AIBU to be really fucked with inability to sleep at night

[Reallycantbefuckedtothink]

Just that really, I have always suffered with insomnia but since after Christmas, it has gone up a whole new level.

I managed to fall asleep at around 11pm woke up at 11.15 wide a fucking awake and haven't been able to sleep since.

Its really fucking me up, time spent with DS and DP and to be able to do anything at all because I get so tired during the day.

haverhill yes, Tom Bradby said he found being shot at less traumatising.

I have to be honest, that one surprised even me!!!

I think when I'm done working and caring for mum, I'll just become a raging alcoholic. Though that's got to be hard on the stomach as well, lol.

I think some of you just need to accept that you need drugs to sleep.

I spent far too long fucking around with no sleep, or only sleeping every other night or every three nights. I was a total mess. My brain just doesnt send me to sleep naturally. Certainly not enough.
Im sure if I was on a desert island somewhere with zero stress I could get it to reset itself, but that aint happening any time soon.

Nowadays I often use a bit of high CBD indicacannabis butter to knock me out, but of course thats not exactly legal or easy to get, but it seems to be side effect free for me and does what I want it to most of the time.
Apart from that, I sometimes use zopiclone, but this only works maybe 2 or 3 nights in a row before I get a tolerance.
Temazepam zonks me out the next day. Works great, but not worth the hangover.
Valium is good, but not something you want to make a habit of.

Melatonin. Really good. anything from 1mg to 5mg works well. Too high a dose gives you nightmares though. They dont sell it in pharmacies here, but its legal to buy online from abroad. Doctors wont prescribe it to adults usually unless prescribed by a specialist (paediatrician or psychiatrist) first.

As for over the counter stuff. Night nurse. That definitely helps, but its not enough for me on its own. Phenergen tablets work for some people. Also blue sominex is not bad (the non herbal one)

Also make sure youre drinking loads of chamomile tea and valerian tea in the evenings and not drinking coffee in the afternoons. It doesnt make you feel better anyway if youve had no sleep. It just builds up the anxiety. Coffee only makes you alert if you sleep ok already IMO.

I think often people need to use a mixture of strategies.

As for eating and drinking in the evenings, thats individual.
Some people sleep better after a little supper. Some people worse.

Also if I wake in the night, sometimes I have a couple of paracetamol or ibuprofen and an antihistamine. Put my electric blanket on low, and I manage to drop back off.

Its really bad for you to not sleep. I know there are health risks of using medication, but insomnia really ruins your life, so you sometimes have to take your pick

"I think some of you just need to accept that you need drugs to sleep."

well I know that...

but where do I get them? Melatonin and phernagan don't work on me and just make me ill. And trippy and weepy. Very odd.

actually Bran sorry, I'm not having a go, but I'm puzzled by your comment because most of us know we need the drugs - there's only one poster who actually has them and won't take them?

others have kids - no judgement, I don't have them, so if they are worried about being completely knocked out, I have no comment, I might worry about that too.

I think some of you just need to accept that you need drugs to sleep.

Well, yes, people realise this and are saying that they cannot get the drugs they need to sleep. OTC, I can take 100mg of diphenhydramine and it does nothing, ditto 50mg of promethazine. They don't make me sleepy.

Valerian made me pee all bloody night.

Personally I'm considering cannabis. Easier to get, too, than z drugs are now.

My kids are teenagers and get themselves up, dressed, breakfasted and to school so I don't have that worry.

Melatonin is also prescription only in the UK. Does nowt for me.

Smoking a bit of weed can send you to sleep. I will be flamed for saying that but I did say, "A bit".

ok, I didnt realise you all meant you were still not sleeping even after taking meds.

If you do seek out cannabis, make sure its a high indica high CBD variety, because anything sativa based will make you high, not sleepy.

Branleuse are you on glue?

We are saying no one will prescribe the drugs that work.

Did you see my post re dosulepin, that does work!

A lot of it is trial and error though, and sometimes something will work for a while, and then stop working. Its rubbish isnt it.

I cant imagine someone with severe depression going to the doctor and them saying "ok, we will give you two weeks worth of antidepressants, and then you really need to learn how to be happy on your own"
They dont take insomnia seriously enough.

No need to be rude. I did quite a comprehensive reply about all the different things I have tried. Dont all bloody pick out one thing I said wrong

Jemima hello, sorry, I missed your post.

I just looked it up and it's a tricyclic, which is offputting tbh. I worry about asking my doctor for anything else because it all contributes to their perception. Sorry, I should have said that before. Really, if I can't get zolpidem I need something with the same short term ism so I can just get on with my day after the few hours it gives me.

Thanks, Bran, I'm going to seek some out. I'm growing desperate.

I hear ya. I lie awake for hours and hours, then finally fall asleep a couple of hours before the alarm if I’m lucky. Sometimes I get so tired I fall asleep earlier, then wake up early. Most of the time I feeel half dead, but that’s only a good day.

I’ve tried every sleep aid going. The only thing that knocks me out is diazepam but I can’t take that often.

It’s bloody miserable lying alone in th dark all night every night. I try to practice good sleep hygiene and not look at my phone etc, but god does it get boring.

I have PTSD, New, I need drugs to sleep. I think I know my brain better than you. I've read countless books like this, spent loads trying to find all manner of ways to get to sleep, thanks.

One of my children has autism. It's a neurological condition. He also struggles to get to sleep (although slow-release melatonin seems to work for him now) and no amount of psychobabble is going to change that because the underlying cause is an incurable neurological condition.

@NewName73 ODFOD

What's ODFOD @Branleuse?

Sorry, did not mean to upset people who cannot sleep due to medical conditions. I was trying to help people (like me) who have trouble sleeping due to anxiety or other stress-related reasons.

There's a book of psychobabble on Amazon about it, New .

yes, you are talking to people here with chronic insomnia. Not people who sometimes take a bit longer than usual to drop off.
It is debilitating, and not taken seriously. There is nothing new in these books.

About what?