Sleep deprivation

[Valiant]

I've not been sleeping. I don't know why, my body is knackered and aching. I've only had about 3 hours since Thursday night. I've tried different beds, different pillows, cold showers, hot showers, sex, massage, exercise, anti histamines, herbal sleep meds, over the counter sleep meds, valium, diazepam, herbal teas, hot chocolate, alcohol, but nowt seems to work, a lot make me sleepy and tired for about an hour before before I'm wide awake again.

Before I beg Juls and hit the Chlorpromazine is there anything else I can try? It's a last resort as it's unprescribed to me and the last time I took it knocked me out cold for 3 days and left me zombie like for a week.

I'm starting to get the shakes, cold sweats and hallucinating from sleep deprivation.

[disrail]

Never really had problems sleeping, once I put my head down, so I can't really help. The issue I've got is I'm rubbish at getting up in the morning, no matter what time I go to bed, and as now, I'm really wired in the small hours. They can be my most productive.

Might this help?

[juliet]

Do you have any experience of relaxation/meditation exercises?  (I know that in theory meditation shouldn't send you to sleep, but I find it really hard not to fall asleep whilst meditating!)

One relaxation exercise I've found useful is to lie down, and relax as much as you can.  Then start at your feet, and gradually work up your body, tensing and relaxing each muscle in turn (so clench your toes hard for a few seconds, then let them relax; tense your lower calf muscles for a few seconds and then relax them; etc etc).  If you're still awake when you get all the way up to your head, start focussing on your breathing: breathe slowly and deeply, and think about letting out all the muscle tension every time you breathe out.

Another simple meditation exercise is just to focus on your breathing.  Every time something else comes into your head, just acknowledge it and let it go: return to thinking about your breathing. 

If you're having things-running-round-your-head problems, maybe spend a few minutes with a notepad & pen writing down all the things that are bothering you, before you try to sleep?  Might help just to get them out of your head.

[Hot Flatus]

Before I beg Juls and hit the Chlorpromazine.

You could try going to your doctor.

[teethgrinder]

I wonder if it's psychological and that your trying to sleep is preventing you from sleeping. Because you're not sleeping, it's focussing your mind on getting some sleep rather than relaxing you. This means that you're getting less sleep and probably getting stressfull about it. The stress will keep you awake too, continuing the cycle.
Just relax and go with the flow. Any worries are better dealt with after a good sleep when you can think about them more effectively.
One trick that has worked for me is to think to myself that I'm hiding from everyone. Nobody knows where I am and the whole world is going bananas while I hide in my bed and sleep. Everything else can go hang for all I care. I'll worry about it later.

Or you could see your quack. But they might just fob you off with sleeping pills.

[mattc]

i think you've gone too far for 'normal' strategies to help. (Once into serious sleep dep your body forgets it needs proper sleep - some sort of primitive flight/crisis mechanism?)


1) You need some quality sleep to get your head and body healthy again.

2) Then work on strategies to get normal sleep going forwards.

It may be that SMALL amounts of chemicals are the way to achieve 1.

But see a doc - even if you then ignore his/her advice.

[Ariadne]

Don't see sleeping pills as the devil - they can really help. I had chronic insomnia a few years ago and finally crawled to the doctor. I got pills for two weeks - really good ones, that didn't leave me groggy in the morning. unfortunately I can't remember the name!

But it worked. That first night - or rather first morning, when I woke up refreshed - was just so wonderful! And I only took them for those two weeks, and that was enough to get over the hysterical 'I can't sleep' thing. Then she gave me four more doses, for the next four Sunday nights. Like a lot of people, Sunday night was a real trigger, after the weekend.

It really can help, if your doctor is good and dispenses them carefully.

[Valiant]

Someone said something on facebook which explains a lot, i could be going through withdrawel from my proper meds.

PS - Whoever posted the last message - I don't like cyclists :p

[marna]

1. See your doctor! If it's med withdrawal they can do something about it, possibly - or at least confirm that it's that. This sort of nonsense is easier to cope with if you know why it's happening and that it will end.

2. What I find helps - sometimes to sleep, and sometimes just to get some rest - when I have a bad patch of insomnia, is curling on the sofa with utterly trashy books (I have a charity shop stash) and low-ish lighting. Glowing screens make it worse, as does bright light, as does going to bed (because that puts pressure on me to sleep). Curling up and reading something totally unchallenging keeps me sufficiently occupied that I don't get bored, sometimes I do fall asleep, and it's restful even if I don't, in a way that lying in bed unable to sleep's not. Ambient-ish music on low can also help, particularly if I know the album well.

(Obviously, what cures mine will not be what cures yours, but there might be something useful there.)

3. Sometimes I resort to Too Much Wine, but this just leads to hungover sleep deprivation, which is no fun at all. I do not recommend this, and nor does my liver. Instead, resort to Too Much Cake. Frequent snacking stops me being quite so miserable and feeling too shaky, at any rate.

4. SYMPATHY! Insomnia's horrid, and sleep deprivation turns me grumpy and miserable and takes all the fun out of the universe.

[Zoidburg]

Go to the Doc.

It isn't possible to keep yourself awake like this, something is going wrong that is more than just to do with you being a bit tense . If you have only had 3 hours since thursday you should be reaching the stage where you should collapse and not be able to stop yourself falling asleep.

Doctors, pronto.

[Valiant]

I spoke to me doc, she didn't seem too worried and sad I just gotta bear with it.

[David Martin]

I spoke to me doc, she didn't seem too worried and sad I just gotta bear with it.

One of these?

[Valiant]

Well she didn;t say I love you but I'm still hopefull