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    Carnt Sleep...

    I haven't had a good night's sleep in months and, for some reason especially this morning, I feel absolutely exhausted. I'm thinking about sleeping pills of some sort, but am anxious about them for a number of reasons. What do other insomniac OTFers do?

    #2
    I think we need more information first, such as your routine before you go to bed, the work you do, the bed itself, the temperature at night, any stress issues and a load of other stuff. I wouldn't go straight to pills, though, no.

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      #3
      I'm so sleepy I've put this in the wrong fucking forum.

      [Edit: I posted it in Music originally - thanks to Snake for shifting it over]
      Last edited by Furtho; 20-09-2019, 10:54.

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        #4
        Is it physical insomnia in that you're just not tired or mental in that you can't stop your brain churning thoughts over and over? I get the latter and finding something to shut down mentally works for me. I don't go as far as the counting sheep cliche but not far off it, I do find reading a few chapters of a book until my eyes get heavy works.

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          #5
          I am rubbish at sleeping, in large part due to my severe obstructive sleep apnoea. So I can fall asleep pretty easily, but I don't stay asleep. Unaided, I "wake up" about 60 times an hour.

          I'm not helping, just moaning. Insomnia is awful, you have my sympathies.

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            #6
            And mine. It's an awful, savagely lonely business, and I had it so bad last year (along with various physical niggles) that it absolutely ravaged my overall mental health (involving a lengthy period off work, and my disappearance from OTF for a few months). I've tried various meditation apps (mixed results), along with basics like no caffeine in the evening, and I take a very very mild dose of a mood-stabilising medication.

            I tried sleeping pills (Zopiclone) for a couple of months but they lose their effectiveness after a while as well as having, for me anyway, quite seriously depressive effects. Try not to over-fetishise your sleep routines too much, as I found they can add to the sense of almost OCD-ish like stress. And do some exercise if you can. Running is my particular drug of choice for this.

            Of course, not everything works for everyone and not all insomnia has the same remedies, just as no two mental health problems are the same, but here's my random thoughts.

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              #7
              Originally posted by TonTon View Post
              I am rubbish at sleeping, in large part due to my severe obstructive sleep apnoea. So I can fall asleep pretty easily, but I don't stay asleep. Unaided, I "wake up" about 60 times an hour.

              I'm not helping, just moaning. Insomnia is awful, you have my sympathies.
              I also have this and my CPAP is an absolute lifesaver. I do believe I'd be dead now without it because the heart just cannot cope with having oxygen cut off 60 times an hour.

              Horrendous nightmares are my issue and I think I sometimes avoid sleep to avoid them.

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                #8
                My sympathies to everyone who's got any form of sleep disorder.

                I can't add much to what's been said but my tuppence for what it's worth: my wife suggests meditation or if you've had some kind of life altering event however small maybe try CBT. If you have to take pills try something like Kalms first before you even think about the ones that come on prescription.

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by Satchmo Distel View Post

                  I also have this and my CPAP is an absolute lifesaver. I do believe I'd be dead now without it because the heart just cannot cope with having oxygen cut off 60 times an hour.

                  Horrendous nightmares are my issue and I think I sometimes avoid sleep to avoid them.
                  I had a cpap. Couldn't sleep with it on. Used to wake up after a couple of minutes feeling like someone was smothering me, and that would be me done for the night.

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                    #10
                    Technology has really improved in recent years. Mine is very light and just covers the nose. Might be worth another go.

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                      #11
                      It was the air pushing in that freaked me out.

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                        #12
                        I couldn't sleep for years. The pills just made me feel sleepy the next day. I paid a lot to see a sleep therapist. She was supportive and gave good advice, but it didn't help much.

                        The lab test didn't show I had apnea - I could barely get to sleep in the lab setting - but my dentist gave me a test that showed I had it and so he gave me a mouth guard thing that helped my breathing at night but made it harder to fall asleep.

                        In the spring of 2018, I was desperate, so decided to stop taking the antidepressants and the Concerta and just focus on losing weight. I did that. Almost about 110lbs so far and everything, especially sleep, is better since. Having some serious anxiety issues, but I'm working on that. The pills made me numb and foggy, so I'm not going back to that.

                        Unfortunately, lately my dog is been waking up - and waking me up - at all hours. He goes back to sleep if I give him a treat. Or sometimes he needs to go out and pee. I'm not sure how to break that cycle. I've tried to get him to settle down again without the incentive, but it doesn't always work. I think dogs just don't sleep the way we do. They sleep more, but not as deeply.

                        But it even with that, I feel a lot better and a lot less tired.

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                          #13
                          Thanks for everyone's contributions to the thread. Of course, each individual's circumstance is different, so maybe there's a limit as to what we can learn, but perhaps having the opportunity to share experiences of sleep-related issues is helpful. I hope so.

                          There's not a lot I can do about stressful situations that might or might not be a factor in my difficulty sleeping (it's not like I lie awake thinking or worrying about Stressful Thing X), so last night I took a Kalms before turning in. It did make me feel ever so slightly woozy, which wasn't unpleasant, but it didn't have any effect on my ability to go to sleep and stay asleep. Guh.

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                            #14
                            Have you tried camomile tea? It works for Mrs AE and if I have a large mug before I go to bed it helps.

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                              #15
                              For various reasons but mostly stress, I started sleeping badly around about March this year. Aside from some personal issues, I also started working in a special school then and I think this had something to do with it. It isn't so much getting to sleep as waking up absolutely drenched in sweat at around 4.30 (too close to my actual waking up time to get back to sleep). Aside from the sweat, there was also a kind of whirring sound mixed with running water. I spent a load of time walking around the flat to see whether the heating or any radiators were on. Gradually, I realised that the underfloor heating in the bathroom and kitchen were coming on at odd times during the night and switched that off - thinking that, somehow, the heat caused by them was reaching to the bedroom and causing me to sweat. However, this had no effect - neither did turning off the heated towel rail. The issue is that, with my tinnitus, I was never quite sure whether the running water/whirring sound was actually in my head. My wife doesn't seem to hear it. In my continued hunt to find out what is massively increasing our electricity bills presently (I have a feeling both issues are connected) , I have found that our electricity meter - which is essentially under my bed - is very loud so I am trying to get the company to have a look at it. The odd thing is that when I wake up earlier - I am a man over a certain age after all - I am not drenched in sweat and the whirring noise isn't present. To be honest, I have decided to wake up earlier at 6am and get into work early as there is no point lying awake waiting for the alarm to ring. I still have an hour of fitful sleep at best from 4.30 to then though.

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