytime? I'm a bit worried about anything which might make driving a problem

I lie in bed and name all the American states alphabetically, then the cities and towns. Then I move to a-z of countries around the world. Sounds silly but I normally fall asleep doing it.

Download the Calm App, free 7 day trial and listen to the sleep stories!

They are amazing and have really helped for me!

I find the male narrators more effective though?

The only reason I'm awake now, is I am airport bound, about to go on hols.

Good luck xx

I take 25mg, I can stay in bed and sleep for a good ten hours on days I don’t set an alarm, but once I get up I feel awake within a little while and I feel more refreshed after sleep than I’ve felt in years and years. I suppose it’s good you’ve been on it before, perhaps that might influence the chance of it being prescribed for sleep now.

can you cat-nap during the day?

I'm sure you've tried all these already, but...

Get rid of ALL tech/screens at night, a good 2 hours before you want to go to sleep.

Don't TRY to fall asleep.

I've been told that it's eye movement that keeps you awake, so trying lying on your back, staring down towards your toes and just not moving your eyes.

Tell yourself just lying still and resting is restful, even if you don't actually sleep.

I'm so sorry. Insomnia is horrific.

The one thing that helped me when I was in hospital and I couldn't sleep was a nurse who said to me, just rest your eyes, even if you don't sleep, you're getting some rest.
Bizarrely, I actually slept!
Maybe just try to rest your eyes and body and don't worry about a deep sleep.

Similar to Snowy, A to Z anything. Plants, animals, cities, foods, etc. Or maybe you could get up and clean something for a while.

Have you tried exercising really hard during the day? You'll need something that makes you sweat and gets your heart pumping for at least 30 minutes, 5 days a week. Yoga and pilates don't seem to have the same effect; it has to be cardio, HIIT or weights.

If I don't do this then my sleep gradually gets more and more disturbed until I'm awake and on Mumsnet at 2.30am... The 30 day shred is good for beginners, or Couch 2 5k if you'd prefer running.

I don't know if they work but you can find white-noise videos on youtube. Rain, fans, or other ambient sounds. You would of course need to schedule a shutdown to stop the computer being on all night, but that's easy enough to do. Just a thought.

Thank you to everyone for your suggestions. I usually imagine I'm in a beautiful hotel room with snow falling outside (strange I know!) but that doesn't seem to work any more. I wish I could wake up feeling fresh in the mornings but I don't remember ever having felt like that in my entire life. Is it a myth or do some people really feel like that?

I'm a chronic insomniac. It's 4.00am and I'm still up

One of the things that sometimes works for me is Youtube videos of howling wind and snow.

This is the one that works for me - makes me feel cosy lying in bed.

I've been awake all night for the second night in a row so know the feeling. I've tried no screens before bed but I just lie awake bored.

Let me know when you find an answer. I am still awake at 05.28 French time after waking at 02.30. Sometimes, like you, I can't get to sleep in the first place. Drives me mad!

Yeah will do. I went to bed and have been awake since then, I wish I knew how to sort it.

Well I'm eating Maltesers and reading MN!

Baths help for me. Or a change of scene generally. If I’m tossing and turning in bed I get up and have a bath, or lie on the sofa with crap telly on (can’t be anything interesting you get engrossed in) and that sometimes relaxes me enough to drop off for half an hour so I then can get back in bed for a final hours sleep. Big fan of 3am baths!

Hope OP has drifted off. Number 1 for me is not having drunk teenagers fighting in the street outside your window at 4am .

What sleeping tablets have you tried? I find sominex, which is actually an antihistamine and available over the counter from the pharmacist, works reasonably well for me - it causes quite marked drowsiness so it gets you over that hump of actually falling asleep. I only use it if I’ve had a few bad nights, as I have to plan to use it IYSWIM and take it at 9pm, I can’t try to sleep, fail and then take it at 2am as I’ll never wake up in the morning if I do that.

My biggest thing though is as someone else posted, don’t ‘try’ to get to sleep. If it’s really not happening I get up and do something useful - cleaning, that kind of thing. Nothing fun! Usually find I get tired an hour or so later then.

A big fat spliff

*legality depends on location

Sometimes though best to resign yourself to the fact you aren’t sleeping and get up. At least then I feel I’ve been productive rather than beating myself up about another crap night of sleep.

My job is pretty flexible about what hours you do/working from home so on those days I just can’t sleep, I often get up, do cleaning, get some work done, and have a good sleep when I crash later that afternoon (by staying at home or leaving work early).

Punk Yes, Sominex is good. I only take half a tablet as if I take a whole one I feel as though I have been coshed the next day. They are not for prolonged use, unfortunately, so back to square one as soon as I stop.