Trouble Sleeping

I was not sure where to post this and finally decided that this would be the appropriate place. How many of you have trouble sleeping? Some nights I just cannot seem to fall asleep and others, I will fall asleep and then wake up and cannot get back to sleep,,, like tonight. I feel like I have slept enought but here it is,,,, 12:15am. The same thing last night only it was 1:20am. So frustrating. I do not take a nap during the day so that I am tired when I go to bed. Anyone else suffering from sleeplessness??

 

I have had trouble sleeping for years, I have an over active mind at times and can not get to sleep until about 4am and still get up by 7am and work all day as if I had a full nights sleep. I have often read a book from front to back in 2 days trying to get to sleep. It seems if I am not sleep by 1Am I will wake up completely and be up for hours.

 

They say not to eat before going to bed. I cannot fall asleep if I'm hungry. If I eat before going to bed, I'm asleep in minutes.

 

EXCELLENT thread! Wife and I have been/are going thru this. She told her PCP about this during her last appointment and he prescribed a sleeping pill for her (Silenor 6mg). She doesn't use it very often and when she does, it's only 1/4 of a tab. The first time used, she used 1/2 tab and woke up really "groggy". I tried 1/4 tab once, but it didn't seem to help me that much at all.

Lately, we both have gone to bed around 10-10:30PM fairly sleepy, but then have a hard time going to sleep. There are times she has woken up at 3AM and had a very hard time getting back to sleep. This isn't good, since she has to get up at 7AM to get ready for work.

Actually, we think her lack of sleep is due to stress from work on whether she will be able to keep her job or not. If she has some leg or foot pain (arthritis) due to the weather or walking too much, when she goes to bed, she can take one Motrin tab (200mg) and that will both stop the pain and knock her out for the night.
Mine comes from some pain I wake up with from surgery I had (RC) on left shoulder last March. Nighttime pain hasn't stopped yet for that shoulder. The Percocet 5-325 I use to take, helped, but there were times that I'd still wake up in the middle of the night. I have to get up, get a cold pack and sit in our recliner for awhile. Sometimes I fall asleep for a couple of hours, then wake up and go back into bed. Then I'm ok to sleep more.

Trouble sleeping can be a mysterious thing and I've read that numerous things can cause it and it happens quite often to older folks/Seniors. I read about, and am checking into a vitamin supplement called B3.

One thing is for sure.........we hardly ever have a hard time taking a couple hour nap on Saturday or Sunday afternoon, if needed.

 

When I was going to college back in 2004 I was drinking coffee right before bedtime. I drank Valerian root to get to sleep. While I was sleeping after drinking Valerian root I slept right through till the morning when my alarm went off. I once in a while drink Valerian root to get to sleep and sleep soundly till the next morning. If you're taking any medication of any kind please ask the pharmacist before buying Valerian root so there won't be any doubt as to the MG or if Valerian root clashes with any meds you're taking. Good luck and have a good night sleep. Valerian root is non-addictive too. I found the cheapest Valerian root at Walmart.

 

I sometimes experience dozing off while watching tv and then waking up in the middle of the night and not feel sleepy anymore. That can be attributed to an earlier bedtime (my bedtime is 10 pm). But sometimes I sleep on time and I wake up at around 2 am or 3 am as if I want to leave for the office. And when I couldn't sleep, I would read a book. There are times that I would wake up in that unholy hour and stay awake until I leave for work.

Maybe it's part of getting old? Or is it the stress that's inside my body which is trying to get out?

 

My sleep pattern is all messed up. My Chronic Fatigue has been acting up this week, and when that happens, I just can't stay awake. It's hard to explain to someone who's never experienced it. I was in bed for most of the day the other day, from early afternoon on, then of course I was up really early, but still needed a nap yesterday. Thankfully, I was able to accomplish what I needed to, before that happened. Now I'm up early (been up for about 3 hours, since around 4 a.m.), and will need a nap later. I've always been a night owl, so it's disturbing to me when I have to go to bed around 7 or 8 p.m. I'm sure a lot of mine is due to pain and especially stress, and I do what I can to manage them. I may have mentioned it before, but there is an app for insomnia. Before you take medication, you could try the app, it's called SleepStar. I'm not sure if it's available for Android. I'll have to try to remember to check that. I know it was in iTunes last time I checked. It has worked for me, but didn't work on my last device, so I'll have to see if I can get it for this one. Diaphragmatic breathing helps, also.

 

I am diabetic and am on several kinds of meds for other issues. However, after checking with my pharmacist, none of them should be interfering with sleep, in fact; a couple may even cause drowsiness. I will definitly be trying the valerian root. I have tried melatonin, but it does nothing to help me sleep. I have also tried drinking camomile tea. I sometimes read before bed, but it does not help and I also have tried watching some TV. I may fall asleep in my recliner, but if I wake up, I am up the rest of the night. I did take some prescribed sleeping pills for a short time, but they made me feel so groggy when I woke up in the morning, I do not feel they are a good solution for me.

 

So, I ate a late supper last night and fell asleep by 8pm. Woke up at 11pm. Here it is 1:15am and here I am, online. Can't get back to sleep. This happens a lot of nights. After a couple hours online, I will often fall back asleep for another hour or two.

Anyway, I like the wee hours of the night, or morning. It's quiet everywhere. My building is asleep, the streets are deserted. Peaceful. Spent much of my working life on night shifts and always liked it. That way, I had plenty of time for other, more enjoyable things. Fishing and hunting was best during the week when everyone on the day shifts were hard at work. Same with shopping or anything.

Back in happier times, if I couldn't sleep on my nights off from work, I would often take long, rambling walks through quiet neighborhoods. At 2 or 3am, everything is asleep. The only sound I heard on those walks would be the tinkling of wind chimes.

After being stopped and checked out by cops, and having to explain why I was 2-3 miles from my home wandering around at those early hours, I switched to driving.

Then, I would wander the country gravel roads at a slow speed, just observing all the wildlife my headlights illuminated. No traffic, no cops, just me and the rabbits, coon, possum, deer and sometimes a fox. Better days, those.

 

Just because the pharmacist says that none of the drugs should cause insomnia doesn't mean that a combination of them can't. Have your spoken to your doctor about this. Perhaps there is something going on with the way the medications are being taken maybe too close together. It's also possible that something you are eating or drinking could be interacting with the medication and causing the issue. Also, what frame of mind are you currently in,sometimes when our minds are troubled over something we don't sleep because our minds won't shut off. Again it might be a good idea to talk to a doctor.

 

I go to sleep every night at about 10pm and I wake up several times during the night. I cannot recall the last time I slept solid right through to the alarm clock. I usually wake up at about 4:30am and have to go to the bathroom, then I struggle to get back to sleep. I have back and hip problems so one of the issues is that I can not lay in one position very long. If I do pain sets in. So I toss and turn all night. I have tried everything and just don't feel that medication is the answer. I go through the day without feeling exhausted so I guess I am getting enough sleep.

I notice that this time of year, right before the clocks go back is the hardest because it is dark when I leave work already. I feel it more. I also feel it more in my bones and joints because the weather is shifting. By the time it freezes it will be better. I just don't fight it. If I cannot go back to sleep I get up and do stuff. I figure I can maybe get a nap if I have to.

They say you should not work out to close to the time when you will be going to sleep. I work out pretty late and I think that it has actually helped my sleep. Maybe it is the increase in oxygen? I don't know. I do know I like it rather cold when I sleep.