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 😩

Here's another one for people who have trouble getting off to sleep, it takes about 6 weeks of practice;

''Sharon Ackman, who writes about high performance for military, veterans and their families, wrote an article for Medium where she explained how 96 per cent of pilots could drift off in two minutes or less after just six weeks of practicing this method''
medium.com/s/story/combat-tested-training-unwind-and-sleep-anywhere-in-120-seconds-27d5307b7606

I've had insomnia for over 30 years but it's not been too bad for the past few years, due to:

• Getting fresh air and exercise every day
• No caffeine after about 4pm
• Sleep mask (I wear 2!)
• Silicone ear plugs
• Rescue Remedy Night - I have 1 'melt' every evening and 1 if I wake up in the night, along with an antihistamine
• Knowing your sleep cut off time - I need to be in bed by about 10.30 or I become over tired and can't sleep
• Tensing & relaxing each part of body along with deep breathing
• Kiwi fruit before bed is meant to be good
• Camomile tea every evening
• And the no.1 tip is NEVER EVER LOOK AT THE CLOCK IF YOU WAKE UP!!!!!

I find pure lavender oil the best sleep remedy Put it on your pillow, radiator when on, few drops in the bath. For super sleep I add in chamomile oil.

Good luck trying to sleep over the next week or so, long heatwave to come which will make sleeping impossible. Deep joy.

I've got my mum staying over tonight so I should sleep as I feel safe with my mum here. 💕

I usually sleep with her here. So fingers crossed for me

You have an awful lot of suggestions here. I don’t have any to add. I was wondering about just picking two or three extras for the meds or things directly at bedtime like rooms sprays (as well as the things in current routine.) Stick with them for a week maybe week and a half and see if things improve. Then you could try a couple of changes or stick. You could add one or two day extras like the more exercise or shower.

I think there's a clue there! Sounds like there is a psychological reason why you can't sleep if your mum isn't near. No amount of ear plugs or pillow sprays is going to fix that. You need to get to the the root cause of why you feel unsafe.

I feel unsafe because I've had people literally try and kick in my door for fun. I've had my ex stalk me and I've got paranoia due to psychosis.

I slept! My mum was here and I slept! I feel so much better for it.

Promethazine hydrochloride, one an hour before bed and you'll sleep like a baby

I had sleep problems for years even went to GP, pretty sure it is / was depression and anxiety as as soon as I started on antidepressants I sleep pretty well, may be worth considering, hope you find a solution, not sleeping is awful!

I haven’t read through the thread but I put on a YouTube video and close my phone so I’m just listening to it, I can’t see it. I have it at a level where I can just hear it. My preferred one to listen to is an episode of Moriah Elizabeth (crafting YouTuber that my kids got me sucked into). They’re only 20 minutes long and I rarely get past 10 minutes. I just can’t fall asleep with nothing on anymore, I need something to distract me and stop my brain from engaging.

Have you had your thyroids and hormone levels checked? My sleep issues all relate to hormone imbalance, and children of course.

I haven't RTFT and I realise this is a bit left-field, but I find I always sleep well after an orgasm... On evenings I've found it difficult to sleep, this is my go to, self-induced or otherwise.

I think you have your answer to your sleep problems then: you don't feel safe enough to sleep by yourself. I'm not sure what to suggest you do next but can your mum stay over more often in the short term?

Also, given you mentioned you are taking a lot of medication is it worth seeing if you can have a review in case some of those have insomnia side effects?

Lie in your bed, awake. Then tighten every muscle in your body from the feet up the way (not all at once!) then relax.

Start at your toes and work your way up.

An orgasm always works for me

I have a set of stories I work my way through. Self built stories based on my fave tv shows and I'm in the cast! I never get to finish them as I fall asleep during them.

Mums are amazing!

So you slept because you felt safe.

What changes could you make to your home that make you feel safer?

An echo in your room and your Mum's so you could drop in on her whenever?

A new front door? New locks? A house alarm?

A body sized pillow that smells like your Mum in your bed?

A ring doorbell?

Is it just your Mum or do you think it might be having another adult in the house? Are you the only adult? Could you get a housemate? (Space and family considerations first of course)

Exercise, any sort, can be gentle

Go out of the home, look at everything
When trying to sleep, try to remember everything that you have seen & you will fall asleep...

Audio stories or radio

On Spotify try Nothing Much Happens podcast. I have tried everything including Calm app but this is great

Exercise - can you manage a swim everyday?

Thank you again for all of your suggestions.
I won't sleep tonight though as I'm currently in hospital with a rather embarrassing problem.
I woke this morning and felt a really sharp pain in my right thigh. Then it went numb. Then earlier I went to the toilet and realised I'd wet myself. I didn't even feel it. So 111 sent me to A and E. So now I'm waiting on the A and E doctor but it's still a 4 and a half hour wait to be seen

• Lavender tea bag (from Bird and Blend) and chamomile tea bag, in one cup.
• 2 x magnesium tablets
• Melatonin (mine was prescribed by a functional medicine doctor)
• ear plugs, eye mask
• Vetivert essential oil on tissue on pillow
• Mindfulness breathing techniques

As an aside, my insomnia is caused by hypothyroidism, have you had your thyroid checked? Once thyroid medication is at the right level, and I follow the above routine, I sleep much better.

I have wireless earbuds on my bedside table and before I go to sleep I open Spotify to one of my playlist of podcasts. If I wake up in the night I put an earbud in and quickly hit snuggle on the screen. I listen to the podcasts until I drift back off. Sometimes I fall back asleep quickly, sometimes it takes ages but at least I'm entertained rather than watching the minutes tick by and getting closer to my alarm time. I have a playlist for gardening (Sarah Raven and the RHS podcasts are both soothing), one for cooking (cooking the books is good) and one about bird watching that I found by accident (Get Birding... has very soothing speech and gentle bird noises).

Red Bush Tea decaf
ASMR videos on YouTube
BBC 4 documentaries especially on art and wildlife
Anything by David Attenborough
Something Rhymes with Purple Podcast

www.amazon.co.uk/Overcoming-Insomnia-Sleep-Problems-Behavioral/dp/1845290704/ref=nodl_?dplnkId=2a156010-b209-4508-a911-7f1fc13aa461

the sleep restriction programme is brutal but was effective for me when I went through a horrible bout of insomnia.

good luck with it. You have my sympathies!