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 😩

Also best wishes in A & E - just seen that!

This may sound silly but easy or moderate sudoku works for me. Books or music just get stuck in my brain and I think about the plot or the tune becomes an ear worm. There is just nothing for the brain to get stuck on with 9 numbers.

Not read the full thread but I used Ashwaganda and magnesium supplements when I was going through a bad sleeping patch and they worked. Also got something called sleep balm from Sierra bees via iHerb. Lush sleepy cream also does the trick.

Hi, this is going to sound crazy but worth a try. Have you ever tried to change what you eat, I have this book on intolerances that did it for me. It’s called the virgin diet by JJ Virgin, it has you pull out the food that cause inflammation and that helps with the sleep amongst others.
I used to wake up in the middle of the night like a bat and could not get back to it. I go to bed at 10 now, fall asleep pretty much immediately and don’t wake up until 5:30 (which is naturally btw, no alarm).
if I do wake up for the bathroom I don’t remember much of it.
Bit of a crazy idea for you to try if nothing else works.

I am a 2am waker. I over think everything and worry about work. The only way I can go back to sleep is counting backwards from 1000. It takes enough concentration to stop me thinking about other things and if my mind drifts I go back to start. It takes discipline and practice but now I can be asleep again within 15 mins.

I'm curious why this was a useless GP appt? What were you hoping they could do? Sounds like you're on quite a lot of meds already and psych had already offered you a sleeping Tabley. So what else ?

@memorial the psych only offered me the meds after the doctors appointment. The doctor refused to even give me any information about sleep hygiene and spent the phone call asking me how I coped being a disabled mother instead of focusing on the problem I phoned him for

Have always had occasional problems with sleeping - when GP tightened up & stopped prescribing sleeping tablets a few years ago (I used to take about ten annually, so really didn't think it was an addiction) he reccomended Nytol (original ones in blue packet).
They're great for breaking a pattern of not sleeping - I can end up not able to sleep becaus I an anxious about not sleeping 🙄or if I'm staying in a strange place for the first time. They help me get to sleep - I don;t wake up fuzzy headed. I still only use one every couple of months, I wouldn;t use them as a permanent solution.
Boots and Lloyds do their own versions which are a bit cheaper - Diphenhydramine Hydrochloride is the active ingredient.

I use nightol herbal (sometimes half a tablet), dimming alarm clock (I read in bed as it dims) and full body pillow..I spray calming spray into the room, abd pillow spray before sleep. I take heroics to bed too

Also, find a podcast or radio program that you enjoy but you can drift off to. I really like it, but BBC's newscast does it for me.

I feel like most posters are missing the point. OP can sleep through the night when mum is around, probably because her trauma, and mum makes her feel safe when in the house. OP needs help to deal with the trauma. Some podcast isn't going to remove the root cause.

But the OP didn't mention being able to sleep when her mother stayed over until quite recently?

Because it never occurred to me. My mum hadn't slept in ages and I thought I was finally able to sleep alone but clearly not.
Anyway, looks like tonight will be another no sleep night as I'm still stuck I hospital.

Yes. I'm talking about after that. Posters still suggesting other stuff.

As a GP comments like useless/thanks anyway/not helpful is so disheartening. He asked the questions he asked because he was testing to figure our why you're not sleeping ...because really that's the only way we can try and figure out if we can help ie do you need antidepressants/support/counselling etc.
Sleeping tabs are an easy fix for us to give but not recommended or adviced and certainly doesn't sound a good idea from your comments about meds and your past hx. So it's exhausting when we are dismissed and insulted when actually we are trying to help. There really is no quick or easy fix for sleep problems (I know I am a chronic insomnias and usually sleep 4 or 5 hours a night max so I am not unsympathetic) I hope you find something that helps

Im not sure if Pilates is possible for you. A Pilates teacher (who is also a physio) once told me it's better for joints than yoga because it stabilises rather than stretches the joints. This video is specifically for people with EDS/hyper mobility.

Another thing I was going to say is that some of the things you've tried, like magnesium and binaural beats, might take a while to take effect. They might have a cumulative rather than an instant effect, IYSWIM.

He asked the questions he asked because he was testing to figure our why you're not sleeping my parenting has nothing to do with my sleep pattern. So no. He asked because he was judging my ability to be a good parent due to me being disabled.