Insomnia.

Do you watch TV in bed? thats a big no-no. Get some exercise too.

Actually I don't know if my habits qualify as insomnia. I generally just stay up, reading or listening to music, and sometimes checking email etc., well past the point where I know I should go to bed. It's a compulsion. Last night, for example, I got home about eight, made dinner, did my homework, and then proceeded to stay up until nearly 3:30. At some point I was actually falling asleep on my sofa while doing my homework, and later I did the same while reading a novel. But I got up, got a glass of milk, and stayed up several more hours. My brain seems at war with itself; likewise, in the mornings, I often get up and part of my brain tells itself, "Gosh, I'm so tired, won't it be OK just to lay back down and rest?" Typically I'm able to resist such temptations, but lately I've been so zonked out of my mind with tiredness that I've actually done it. Result: I wake up at 8:45, get ready for work in a mad rush (thus: no breakfast, no time to shave), and either take a cab ($15 I can't afford) or simply skulk in the office at 10 (not the worst thing in the world, as I can stay until 6 or 7, but not so great either).

Sorry to bother you with these personal details but this is the number one problem in my life at the moment and I would like some advice.

(on x-post: what Dan Perry said)

I'm not sure. I just hear that a lot. I also hear that you should never do anything in your bed besides sleep and have sex. I know that when I observe these rules I can't even read in bed because I will just fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.

I have this problem all the time, and yes I think it's a product of feeling unsatisfied. that's why I said check out Cioran!

ps--moving to another country didn't work.

The nights where I REALLY couldn't fall asleep, getting slightly tipsy did work wonders.

TV and using a computer at night is supposed to be too stimulating. Just the light/flickering of the screen, I suppose. I go online when I have insomnia, which is exactly what you're not supposed to do.

Being up late at night just seems more interesting somehow.

Maybe this is the key thing. When you have roommates, you get to see people, talk to people at night. Without roomates you look for stimulation from things like TV, internet, reading etc. You need to do these things for much longer to get that socially tired out feeling that living with actual people brings.

I am speaking from personal experience, I live alone too. (Also that feeling of "tee hee, I live alone! I can do whatever I want at any hour I please, oh ho ho ho!" has never quite worn off with me)

Anyway, I have insomnia, but it's part of a broader thing, and I take pills for it. I don't have anything helpful to share, especially, but if the thread'd been here last night I could've at least rambled on about it for a few pages, damn.

But yeah, as I think I mentioned on one of those threads, Melatonin can really work well - it puts you to sleep but you don't wake up with that "having taken a sleeping pill" feeling. The problem is I think I built up a tolerance to it or something, as its efficacy seemed to wane in recent months.

Lately I've been taking this tea with Valerian about twenty minutes before bed, then going to bed with a book and the lite jazz of WBEZ; not the strain of jazz I largely listen to but it serves to relax me before bed for some reason.

Oh, and also, exercise helps, no question. Even if it's just some walking in the evening or something.

At first I blamed it on the storm of personal chaos, stress, and depression I was going through. Most of that has kinda dissipated now, but actual sleeping has been rare. I rarely drink coffee past lunchtime and especially avoid heavy eating in the late evening but the only thing that's sort of worked is having one glass of red wine beforehand.

Amateurist, you mention several times above that you're having a glass of milk whenever you wake up. Skip the milk next time. I used to drink milk in the middle of he night whenever I was insomniac and discovered that my stomach was keeping me awake from trying to process the lactose.

Try to make a routine for yourself, so you don't go, say, directly from computer to bed each night. Don't lie down earlier than you need to... get in bed when it's time to sleep, and give yourself 8 hours until you need to be up. At first, you'll lie awake, but your body will get used to it. Try not to get upset or anxious about going to sleep, as that will only make it harder.

Obviously, cut out coffee and caffeine stuff at least 6 hours before you want to go to bed, if not earlier in the day.

And exercise, definitely, just like everyone else said.

If you're having a lot of trouble establishing a routine, you could see a doctor and be prescribed a short dose (3 or 4 days) of something like Ambien, which is pretty damned effective at putting you out a few days in a row and getting your body back onto a schedule (provided you take it at about the same bedtime each night for however many nights your doctor prescribes).

Thanks everyone for the advice. I hope to gain the self-discipline to put it to good use.

My computer engineer/born-again Christian father calls it "defragging the hard drive," possibly because he is too born-again to realize how ideal that phrase is as a masturbatory euphemism.

Either that, or he DOES realize it, and I now know how my father deals with insomnia.

Ew.

like ppl said above, try cutting back on coffee, don't go the milk route (most ppl i know do find it keeps them up) and most importantly, try and get exercise. That is the only thing that sometimes helps me. Booze wakes me up even more and I find myself posting drunkenly to ILx.

My insomnia started when i was about 12 or 13. I'll be ok for a few months and then get a bad patch again. In normal cirumstances I usually have a least one night a week or so where I don't sleep. In bad patches it can be up to 3 nights of no sleep (and I mean none whatsoever) I've basically adjusted and try and either get some work done, catch up on reading and not force sleep.

In your case, if you are on a work schedule where you can go in a bit later and stay later, maybe try doing that for a while. Good luck.

Have you seen a doctor about it?

I would just got to bed but I have three days to memorize all of this:

Lesson 6 - Adverbs

I. General considerations
II. Forming adverbs from adjectives
III. Position of adverbs
IV. Comparative and superlative forms of adverbs
V. Negative adverbs

I. Introduction

An adverb is an invariable word that can modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Adverbs generally answer one of four questions: how, when, where, and how much

The following is a list of just a few adverbs:
adverbs of time (when): adverbs of manner (how):
aujourd'hui today bien well
autrefois in the past mal badly, poorly
tôt early ensemble together
bientôt soon vite quickly
tard late vraiment really
maintenant now réellement really, actually
aussitôt at once d'habitude usually
actuellement at present, currently heureusement fortunately, luckily
tout de suite right away, immediately
encore again, still, another time seulement only, however
déjà already autrement otherwise
d'abord first, at first brusquement suddenly, all of a sudden
hier yesterday très very
généralement generally
souvent often

adverbs of place (where): adverbs of quantity (how much, how many):
près near beaucoup a lot, very much
loin far peu a little, not much
ici here assez enough
là there, here trop too much, too many
là-bas over there plus more
ailleurs elsewhere moins less
partout everywhere
quelque part somewhere

adverbs of restriction
presque almost
peut-être perhaps, maybe
seulement only
à peine hardly, scarcely

Exercice (6.1)

II. Forming adverbs from adjectives

1. Many adverbs of manner end in -ment. This corresponds to the English -ly. To form such adverbs, take the feminine form of the corresponding adjective and add -ment :
curieux curieuse curieusement
normal normale normalement

2. If the masculine form of an adjective ends in a vowel, the adverb is formed simply by adding -ment (no extra -e is added):
poli poliment
absolu absolument
terrible terriblement
vrai vraiment

3. Adjectives which have two or more syllables and end in -ant or -ent are changed into adverbs by substituting these endings with -amment or -emment:
évident évidemment
différent différemment
courant couramment
élégant élégamment

4. The following adverbs are irregular:
adjectives adverbs
bon bien well
meilleur mieux better, best
mauvais mal badly
gentil gentiment nicely, pleasantly
rapide vite fast, quickly
bref brièvement briefly
commun communément commonly, generally
énorme énormément enormously, tremendously
aveugle aveuglément blindly
précis précisément precisely
profond profondément profoundly, deeply

Remember that vite is an adverb and cannot be used as an adjective. Rapide is the corresponding adjective:

Tu as mangé ton gâteau trop vite! Tu as mangé ton gâteau trop rapidement!
J'ai un modem très rapide.

5. Certain adjectives can be used idiomatically as adverbs:

coûter cher C'est très beau mais ça coûte cher.
It's very beautiful but it's expensive.
parler fort Pourquoi parles-tu fort?
Why are you speaking loudly?
parler haut/bas Pourquoi parles-tu bas?
Why are you speaking softly?
sentir bon/mauvais Ça sent bon ici.
It smells good in here.
chanter juste/faux Roseanne chante faux!
Roseanne is singing off key (badly).
voir clair Je comprends; maintenant je vois clair.
I understand; now I get it.
aller (tout) droit Pour arriver à la bibliothèque, tu vas tout droit.
In order to get to the library, you go straight ahead.
travailler dur Les élèves travaillent dur.
The students are working hard.

When used in this way, these adjectives are invariable (the masculine singular form only is used) and come directly after the verb.

Exercice (6.2)

III. Position of adverbs

a. in simple tenses

In simple tenses in French adverbs never come between the subject and the verb, as they often do in English. They are normally placed after the verb. Compare the following sentences in English and French:

Je vais souvent aux Etats-Unis.
I often go to the United States.

J'aime beaucoup les cerises.
I really love cherries.

If you want to place emphasis on adverbs of manner (how) that end in -ment, you can place them at the end of the sentence:

Il ferme la porte brusquement.

Certain adverbs usually come at the end of the sentence, or at least near the end. Specifically, these are adverbs of time (when) and adverbs of place (where):

Marie va au zoo aujourd'hui.
J'ai laissé mes affaires là-bas.

If you want to place emphasis on adverbs of time (when) or place (where), you can often place them at the beginning of the sentence:

Ici on ne fume pas.
Généralement, il fait beau en juin.

When the adverbs meaning "probably," such as peut-être, probablement, and sans doute begin a sentence, the subject-verb word order is inverted.
Ils sont peut-être en vacances. Peut-être sont-ils en vacances.
Tu as sans doute raison. Sans doute as-tu raison.

However, if one wishes to avoid the inversion, que may be used after peut-être:

Peut-être que vous êtes perdus.

b. in compound tenses

The position of the adverb in a sentence with a compound tense depends on the type of adverb. Most often, the adverb is placed between the auxiliary verb and the past participle. Adverbs that fall into this category are: adverbs of quantity, adverbs of manner , adverbs of manner that imply restriction, and certain adverbs of time.

Elle a bien fait son devoir.
Nous avons presque terminé notre repas.
Il a vite compris la leçon.

A second category of adverbs, however, never go between the auxiliary and the past participle. These are adverbs of place and certain adverbs of time (avant, après, aujourd'hui, hier, autrefois, tôt, tard):

Je ne suis jamais allée là-bas.
Etes-vous sorti hier?

Exercice (6.3)

IV. Comparative and superlative forms of adverbs

The comparative and superlative forms of adverbs are used according to the following constructions:

comparative: (plus, moins or aussi) + adverb + que

Je marche plus vite que toi.
I walk faster than you.

superlative: (le plus or le moins) + adverb + de

Elle marche le plus vite du groupe.
She walks the fastest in the group.

* Note the use of de in the above sentence. Where English uses the word in in superlative expressions (in the world, in the class, in the family), French uses the word de (du monde, de la classe, de la famille).

Some adverbs have irregular comparative and superlative forms:
bien mieux le mieux
beaucoup plus le plus
peu moins le moins

* Remember that mieux and le mieux are adverbs (they describe verbs) and that meilleur(e) and le/la meilleur(e) are adjectives (they describe nouns).

Superlative adverbs, just like superlative adjectives, can be intensified by possible:

Venez chez nous le plus tôt possible.
Come over as soon as possible.

Il est arrivé le plus vite possible.
He arrived as soon as he could.

Exercice (6.4)

Exercice (6.5)

V. Negative adverbs

To form a negative sentence, you use both the negative particle ne and a negative adverb such as pas, jamais, rien, plus, etc. Study the list of negative constructions below:
ne ... pas not Ils n'ont pas appelé leur mère.
ne ... point not at all (literary) M. de Charlus n'aimait point les arrivistes.
ne ... plus no more, no longer Mon père n'a plus de cheveux.
ne ... jamais never Tu n'as jamais mangé d'huîtres?
ne ... que only Il ne mange que des hamburgers et des frites.
ne ... rien nothing Elle ne m'a rien offert.
ne ... guère hardly Ils n'étaient guère gentils.
ne ... pas encore not yet Vous n'êtes pas encore partis?
ne ... plus jamais never again Jean ne va plus jamais chez ce dentiste.
ne ... plus rien no more, nothing else Je n'ai plus rien à vous donner.
ne ... personne no one Ils n'ont vu personne au café.
ne ... nulle part nowhere Elle n'est allée nulle part toute la journée.

ne ... ni ... ni ... neither ... nor Il ne parle ni français ni espagnol.
ne ... aucun(e) none, not any Nous n'avons eu aucun problème.
ne ... nul(le) none, not any Il n'y a nulle raison de se fâcher.

* Note that aucun(e) and nul(le) are adjectives and agree in gender with the noun they modify. They always remain singular.

Il n'a aucun ami.
He has no friends.

*Note that de and d' replace du, de la, de l' and des after a negative adverb.
J'ai toujours de l'argent. Je n'ai jamais d'argent.
Il a des pommes. Il n'a plus de pommes.

However, this rule does not apply to ne ... que whose meaning is not negative.

Anne n'achète que des légumes frais.
Anne buys only fresh vegetables.

Ni....ni will replace indefinite or partitive articles but not definite (le, la, les) articles.
J'ai un frère et une soeur. Je n'ai ni frère ni soeur.
Voulez-vous du sel et du poivre? Je ne veux ni sel ni poivre, merci.
BUT: Tu aimes les chats et les chiens?

Je n'aime ni les chats ni les chiens.

Depending on the particular adverb, a negative adverb can be placed before or after the past participle of a compound tense such as passé composé.

Before the past participle:

Je n'ai pas vu cet homme que tu cherches.
Je n'ai rien acheté.
Je n'ai jamais entendu cette chanson.
Je n'ai plus écrit à mon frère.
Je n'ai guère travaillé hier.

The negative adverbs which go after the past participle:

Je n'ai vu personne.
Je n'ai fait que le premier exercice.
Je n'ai vu ni chien ni chat.
Nous ne sommes allés nulle part cette anée.

Similarly, if the negative adverb modifies an infinitive, it is sometimes placed before the infinitive and sometimes placed after it, depending on the particular adverb. The same adverbs that preceded the past participle will precede the infinitive and vice versa.

Before the infinitive:

Elle préfère ne pas voir ce film.
Nous préférons ne rien dire.

After the infinitive:

Elle préfère ne voir personne aujourd'hui.
Tu préfères ne faire que le début?
Il préfère ne lire ni celui-ci ni celui-là.

Nous préférons n'avoir aucun visiteur cet après-midi.

Je préfère n'aller nulle part ce weekend.

*If a negative adverb is used as the subject of a sentence, ne must be placed before the verb.

Personne ne m'a dit la vérité.
No one told me the truth.

Aucun de mes amis n'est venu à la fête.
Aucune de mes amies n'est venue à la fête.
None of my friends came to the party.

As you saw in the list at the beginning of this section, more than one negative adverb can be used in a sentence:

Je n'entends plus personne. I don't hear anyone anymore.
Il n'y a plus que moi. I am the only one left.
Elle ne va jamais nulle part. She never goes anywhere.
Ils ne parlent jamais ni de leur travail ni de leurs enfants. They never talk about their work or their children.

The negative adverbs will always be placed in the following order in a sentence:
que
rien
ne . . . plus . . . jamais . . . personne
ni . . . ni
nulle part

*Note: "pas" can only be combined with ni and que:

Je n'ai pas envie de la voir ni de lui parler.
I don't want to see her or talk to her.

Il n'y avait pas que des livres dans cette librairie.
There weren't only books in this bookstore.

When answering a negative question with an affirmative (yes), "si" is used instead of oui.
Tu n'as pas apporté les photos? You didn't bring the pictures?
Si, elles sont dans mon sac. Yes, I did. They are in my bag.

* Ne . . . que means only. The que is placed before the relevant noun.

Je n'ai acheté que deux pêches.
I only bought two peaches.

Exercice (6.6)

Hou ! Hou ! Hou ! Hou !
En quatre couleurs
Allez hop !
Un matin
Une louloute est v'nue chez-moi
Poupée de Cellophane
Cheveux chinois
Un sparadrap
Une gueule de bois
A bu ma bière
Dans un grand verre
En caoutchouc
Hou ! Hou ! Hou ! Hou !
Comme un indien dans son igloo

Allez hop ! La nana
Quel panard !
Quelle vibration !
De s'envoyer
Sur le paillasson
Limée, ruinée, vidée, comblée
"You are the King of the divan"
Qu'elle me dit en passant
Hou ! Hou ! Hou ! Hou !
I am the King of the divan

Allez hop !
T'occupe
T'inquiète
Touche pas ma planète
It's not to day
Quel le ciel me tombera sur la tête
Et que l'alcool me manquera
Hou ! Hou ! Hou ! Hou !
Ça plane pour moi

Allez hop ! ma nana
S'est tirée
S'est barrée
Enfin c'est marre, a tout cassé
L'évier, le bar me laissant seul
Comme un grand connard

Hou ! Hou ! Hou ! Hou !
Le pied dans le plat
Ça plane pour moi
Ça plane pour moi
Ça plane pour moi moi moi moi moi
Ça plane pour moi

why are you up?

I'ts 7:30 AM and I haven't slept AT ALL. I have to catch a train for a day trip that is sure to be no fun anymore in an hour. Everything is starting to feel surreal and over-emotional, and OH IRONY OF IRONIES now that I have to drag my ass out of bed I'm finally fucking tired enough to pass out.

This is going to be one of the longer days of my life.

I just wanted to bitch, kthxbye.

"Nada."

"Otro loco mas," said the barman and turned away.

"A little cup," said the waiter.

The barman poured it for him.

"The light is very bright and pleasant but the bar is unpolished," the waiter said.

The barman looked at him but did not answer. It was too late at night for conversation.

"You want another copita?" the barman asked.

"No, thank you," said the waiter and went out. He disliked bars and bodegas. A clean, well-lighted cafe was a very different thing. Now, without thinking further, he would go home to his room. He would lie in the bed and finally, with daylight, he would go to sleep. After all, he said to himself, it's probably only insomnia. Many must have it.

actually tonight i can't sleep because of (a) too much caffeine (b) an allergen in my cheap laundry detergent that's making me break out in hives.

It's so strong, I had to chop up the pill - half a pill for one night.

I also quit drinking coffee entirely, and it's made all the difference in the world.

I've steadily been sleeping later and later since study week began and it's getting worse everyday. A few nights ago, I fell asleep at 7 am. Woke up at noon. Two nights (mornings?) ago, by 10 am I refused to sleep telling myself I wouldn't nap and go to bed early instead. I went to bed at midnight and woke up at 5.30 am! Fucking 5 and a half hours in 2 days!

Somehow, I managed to take a 2 hour nap yesterday afternoon and then I was up till 4 am last night. Went to bed but I never fell asleep. It's 8.30 am now.

I really need help. I have a paper on friday but I can't study cause I'm so so tired, but I can't sleep either. I'm going mad. I'm bringing my housemate down cause she's a light sleeper and I'm out and about at odd hours and I shouldn't do that cause she's taking more papers than me.

I haven't seen a doc yet, just wanted to rant. It probably doesn't help i'm one of those people who doesn't like going to clinics.

I SHOULD be exercising more. I think part of the problem is that I've been taking dance classes twice a week but stopped a month ago because I didn't have time. I try to go swimming but work's just piling up.

I think I've conditioned myself to stay awake much longer than necessary ... eventually, I force myself to get into bed and sleep, even though I'd rather be awake. No matter how many hours of sleep I get, I wake up feeling exhausted. So it's not really the same as insomnia because once I finally fall asleep I have no trouble sleeping for several hours. Still, it would be nice to fall asleep at a normal hour and wake up refreshed even if I get 7-8 hours of sleep. Advice?

Now, I want to help you, if you'd let me. My first recommendation is that you turn the clock toward the wall. This way, you can end the torment of those molten numbers hovering in the darkness as you fail to sleep. It's absolutely critical, however, that you not stay awake wondering if your mental tally of elapsed hours and minutes matches that of the clock's display. I bet you could exhaust a whole night doing that.

You also might want to consider visualization. Come up with a mental task intended to draw your attention away from the effort of nodding off, thereby allowing your automatic sleep mechanisms to engage. You can imagine something dull like a sequence of numbers, or project yourself into a more engrossing scenario: "I am the Super Bowl MVP"; "I am Malcolm X"; "I am the Hamburglar." Of course you'll need to be wary of the fact that the gnawing, self-conscious awareness of visualizing can get in the way of actually engaging in said visualization.

But maybe you don't even need my advice. Perhaps you can use the late hours to work on your novel, your quilt, or your Battle of Shiloh diorama — anything to distract you from the fact that recent studies showed that people who went without sleep for nineteen hours scored significantly lower on reflex tests than people with a blood-alcohol level of .08. (That's the legal standard for intoxication in many states.) And whether you've just poured calamine lotion in your cereal or stitched up Mr. Clark after his cesarean section, I implore you not to dwell on the reams of research attesting to how sleep deprivation impairs memory and judgment and is even correlated to a significantly shortened life- span. Likewise, while you're waiting outside an elementary school for a random kindergarten teacher to pistol-whip, keep in mind that a good night's sleep, which you're incapable of, dramatically improves mood. I should stop here. You probably want to jump into a shower that you won't be able to feel against your insensate zombie flesh and get out into a world of people and objects that will all seem fatally distant and unreal.

hi, i'm awake. i don't have to get up early tomorrow so i don't care whether i fall asleep or not. except over the past week i've been waking up in the middle of the night, which is a little annoying. it's nice and quiet right now though. birds chirping. minimal traffic outside.

awesome.

http://www.birdwatchersgeneralstore.com/mock.jpg

How do I learn to sleep on my back? I've slept on my stomach all my life but due in part to back/shoulder problems I can't quite get comfortable and thus never am able to go to sleep until I'm exhausted. Nonetheless I never feel right on my back and always wind up rolling back over.

Also, the only chirping I'm hearing comes from the chuckleheads and chickenheads across the street at the bar.

you could strap a tennis ball to your chest, or some such disincentive. no fun tho

Does that shit work? Because i just envision half asleep me ripping the tennis ball off and rolling over

What I need to do is strap a KNIFE to my chest

"Hurting"

nothing works, mr hurting. ive slept on my stomach since the beginning of time. just go with it.

Yeah, but getting five hours a night and waking up with stiff shoulders isn't working too well for me either.

flip your mattress

incidentally, i too have temporary insomnia on account of severe tonsilitis. it makes me physically incapable of sleeping for more than two hours at a time, or more than three to four hours a night total.

anyone else too high to sleep?

hurting, sleep on ur back w/ heavy pillow on your chest, or a cat. Sometimes it's the pressure ur looking for, in ur sleep. Also, try sleeping on ur back w/ a soba pillow under the shoulder/arm you tend to turn over toward. It's too hot for it now, but flannel sheets + flannel pjs = natural velcro can't turn over effect.

i wish xpost

here dude this is for u

http://www.imagedoll.com/show.php/5061_amazingPic1it.gif.html

oh what bullshit

http://ftp.pcworld.com/pub/screencams/illusion.gif

I only smoke weed when I need to
And I need to get some rest
I confess, I burnt a hole in the mattress
Yes, yes, it was me, I plead guilty
And on the count of three I pull back the duvet
Make my way to the refrigerator
One dry potato inside, no lie
Not even bread, jam
When the light above my head went bam!
I can't sleep, something's all over me
Greasy, insomnia please release me
And let me dream about making mad love on the heath
Tearing off tights with my teeth
But there's no relief
I'm wide awake in my kitchen
It's dark and I'm lonely
Oh, if I could only get some sleep
Creeky noises make my skin creep
I need to get some sleep
I can't get no sleep....

How do I learn to sleep on my back?

I had a similar problem in my early 20s. I would wake up with neck pain because of sleeping on my stomach, which I'd done all my life, so I resolved to learn to sleep on my back. The first few nights were difficult, since my mind was convinced this wasn't a position for sleep. I stayed awake hours longer than I normally would have, but my body started to overrule my mind sooner and sooner, and within a week, I was sleeping normally on my back.

Now, I sleep on my side, hugging my wife or a pillow, if she's sleeping on the couch (insomnia) or is hugging me. I find that this is the most "ergo" position for me: After years of sleeping on my back, I realized that this caused its own set of physical problems.

On the general issue of insomnia, I find that if I have a few drinks with dinner, I'll wake up between 2 and 4 and be unable to get back to sleep until about 6. When I don't drink at all, I sleep far better. One thing that does help me get back to sleep is a small snack of carbohydrates, like a piece of bread. It's probably just my own physiology, but that'll get me yawning in under 30 minutes.

OK, I need to try that (the carbohydrate thing) as I've been awake for well over an hour and it's 5 am here. (fell asleep in front of the telly at about 11 o'clock last night, after suddenly coming over all tired about five minutes earlier, having been wide awake before that)

Here we go again. Nothing lamer than going home early because I'm tired and then not being able to sleep.

Insomnia for multiple nights in a row sucks, and that is what I have right now. I can't turn my head off, but at least I know that I am up worrying about things that will change. (i.e. papers that need to be written for school and the imploding personal life of a friend)

My usual insomnia tricks:
get out of bed for at least 15 minutes
take ibuprofen or similar
read something dreadfully boring (I suggest an organic chemistry text)
write down what is bothering me
apply lavender scented lotion (or just inhale something lavender scented if that is too girly)

I have packed my lavender oil somewhere and I can't find it :-(

(I usually put some on a tissue and put it in my pillowcase)

I'm guessing farting around on the internet isn't really the way to go.

i am going to eat some carbohydrates
maybe not b/c i can't sleep
maybe b/c they are good and they are there

the only thing thats ever come close to working for me is

laying down in a completely dark room, listening to something like cocteau twins, with headphones, and concentrate on not moving at all... pretty much strangling the senses into submission

i've been taking melatonin from time to time; it seems to help.

farting around on the internet is not a help, no

sometimes you just need to fart, though

hi stanM :)

You want need sleep, you need Miracle Pill That Stops You Feeling Tired!

Work all day. Party all night. Never sleep. Never care about sleep. It's fun to be an insomniac!

^^
(ps: get me some if you find them)

i want me some of this shit. stet to thread!

I'm on it right now! It's not much cop as an everyday crutch, but when I need to get up early with only a few hours sleep, it's chemical magic.

You can get prescribed Modafinil in the UK now? Can you get over prescribed nudge nudge say no more etc?

I thought about using dodgy overseas dealers but cowardice got the better of me.

My getting up early thing I mentioned on the other thread didn't last. I'm back to staying awake until 3am then dragging my tired arse into work late every day.

dodgy overseas dealers here.

side effects?

I'm def. going to ask my doctor about this.

YSI

hi stanM :)

awwww... <3

Hi lurkers! :-)

side effects?
Slightly raised heart rate; bit of an elevated mood; if you're really tired it's bizarro-world time when you're very alert and hyper-aware of exactly how tired you are, yet have no sleep drive. Like knowing you're starving, and being aware of the presence of hunger, without actually being hungry or having any motivation to eat.

whoa i totally don't remember posting to this thread in late june o_O

5am. still awake. have to be up and about by 10:30am to work a double shift, which will probably end around 11pm tonight. not feeling so good about this. stet, magic me over some of teh good shit.

ok, am dimming my computer screen, and listening to soothing sounds of sparklehorse, and lying down....

See to me dimming the screen means "this is starting to really hurt but I want to stay awake and look at it for another hour."

you wouldn't be far wrong there.

i'm not actually sleepy, yet i know i should sleep, but i don't try as hard as i could. it's some kind of mental thing.

Do you sleep better in the day?

no. on my days off, i still wake up after about five hours, but i try to stay in bed for ages, so that even though i'm not sleeping i'm still getting some kind of rest. i'll kinda doze off and on but not sleep properly. i definitely think it's some kind of mental thing that i need to sort out. the thing is, if i try to force myself to go to sleep at midnight, i lie there in the dark feeling more and more anxious.

That's what's good about melantonin -- you can't "think" through it like you can some sleeping pills, it just zonks you. But there's some outside fears that using it too much can fuck up your brain's production of it, so it's not really a daily thing either.

thanks, stet. i'm gonna try to find some today.

Made the mistake of sleeping in until 3pm yesterday. It's now 6.10am and I don't care who knows it. I have shit on all day (including exam invigilation PM) and then I NFL playoffs, which finish at 4am tomorrow UK time.

that exam is going to be heavy going

I wish it'd fuck off, even for just one night :(

I misread this as "anosmia." What a disappointment.

Again...
I wish it'd fuck off, even for just one night :(

-- not_goodwin, Tuesday, 10 June 2008 03:52 (2 days ago) Link

take pills

Fell asleep just before 12, have just woken up and i'm wide awake :(
Think i'll watch In Bruges.

Two months now. Can't get to sleep, can't stay asleep, wake up early. Cannot get a single night of sleep unaided. This has never, ever happened to me before. I am completely fucking sick of it and REALLY REALLY close to breakdown point.

What fucks me off most is that I'm ALWAYS tired at bedtime but cannot sleep. Heart goes into overdrive and stays there. I do not know what is causing it. I have tried changing and eliminating everything I can think of. I eat well. I exercise more than most people. I am not suiffering undue work or home stress. I just. cannot. sleep.

Argh!!!!!!

Hey ho, i'm bored again!
On serious note, could be losing my job over this :-/

sux

really really tho

move to the west coast, or hawaii even

just get some tylenol PM . god.

if i take tylenol pm at 4 am i will never wake up

god

why cant you ntake them at 7pm???

GOD!

cause i wasn't expecting to need it

xanax

how does everyone get xanax. my doc wont give up anything.

i went in once with such bad pain in my side i thought id broken ribs after i tripped over a babygate and went head first into a metal dog food stand - NOTHING!

tylenol pm makes me groggy insomnia makes me awesome

srsly though i've taken a variety of sleep supplements and i tend to get depressed so w/e

least of my worries, lol

sux

― mookieproof, Tuesday, October 7, 2008 3:01 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol i have an IMPORTANT MEETING in like 4.5 hours

ungh

HI DERE

i wonder how lamps meeting is going.

Oh man, oh man, I hope they're calling him Dewey DEAD-cimal system. now that he's dead.

oops wrong thread

this is stupid

melatonin at 1am seems excessive, but fuck it. like--i took one at noon today and dreamt about having insomnia.

ARE
YOU
SERIOUS

never meta dream i didn't like

i had to call in sick to work today because i haven't slept in 2 days

i'm not sure what life w/o insomnia is

ugh

u guys can finish my brief for me

w
t
f

oh my god it is 7 am and i am awake

I don't suffer from insomnia. I suffer from large kitten with high-pitched voice.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3476/3262872616_4094d31d6f.jpg

He's a bit much at 5.30am.

AGH

what the goddamn deal iiiiiiiiiiiiis

i had to call in sick to work today because i haven't slept in 2 days

yeah did this last week. twice-weekly football game has been cancelled and i've just stopped sleeping. i hate running but i'm gonna have to do something.

I can't sleep and haven't been able to in days. Everyone else is asleep in the world and I'm wide awake and bored. Fuck.

let's play tetris on facebook

shit, its been months since this happened but my sleep started whittling down again and now I'm not going to sleep tonight.

feelin that. had an exam yesterday so was studying from wednesday PM straight through. that'll be sleep patterns nicely fecked for a while.

i'm just paralysed by fear, I've had a shit year at college, which is great because I'm not getting that distinction i was headed for no way and now I just lie awake at night worrying about my life of regional arts administration stretching out before me. : /

Lonely girl just thinking about things. Can't sleep and it fucking sucks.

what a fuckin world

hnh. you guys are ok for a while yet- I have to go to work now.

The flask is empty, I have half a thin crust pizza left and a disc of The Wire or Alphaville to watch or Nabokov to read.

i am not nearly drunk enough for this flask to be empty

get a bigger flask young hoosteen, you're growing outta that one

so it seems!

IMO you should drop the whole flask aesthetic and go with something a little more:
http://www.thedieline.com/pentawards07/images/2009/01/03/pentawards_07_camus_platinum.jpg

omg i actually fought off a melatonin pill and am still kicking at 4am fuck this

gonna read and hope i doze before the sun comes up in 4 hours

big snooze. i've been sleeping better since my football game started again, but sleep problems are a killer.

I haven't been able to fall asleep before 4:00AM lately :(

i find the internet makes this worse.

It makes me not notice what time it is. Like I think it's 1:30 or 2:00 and I look at the clock and it's like FUCK!!

The internet totally makes it worse. The passage of time anyway. That it's 4:00am right now and I am nothing even approaching tired is um...siiiigh. :(

I'm buying sleeping pills tmr.

That compulsion thing happens to me, too. You have to smack your compulsions around and show them your the boss. Give yourself a cut-off time and get in bed NO MATTER WHAT (an exception may be made if your apartment is on fire).

lol, I was so wise pre-WoW

ugh.

SO MADDENING.

You used to work graveyard (or still do), IIRC, rabies? THAT fucks with your sleep patterns a GOOD few months. Did me, anyway.

My advice is don't be able to read the time. (I know this is difficult on a computer but OTOH you can't really compute & sleep.) If you don't know what time it is, you can't do the mental math of 'shitfudge it is 4:32 am.m; I have to get up at 9:00 a.m. – if I fell asleep RIGHT NOW I would get a useless 4 hours 28 min of sleep."I can lie and be like, 'aw, it's probably 2 a.m. AT THE LATEST, I'll get enough sleep no matter when I nod off.'

This is why I have a non-glowing digital alarm clock. When I had an old-people one w/3" all green numbers, I just threw a dishtowel over it. Just so long as I can't see the time and it's dark, I'm ok.

I mean I know there's been Nights where I HAVE lied awake 4+ hours but at least I didn't have access to empirical proof & could thus easily tell myself sleepy fibs.

Yep, I used to work the graveyard for about three and a half years, but for the past few months I've been unemployed in a foreign land. I've been finding myself slipping into the old routine of staying up for hours after everyone else goes to bed, which the stress of not finding a job hasn't made any easier. Also what doesn't help is that if I stay up late enough my gf, who is still in America, will show up online (late night here=mid/late morning over there) and I get to talk to her. So there's a reward system in place for misbehavior.

I'm gradually reversing this with sleeping pills, but I'm going to have to change some bad habits (as well as get a job) if I'm going maintain a reasonable sleeping schedule.

Ugh, I totally know the 'how much sleep will I get' game. I used to do the same thing with my alarm clock. Right now the fucker's straight up unplugged, though, which has more to do with the economy of available outlets (when you're unemployed your guitar amp gets precedent over the ability to tell time lol).

how much exercise are you getting during the day? sometimes helps to wear yourself out and then you'll sleep more easily.

Very little! Something else I need to work on as well.

It's happening again. Of course this could be due to the 10.5 hours I slept last night, the 1.5 l of diet coke I've drank so far this evening or the 100000000 thoughts racing through my brane right now. kjdgbsk.

brane racing isn't half as much fun at 3.30 am as it is on the DS lite, that's for sure.

lmao

so do i blame the five cups of coffee i drank today or the energy drink i had at midnight or the brain chatter

the sunrise is v v pretty btw

the five cups of coffee i drank today

lmao

Five cups is a staggering amount of coffee, to think I used to down that much in a single day when I worked in an office. I drink three now and my shrink told me it was too much and is driving me crazy (she's wrong, of course).

Dear Insomnia,

I hate you with the intensity of a thousand white-hot suns.

~ Erica

on my 5 am shit, always

Ugh, I hate it. Think sleep might be coming soon though. Hopefully.

i try and put on a movie

Yeah, am thinking about doing that actually. Would probably work at this point.

Am snuggled in my huge ass beanbag with a blanket, my favorite pillows and some hot chocolate. Movie is on. Let's see if this works.

HAVE YOU FALLEN ASLEEP YET OR ARE YOU STILL AWAKE

I wake up between 530 and 630 am every day. At first thought it was adjusting to time change but now it's been long enough that should be adequately adjusted. Some days I can force myself back to sleep. Some days not.

Got home from CA at midnight BST, slept until 6pm Sunday. Couldn't sleep all night, it's now 8am, I have to be at work by 10am and I'm starting to feel a little tired.

Power through!

Well fuck. I fell asleep at nine and woke up at midnight but instead of rolling over and going back to bed I stayed up for a bit and am not wide awake. Almost one and I have to be up in 5.5 hours for work. This isn't good.

hi. waiting for xanax to start working, but i just took it and the long half-life means it might not kick in for a while. in my experience.

i'm deeply confusing my body atm by mixing a sleeping pill with punk rock and the need to write another 200 words for the company newsletter lol

i know atm in this case doesn't mean automated teller machine, but i'm imagining you withdrawing twenties from yourself.

with resulting strange code in his eyes

gross

Ugh. I used to be able to eat and smoke myself back to sleep, but two Boca burgers, a tall glass of milk, and two cigarettes later, I'm not sleepy. In fact, now I have extra energy to get me through the rest of this miserable zombie slog that most people call "night".

It all started when I had to get up to pee. That's all it took. There was no going back to sleep after I stood upright for 90 seconds.

I really really really want a fuckin drink.

The dark and depresso country aint helping probably.

I haven't had a drink since my spill a couple weeks back. Well, I had a half dozen jack & cokes at my moms. And a bunch of rum at a bbq the other night. And a pint last night. But I haven't had whiskey straight in a couple weeks. And I'd really like some right now. Regretting pouring it out.

I don't have a good reason to be awake even if part of me thinks I do. It's just Retardo worry & "Moonshiner" on repeat.

hi guys

me too

All stars

What're you guys doing besides hitting refresh

oh, you know, drowning in low self-esteem, that sort of thing

drinking a hansen's cherry vanilla creme soda full of sugar that won't help me sleep

thinking about my headache from staring at a computer for the last 8 hours

guys i fucking hate school

thinkin baout things

I haven't had a drink since my spill a couple weeks back. Well, I had a half dozen jack & cokes at my moms. And a bunch of rum at a bbq the other night. And a pint last night. But I haven't had whiskey straight in a couple weeks. And I'd really like some right now. Regretting pouring it out.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, July 17, 2009 8:06 AM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark

i just read this back and i didn't write it to be funny i swear

you in college jordan s?

i hated school too but now that i'm a feral cat in the wilds of the post-meltdown economy, i kinda miss school.

you in college jordan s?

― worm? lol (J0hn D.), Friday, July 17, 2009 3:14 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

yes

why do you hate it

just tired of studying and doing homework basically. i know that once i graduate ill miss the freedom and the life but man if i never have to do study "five potential essay questions, two of which will be on the test" i'll be pretty happy

mostly i just need a break - ive done summer school the past two years so i've just been on this seemingly never ending roll. need to go to the beach or something.

oh man I have terrible news dude, I graduated in '95 and pretty much 8 hours a day every day it's five potential essay questions, two of which will be on the test

that's basically all there is to post-college life

xpost though yeah a couple of consecutive summer school sessions will grind you down hard

j0hn OTM, although i did way better on essay questions than any other type of test!

Yeah I did Spring/Summer/Fall my last couple years and it was murder. I feel u. How much longer u think u got from here?

im done next may

hoos btw should I be worried about you? I think of you as the guy with the buddhist outlook which is inspiring to me so the boozin and whatnot kinda surprised me

</old dad dude>

fuck, can never quite close that tag

i get about 3-4 hours of slepp per night

spelling is the first casualty

I've been sleeping really well recently but if something wakes me up then I can't shut off my brain and I go into Worry About Everything mode

slepping is the first casualty

to slepp perchance to dram

Nah John I mean when I got fucked up and fell over a couple weeks back it was kinda a wakeup call that I needed to straighten out a minor thing or two in myself (this is a whole lengthy story in itself that I won't bore you/derail the thread with, but suffice it to say I came to some conclusions and feel way better about the problems that had me drinking). The drinks I've had since then are done at pace & moderately. When I had that rum at the bbq,for example: I poured it and sat down, then got back up and added a mixer and some ice and kept adding ice til I finished it.

I'd like a drink at the moment cause I can't sleep, but this ain't a St John of the Cross type of night. I'm done with those for the moment.

Thank you for your concern though, man. Really.

suffice it to say I came to some conclusions and feel way better about the problems that had me drinking

translation--hoos & girls are a complicated combo

i have lots of anxiety keeping me up, so it's more like a dark night of the stomach

to slepp perchance to dram

― velko, Friday, July 17, 2009 8:28 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark

misread this as "to sip perchance to dram" and lold in the dark

It's probably a bad look for my sleeping habits to have my laptop in bed with me.

get bent do u get those real unpleasant bubbles in the stomach when you're fretting over something

"jaco....jaco....jaco..."

cool hoos glad to hear shit's cool w/you & thanks for puttin' up w/mr. mindin a hoos's business

i think so (xxpost)

did anybody else see fuckin jeff sessions today say some shit about "doing the crack cocaine thing"

in a fucking senate judiciary committee meeting

yeah i heard that in the soundbites later

in the interest of my mental health I am mainly ignoring the hearings

that's fair i just am wondering what the fuck the context was for that cause i saw a good portion today but apparently missed jeff sessions wacky crack variety hour

maddow 'splained it tonight but i wasn't really paying attention

thasssssssss right

I'm gonna try to crawl back into bed and see if I can make the most of the next 90 minutes, pleasure hangin out with yall

so I've been staying up until 5am for the past few weeks ... and now the landlord informs me that starting on Monday (for the next few days) they will be replacing some water pipes in the basement from 9am to 5pm.

do I a) attempt to get on a normalish schedule so I can be out of the house around the time
or b) stay up later and try to sleep through the whole thing

I suggest A. It's a surer thing than B.

it would probably also be more productive.

on the other hand ... monday and tuesday nights, I know I'm probably not gonna be getting home from work until midnight at the earliest, probably closer to 1am, and then I'll want to eat ...

was all set to go to sleep and then i saw a spider on the ceiling. do not want.

when I was a little kid I'd have recurring nightmares about very large spiders crawling through the vents near the ceiling and attacking me. Never mind how they could get through the vents ...

i got it with the broom. but i still have the phear. i have an a/c vent over my head right now, so thanks for that image!

sorry ... if it helps, the ones in my childhood nightmares were about 5 feet in diameter and furry and tarantula-like.

going on day 3 of water pipe repair. Day 1 - I got up at 8:45, and was super tired the last hour of work (11pm to midnight). Day 2 - I made coffee before going to bed at 4:30am, and got up at 1pm - was better.

the past three nights i have been awake to 6:30, 9:30 and 6:30, respectively. tonight i took 1/2 valium in attempt to fix this and get back on a normal sched but it is 1:41 and here i am...

I've been pretty consistently getting to bed between 4 and 5 am ... thinking I should go back on some sort of exercise regimen so that I'll get tired earlier.

i did 10k at gym tonight in attempt to wear myself out. it worked. i am tired. it's just that my mind starts going crazy as soon as i try to sleep.

I hate that ... there's always the alcohol technique, but the timing is key ... I'm now at the point where I'm more or less sober and wide awake.

yeah i don't want to drink anything tonight.

i give up :(

since I got a job and entered a consistent pattern my insomnia's disappeared. It's kinda disappointing, that I'd often spend four or five hours trying to get to sleep and get through the next day on two hours of unsettled sleeptime was one of the more interesting things about me.

:( ... really boring movie?

there are definitely some long ILX threads that make me tired just thinking about them, let alone reading them, but maybe that's its own thread. ... I almost posted this in the RIP Judd Apatow thread.

the 9:30 morning, i gave up and made coffee around 7:30, thinking i'd just go with it and be tired all day and then get to bed early. but then i fell asleep at 9:30 and lost all day. good times.

i made an 11am appt tomorrow, for which i need to leave by 10:15. so, whenever i go to sleep tonight... i will at least have to force myself up in the morning.

that should help, unless you're having serious anxiety issues ... the sleep deprivation sucks, but for me, I end up having next to no trouble falling asleep the next night.

it usually doesn't matter whether I sleep or not. I can get 4 hours but suddenly at 10pm
I get this second wind and then I'm up forever regardless of tiredness. I'm sure anxiety is contributing.

Lonely gal, just thinking baout things.

Is any of it due to having moved recently?

hi tehresa! (and sarahel)

sorry about the spider story. again.

Hi jody! <3

it's okay. i read something today that was worse: about a guy getting bitten by a scorpion on an airplane.

I got stung by a scorpion in my bed once but it was little and harmless. Still scary as fuck, though.

which reminds me of an idea for a movie: Alien vs. Predator vs. Snakes on a Plane. Assuming the snakes are poisonous to the alien and the Predator, how would this epic three way battle work out?

alien vs. predator vs. snakes on a plane vs. the snake whisperer (i made that last one up)

I saw a movie about zombies on a plane recently ... it wasn't very good. There was only one character I actually cared if they got eaten by zombies or not.

were you on a plane watching a movie about zombies, or were you just watching a movie about zombies that were on a plane?

the movie was called "Flight of the Living Dead" ... I was at home sitting on the couch.

omg that title

yessss

http://www.zombiejunky.com/covers/flight-of-the-living-dead-dvd-cover.jpg

trailer

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi237175577/

you just knew that the nun flying coach was gonna be zombie food, and I was kinda sad about that. I guess that was 1 1/2 characters I cared about.

Can I pls really derecommend the alcohol method? I've found it can lead to um, alcoholism. And worse sleep.

yeah the alcohol method is not the best. Reading the Zizek thread is better.

omg it's 5:00am fucking christ

I was so back on a good schedule for a while there.

too hot to sleep ughhhhh

getting to bed before 5am has been working pretty well so far, think I'm going to set a goal of 4am ...

alarm for work goes off in 1 hr X|

a problem w my insomnia is that i always end up napping in the day and/or night & it just perpetuates the cycle

God!

I couldn't sleep at all until about 04:00 last night, and still managed to wake at around 06:30

Not feeling too bad right now, but.

I got 8 hours sleep last night, but I woke up too soon after having a vivid dream - not via alarm, just woke up - and felt groggy all day. I actually remember some of the details of the dream, which is very rare for me.

aaaaaaaaaaand now i'm goin to work

lmao

RIP

it's 4:17 - DID NOT MEET GOAL

The girl I was filling in for this morning got fired after I agreed to fill in for her. Nobody called me to tell me this, so I rolled in at 6:30 after downing coffee and an energy drink totally ready to fight a war. Then they told me to go home and come back at 3.

fml

Thaaaaat blows.

I totally did the whole toss-and-turn-all-night-go-to-work thing on like my second shift at my new job. Was draggin all day, yet ppl kept telling me how fast I was! O_.

I get this second wind and then I'm up forever regardless

^^^ this. Amazingly frustrated. You go all evening shattered, looking forward to finally getting into bed and falling asleep easily ... and then it doesn't happen.

frustrating, even.

This is ridiculous.

just plain ridiculous

:-(

tbh im still @ the just got home, sorta drunk, not all tired, i wish i had somethin to eat in my apt phase of the evening

ah see I'm at the holy shit I have to get up in five hours why the hell can't I sleep phase

Right, got in, quite tired, about 8pm.

Dozed a bit, woke up, dozed again, decided to change out me clothes about 10pm, next thing it's six thirty am, and feeling much better hray!

the combination of unemployment and insomnia = absolutely lunatic sleeping schedule. Waking up too late to go to the post office, or worse, the grocery store.

yeah i think my unemployment and lack of schedule are really screwing with the sleep, even if i do make an effort to exercise regularly. and now the heat is not helping.

i will pray for u, tza

ugggghhh i hate it i hate it i hate it

mmmha

hey east coast: you are worse than I am! get thee to bed!

I'm on the west coast now hence the insomnia partly

you can find the damndest things in the bible at this hour

Ok at least you have a good excuse! Those gideons say the darndest things!

what up yall

i'm going to stl tomorrow and then DC for the weekend then miami for 3 weeks but i gotta make it through the next 7 hours

deuteronomy 28:67 that is what's up

just spent way too much time looking for a certain passage wherein some dude is commanded (by david or solomon?) to sleep till midday so that he does not afflict himself upon society. but i can't find it.

i only remember it because linus once quoted it to charlie brown.

Waking up too late to go to the post office, or worse, the grocery store.

You don't have 24 hour supermarkets where you are?

aw <3 that makes me want to read the bible!
mostly bc I like to sleep til midday

couldn't find that passage either but I did enjoy 1 Kings 21:19

Say to him, 'This is what the LORD says: Have you not murdered a man and seized his property?' Then say to him, 'This is what the LORD says: In the place where dogs licked up Naboth's blood, dogs will lick up your blood — yes, yours!'

when I was kindergarten, I went over to a classmate's house after school for daycare because both my parents worked full time. There was mandatory naptime, and in order to enforce the naptime, each kid had to stay in a separate room during that time. I ended up in a room that had the Young Person's Illustrated Bible ... and I'd read it instead of taking a nap, because I would never be tired. The illustrations were all Hanna Barbera-ish.

almost 4 ugh

4:15 ... I was yawning around 2:30 ... then I ended up rating netflix movies for about half an hour.

I think I finally got to sleep somewhere around 2:30 - 3:00. Of course, then I overslept and was an hour late to work. Upon leaving my building, I made it down the stairs and almost to the front door before realizing that I WASN'T WEARING ANY SHOES. That's right, I was about to go to work barefoot. Oy.

xpost

You don't have 24 hour supermarkets where you are?

no, even the local wal-mart closes at 11. damn suburbia

http://www.wisebread.com/how-to-naturally-reset-your-sleep-cycle-overnight

Going to give this a go tonight. Makes a lot of sense to me that my wrecked sleeping pattern could be linked to my wrecked eating pattern.

Dear Warm Glass Of Milk Technique,

You taste like fucking cheese or something. I gotta go to work.

Sincerely,

Rabies

i have to fix this shit.
i am totally not functional today. ughhhh.

:-( it's back

ughhhhhhhhhhhhh

i just had a 2 hour nap

is that gloating or

no, just evidence of a messed up sleep pattern

i rarely if ever nap. even when i was at my most sleep deprived (elisabeth basically keeping me up for a YEAR). now, having mild panic attacks and elisabeth still waking up, have deprived me of sleep. not as bad as ¨*that* horrendous year but still.... not good for general mood. :-(

the worst is actually apnea though: you THINK you are sleeping enuff but you aren't of course. so you kinda get mad: BUH BUH i am having eight hrs of sleep and more!

i was up forever and finally took 1/2 valium and eventually fell half asleep and then overslept in the morning. i have to be up at 5 tomorrow. it's gonna suck trying to go to bed tonight!

the worst thing about insomnia is how everything you think you have a handle on comes back and slaps you in the face every time you try to close your eyes and makes you more and more stressed out about not sleeping AND all the other shit in your life so that you're even less likely to sleep!

the nap i'm gonna take in like five minutes is a really bad idea

theresa, stop describing my sleepless nights! :-)good luck w sleep. wish i cld give you some hot milk and read you a bedtime story. :-)

aw, thanks.
last night i drank hot tea and watched some opera and then i got in bed and POOF awaakkkeeee forever. sigh.

Woke up at 4 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep, rolled out at 5 and watched the sky get light. When I wake up because I'm too hot, I can never get back to sleep -- my thoughts start racing around too fast for me to beat them into submission.

Why is it always 4? It feels like it.

Whyyyy are there city workers with leaf blowers outside my window at 2:30 am

yyyyyyy

as sono as i lie down i start to get irritable aches and pains in shoulders, ankles, wherever. never a twinge when i'm upright, but the merest niggle when i'm tryin to sleep will keep me awake for hours.

I CAN'T FUCKING SLEEP

abt four hours in the last three days

i keep not being able to fall asleep til 4 :(

sup

the worst thing about insomnia is how everything you think you have a handle on comes back and slaps you in the face every time you try to close your eyes and makes you more and more stressed out about not sleeping AND all the other shit in your life so that you're even less likely to sleep!

― tehresa, Friday, October 23, 2009 2:57 PM (4 months ago) Bookmark

so incredibly OTM, i spend about an hour each night tossing and turning thinking of everythingihavetodothenextdayandthedayafterandaweekfromnowandafglkkdfnlgh

oh damn. i stopped being insomniac about the time i passed into my 20s. I had been a gloomy-teen and the lightening in my mood and subsequent decrease in angst and despondency that happened around this time must have been responsible for my being able to sleep soundly at night. Since then i have had the luck of being a straight-as-his-head-hits the pillow type guy, at least while being gainfully employed and keeping busy.

i've had 9 hours sleep roughly since Sunday and i'm fucking cracking-up. The way it has been working is: first night i just couldn't get to sleep, i went to work to tell them that i didn't think i was fit but that i wasn't ill, i was sent home, i managed to sleep for about or 4 hours at about 10am; next night i fell asleep around 11 for an hour and a half, dozed occasionally throughout the rest of the night; last night i went to bed at around 9pm, read a little and fell asleep about quarter to 10, i woke up around 11.30pm completely sound asleep and didn't return to sleep until 2.30am, awaking at 5.30am - the dreaded alarm clock.

The fact that the alarm woke me this morning, and not just my crazy brain, gives me some hope: perhaps i would have had a long, effective sleep if it hadn't disturbed me. Another reason for optimism is that I've just gone and played fives and so i'm fairly tired from the exercise, though not totally mentally-exhausted please-god-let-me-sleep tired, also i will be able to stay in bed basically for the next 12 hours before having to get up to go to work. This all adds up to me daring to posit that this may be my (relatively) lucky night; however, i just know that if it isn't i'm going to totally lose it.

i feel so sorry for anyone who is afflicted with this on a regular basis! what a fucking hassle!

my tiredness can be shown by missing out a 3, saying sound asleep when i meant its antonym "wide-awake".

i find that if i know i have to get up in 5,4,3 hours, i can't sleep for the life of me. while if i know i can sleep in, or i've got 7,8,9,10 or more hours before i _have_ to get up, i relax and am out like a light.

not sleeping enough sucks. i get winded walking two blocks, my balance (literally) is off, i have a hard time thinking of simple words. probably not doing good things to my brain long-term either.

NYT re the possibility that your internal clock needs resetting and can be adjusted to sleep normally, using light exposure...???

weird.

i got over my insomnia. although the night i posted what i did upthread i had a terrible sleep because i developed a cold and had short feverish periods of sleep punctuated with waking up coughing and spluttering and having to blow my nose. i've slept 10 and 12 hours respectively the last two nights - i know this is too much and ideally i wouldn't be doing so but ... feels so fucking good!

hate you so much

NYT re the possibility that your internal clock needs resetting and can be adjusted to sleep normally, using light exposure...???

― Ask foreigners and they will tell you the gospel comes from America. (Laurel), Thursday, April 22, 2010 9:02 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark

hmm so I wonder how much staring at the bright, bright screen of my macbook before going to sleep has to do with this. ugh

a lot. i stopped looking at screens for two hours before bedtime and it helped a load.

http://www.humbledmba.com/become-a-morning-person-how-to-end-insomnia-f

AGAIN. And I have a sick dad who can't sleep either

:(

you can skip church, i'll write you a slip

Trying to work out if putting a film on is a good or a bad idea. Something kind of ok that I won't switch off but won't get mad into either that way I might pass out after half an hour.

i would suggest you do a crossword, but uk crosswords are insane. pretty sure you shouldn't be on the computer if you wanna fall asleep tho

Aye probably right re computer use. Gonna watch Alex Reid get his ass kicked in MMA then try to go to bed again.

great idea

h8 this :/

I'm getting a sleep study done tomorrow night, in which I will sleep, and serious people in white coats with clipboards will study.

Not expecting much beyond "wow, you kind of suck at this, don't you?"

AND clipboards, jesus. The coats will just have, I dunno, pockets. Buttons. Usual coat things. Maybe name tags?

Oh fuck it i have made an even bigger mess of my grammar. Let's just take that sentence out behind the shed and put it down; it's for the best, really.

Just got discharged from the sleep center and can't help but feel it was a massive fucking waste of time. During the course of the overnight study, I learned that, surprise surprise, it is impossible for a chronic insomniac to fall asleep with a splitting headache, tubes up both nostrils and electrodes that keep falling off and needing to be re-gooped. I then had to stay most of today for a multiple sleep latency test- stuck in a room for about ten hours with a brief opportunity to nap every two hours. Apparently if you enter REM sleep too quickly that's indicative of narcolepsy.

In any case, I get the results in two weeks.

Just got a call from my doctor's office; they want to see me ASAP about the results of the study and won't tell me anything over the phone. Oh yes, that's reassuring.

yes sir i am afraid you have SLEEP CANCER

there is nothing we can do

i have been having big sleep problems recently - i tend to wake up around 4am every night and find it near impossible to go back to sleep. its partly, i think, to do w a problem i've been having with a shoulder i strained playing badminton a few months ago - i generally wake up with an aching arm, neck and shoulder. my main ray of hope at present is that today i finally got an appointment confirmed for some physio, which i'm hoping will help. but at present i'm kinda constantly tired, sleepwalking through days and actually dreading going to bed; it doesn't help that i'm very busy with freelance work, so really chill or take any time off. ugh.

Just realized that the lack of information is probably just a HIPAA thing. I still don't know how to feel about this, though...either a) the tests were inconclusive/negative in which case I'm back at square one or b) I actually do have a legitimate problem, something can be done about it, and I'm getting something done about ten years too late. Either way, tomorrow should be just awesome emotionally, like a unicorn pooping candy straight into my brain.

Good luck Tt - hope it's slightly bad news with a guaranteed cure.

trying to fall asleep to Frasier, again.

i know i'll wake up at 5am and not get back to sleep again. groan

good luck TT

Gah, I hope everything is okay, TT.

I don't really have insomnia very often, I just have 'can't fall asleep'. Once I'm actually there I'll sleep for 12 hours easily. And then hate my body clock even more.

Just out of the doctor's office. Definitely not sleep apnea, probably not narcolepsy (the genetic test was negative), they basically kind of shrugged and gave me a prescription for Nuvigil and a referral to a psychologist for sleep-related counseling. Because clearly I need more pills and therapy, that's worked out well so far.

fucking shit

TRAZODONE

fell asleep at 2, woke up at 5:20, great!

Had a friend share the bed last night, slept really easily. I just need a girlf apparently. That's nice.

i have this

I've been having insomnia ever since the semester started. I finally got proper sleep feel rested this weekend but the insomnia will probably start up again by midweek.

^^ this is my situation almost exactly
on and off, but basically can't sleep more than 3 hrs per night without drugging myself pretty thoroughly

driving me nuts

go to bed between 11-1, then wake up at 2, 3, 4am with powerful racing thoughts, twitchy legs, no sleepiness at all.

if i didn't know better, i would think there was brujeria involved

mine usually goes hand in hand with terrible night sweats.

i mean, i am avoiding excessive caffeine, exercising (running 3-4x a week and biking to work 3x a week), eating well, not really stressed out (that i can tell) and feeling more or less ok. why can't i sleep?!!?

I started Seroquel last night, and wow. It will knock your shit right out. Kind of shambling around half-awake today. What sucks is I'm not even sure how much of this is the lingering effect of the Seroquel and how much is my usual un-rested-ness after a fitful night of sleep. I distinctly remember waking up several times, as I usually do, and the Seroquel wasn't enough to keep me under through those.

nyquilled myself to sleep last night; in a stupor today

do you take a full dose? i usually only take half so that i can function the following day. i'm just kind of worried about my sanity at this point. like, this morning i woke up at 4:25, lay there for 2 hours, then went running. then i biked to work. still not tired.

quit drinking and smoking recently and it has made it much harder to sleep. last night was the worst of it -- throbbing veins, hot head, completely frustrated.

i only took half a dose, but i took it too late in the evening for morning clarity, alas

like i mentioned above i take trazodone for my insomnia and its been a godsend. Plus it only costs me 10 bucks for 3 months worth. If i dont take it im lucky to sleep at all.

people are starting to notice at work that i look tired; i just don't feel that tired is the thing.

starting to believe that someone put a hex on me
clearly this is a sign of sleep deprivation though :(

all your symptoms sound like sleep deprivation!

Every other month, like clockwork, deadline stress starts to mess with my sleep -- waking from vivid dreams at 3 a.m., not able to get back to sleep. Valerian works wonders -- 3 capsules at bedtime and boom, I'm out for a solid seven.

dunno if it's really insomnia, but for the past several months i've been waking up once or twice a night for at least an hour at a time. dr told me to try melatonin... what a joke. the punchline is reading melatonin trip reports on erowid. maybe try it next time u can't sleep

slept well last night thanks to a potent combination of sleeping pill (otc), glass of wine, bath, book.

hooray! let's see if i can keep this momentum -- feelin pretty good!

Seroquel was a disaster. Helped me get to sleep faster, didn't help me stay asleep at all, made me a drooling zombie falling asleep uncontrollably throughout the following day. Now it's

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/49/AtivanAd.jpg

and then if that doesn't work maybe something that is shot in dart form out of a high-powered rifle.

I took otc sleep meds last night, preceded by (1) glass of vino and (1) bath and I slept really really well. Don't want to gloat because tonight is another night, but it felt really good.

I think what I have is pretty low level, so getting it under control should be doable.

Let's hope so.

Did it work??

it worked that night
last night i got home from work at 10, stayed up til 12:30, woke up with a start at 5. i consider that a mild success. today i'm subbing so i have to teach, but i did an ok job with a bunch of people i don't know.
things are looking up, i guess? kinda slap happy today instead of exhausted and depressed.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/10/29/health.great.sleep.secrets/index.html?hpt=C2

tell me something i don't already know, cnn
i've even had my thyroid checked! it cost me $500 and i was fine! thyroid probs do run in my fam though, so i guess it's worth it to get a baseline number

i would like to be able to take a pill that prevents dreaming, i'm sure i would get a much better night's sleep.

went to bed at 11pm wed
woke up at 8am yesterday (nice!)
up till 5am this morning (wtf!)

i've had enough of this
3 hours last night

made doc appt

Staying in a hotel this week = waking up 6-10 times a night. I'm going to have black eyes come Friday.

The Ativan Experience isn't perfect, but it's helping, and it's nice to have handy during the day as a Get Out Of Panicked Uncontrollable Sobbing Free card. Too bad about the side effects making it unsuitable for longterm use, though I'm glad I haven't experienced any anterograde amnesia. Too bad about the side effects making it unsuitable for longterm use, though I'm glad I haven't experienced any anterograde amnesia.

going to the doctor today hoping for some kind of relief
otc medication only partially effective
i seem to be in some kind of unstoppable maniacal period and i wonder if it's my thyroid or something? i also lost 3 lbs, which is kind of a lot for me since i have pretty much been the same weight for the last 15-20 yrs or so.

ask for trazodone or at least mention it.

its been the best one for me, all the others made me feel like a bad hangover the next day.

thank you -- i need recommendations. is that generic for something i would recognize the name of?
btw i am not bipolar, pretty sure about that

thats the brand name. its used for depression really, but often prescribed as a sleep aid off market or whatever the heck they call it.

hey most people in a manic phase dont believe they are manic...just ask my wife. ;)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0000530

;_;

thanks for the info though
i'll see what the doc has to say
maybe she'll talk to me for more than 12 min

typical doctors...is it a psych or reg dr?

reg dr/pcp

i've never seen a psychiatrist

ah. everytime i see my psych its literally a three minute appt. "any sexual issues, thoughts of suicide...no, good. Heres your scripts, see you in six months."

i tell you what though, last week i took a trazzy before bed and got frisky with the wife...in the tmi dept it took an hour after the deed for my boner to calm down. i thought i was going to have one of those priapism boners for 5-6 hours.

and one more thing, lack of sleep can obviously cause you to feel manic.

Yeah, I think that's my situation. I'm 99% sure I'm not bipolar. A little nervous abt this for some reason. I've never taken prescription meds for brain issues before.

not to scare you or anything, but lack of sleep was one of the causes of my wifes psychosis...but it was post-partum so take that with a grain of salt.

You'll be fine...everyone is on something these days!

any news ll?

yeah, actually
i went to the doctor on friday afternoon and dedicated this weekend to getting better
she gave me ambien, which works fine so far (no sleep-driving or anything weird really at all)
i feel better/rested but man this weekend was SO BORING

sleeping is boring

thanks for asking

cool.

Had a bottle of wine, fell asleep around 1, woke up at 4. now watching sin city while all's quiet.

my eye is going weird :(

is it twitching?

yes, at the edges of the lids

It's tiredness apparently, which i guess you are, being on an insomnia thread :)
Doesn't last long, it's quite common, nothing to worry about.

solidarity, let's fight the night

i don't mind it sometimes, i open the blinds and watch it getting brighter while listening to music or watching a film.
it's currently 6:08 here and i'm getting picked up in a couple of hours to go and do decorating at my mothers house.

i'd happily stay awake for the rest of my life if i didn't have to wallpaper ever again!

could use some ambien

monday night i took my pain meds for my back, naproxen, vicodin and flexiril and didn't fall asleep until 4am. I can't take my sleeping pill if i want to wake up in the morning after taking pain meds.

maybe i'm nuts, but that is a lot of drugs, no?

ambien has been working for me, and i am very thankful, but i can tell it makes me like...wobbly. it's kind of embarrassing.

Be careful -- even if you don't run outside and try to drive a bulldozer off a construction site, you might find that the time between taking the med and actually falling asleep is a big black hole that you can't remember the next day. Pretty much harmless as long as you take it while in bed with a book or w/e! Just don't try to discuss anything important.

Also YAY SLEEP!!!

yeah thats a crapload of drugs for my back. but i didn't take my sleeping pill. my back is a mess.

Yeah, I feel better, and that's good, but i'm still swirling in chaos otherwise
kinda sleepwalking through life

y'all will probably hate me for posting on this thread since i'm usually a good sleeper, but my mind was racing from like 3:30 until ? (i think 5:30 or 6:00) this morning after i got up to get a drink of water. i knew what i was getting into, guess...once i stand up it's all over.

my brain was trying to figure out what to do with this song i'm working on, and once it what it thought was a good idea, it was afraid to fall asleep and forget it.

i also haveOCD and ADD, so if i don't take my OCD meds, my mind races uncontrollably.