Insomnia - any tips?

[Scootergirl]

We've got a friend staying who is suffering from horrendous insomnia which has been going on since October. It's making her very upset and anxious. She has sleeping tablets prescribed by her dr but is very worried about the side-effects. Any tips/advice/survivor stories very welcome!

is she worried about anything... or on any medication that will keep her awake...

Sleeping tablets are really bad for you. They knock out your body's natural rhythm.

I'm sure someone will come along with some good advice.

I think she's anxious about not sleeping which is turning it into a vicious circle but she's not on any medication to keep her awake

I suffer from a kind of seasonal insomnia - it starts when the days get shorter- around Oct and starts wearing off mid Jan. I have tried all sorts but the thing that works best for me is to not stress about sleeping but keep my mind off it. Am always too tired to read / draw/ anything constructive so I watch films or tv series. I join the blockbuster post thing in oct and cancel in jan when it wears off. I usually watch stuff until I fall asleep at about 3am and then wake between 6 and 7.

The lying there worrying is the worst - I can worry about anything in the night and the silliest is when you worry about not sleeping. I found exercise in the day and yoga / relaxing in the evening help too.

Sleeping tablets are the worst - I found them both addictive and not a solution to my problem.

If it came on in Oct she could be like me or could there have been an event that triggered it?

Sleeping problems are also associated with depression - how is she generally?

Best wishes - ask more if need be.

Thanks for that. She hasn't really slept since her second DS was born in March and she's depressed about not sleeping but reasonably ok in herself.

I've had insomnia for years and years, since being a pubecent girl.

I used to decamp to another room and the progressed to watching discovery channel/BBC Learning Zone/Cartoon Network then listening to 5Live or World Service

I also found a bedtime routine helped...quiet 1/2 hr, warm bath, fave jimjams mug of camomile tea.

But

I was adviced to go caffine free for another unrelated medical issue and the insomnia has stopped. I wake early but the shipping forecast sends me back to nodsville.

Best of luck with it as it's an awful affliction

Internet Insomnia boards are full of people who have become addicted to the pills to sleep at all. I suppose they must work for some people, but I think best avoided if at all possible.

I had bad insomnia when pregnant and after dd was born. A friend of mine told me to write a long list of boring jobs I needed to get done and to do them all one night and tell myself I could not sleep until they were done - a sort of reverse psychology - it worked I only managed one of the 25 before I needed a nap! After that it settled. I also wrote a list of things that were troubling me and found that only one was 'real' I sorted that too...

a short course of CBT has een shown to be amzingly effective at sorting this out... do a google on it...

Sleeping tablets could help in the short term as they will at least break the cycle and allow her to get some therapeutic sleep.

Relaxation CDs are good as well.

Should try my own as I'm sitting here because I can't sleep! Mumsnet is too fascinating to promote sleepiness!