Another insomnia one

[Bonden]

I am absolutely desperate as over a year my sleep patterns/insomnia has become an out of control nightmare.

I have lost the ability to go to sleep unless I’ve been awake for 24 hours. then I sleep for maybe 12 hours.

I have tried all the tips and aids. Nothing works.

My everyday life is absolutely dominated and determined by lack of sleep. No meetings before 14.00 are feasible. Some days I am stumblingly exhausted from no sleep, other days dozy and headachy from so much sleep. I feel appalling either way.

How old are you? This was my first perimenopausal symptom!

So sorry you’re going through this. Lack of sleep is literally torture. I have suffered with poor sleep and even took several weeks off work in the past because it was causing other symptoms. I went to the doctor and asked for sleeping tablets. She told me I should take three weeks off work and go for some long walks in the countryside.

My current way of managing my sleep is as follows - if I let any of these slip or a combination of them, I know I will have a worse night’s sleep.

I try to exercise every day. I’m currently very into going to the gym but over the years I’ve been into different forms of exercise - walking, running, swimming, yoga.
I take magnesium bisglycinate every evening. I find the magnesium only really works well when I have also exercised.
I switch my phone off and leave it in the kitchen. I just have an old school alarm clock in the bedroom. Also blackout blinds.
I don’t drink alcohol. When I have an occasional drink or two, I know that my sleep that night will be affected but sometimes I just do it anyway.
I eat my last meal at least two hours before bed. (I used to be able to eat later when I was younger but I find it does affect me these days. I’m 44.)

Something that worked for me for a while was that I took antihistamine (cetirizine) combined with Trip CBD oil - the strongest one they do. It knocked me out the first time I tried it, and I carried on using it pretty much every night for about 8 months. But then I decided to stop for a bit during the holidays and I ended up coming out in an itchy rash for a couple of days and realised it was withdrawal from the cetirizine! So I’ve kept off that since. I don’t find CBD oil alone does anything for my sleep and just makes me drowsy the next day.

Finally, I have been having five element acupuncture on and off for about twelve years. I wouldn’t say it directly helps with sleep problems but it does help with general wellbeing and anxiety which has a positive knock on effect on sleep if those things are affecting how calm or otherwise you feel in life generally.

As someone else said, if you might be perimenopausal maybe look into getting some HRT.

Wishing you all the best and hope you get some better sleep soon.

thank you - I’ve tried Lumenate which is interesting and relaxing but doesn’t make me sleep; Trip does nothing; a stress-relieving huggable sloth which is definitely relaxing and good for the awful sleep anxiety; melatonin puff gave me a hangover; every meditation technique going, does nothing; breathwork ditto; hypnosis ditto; over the counter sleep meds work but awful hangover and cannot function next day.

I will try acupuncture, good idea. I’m over 60 and this has just got worse over the years post menopause. Also adhd diagnosed 5 years ago which definitely doesn’t help as I have a zillion mental “tabs” open!

I don’t do any exercise I think that’s also something I need to change

also my B12 is awfully low (120) and I am starting injections now.

Has anything changed in your routine since your insomnia started?

💐 I feel your pain x Handhold

I've experienced insomnia for most of my life. I just embrace it now. If I get a few hours of continuous sleep; that's great!