3:38 a.m.

[Libby]

Just bitching.  I slept for 3 hrs. and woke up.  Now I've been up for 40 minutes.  So, has the Ambien quit working?  Apparently so.  This has happened a lot lately.

Perhaps it's time for me to journey into Melatonin land, but I seem to recall that it can exacerbate depression.  Yawn. I am tired. I guess I'll go cuddle with my chihuahua and see if I can sleep.

[scatty]

I hope by now you've gotten some sleep.

It's been taking me forever to fall asleep

and then I wake after 3-4 hours also.  Even

with my klonopin this happens when I'm

cyclling.  I know my dh takes generic elavil

(can't spell it) & sleeps a good 8-9 hrs but

pdoc is reluctant to start me on an AD cuz I

usually go crazy on them.  Anyway, just

saying I can relate & I hope you figured out

a plan to get some shut eye.

[Steve@3AM]

I know it doesn't help your situation, but I just started going to a "sleep disorder insomnia workshop" after doing the hooked up sleep study etc. They asked us each what we were trying to accomplish. Most said they had trouble falling asleep or were waking early and not getting back to sleep. They were only getting 5-7 hours of sleep! I said that it was like asking a blind man if he'd like to see the color blue! I have no idea what a good nights sleep is like. I may average 3 hours/night. I think that except for rare situations the most I generally get is 5 and I still have a lot of zero's. (and I don't think I'm BP, Don't have any energy. But I've been doing this - or worse - since I was a kid and I had more energy then, so who knows?) I s'pose I could ask for some meds ,but I still almost resent needing sleep. I guess I really just want to find out if getting consistently good sleep would make a difference with my memory issues etc.

Good luck to you. I think there are probably some ways to fine tune what you are doing. Does classical or other music help? Sometimes it can pull your attention form those little mumblings in your head that keep you awake.

[lilie]

jeez it sucks that you can't find anything that works did you try the seroquel or the ativan to help your brain relax enough for you to sleep?

Lilie

[berelain326]

No sleeping sucks. I remember that as a kid I had the worst time sleeping, but my mom was like it's from all the junk food you eat and it keep you wired. When I went to college and was eating healthy, I still had the problem, but now I was doubly tired because I was working out too. No sleep for Berelain.

At the time my parents just thought I didn't want to go to bed, or I was fussing, well, yeah damnit, I was just going to lay there and look at the ceiling.

I give everything my "two week test" I take it for two weeks, it f it works, let's go with it, if not...screw it, there's a ton of things out there...if this ends up not working out, I think I'm going to try some of the R-named sleeping aids. They seem to have a lot of promise

My Sleep Medicine Experience

Geodon didn't work for me. I couldn't go to sleep at all while I was on it.

I got the infamous Seroquel headaches. I even somehow managed to have 4-6 mixed cycles (I'm BP2) throughout the day. And I hallucinated from it- weird things.

I've done Lunesta, and that worked for a while. I went through a month of sleep at 3mg, but I'd wake up all groggy and I couldn't function like a human. They lowered my dose, but because my body was used to something so much higher, it did nothing for me.

I'm on Ambien now. It's been interesting...I swear I thought I was stoned or even tripping, hmm, or drunk...very off feelings as I type this, I keep having to go back and retype everything. Then I realize what I wrote other than being totally wrong, didn't even make sense.

Oh yeah, once I'm asleep there is no getting up for me on Ambien. I'll wake up at around dinnertime, then be awake again.

[Steve@3AM]

Berelain

You "ate healthy" when you were in college? Some kinda freak?

When I was in Jr High I used to wait til family went to bed. Then I'd sneak out of house and walk downtown - only a couple miles or so - and hang out in all night cafe and watch the people and drink coffee. Then I'd go home and sneak back inside before anyone got up!

In college I used to sit in marathon card games for a week at a time. Only stopped for meals or 1 hour catnap on the weekend.

When I was doing drugs in 60's I used to stay up all night stoned and then go directly to work at Boeing. Got off work and went directly back to getting stoned. I had to wear a suit at work! so when I got home there were a few people that I always freaked out because they thought I was a "narc"!

I have gone through periods where I've slept a bit. Up til a few years ago I could pull "all-nighters" whenever the circumstances  allowed or encouraged or I just felt like it. Now I try to sleep. Lay in bed. But still toss and turn and don't get "good" sleep when I do sleep. I still think I average about 3 hours.

Maybe now that I'm back on meds and trying to deal with my issues this might change.

[Libby]

I ended up trying Melatonin, and it works, but it leaves me groggy the next day.  I started with 3mg, then went down to .3mg (bought a new bottle).  Regardless, I wake up at 3am every night.  If I could just stay off the computer, I'd probably be asleep!

[Steve@3AM]

Yeah, 3AM has some kind of pull!

Sorry I wasn't up then (an embarassment to my name!)

My sleep doc (is that an Sdoc?) told me I should take a 1 hour break from all activity except listening to music and light reading before going to bed. Says absolutely no internet in that period.

I went to bed at 12:30 last night after about 1 1/2 hours listening to classical music with a CES device. (crainial electrical stimulation. Supposed to relax you by synchronising brain waves but I don't know if it really does anything.) Took a while to actually fall asleep, but not as long as usual. I was awake around 4. Then back to sleep. Actually til around 7! I think I got 4-5 hours! I still find that I really WANT to stay up, but I just don't have the energy even if I'm not "sleepy". So I'm trying to be good with this sleep protocol.