Chronic insomnia

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Seriously struggling with insomnia. I have tried everything and nothing. I have a good bedtime routine, no screens, no TV in my room, no caffeine after 2pm, no drinks, no alcohol (god I sound boring). I just cannot get to sleep. I'll be reading and get the sleepy cues, yawning, tired eyes, etc but when I lay my head down my brain starts whirring. I've tried pillow mist, scented candles, melatonin, sleeping tablets (sometimes together) and nothing. I'm on about 2 months of less than 2 hours per night and feel like I'm slowly dying. I'm self employed with a very physical job and work full time. I'm struggling to even get out of bed let alone get through a day. I've had to finish early today s I could barely see straight.
Please can someone recommend something they have tried? I'm now looking into hypnotherapy as a last resort.

Given that hypno means sleep in Greek that's a wise choice!

What happened 2 months ago?

It's on going. I get a bout of insomnia every 4-6 months, however this time is dragging on. My mum was taken ill in Feb and spent 9 weeks in hospital. I was driving a 6 hour round trip to visit her every other weekend. She's back home now but we think she has dementia as she had 3 strokes and has all the symptoms. It's taken its toll mentally and physically and I think it's all just caught up with me. It's really affecting my MH. My relationships are going down the pan as I don't want to be around anyone. Hard with a DH and two kids in the house. It's making me very very sad. 😢

OK, so what's happening here is that your subconscious mind is scared of allowing your conscious mind to shut down in case it's needed during the night - primarily for your mother I would guess.

When insomnia hits we can get so stressed about not sleeping that it becomes a vicious cycle and we lay there worrying about how much sleep we're missing.

When we go to bed at night, if we simply accept that it’s more important that we are resting and treating ourselves to some relaxation than that we are actually unconscious, we take the pressure off the process of sleeping and reduce any anxiety about sleep.

Try accepting that when you go to bed that you may well be awake all night, but that you will be doing absolutely nothing other than resting and relaxing, then the resulting reduction in your cortisol (stress) levels more often than not will allow you to naturally fall asleep.

@Eyesopenwideawake thank you. I think this is exactly it. I'll try and just relax tonight rather than worry. I've put the sleeping pill and melatonin away as I think I'm creating an unhealthy crutch by having them on my bedside table.

Have you tried zolpidem ? It’s unusual that wouldn’t work unless you have a tolerance built up

Have you tried the Sleepio app? It uses validated processes to improve sleep over 6 weeks. It’s available free through some NHS trusts but you can self-refer. I’ve found it immensely helpful after years of insomnia.

Have you tried Magnesium? They work brilliantly for me.

I have found if you spend your time laying there thinking about getting to sleep- you won't but if you concede it just happens once you've given up

Yoga nidra, which is kind of like meditation but easier, helps me a lot. Even if I don't drop off, I feel more rested and sometimes less alone in the night. Ally Boothroyd on YouTube does some good, long recordings.

The doc gave me the but after the second one it didn't work, so Ive stopped them altogether now. I didn't take anything last night and whilst I only had about 3 hours sleep, I feel less groggy.

Thank you, I will try this. I'm willing to give anything a go, thank you x

Thank you, I'll look into this. I have heard a few moves before bed works wonders x

Youre right. I did what @Eyesopenwideawake suggested lat night and just accepted that I may not sleep and although it took a while I didn't feel so uptight about it all. I feel a bit better today so fingers crossed x

Is it menapause? Or peri.
I had insomnia (not as bad as yours though) it disappeared with HRT . It was like magic.

I did but I think I took the wrong type as it gave me chronic 💩 haha. Which one do you take? I think the Glycinate is a good one for sleep. x

Things that work for me:

• when I first when keto about 6 years ago I couldn’t believe the difference it made to sleep. The first few weeks were full of crazy dreams but then I got deep deep sleep and always wake up refreshed, even if I’ve only had 5 hours sleep. The moral of the story is nutrition matters, really matters! I believe a diet of crap UPF impacts sleep immensely
• For the rare days when I can’t drop off to sleep (worry) then instead of ‘counting sheep’ try imagining an everyday scenario you do, a habit you have, and in your mind walking yourself through every part of it. It might be something like making a cup of tea. So you fill the kettle which means taking it off the base, lifting the lid, going over to the tap, setting the tap to cold, turning on the tap, seeing water come out, watching the water fill to the line…..I won’t bore you more, but I have found this technique is a game changer. Can’t remember where I heard about it, but it works every time. You can pick any daily habit you have.
• magnesium, get magnesium glycinate, it works and most people are deficient in magnesium

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34269711/

science has looked at the keto diet and sleep!

Im not saying ‘go keto’ but I’m saying good matters for a good night of refreshing sleep!

I'll have a look into this, thank you. x

This is a great idea, thank you. Last night I had a warm shower, did some colouring in, wrote in a gratitude journal and also wrote down my worries. I think it helped relax me a lot more than trying to nod off. x

It's associated with peri. I've had the worst meno journey of all of my friends. HRT was majorly over prescribed to me and it made me ill, also had to had a hysteroscopy due to hyperplasia because of the over prescribing. I took myself off it about 4 months ago but have just started back on a 25mg patch to see if it helps. x

It's associated with peri. I've had the worst meno journey of all of my friends. HRT was majorly over prescribed to me and it made me ill, also had to had a hysteroscopy due to hyperplasia because of the over prescribing. I took myself off it about 4 months ago but have just started back on a 25mg patch to see if it helps

Ok, that sounds promising. Going on HRT completely and instantly cured my insomnia. It's was amazing. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you 🤞🏻

Thank you. I will update in a few days. Keeping everything crossed 😊 x

Glad you had a better night 😊

If you do decide to go with the hypnotherapy talk to someone who has experience with sleep issues and/or does 'parts' therapy.

For me, nothing works like zoplicone (brand name Zimovane). It's one of the most commonly prescribed sleeping pills so I'm assuming you've tried it.
I'm off it at the moment and really want to stay off it or at least minimise its use as much as possible. Herbal alternatives like Boots Valerian one-a-night or Seésta by a brand called Irish Botanicals take the edge off but aren't that potent. These can be taken together.
The one thing I find really helps and has not been mentioned here is a hot bath just before bed. This works by making your core temperature drop as the blood flows outwards in order to for heat to leave your body. I add in c.500g of Epsom salts. This is a lot but the magnesium in the salts really helps. Also a sleep-inducing bath oil. My favourite is the Aromatherapy Associates Deep Relax (currently 3 for 2 in Boots) but even on offer this is ridiculously expensive so I'll more often use something cheaper from TKMaxx or the health food shop. These three things together: the heat, the Epsom salts and the strong bath oil, combine to induce sleep. I never bother with pillow sprays or mists, but a few drops of neat lavendar oil or sweet majoram on my pulse points seems to help, although this could be placebo.

It’s an awful affliction and most people don’t really understand how bad it can get. I’ve had it all of my adult life. The past year I’ve been taking benzodiazepines but they only work for a few weeks and then I have to take a few weeks off to reset the tolerance. So on the days they’re not working or I’m off them I won’t sleep before 6 am. I’ve asked to be referred to a sleep specialist and hoping they can come up with a better treatment plan. I’ve heard that in severe cases they can alternate sleeping pills with amphetamines to get you up and going about your day early