Can't Sleep... - Lafayette,LA

Try Melatonin. My husband takes it and it works well for him. It's natural so you don't have to worry. I know if I have things on my mind it can disrupt my sleep. I once read to keep a notepad by the bed and if you think of things to do in the middle of the night then just jot them down. Sometimes a glass of warm milk, a nice warm bath can relax you. I have taken Tylenol PM and that knocks me out. Tylenol PM does not work on my husband but the Melatonin does. It's worth a try. Good luck I hope you get some sleep soon.

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I've heard recently from the Dr. Oz show that exercising can really help slow down the body. If you don't exercise during the day it takes our bodies longer to slow down and feel sleepy at night. (Something I don't do or feel I have time to do, but I know I need too also!)
Also do you know if you snore? He had one lady on there that they watched her over night to see why she couldn't sleep or why she was sore and tired the next day. It was b/c she snored.
Good Luck to you! I hope you can find some answers and be able to sleep! =)

1 mom found this helpful

Sorry to hear that you are going through this. I have gone through this several times in the past so I know exactly what you are going through. It could very well be depression. I know it may not seem like it, I felt the same way...happy with my life etc. The only real symptom was the insomnia. The thing is that the lack of sleep can lead to depression and depression can lead to insomnia. It is a viscous cycle. I started taking an antidepressant and it has helped tremendously. I no longer lie awake at night after night wondering when sleep will come. Talk to your doctor and keep an open mind. I fought if for years, but things are so much better now. Good luck!

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have you talked to anyone about the depression theory? i have heard (and can very well imagine, as a big girl myself) that people who have had gastric bypass, and lose a lot of weight very rapidly, have a hard time with self image etc, basically becoming a whole new person on the outside and not having time to adjust inside. if that makes sense. if you lost a lot of weight rapidly, perhaps you are having trouble reconciling the "new" you to the "old" you. hope that doesn't sound bad, not meaning it to be mean! but since you're already going to talk to you dr. it might be worth mentioning. good luck and hope your dr. has some answers for you.

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Trying the melatonin is a good idea. You might also ask your doctor about taking Ambien or Lunesta for a short while to help your body get back in the rhythm of sleep. You don't have to keep taking those forever but if you take them for a little while it can help. I used to work for a sleep specialist and these were given out fairly often for people who have trouble sleeping. Good luck and I hope you can find something that works for you

I so totally sympathise with you. I know you don't want condemnation but just friendly advice I have been this way for a long time if you cant sleep with the pills and cant sleep without them why take them.(just my theory) I am so afraid of being addicted to them though.
I asked this same question about 4 days ago and have gotten 2 nights sleep since then. one I slept from 9-1am and couldn't get back to sleep till 1pm and slept till 330. This is why I don't have a job. I would be fired for either oversleeping or falling asleep. good luck and know you are not alone

Just to try because I know it's my problem during the winter months.. but if you find yourself indoors for most of the day and do not get a lot of direct sunlight try to get out in the sun... It could be a part of your "biological clock" not the one telling you it's time to have babies, the one telling your body what time of day it is.. The more sunlight you get during the day helps your body realize that now it is day time and when it finally gets dark it helps your body realize it's night time and time to sleep..
My rhythm gets really disturbed during the winter (right now I'm living in Sweden and we get very little sunlight during the winter months) because I do not get enough sunlight during the day so your body never gets rid of the melatonin in your body until much later in the day (so you are sleepy all day and finally "wake up" later in the day) and when it is night time your body is not ready to shut down because it just in essence woke up a few hours ago.. so when you sleep for only a few hours it is more like a nap than a night time sleep. So try to take a nice long walk when ever you have the opportunity when the sun is shining (or at least as bright as it can get).. Try to force yourself up a little earlier in the morning (if you normally sleep as late as you can).. try not to allow yourself nap (if you do).. You can also take a vit. D supplement in the morning (tablet sunshine) that might help your natural rhythms.

I do light therapy during the winter months and I notice the difference it makes for me.. just getting some brightness through your eyes..

do you ever had problems sleeping before? what did the doctor say?

I am going to respond to this because I have experienced the exact same thing. Sometimes I think people want to help and just throw out suggestions. I have been EXACTLY where you are, and it was just 6 weeks ago. When my son started sleeping through the night, I still couldn't. My body was just used to waking up and I had a small level of anxiety because when I went to sleep, I didn't get the great feeling that comes from knowing that I would STAY asleep all night like I used to before getting pregnant. So, to stay sane, I began taking a half an Advil PM each night. After about a month or two, I began to wake at night and have trouble falling back asleep. I began taking a whole pill. After about a few months of that, my routine would go back where it began, going to sleep great around 10pm and going to a great deep sleep. Then I would wake around 1-2am and be wide awake for hours. I also read about insomnia and made sure I wasn't doing anything that would create this (TV, caffeine, etc.) Then I would go back to sleep around 5am. I was tired in the afternoon and would sometimes take a nap. Slowly I noticed that the melatonin hormone in my body (how you get that drowsy feeling) pretty much didn't exist. One day I decided to stop taking the pills (6 wks ago). The first night I got 2 hrs sleep. I was wide awake as if adrenaline was flowing through my body. the next maybe 5. I was so tired (not drowsy just no energy) I wanted to crawl in bed and stay for days. I called my doctor because I thought I had mono. I figured out it was withdrawal from coming off the pills. I only had taken 1 each night but I read that it has a cumilative affect on your body. The extreme tiredness lasted about a week. Then I started going to sleep and sleeping longer. I would wake to use the bathroom and actually still feel drowsy and be able to go to sleep. I read that it can take a month for sleeping pills to get out of your system. Now when I go to sleep, I stay asleep the whole night, just like I did before getting pregnant. I feel rested in the day. It was the pills.

I have the same problem! It is 2:15 a.m.. I am in grad school and my mind is always at work. I have found that a sound machine helps. Also, don't be hard on yourself for taking meds. They made them for a reason :)

A.

Have you ried Melatonin.
that is the natural sleep harmon that is in your body. As you get older it decreases in your body and also your harmons do.
I haf the same experience when I was in my late 30's. I would mov e to the couch to keep from waking my husband and stay awake all night and then get up go to work. I am in my 70's now and still have totake something to go to sleep. the melatonin helps a lot.But I have restless leg syndrom also and have to take something for thagt or would never sleep
Hope this helps. You can safely take up to 9 mg of melatonin, Star with 3 mg and gradually go up to the 9 mg

A lot of things can cause insomnia. Have you ever filled out a questionaire about sleep apnea. You can find them online. Tests can be done at a sleep study clinic or in your own home. Hope your PCP looks for causes and does not just write a prescription.

One thing it could be is hormones. If you've had a hysterectomy & aren't taking your hormones that could be it. If not then, I have no other advise. Im going through the same thing & my husband reminded me I need to get back on my hormones (its been so long since i've taken them, it hasn't dawned on me that's probably my problem) My Dr once told me, going without taking them will cause lack of sleep among MANY other things.

The same has happened to me. I am seeing a chiropractor internist . He looked into my blood chemistry levels and found no disease but a lack of several different nutrients and a propensity toward hypoglycemia. He gave me a vitamin schedule, typical foods to eat mostly etc,.. I need to looose 29 lbs... I am sleeping and on the right track. Hope this helps

Taking a 30 minute walk every night helped me a lot. Good luck!

I've had a lot of trouble sleeping too. During the really rough times, I take Tylenol PM. I take it at 8. I get into bed at 9, and read until 9:30 or 10. I do it to "reset" myself. A friend of mine who is a foster parent taught me a technique that sounds stupid, but has been working for me, for 3 months. If I have trouble falling asleep OR if I wake up. My husband also gets up at 3:15 a.m. to go to work, and I have now trained myself to SLEEP THROUGH HIS ALARM!!! But some nights are still rough. Here it is:

Going through your senses, clear your mind, and think, 1 at a time, of 5 things you can feel, hear, see, smell. Say them in your head slowly. Focus ONLY on that. Say each one 5 times. I can feel the sheets on my skin. I can feel my pillows under my head. I can feel the breeze from the ceiling fan. etc. Then move onto the next sense. I never make it to the next sense. It always works. Try it! Maybe it will help!

To be honest it sounds like you may be a bit Bipolar. This is a typical manic episode for me. I go along and don't really have depression and don't really have highs. Instead of mountains and valleys I have more like speed bumps and dips. But the staying awake it the bigger issue to me. So what if I tear up at a commercial every 6-8 months, that's about the extense of my depression. I have ended up in the hospital a few times just to get some meds and get my schedule back on track. One time I took some medicine that knocked me out and I slept for about 20 hours woke up and felt like cleaning house for a couple fo days. The Doc let me go home as soon as I woke up the next day and she saw my schedule was back on track.

Definantly talk to your Doc about possible issues and get some meds you can take when you need to get to sleep.

One thing I do is Autogenic Relaxation and Visualization. You can get tapes or cd's of relaxation stuff at places like Hastings and Brace books. I like "peaceful ocean surf", it has birds, boats, ships, foghorns, etc...and I just melt away when I put it into the cd player. Another one is Pachabel's Canon over the sound of ocean waves. It just pulses at the same rate as a relaxed heart and I find myself drifting off rather quickly.

When I am trying to relax I listen to a tape that guides me through a set relaxation, starts at my feet and moves up, I am often asleep before I get to my hips. I eventually end up at relaxing my facial muscles, then I breathe deep a few times and then go up, or down, some stairs to a beautiful beach, no bugs, no sunburns, no annoying things at all, just the breeze on my face, the swaying trees, the waves lapping at the sand, the sound of the water hitting the sand, etc...then I relax more, etc...this is a typical relaxation exercise on a cd or tape. It relaxes the muscles deeply and your brain picks up on the signals and starts shutting down. Some people don't find water sounds relaxing and like the sound of a Spring rain or thunder, there are many to choose from.

I can also turn on the radio just where I can't make out what they are saying and I try to listen. I am usually asleep withing a minute or two and often don't even hear the end of the song I turned on.