I have always had trouble sleeping When I was younger I could not fall asleep and now I can fall asleep pretty easily but cannot stay asleep. For the last 2 weeks I have waking between 2 and 4 after falling asleep about 11 I have to get up at 6:30 and have trouble getting back to sleep, I am continually tired during the day and its affecting me mentally. I have been using pm pain relievers of and on forever and they don't seem to work and have used prescription ambien but I still wake up too early. I have the time release Ambien I think but I need something else these bought of Insomnia can last for months what can I do? Maybe I should try St Johns Wort again?
I use ambien occasionally. But nothin beats weed imo. Actually just picked up some some new edibles at the store with melatonin added. Works pretty good. Lots of brands are catered specifically to sleeping needs
As someone who has basically zero clinical knowledge... How about waking up super early (whatever that would be by your standards) and immediately doing a good workout. Then try to have an active day and eat healthy foods. Drink water. Avoid uppers or downers of any kind. You will probably still struggle to stay asleep for the first few nights, but eventually your body will be so worn out that it will need the sleep badly enough to make you sleep through the night. This recommendation is based on a story I heard from a guy who had a very similar-sounding issue. It worked for him after a lifetime of sleep issues. Again, however, I want to state that I am not a clinical person and I don't know about any other health issues you have that might complicate the situation. You might want to contact a hospital with a sleep lab. If you're in the Houston area, Memorial Hermann has a sleep lab. Might help to talk to professionals about this.
My mom was an insomniac when I was a kid. she would take sleeping pills and drink and kept losing jobs because of it. Then she started smoking pot to go to sleep and that did the trick for her. She eventually gave up the booze and pills... then years later gave up the pot.
jiggy, I think you're a teacher, right? This kind of 2-4 a.m. waking happens to me a lot in the first couple of months of a school year. More non-clinical advice: * some kind of before bed routine. Stretching, deep breathing maybe. (Or, uh, Buck's suggestion.) * when I'm having the waking, monkey-mind thing, I make sure I sit and write a lot about what's on my mind before I try to go to sleep. I swear it tricks my subconscious into thinking I have a handle on everything. I think our brains wake us up after a minimal amount of sleep b/c they're all like "hey, you still have a lot of **** to figure out." But you can show your brain, "I know you're worried about this. I'm acknowledging it." * definitely get up and eat something or get a glass of milk or pull a Buck when you're awake for 10 minutes or so. Once you start worrying about not sleeping, I'm convinced it makes it worse. I'm amazed but even reading a few pages of a book or something can help.
This is what I was going to say but you already said it better than I could. Get some exercise early in the day though. If you continue to do it and work out harder as you continue you will be able to sleep.
This makes sense and it did start once school started up and I am all ready behind with some stuff. Will try this, monkey-mind is a good description it used to stop me from going to sleep but it changed. I have been thinking of doing something like this and going to gym before work but I think i would be exhuasted at work before my sleep patterns changed.
Heroin works like a charm. Honestly, if you are waking up in the middle of the night, most of these pharmaceutical ideas won't do anything for you. The best would be the extended release Ambien you already have, which will keep you knocked out, but you won't get REM sleep so even though you don't wake up, you'll probably still be sleepy. If I take something chemical to sleep, I often wake in about 3 or 4 hours - right when the drugs have been cleared from my system. Are you waking in the middle of the night after taking drugs? Is your schedule regular? Rotating day night schedules can have this effect. Melatonin works great for this. Do you wake up worrying? If you go to sleep worrying about all the stuff you have to do it can result in waking. You might need to work on letting that stuff go before you sleep. It can help to make sure your sleep spot is dark and quiet and you only go there when you are ready to sleep - don't work/watch TV/check email, facebook, and twitter in bed. Do you wake up having to pee really badly? You might have prostate issues, and need to see a urologist. Don't drink caffeine or alcohol or really take any other drugs anywhere near to bedtime. Set a cut off time (6 or 7pm) and nothing after that at all, ever. Blah, blah, blah. There is all kinds of behavioral advice you can find on a million websites and it sucks because it requires actual effort on your part to change behavior. But that's where you are. Also, from like the age of 20 onward, people's need for sleep shrinks. People in their 60's and 70's require significantly less sleep than a 20 year old.
my internet opinion is it seems like thc gummys is more 'healthy' than ambien. you hear ambien listed in toxicology death reports enough that is scares me past limited. also if you drink at all the 2 are not a good mix. are you in houston area
You've gotten some pretty good non-medical advice so far. My battle with insomnia has been a decade + in the making, and no significant end in sight. I hope yours ends up getting better man.
