To ask for your sleep remedies

[HerRoyalHappiness]

Had a very useless appointment with the GP today who was more interested In how I parent as a disabled mother than the issue at hand. Which is my lack of sleep.
I haven't slept more than 3 hours in a month. I go to he'd at 10, drift off after 11 and I'm awake by 2am without fail then I can't get back to sleep.
I don't have screens in my room. I use a smart alarm clock to play rain sounds and wake me up in a morning.
It's not too hot or too cold.
I have a weighted blanket
I do need a new mattress and it's on my list to buy but I can't get one until the end of August as I don't have £200 spare right now.
I've tried chamomile tea
I've tried meditation
I've tried sleep pillow sprays
I've tried crystals (I know but I'm desperate)
I've tried hypnosis
I've tried counting sheep
I've tried everything. I don't even read in bed any more in case it was over stimulating my brain. I just lie there and try to sleep.
Please give me tips, hacks, anything at all to help me to sleep. I'm so exhausted 😩

Thank you I'll give that a read

I have restless legs. Or more to the point restless leg as it seems to be my left leg that's affected.
Magnesium tablets did nothing, however magnesium spray works really well. It might sting/burn when you first start using it but it does wear off.

A quite bizarre one but I found that my sleep was so much better when I replaced my bedding. No jazzy, colourful patterns. Just a high thread count, white, pure cotton bedding instead. Perhaps the patterned stuff was subconsciously waking me up again when I was getting in bed?

Oooh perhaps. I'll get my mum to change my sheets tomorrow to plain ones. I use magnesium spray already. It helps my restless legs a lot.

Hello another thing to possibly try is cherries before bed they naturally produce melatonin x

Also if you get cbd oil, hold it under your tongue for a few minutes before you swallow it x

Oooh cherries. I love cherries.

@brightgreendoubledeckerbus
That makes sense to me about different bedding making a difference! Sounds like part of "sleep hygiene", setting the right conditions for sleep or something like that. It's talked about in CBT for insomnia. I realised my pillows were really lumpy and that new ones made a big difference, sounds silly but as I always slept badly I just assumed being uncomfortable in bed was normal.

Yeah, I really need a new mattress but DS2 needs one first. He's broken his by jumping on it so there's a spring poking out. So we've flipped his mattress but he still needs a new one. Bloody kids.

I've been told so many different things, but two of the things I was told is to make sure you have drank enough water this helps you sleep and stay off your any electrical devices before bed! not sure if this will help or not but hope you find a solution

Hi - I’ve had years of broken, bad quality sleep but was able to try a new app called LuluLight - no idea how it works but it was amazing - I can’t ever remember feeling so relaxed and rested when I woke up and I tried it at a particularly stressful time . You can sign up for a free trail at the moment on their Instagram page !

Trial!

Thank you! I'm trying everything people are suggesting as I need to sleep.

This podcast is very helpful.

Even more helpful if I posted the link to it😂

open.spotify.com/episode/3pX1bokwe9VxGx6UNp0eLs?si=dhLzFZ9aS12AA6sDkB5U5w&utm_source=copy-link

😂 blame the fact you're busy trying to help BoJo get his affairs in order... he can't do anything without his hair!

There are 3 kinds of insomnia;
you have trouble getting off to sleep.
you wake up in the middle of the night and struggle to get back to sleep.
you wake up too early.

Zopiclone and anti histamines work when you have trouble getting off to sleep but they aren't so good if you have broken sleep or wake too early.
When you wake up in the middle of the night is there anything that triggers it, noise or a smell? The thing that used to trigger me waking was the smell of metal on my hands, from taking coins and keys out of my pocket as I got undressed.

The thing that helped was washing my hands before I got into bed, using vanilla scents to create a feeling of safety and calm (that works even when you're asleep), and CBT that sounds like reverse psychology;
'remaining passively awake' works by reducing the stress about being able to get to sleep. You just stay in bed and try to stay awake, rather than expecting to fall asleep.

Nothing works except www.biovea.com/uk/product/detail/15029/melatonin-3mg-120-vegetarian-tablets/?deptid=0&cid=0&mid=0&kw=Melatonin melatonin for me wasted loads of money on apps and the like useless 😂

Thanks all. Really interesting about the insomnia having different types.
I struggle getting to sleep and staying asleep, I can go to bed at half 9 when I feel sleepy and won't sleep until gone 11 at night at the earliest, then I'm up from around 2am and can't get back off.

Well I don't know if I can help myself or not!

I get incontinent. Not so bad during the day but at night I am off to the loo several times can't get to sleep and when I do can't get back to sleep. Afraid to take any remedies in case I have an accident!

I have to use pants , pads and a bed pad:( I have to take water tablets plus two of my other tablets have a side effect of making me wee for Britain!

I guess I will try Nytol or whatever but I would have to check any medication is ok to take with my high blood pressure and heart failure!!

I hope you find a suitable remedy.

Right, phenargan or whatever its called has been taken. Lets see if that does the trick.
i took it alongside my regular meds and a CBD capsule. So 8 pills total. I take so many pills (around 20 a day) I practically rattle when I walk 😂

Well that didn't work.ive only had an hour so far.

Sounds mad as I am awake now lol but I have a quick cold shower then get under a quilt with a hot water bottle and I drop.off. luckily I have a large sofa so can lie on there save waking Dh messing about. Also take two paracetamol.

Don't just lie there and try to sleep, this is one of the worst things you can do. Either get some CBTI from your local IAPT service (online search and you can self-refer) or read 'The Sleep Book' by Guy Meadows. These approaches are evidence-based. And ignore all the quack remedies other posters have put up here.

I managed to drop back off and get a couple more hours. Doesn't seem like that big a deal but it's the first time in a month I've not woken at 2 and stayed awake.
@Fulbe I already do CBT so can't be referred to anyone else for it.

I'll read the sleep book. But I wouldn't say all of the other suggestions are quackery. They help other people sleep, so of course there's a chance it will help me. People are giving me hope. It's not going to harm anyone to listen to brown noise or binaural beats, or to have a cold shower then return to the warmth of bed.
They could all quite easily call your book quackery, as its not been written by a doctor. So no I won't ignore the advice if other posters for yours. You're no more important than them and your ideas aren't necessarily going to work perfectly for me because we're all individual and different things work for different people. I just have to find my thing.