Insomnia.

Discovered the Baby First channel, just esoteric images with something that reminds me of hospitality Muzak playing. I started yawning right away! This could work but I can't get it on our room television set.

I'm trying to shake a nasty cold that's been going around my office all week and getting over a depression-induced 16 hour sleep on Friday night...not a good combination. Right now I'm all hunched up in a comforter kind of shaking and dripping snot and listening to hours' worth of Wiretap episodes.

cannot help anyone itt but I swear to god if I could have one super power it would be the ability to stay awake/fall asleep when I wanted. I'm often doing one when I should be doing the other!

next door chemists air con unit rattling away has kept me awake for the last 3 hours, don't think it can handle this fog.

Thanks guys, this is so awful. Last night I went to bed at 10:00 and the little one woke up at 12:45. Got him back to sleep easily, but that was it for me. Was awake until my alarm went off at 6:15 this morning. Hoping I can muddle through my two big meetings today without making too large of an ass of myself.

The big issue for me is that my mind absolutely races and just will. not. stop. I've tried all sorts of breathing exercises and counting, but its like my mind knows whats going on and just shifts its racing to the background while I focus on the breathing or counting or w/e. Music doesn't really seem to help much either.

Do you focus on the music? Like really listen to one part? And then if you feel your brain slipping, focus on another part?

That's the only thing that works for me, aside from drugs.

Thats what I was trying, but my racing brain was pulling me away. I'm not giving up on it just yet, but the last three nights I've tried didn't give me much hope.

have you tried really really boring podcasts? that also works for me. sometimes.

Noticed a bowl of oatmeal will put me out and keep me out. Got an uninterrupted, solid eight hours...finally!

interesting! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16964783
on the downside, i am so tired-looking today that someone noticed :(

(article is about "segmented sleep")

interesting! this past week i have been waking up in the middle of the night every single damn day (which is unusual for me b/c once i'm asleep i usually sleep so deeply i can't hear any alarms). but maybe it's a sign of...something. my sleep patterns tend toward the 16th century?

For some reason I've been hearing about this for a really long time, maybe b/c my mom read lots of pioneer journals? It makes sense in places where it might be dark for 12 hours or more--it would be hard to be asleep for that whole time, every day! Personally I wd like to segment my sleep to 6 hours at night and 2 hours in the mid-afternoon but my stupid employer frowns on my personal circadian rhythm.

Ficking night flights aaargh Heathrow I keel u.

Unisom, Passionflower syrup, Rescue Remedy, oatmeal, a glass of milk...everything works once or twice and then never again.

People got to synchronize to animal time

(that was for iiiijjjj btw)

Also those animals are domestic cats

Do any of you chronic insomniacs take Tylenol pm or sominex or some other kind of non naturopathic OTC medicine?

generic nyquil

Yeah I take generic "sleep aid" OTC shit but it usually gives me insanely bloodshot eyes the next morning for some reason.

so it's after 7, is this the point where i give up and see what i can do with my day until i collapse?

Waiting to get sleepy to sleep. Please happen.

I have been having regular nightmares involving my or another person's body either decomposing or morphing into something incredibly disgusting (ref. the tryptophilia thread for a general idea). They are waking me up at 3am and I'm waking up with my pulse racing and feeling sick. Now I don't even want to go to sleep!

not insomnia as i usually know it, but have been waking up at precisely 4am at least a few days a week unable to stop racing thoughts. this morning i couldn't stop thinking about the sounds that comprise "reince priebus" and it just went through my head over and over and over. awful!!

I couldn't get his name out of my head on my way to work this morning either! What is it with that guy?? At least it didn't wake me up, though. :(

http://images.spoof-media.com/thespoof/pdi/231206-0030prince.jpg

It doesn't look like we're going to get a break from hearing his name uttered aloud anytime soon either, unfortunately. I wish he would go with a symbol.

TCotRNCfkaR

I know it's uncharitable and not his fault, but his name is sound vomit to my brain. The sound of the beast.

I think I want it to be Prince Rebus.

wash Prius, rinse Prius
hit head on pavement
REINCE PRIEBUS

i haven't heard his name in a week! but i did have trouble sleeping last night.

oh man LL I had this same thing happen to me!

a friend of mine posted on FB about how he "reinced his priebus" and I couldn't get it out of my head. And now that I've written it down I fear it'll be back again. :/

the only thing you can do is not think about it and if the toxic priebus gets under your skin, wash it off.

wait, i mean

REINCE IT OFF

aaaaaaaaaahahahahhahahahahahahah

Reince Reince lemonade round the corner Preibus made

Aagggghhhhh

http://media2.kshb.com//photo/2012/05/13/mtp_20120513120336_320_240.GIF

it's 6am, i might as well stop pretending and get up to do things. but god do i hate this, especially the fact that i go to bed feeling reasonably tired, like my entire body is telling me to go to sleep but then my mind starts focusing on silly things and i can't seem to switch it off. tonight for example i started thinking about hemingway and his six word story (which may or may not be a true story) and my mind just couldn't stop making up 6 word stories.

mind starts focusing on silly things and i can't seem to switch it off
silly things aren't so silly if they keep you awake.

really wish my brain was on my side sometimes.
really struggling with sleep lately, when i have to get up and go to work, that's when i start getting tired.

my insomnia battles continue, but they're waaaaay better than they used to be. i get ~6-7 hours nightly on a regular basis, sometimes more. i just give myself permission to stay up until i feel sleepier rather than forcing myself to bed at 10 or whatever.

i will, however, note that i flushed the ambien down the toilet in a symbolic gesture against that malevolent drug.

you should have mailed it to me instead

I can't condone that medication -- it's toxic. I'd be afraid for you if you took it! If you want more deets, I'll tell you privately.

it's worked fine for me in very intermittent doses?

Fucking horrible last night after warming up the previous two... A side effect of the steroids I take as part of chemotherapy, but it took 4 weeks to show up. I don't want to call the doctor cuz I don't want another fucking prescription.

I think I managed to drift off for about an hour on 2 or 3 occasions, during one of which I dreamed I worked for elderly Frank Sinatra, getting his mail.

:/

i would say talk to yr doc anyway. the last thing you want while going through chemo is to feel even worse for not sleeping. I mean, insomnia's bad enough when you're healthy, you know? and if it's chemical, maybe it's just a simple change or diff dosage.

sorry dude, that seriously sucks. but, on the upside, cool dream! :)

jesus morbs, i don't think i understood you were going through chemo. fuck. i'm really sorry to hear that.
are you getting by okay out there?

It's a rollercoaster, but I'm getting better. Just some new bumps from the meds these days.