Dealing with insomnia?

[White Israelite]

I've been having a lot of difficulty falling asleep for a few years now and it's gotten to the point that I have little energy or even a good sense of awareness. It's been affecting my work and some people are starting to notice I am having a difficult time processing thoughts as fast as I normally would. I've been dealing with blackouts, spacing out, asking people to repeat themselves and losing track of time or what i'm even doing.

I've taken medication and it doesn't seem to fix the issue, exercise doesn't seem to do the job either, anyone have any suggestions?

[Rubystars]

Do you use your bed only for sleep?

Also what are you thinking about when you try to go to sleep? I'm wondering if it's not psychological because the medicine isn't working.

[~Hanna~]

What kind of a bed do you have?

[DownwithIslam]

I have had the same problem for years. The best thing to do is get Lunesta and use it as a backup. Tell yourself that their is no point in worrying about sleep since you have the medication if you do have problems sleeping. It's the worrying about sleep itself that keeps you up so this may work.

[Ulli]

I think you should drink a little ammount of good red wine. It will relax you.

In addition to this you should take all the stuff out of your sleeping room and you should prevent any light from coming in.

This worked with me fine.

Medication doesn't work with me too. I have tried it, but it disagrees with me.

[~Hanna~]

Calcium-Magnesium tablets help to relax you and also Vitiman D helps with sleeping.....try taking those before going to bed.

[White Israelite]

Do you use your bed only for sleep?

Also what are you thinking about when you try to go to sleep? I'm wondering if it's not psychological because the medicine isn't working.

well sometimes I lay in bed to go on my laptop if i'm listening to music or what not, but that's not often, I'm normally out in the living room.

I tried red wine but I do have a lot of stress with life because as a IT, my job is 24/7 so I am alert at all times to be ready for a call if a server goes down or a customer calling about a problem, I think it's conditioning that I'm used to being able to wake myself up. for many years, I used to force myself to wake up every 45 minutes to check our websites and what not to make sure a server wasn't down.

I have black lines forming under my eyes which isn't good.

[~Hanna~]

Maybe you should consider a different line of work? 

[Rubystars]

It sounds like it is psychological then. Maybe you could try to get a job where you could have at least several undisturbed hours of sleep but still be able to transfer the skills from your current job. I think another trend these days is job sharing, where two people share one job but work fewer hours. I don't know if that would be good though considering the current economy because you might earn less that way.

I think you should also work on not using your bed for anything else. Also after you try to fall asleep for a while and you can't then you should get up for a while and try again in a little bit so you don't always associate the bed with frustration of not being able to sleep.

[White Israelite]

I don't know, i've had the sleep problems for a long time now, I talked to someone on health forums once and they said that they think I could be suffering from low serotonin levels based on the description I gave.

[Geert Akbar]

are you not comfortable when you lay down? I had a similar problem, so i got a foam pad for my mattress and that has been working out pretty good.

[White Israelite]

are you not comfortable when you lay down? I had a similar problem, so i got a foam pad for my mattress and that has been working out pretty good.

I think i'm comfortable laying down, I toss and turn a lot though for no reason at all.

As for my bed, the matress is fine, it's a top of the line queen size bed.

I think there's something else causing my loss of sleep though i'm not sure what, it's one thing to not sleep one night but it's ongoing at this point.

[DownwithIslam]

are you not comfortable when you lay down? I had a similar problem, so i got a foam pad for my mattress and that has been working out pretty good.

I think i'm comfortable laying down, I toss and turn a lot though for no reason at all.

As for my bed, the matress is fine, it's a top of the line queen size bed.

I think there's something else causing my loss of sleep though i'm not sure what, it's one thing to not sleep one night but it's ongoing at this point.

It's called behavioral or psychological insomnia. You can find many recourses about this problem on the web. You are not falling asleep because you are worrying that you wont be able to fall asleep and then yor next day will be ruined. What you need is something that will give you confidence that even if you are not able to fall asleep on your own, then it will put you to sleep. Lunesta is a really good sleeping pill. I have used it in the past myself. It is much better than ambien. Being that you have the pill, you wont be nervous anymore and eventually you wont even need the meds.

[Raulmarrio2000]

I've been having a lot of difficulty falling asleep for a few years now and it's gotten to the point that I have little energy or even a good sense of awareness. It's been affecting my work and some people are starting to notice I am having a difficult time processing thoughts as fast as I normally would. I've been dealing with blackouts, spacing out, asking people to repeat themselves and losing track of time or what i'm even doing.

I've taken medication and it doesn't seem to fix the issue, exercise doesn't seem to do the job either, anyone have any suggestions?

Avoid taking madicines to sleep unless a qualified doctor says it's essential. Sleeping pills ussually lead to adiction and make insomnia worse. Their effect also lasts during the day and make you feel tired even if they don't make you sleep at night.

[White Israelite]

I've been having a lot of difficulty falling asleep for a few years now and it's gotten to the point that I have little energy or even a good sense of awareness. It's been affecting my work and some people are starting to notice I am having a difficult time processing thoughts as fast as I normally would. I've been dealing with blackouts, spacing out, asking people to repeat themselves and losing track of time or what i'm even doing.

I've taken medication and it doesn't seem to fix the issue, exercise doesn't seem to do the job either, anyone have any suggestions?

Avoid taking madicines to sleep unless a qualified doctor says it's essential. Sleeping pills ussually lead to adiction and make insomnia worse. Their effect also lasts during the day and make you feel tired even if they don't make you sleep at night.

Some of it makes you feel suicidal too. I don't trust that stuff. Aventyl is the worst.

I heard pure tryptophan works

[Spiraling Leopard]

Try: yoga, tai chi, meditation, martial arts, practicing Shiatsu according to Shizuto Masunaga.

[Cato]

Have young kids.

[GoIsraelGo!]

Here are a few tips from Dox.

1. take a hot bath before bedtime.
2. drink hot milk
3. do breathing exercises...inhale, hold for a few seconds, exhale.
4. drink a glass of merlot wine if you don't like hot milk
5. heating pad on your lower back
6. hold your breath and tense your muscles, then release.
7. reading when you are tried also helps.
8. close your eyes and see an imaginary chalkboard, make squares, circles or patterns

Good luck.

Shalom - Dox

[ProudAndZionist]

Run and do sports a lot.