Sleepless in Arkansas

Ozarkgal

Ozarkgal

Senior Member
Location
Deep in the Ozark woods
AAArrrrGGGhhh!!!..I hate sleepless nights. You can tell by the time of this post that I am wide awake trying to pass time. I seldom sleep for more than 4 hour increments, then I'm wide awake for four hours, only to fall back asleep when it's almost time to get up...frustrating to say the least. I have no problem initially falling asleep, it's just staying there.

Anyone else on here suffer from sleep disorders and what do you do for it?:sleep:
 

You are describing me to a Tee:subdued:

Part of my problem is less daylight; dark time is like anesthetic to me - lol lol lol

The other part is, after not sleeping half the night, I am generally wide awake by 4:30 AM and stay awake until around 3:00 PM when I collapse and take a nap unless I have to run errands. Then I am suckin' wind to get the horses in for the night, and Joker's legs re-wrapped as three layers are involved in this cold weather. Thankfully Mr. TWH helps me with the grunt work of pulling a bale of hay down, filling stall buckets and washing feed pans <---yeah feed pans are plastic and get washed after every feeding:abnormal:


As far as getting back to sleep, I record all my programs and will watch them in snippets in the middle of the night - lol lol lol Recording lets me fast forward thru the commercials and the segments I don't want to see. Eventually I get droopy eyed and can go back to sleep.

I never eat late at night - that's something I have never done in my life. I will go to bed hungry before I will stick food in my mouth past 6 or 7 at night. Unless it's yogurt, I will eat two small containers of yogurt and tell myself, "too bad too sad" if I'm still hungry because I am not starving, just look in the mirror:rolleyes-new:

While I think this sleep issue is more a female thing because most of us have raised children and are sort of programmed to not sleep clear thru a night, Mr. TWHRider also suffers from insomnia.

I blame his no-sleep problems on being Hypertensive Type A - he is so Hypertensive Type A that he makes others in similar vein a nervous wreck - lol lol He is not capable of shutting his brain down to sleep and if he does, he will wake up just about every hour on the hour. We decided a few years ago, it was in both our best interests to have separate bedrooms because we were waking each other up and getting even less rest than we do now:playful:

Short of taking sleeping pills, which I refuse to do, I don't know what the solution to a good night's sleep is. I didn't sleep a whole night when I worked and I didn't have problems doing my job; now that I'm retired, I'll just nap in the afternoon if I have to - lol lol lol
 
I'm a bedtime reader. I have a stack of really boring books so if I can't get to sleep, I'll read one of those until I nod off. Very seldom do I sleep right through though. There is usually a cat or dog making some noise that manages to wake me up. Usually I'll be able to go back to sleep though. Afternoon nap? I wish I could but have never been able to manage that.
 

We take Melatonin on many nights, as we lose it in our bodies as we age, and it helps naturally with sleep. My husband just takes a fraction of a small 1mg. sublingual pill from Source Naturals, and that helps him just fine. I have a Shiff 3mg blend with Theanine, which I cut in half, so I take 1 1/2 mg. on some nights. There was a herbal sleep blend from Solaray that I used to take almost every night, and that also was helpful. The lights have to be out for the Melatonin to work, these things are just natural aids, definitely not knock-out pills, which are never a good idea to take.

I also take some magnesium citrate in the evenings, it's a good mucle relaxer. On some nights, I'll take 1/2 of a Unisom tablet (or cheaper version of the brand), which is an antihistamine, and that makes you drowsy. If I take a whole one, I'm hung over in the morning, so I just do half. Not eating too late, and shutting down the computer early also helps. Here's some natural methods for sleep...http://www.natmedtalk.com/wiki/Insomnia
 
I take a couple of Aleve (actually Walmart's Equate) when I feel sore at bedtime. It helps a lot. As an old male, I get up often to trot to the john, but I always fall back to sleep easily. I get seven hours every night. Sometimes eight.

A great sleep aid is Ibuprofen PM (one PM and one regular Ibuproen - again, both Equate from Walmart). I have taken that on occasion when I haven't been sleeping well, and... wow! It works great.
 
I have had real problems sleeping lately but it was from having a head cold and a cough. I have a "spot" where my throat meets my nasal passage that was damaged a long time ago and if I have a cold or flu especially that "spot" cannot take dry air so I cough.

I'm getting over the cold but even today at work when the A/C came on the change in humidity caused me to cough immediately. As far as sleeping it gets very frustrating. I even go so far as to put a damp washcloth over my face!
 
I bought a cheap small room air humidifier from Walgreens for $10, a couple of years age. It works using a store bought bottle of water, which I refill from my PUR filtered tap. Good for those dry nights sleeping, and more comfy than a washcloth. :p
 
:playful:SeaBreeze...Thanks for the tips. I tried melatonin several years ago...wowza, the crazy dreams it gave me! The magnesium citrate sounds interesting. I have prescription muscle relaxers. They're strong and I only take them when really necessary for back spasms. They also give me weird dreams and I feel hung over in the morning. That's the problem with most things that make me sleepy, I can't stand the hung over feeling in the morning (unless I've done something to deserve it..LOL) Thanks for the link, there were some useful ideas there as well. I already take a vit B complex, use lavendar, and I''ll talk to hubby about changing those "bedroom habits". :devilish::playful:


TWH.....Hubby and I parted bedroom company for several years until we moved here two years ago. He used to cough and I snore, so we kept each other awake off and on all night. He quit smoking several years ago and since I left a lot of stress behind, the snoring is down to a dull roar occasionally.

I got to really like having my own space at night, when I couldn't sleep I read (I never finish a book because two pages into it, I'm asleep and by the next time I pick the book up I've forgotten what I last read). I also watched TV off and on all night, another good snooze assistant. Since we moved to the cabin we have one bedroom and bath, with a big loft for a guest room and office. I don't like the idea of trekking downstairs to go to the bathroom at night, so we bunk together again. I have my little computer tablet now, instead of books, and it effectively puts me to sleep, but by the time I wake up turn it off and put it away,I'm awake again..sigh.

If I do those afternoon naps I'm down for the count and can't wake up. Then when it's time to go to bed, I'm really not sleepy. I never could take an hour nap and then wake up and function.

FishWisher...I took ibuprofen for years, but am now on a more powerful anti-inflammatory for arthritis. Neither one seems to effect my sleeping or not. I really envy your 7-8 hours a night and getting up then being able to go back to sleep!
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Being sleepless doesn't bother me - in fact, it allows me to get more writing done.

Plus, I get to rob all my neighbor's houses while THEY'RE sleeping, so it works out pretty good.
 
Melatonin gave me some intense dreams at first but now I can take three tablets and no problems. I do not use it all the time though. I get up from time to time to pee anyway.
 
R. Zimm said:
Melatonin gave me some intense dreams at first but now I can take three tablets and no problems. I do not use it all the time though. I get up from time to time to pee anyway.
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It definitely makes dreams more intense, as do some herbs. I won't take 3 tabs though, it is a natural hormone, and taking too much is really useless in the way of sleep, and can be harmful. :eek:fftobed:
 

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