Insomnia - Aliso Viejo,CA

M., you didn't mention how old you are. Most people I know in their '40s start having some sleep issues. It's not uncommon. However, I'm guessing you're younger than that. If noise is the trigger, block out the noise. I'm a very light sleeper and anything will wake me up. I've used fans for many years to block out the noise and now use the same white noise machine my kids use. White noise is very helpful to me.

Hi M.-Since it seems to be sounds that are waking you up, i suggest earplugs. I had exactly the same problem as you, in addition to my husband being a jackhammer-level snorer. So I tried earplugs: the soft kind you can get at any drugstore: my favorites are the "hearoes" at Rite-Aide, which have the most intense coverage: they cost less than $5 for 7 pairs, and the 7 pairs last about 3 months.My husband no longer snores, but I live on a very busy street with neighbors who stay up late and whose driveway is right outside my bedroom window. IT REALLY WORKS-I've been using them for about 15 years! Good luck! K.

I jokingly call this "Mommy Brain Syndrome". You will never sleep like you did before you had kids.

I have a 4.5 year old and 2.5 year old. Both have been excellent sleepers from the get go. But my Mommy Brain has a hard time shutting off at night and remaining off during the night. I did all the medical tests and all came back in the "normal medical" range.

But my crazy symptoms still persisted. Lack of sleep, moodiness, dizziness, nausea....even to the point of extreme paranoia about being outside with my kids and having something terrible happen. One doc told me I was just plain crazy and needed to see a psychiatrist. But I knew there was just something chemically "off" in body and it needed to get balanced out.

I eventually found a good Naturopath who looked at my previous test results and immediately saw that I had low thyroid and adrenal issues. Even though I was in the "medical normal" range, it wasn't normal for my body. It took a few months of herbs and supplements, plus a radical change in diet and I felt healthier than ever.

It's been almost 6 years of dealing with my thyroid, adrenal and pituitary issues (all 3 work together in the body, so if one is off, the other two will also be off). When things are working properly I sleep great and feel great. When things are off, they are way off and I can tell immediately. I am usually pretty good with my diet, but things like vacation, illness, schedule changes, and other lifestyle stressors can have a pretty dramatic effect on me.

After more testing and tracking my symptoms for the past 6 years, turns out I have Fibromyalgia. Thankfully I have found an excellent Integrative Health Specialist, Dr. Roya Kohani in La Jolla. She is quite knowlegdeable in this area. She is a trained and certified MD, who is also certified and trained in holistic medicine by Dr. Weil.

I have been working with her for the last 3 months or so. I have noticed my pain getting slowly but surely better and less intense and occuring less often. And I generally feel better more days out of the month than before, even when my Thyroid and Adrenal glands were being treated before.

Right now I am taking the following supplements:

high dosage of Omega 3's - 500 mg of each (by Metagenics)
Probiotics for my digestive system
Kpax vitamins and nutrients
Bio Thyroid
Bio Inflammatory for my pain/inflammation
Pregnenolone for my adrenal glands
Juvenon for my metabolism
and also doing a 25 day liver cleanse.

Next week I will also add in another supplement to further help with my pain and another to help with fatigue.

You can check her out at www.revivamed.com. She was highly recommended to me by my chiropractor (who I have been seeing for over 3 years now, starting when I was preggo with my youngest). She has about 10 other clients who also see Dr. Kohani for various reasons, but mostly because of hormone or thyroid imbalances. In fact, my chiro also sees Dr. Kohani.

If you have PPO insurance, she is covered. I have HMO, so I have to pay out of pocket for her services, but like you, I would rather go the natural way to heal my body than taking medications, so I feel it's worth it.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Hi M.,

Yes. I had insomnia after my 2nd son was born. I had two nursing children, we had just made a cross-country move and I was in charge of the bulk of the self-employed work at home. You can imagine how upside-down I was by being up for hours a night, for months on end.

The biggest gift I can offer you is perspective because that's what helped me get through until my body 'righted' itself.

I eventually took on this mindset, "If this is the amount of rest that I need in order to make it through the day, then, I accept that."

Accepting the situation I was in was helpful. Also, I chose to lie there and focus on 'rest' rather than sleep. Sometimes, I would go into a deep rest that left me refreshed even though I hadn't slept.

I am a person on a spiritual quest so, I used that time to just 'be' with my Creator. Not pleading, crying or praying -- but simply learning to 'be'.

There are practical tips of: 1. Give yourself a wind-down routine each night. A bath and some meditation or something. 2. Don't be watching t.v. or working on the computer right up until you go to sleep. 3. If you do wake up in the middle of the night, just keep things dark and quiet.

But the biggest advice I could offer is to just let it be what it is. Resistance and frustration only makes it worse.

Hope that helps,
S.

I've had this too. Another possibility is hormone imbalance. I know you're doctor did blood tests but for hormones, saliva testing is the most accurate (according to World Health Organization). Also, the "normal" range for women in US is just an average, doesn't mean that you are normal. 50% of women over 35 have too much estrogen, not enough progesterone - which is very important in conceiving & carrying a pregnancy, too!

Check out www.drjohnlee.com for more info. There's a quiz on there that can give you an idea if you might have an imbalance:
http://www.drjohnlee.com/store/resource_hormonetest.html
If you suspect you have an imbalance, Dr. Lee's book is great, too - What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Pre-Menopause.

I had to be assertive with my doctors but finally did find that I was low on progesterone. Bio-identical progesterone cream helped me with the insomnia & several other symptoms. I didn't use the cream they advertise on the website because it doesn't come in a pump, messy & hard to measure the correct amt. I used one from Arbonne that dispenses only the exact dose.

Try:
Natural Calm Plus Calcium

You can find it at www.amazon.com and read the reviews there.
This is the best brand.
Its a magnesium, calcium combination.
I use it for PMS... and it really helps me.
If you research magnesium online... ie: "benefits of magnesium", you will find a lot of info. on it.
And the combo with Calcium, is said to 'relax' and help people de-stress and sleep better.
The owner at the Natural food store I go to, uses it himself too, and he recommended it to me.

Or if you drink coffee... it may just be tweaking you... or don't drink any after a certain time. For me, if I drink a cup anytime after noon, I can't sleep.

Or there is "valerian" pills that helps some people. But I don't know much about that myself.

Or maybe go to your local Whole Foods, and ask them for any suggestions.

All the best,
Susan

Hi M.,
Just wanted to empathise and tell you I too have the same problem - even now and my little one is four and a half!
I used to be the heaviest sleeper, slept right through the big earthquake and always got my eight hours. Now the slightest movement, noise, wakes me and then I'm up for two or three hours.
I think mine now is possibly stress related (my father died recently and I've had other family issues to deal with) because once I'm awake I fixate on something in my head, my mind goes into overdrive and it won't relax back down.
Here are some things I've found helpful,- I don't do prescription medication:
Yoga and proper breathing.
Herbal remedies/teas (not used together) - Valerian (smells awful) , Kava-kava,
Bach flower remedies: rescue remedy and the one for sleeplessness.
There are various homeopathic remedies for insomnia you can find them at wholefoods.
I hope this helps somewhat, if only to learn you are not alone.
Good luck!
O.

Waking up in the middle of the night is double trouble. First worrisome thoughts wake you up and then there's the added stress of knowing how lack of sleep will negatively effect you the next day. A tiered approach can often get us back to sleep.
Tier 1: Upon awaking in the middle of the night, try to calm yourself to sleep by keeping the light off and staying in bed. Watch your breath and take long, deep breaths. Fall asleep or move onto Tier 2.
Tier 2: Listening to relaxing music or a hypnosis CD often calms the mind back to sleep. Once you find a CD you like you and get used to it, you may grow accustomed to falling asleep in just a few short minutes. Fall asleep or move to the next tier.
Tier 3: Staying in bed, read a book that typically would put you to sleep or engage your mind so that it does not get stuck in worrisome thoughts. Bedside Sudoku or Scrabble for the iPhone is a great way to engage your mind in an activity that requires all of your effort and does not allow you to think about anything else. When your mind is tired it will also fall asleep.

M., you are right to want to nip this in the bud. I didn't and waited way too long to figure things out and had doctors who only wanted to medicate instead of investigate.

These are things that I have done: neurotransmitters testing (saliva), hormone testing (blood and urine along with the saliva - checking for free or unbound hormones and that it shows all of them (three estrogens, testosterone, progesterone). Once the tests showed what they showed we added bioidentical hormones for testosterone and progesterone, amino acids (5-HTP, taurine, and a 3rd one I can't remember right now), Vitamin B6, Magnesium and Melatonin, liver support, and ear plugs.

Now I take a slow release Melatonin 2.5 mg, 3 5-HTPs, and liver support pill if I wake up. This took way too many years to get under control so it is important to do the above tests to see what is going on. Thyroid is only 1 part out of 3 that are regulating your body.

Hello M. B.,

Wish I had some great advice for you. After my second child I had trouble falling asleep. I didn't have trouble waking up so it was a little different. I couldn't fall asleep till some time between 2 am and 4 am. (Yes 4 am was more the norm.) Waking up at 7 or 7:30 was no fun. I never found a solution. But when my littlest turned 2 I was able to fall asleep between 12 and 2 am. (Better but still not enough.)

My body is finally starting to normalize. Time has been my solution. I do reccomend the normal advice. It may not be a solution but it is healthy. Excercize, eat healthy meals, drink enough water, eliminate caffeine, create a claming bed time routine, eliminate distractions in the bedroom, make your bed comfortable all these things should set you up for the best possible results. I don't know how anyone can do all that when they are sleep deprived and caring for children but you never know what will work (or help at least.)

Good luck. Hang in there.

Hi M.,

I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone! My daughter is 25 months old, and just in the last 2 weeks, I've been experiencing the same thing. Up at 2 or 3am and usually until 5am, whether I take something or not. The sleep deprivation is definitely wearing on me, especially as a working mom. I can't wait to read some of the advice that you get on here because I am in the same boat. The other day, I thought to myself, maybe my body is just preparing me for the sleep deprivation that comes with a second baby... but I'm not even pregnant yet! :)

Same thing happens to me except mine stems from anxiety. I worry that if I sleep too hard I will not hear if something happens. Maybe yours is from anxiety.

i go through phases like that..b/c i'm a single mom and if i hear anything i'm up..i think nature made us that way ...do u have a sound machine? i use 2..i bought them at Bed Bath and Beyond..i also have blackout curtains...my room is like a vortex..i read its good to eat jasmine rice for dinner its calming..read this in this months Fitness Mag..i also have Xanex on hand...u take 1/2 of one of those and you'll be out..or try a glass of wine at night..don't think too much ..find a cozy place in your mind that u picture yourself at...mine is a cabin in the woods..its freezing cold...raining out and i have a fire burning and am warm inside....helps me relax and doze off..also if u can't sleep try changing positions..lay with your head at the foot of the bed and feet at the head of the bed..changing up helps me every time.

good luck

D.

I suffer from chronic insomnia and have for several years, even before the birth of my son. The one sleep aid that I use consistently is benadryl. Some nights I'll take up to two tablets, and sometimes in combination with either melatonin and/or valerian.

Is your afternoon tea decaf? If not, I'd switch to that just to rule it out. I also second the suggestion of earplugs.

Otherwise, the one thing that I find helps me most is to stay up until I'm absolutely exhausted. There are times when I do feel that I have to go to bed early, but those are the nights that I'm inevitably up between 1 and 4. If I can stay up to after 11 or so, I can usually sleep a good five or six hours straight. And I keep a book on my bedside table, so at least I'm not just lying there fretting if I do wake up.

Good luck. I feel your pain.

I had the same problem. My Chiropractor told me about a study he had read that talked about this.
The best solution they found was not drugs or anything medical but sunshine and exercize.

When we don't get enough daylight our brain doesn't fully wake up and if we're not fully awake we don't get fully to sleep. Every person needs at least 1/2 of direct sunlight each day-more in the winter.

Our bodies don't get fully tired if we aren't getting enough exercize. At the end of the day you may feel like hibernating, but most of that is mental tired not physical tired. Getting a good work out pushes the body and gives it a need to sleep. Try taking your boy out for a walk/ run that would get sun and work out all in one.

Stress is the other one. If we are worried about the security of our family we are going to sleep lightly to make sure we wake up if there is a problem. Turning off the monitor may actually have the opposite effect emotionally. If you know that you and your family are safe and you can hear what's going on then your stress may be less.

Just a few ideas.
Good Luck

I have the same probelm now and then. And my kids are 6 and 8. I have tried using a product called Restez and it has done wonders. It is all natural so no worries with trying to get pregnant. And the nice thing is I am not feeling sleepy in the morning after I take it. My mother in law has always had insomnia ( I guess after 6 kids it was her only time to herself). She started taking the Restez and it has helped her sleep. She says even if she wakes she can just roll over and fall back to sleep. I get it from an online company. I can show you how if you are interested.

Yes! Your body takes a long time to re-regulate and it will, but you MAY always be a light sleeper. If you want to get serious about this get into a night routine (same routine) each and every night. When you wake in the middle of the night don't stew. Read something boring (I had two books on my nightstand for a while: one I wanted to read, one boring) and don't be h*** o* yourself or get frustrated. This is natural. Are you exercising? Its a must! No alcohol, no coffee, tea, etc after noon. I know it seems ridiculous that now that he's sleeping you're not, but are you getting enough time for your self? Time to sit and process the day's events? If not, you'll do it at night. My heart so goes out to you. I think it took until my dtr was two years old, and even then when I became stressed, insomnia hit.

Take your health as seriously as you do your role as mama: )

Jen

Hey M.,
I have been having the same issue even though our little guy is not even here yet. I think it's just "mommy mode". We can't shut off that part of ourselves that watches and listens carefully. However, I have found that ear plugs work wonderfully. My favorite brand is Leights which can be purchased at Rite Aid. It doesn't completely eradicate all noise, but softens it to a point where it won't wake you.

As an infant, my daughter was colicky, which led to some depression on my part. I began to be hypersensitive to her cries. Everything woke me up. I finally started wearing earplugs to bed so I could retrain myself to sleep normally. It took about three weeks, but my sleep habits returned to normal. I don't use earplugs any more (unless my husband is snoring!). Hang in there!