Insomnia.

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (912 of them)
"What's yours?" asked the barman.

"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.

Hurting (Hurting), Friday, 8 April 2005 03:41 (nineteen years ago) link

does it count as insomnia if you wake up at 4:30 am having to pee?

jody von bulow (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 8 April 2005 08:01 (nineteen years ago) link

What about if your cat wakes you up at 5am on the dot every day to go outside, and then you can't get back to sleep?

caitlin (caitlin), Friday, 8 April 2005 10:53 (nineteen years ago) link

i started taking lorazepam every so often, and it really helps. i think my insomnia had less to do with not being tired as just being really anxious.

Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 8 April 2005 13:13 (nineteen years ago) link

jody, I think that means you're an old man.

tokyo nursery school: afternoon session (rosemary), Friday, 8 April 2005 13:19 (nineteen years ago) link

three weeks pass...
tokyo rosemary otm.

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.

fra lippo liposuction (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 30 April 2005 06:11 (nineteen years ago) link

funny you should revive this, as i've been having terrible problems sleeping lately and have been a walking zombie at work as a result.

Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Saturday, 30 April 2005 14:04 (nineteen years ago) link


I took lorazepam for a while, it worked okay. But if you really want to get knocked out, seroquel is the way to go. It's expensive, though.

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.

tiffr goer (dymaxia), Saturday, 30 April 2005 14:07 (nineteen years ago) link

one month passes...
revive, har har. Help. Please.

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.

Roz (Roz), Sunday, 12 June 2005 21:57 (eighteen years ago) link

warm milk is an answer for me sometimes

mark s (mark s), Sunday, 12 June 2005 22:29 (eighteen years ago) link

be sure to take some time in the day for excercise. If you can't sleep, get up out of bed and do a quiet activity, like reading, until you feel drowsy. Chamomile tea is good too.

rainy (rainy), Sunday, 12 June 2005 22:33 (eighteen years ago) link

i woke up yesterday at 1 pm and haven't been to sleep since. i don't drink milk. i spent about 5 hours walking in/around a park.

hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 12 June 2005 22:34 (eighteen years ago) link

warm milk is shorter if you drink it

mark s (mark s), Sunday, 12 June 2005 22:36 (eighteen years ago) link

i don't have any because i don't drink it.

hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 12 June 2005 22:39 (eighteen years ago) link

ok

mark s (mark s), Sunday, 12 June 2005 22:40 (eighteen years ago) link

Warm milk doesn't work me though I haven't tried chamomile tea. Reading doesn't help, TV doesn't help, music doesn't help. Sorry. I'm just not in a very nice mood right now. I just hate that feeling after I've laid in bed for 3 or 4 hours and realized that nothing happened.

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.

Roz (Roz), Sunday, 12 June 2005 22:40 (eighteen years ago) link

what the? you dont need a doc. if youre in the US get some tylenol PM into you. if youre in australia get some mersyndol. problem solved.

sunny successor (katharine), Sunday, 12 June 2005 23:31 (eighteen years ago) link

Yeah mersndol-ish analgesics might help but they have a bad sedative hangover. Try a valerian/hops/chammomile herbal tablet if you can find some, I find they really work for me.

Trayce (trayce), Sunday, 12 June 2005 23:39 (eighteen years ago) link

reading usually works for me, tho there's an inherent danger there ("just one more page...oops, the sun's coming up").

J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Monday, 13 June 2005 07:46 (eighteen years ago) link

the sun is about to come up, here

hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 13 June 2005 07:59 (eighteen years ago) link

speaking of which, here's a golden oldie revived 45 from the beloved. goodness me, is that "the sun rising"? ho ho, capital gold, where you're never more than 60 seconds away from another minute, etc.

Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 13 June 2005 08:07 (eighteen years ago) link

i'm up, but it's not insomnia; it was my body telling me to get up and pee. thank you, body.

metal assembly (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 13 June 2005 08:12 (eighteen years ago) link

one month passes...
gah

Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Monday, 25 July 2005 05:40 (eighteen years ago) link

hi adam! my sleep schedule has been way way way way off lately.

not gettin' hassled, not gettin' hustled (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 25 July 2005 05:44 (eighteen years ago) link

Mine too. It always seems to be this time of year. I had crazy staying up until dawn sessions last summer too. I don't want to be awake. I can't read, I can't concentrate on anything, but lying in bed makes me utterly crazy for some reason.

Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Monday, 25 July 2005 05:46 (eighteen years ago) link

i need to replace my futon mattress.

not gettin' hassled, not gettin' hustled (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 25 July 2005 06:15 (eighteen years ago) link

seven months pass...
There are a million insomnia threads on ILE!

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?

NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Monday, 6 March 2006 06:22 (eighteen years ago) link

Try Melatonin

Richard Gillanders (RGILL), Monday, 6 March 2006 15:33 (eighteen years ago) link

I recommend GABA (from healthfood stores -non-habit-forming), for those anxious ones. After a few days of it you expect to go to sleep and you do. When the old insomniac habit comes back repeat the procedure. If you've taught yourself to stay up, like partying or studying, you have to re-teach yourself not to.

steve ketchup (steve ketchup), Tuesday, 7 March 2006 17:13 (eighteen years ago) link

I just wanted to let you know how revitalized I'm feeling after yet another successful night's rest. Didn't quite grab eight hours if you deduct my trip to the bathroom and my having to reposition the cat that one time, but in each case you'll be pleased to hear that I was able to resume my sleep almost immediately. (My dreams spliced together seamlessly, I might add.) There's nothing extraordinary about what I did, of course — any normal person could pull it off — but boy, did it feel good!

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.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Tuesday, 7 March 2006 17:54 (eighteen years ago) link

I am the Hamburglar.

Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 7 March 2006 17:59 (eighteen years ago) link

one year passes...
Rolling Insomnia Spring 07?

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 10:07 (seventeen years ago) link

one month passes...

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.

get bent, Friday, 22 June 2007 10:26 (sixteen years ago) link

awesome.

hstencil, Friday, 22 June 2007 10:26 (sixteen years ago) link

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

get bent, Friday, 22 June 2007 10:37 (sixteen years ago) link

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.

Hurting 2, Saturday, 23 June 2007 05:03 (sixteen years ago) link

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

Hurting 2, Saturday, 23 June 2007 05:04 (sixteen years ago) link

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

mookieproof, Saturday, 23 June 2007 05:14 (sixteen years ago) link

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

Hurting 2, Saturday, 23 June 2007 05:19 (sixteen years ago) link

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

Hurting 2, Saturday, 23 June 2007 05:23 (sixteen years ago) link

"Hurting"

Just got offed, Saturday, 23 June 2007 05:35 (sixteen years ago) link

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

the sir weeze, Saturday, 23 June 2007 05:55 (sixteen years ago) link

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

Hurting 2, Saturday, 23 June 2007 06:02 (sixteen years ago) link

flip your mattress

the sir weeze, Saturday, 23 June 2007 06:02 (sixteen years ago) link

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.

Just got offed, Saturday, 23 June 2007 07:00 (sixteen years ago) link

anyone else too high to sleep?

creme1, Saturday, 23 June 2007 07:29 (sixteen years ago) link

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.

Jaq, Saturday, 23 June 2007 07:53 (sixteen years ago) link

i wish xpost

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Saturday, 23 June 2007 08:02 (sixteen years ago) link

here dude this is for u

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

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Saturday, 23 June 2007 08:06 (sixteen years ago) link

oh what bullshit

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Saturday, 23 June 2007 08:07 (sixteen years ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.