Insomnia Poll

[Velvet Elvis]

It's ten till six. Sleep attempt number two was a dud after about an hour. I going to go do some yoga or something and try again in a bit I guess.

[dianebea]

I can go to sleep just fine, as long as I take my medication. My problem is waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to go back to sleep. Last night and the night before, I ended up taking 2 mg of Lunesta to sleep from 1-5.

I'm trying to cut back on trazodone because I'm so tired during the day, hence the awakenings.

dianebea

[NYPaintLady]

Insomnia, insomnia... why do you do this to me??? I tend to wait until I'm realllly tired and sleepy before I try to go to bed. Never without something to help make me sleepy. Usually some sort of combination of benadryl, valerian, melatonin, xanax, and/or ambien. Even with sleep aids, I wake often, every couple hours. And when I get up, whether it be 7am or 11am, I'm still tired.

I hate my brain at the moment...

[realitytest]

None of the options really fits me now (no "null vote" or N.A.?). I've DONE insomnia (watching clock LED numbers blink all night for more than a decade). Now I take meds, other precautions, and don't go to bed unless I'm near comatose.

VE's underlying premise is very sound - namely, get out of the bed if you can't sleep. "Sleep hygiene" 101 (Google will tell all) warns if you lie there tossing, turning and gnashing teeth, the bed will become another trigger for insomnia.

Without adding Neurontin for sleep maintenance (Ambien is for onset), I too wake early and my schedule is unruly. This was the brainchild of a previous doc and it works for me. (Note to all you who compain about staying asleep).

It's important to find something that keeps the sleep cycles as close to normal as possible so you dream and feel rested. It's not enough merely to be unconscious (tho things were so bad for a while that I looked forward to surgery as it was at least a guaranteed nap. They were THAT bad).

I'm also very careful about light. Lower wattage at least an hour before bed, touch reading light by bed, only nightlights for midnight potty dashes. For years, I depended on sound conditioners too but weaned myself finally. Felt silly taking it with me camping where natural forest sounds didn't work instead of canned ones.

Not sleeping is hell on earth. More than anything else, it made me dream of resting in eternal peace. Hypervigilance? Whatever, I completely lost the drowsy response despite exhaustion beyong imagining.

[Latin Girl]

Until the stupid alarm goes off at 5:30 am. I need more Sleep!!!

[~nestling~]

I could do the pre-remeron vote - 2 hours or so - but, now I'm on remeron, getting off to sleep is noooo problemo!

[lilie]

I take seroquel (and ambien when I have it) one to two hours before going to sleep. but without them zip I can't sleep at all no matter how long I lie still

lilie

[Sunshine]

My problem has always been sleep onset. Once I'm asleep, I'm good. It's getting there that can be a bitch. Even when it's at its worst, I'll almost always fall asleep around 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. And then get really pissed when the alarm goes off at 7:00.

[ncc1701]

Heya VE,

Heh.

BL: All night if I could, b/c of fucking nightmares, sometimes with physical pain and screaming. Or else, just b/c I couldn't slow down. I guess that was cycling, I dunno. I was really, really good when I was on call and wasn't *allowed* to sleep. Then slept in the afternoon, with the windows open and sunlight, and didn't have nightmares b/c it was daytime.

AL: Less than 2 hours, esp if I go to bed before 2230. Then Lamictal sleepies wear off and I'm up all night. Still not scared to sleep though. Even at night.

Had to take Imovane for a bit when freaking out over Dad, b/c psych was concerned about sleep, me too. Helped get me on track.

Sleep hygiene 101, brought to you by the letters r and t, and the number 8, is crucial. Get up and do something else.

The teenagers love it when I tell them that. Their parents hate it.

At any rate, *this post* might put you to sleep.

--ncc--

[HaloGirl66]

It really depends on the night and what I have to do the next day. Tradionally I've been someone who if I could pick a time to sleep it would be start late and sleep late (2 am to 10 am would be ideal) but this damn straterra is waking me up at 4 am and not letting me go back to sleep. I'll take my ambien & xanax at 11, fall asleep about 11:30 and wake up around 4 and lay there until the alarm goes off at 7.

[Sunshine]

You're taking Ambien and Xanax at bedtime? Immediate release Xanax?? I tried that once and had major hallucinations (and later found out this is why they are contraindicated). For some reason, Xanax XR is okay. Weird.

[HaloGirl66]

You're taking Ambien and Xanax at bedtime? Immediate release Xanax?? I tried that once and had major hallucinations (and later found out this is why they are contraindicated). For some reason, Xanax XR is okay. Weird.

Yep. well technically I take the ambien and then 20 minutes later I take regular xanax. The combo has never produced anything really wierd. when I first start any benzo I get sleep paralysis issues for a few nights then I am fine. and if i stay up after taking my Ambien, things start to get really freaky at the 2 hour point, but that happens with or without the xanax.

[Anelize]

In the past, I haven't had trouble getting to sleep (thank you seroquel), but I do have lots of trouble staying there, especially when I am cycling into a depression.

I wake up multiple times after about 4 hours of sleep, until the alarm clock rings. The odd thing is that I don't wake up to do anything about it--I'm so fuzzed out from the seroquel that I can't just go ahead and get up (not that I could be a functioning human being after 4 hours).

I recently took topamax out of my mix, and added Wellbutrin. I've been on the Wellbutrin for about 5 days, and since day 3 have been mildly hypomanic. I can feel my thoughts racing during the day somewhat, but it REALLY gets bad when I lay down to go to sleep. Then, it's an hour of racing thoughts until the seroquel kicks.

I really hope that this is not going to be a permanent side effect of Wellbutrin. I had high hopes that it would decrease my cycles into depression.