I have insomnia

(Denise) #1

here I am again, after getting up at 2:30 a.m. and only going to bed at 10:30pm. Now I just get up because I’ve laid there a couple hours before with no help. Cannot get back to sleep.

Not sure why as my diet really has not changed. Yesterday I was up at 4 a.m. but I went back to bed at 9 a.m. I’m retired so lucky I can atleast do that, but felt crappy the rest of the day.

I already do 500mg of Mag. Citrate at night, and nothing after dinner unless it’s a couple of boiled eggs, but doesn’t matter if I eat nothing for a snack. I’m so tired now but waiting til it gets a bit lighter outside so I can take my pup out for a little walk, give her some food, then go back to bed for hopefully a couple to 3 hours more.

It’s really ruining my day though before this ridiculous “schedule” I was up 2-3 times a night but sleeping in between and had plenty of energy to do the things I need to do. Now, the extra nap isn’t helping. I’m sure I must be dying, know what I’m saying:laughing::crazy_face:

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #2

This should ameliorate over time. I have read that studies have shown two interesting things about sleep: The first is that people who think they lie awake all night are often actually sleeping much of that time, and the second is that people who believe they sleep soundly all night are actually often awake more than they realise. So I stopped worrying about it and just try to enjoy my time in bed.

Also, a cup of warm milk often puts me out like a light. It appears to be something in the milk solids; I know that cream doesn’t have the same effect. Whole milk works just fine, two-percent is okay, but I’ve never tried it with one-percent or skim. (Never could abide the taste, so I won’t keep it in the house.)

(Denise) #3

Interesting info Paul. I’m pretty sure I am fully conscious because of the way I feel, tired and lethargic. Maybe it is a temporary thing though and I do hope so. I wouldn’t probably try milk/dairy at this point as I have stopped as much dairy as possible to help with sinus/allergy issue but I won’t rule it out :wink:

Sometimes I do just relax and just kick back, sort of give up any big ideas about going to the gym, or grocery store, whatever. Even when I sit around too much, then go to bed after my fave Britbox show, I fall asleep just fine. But waking up for no apparent reason is getting frustrating. Even the tylenol pm didn’t help me night before last so last night I skipped it altogether.

(Marianne) #4

It’s funny you posted this because I was just going to do the same this morning.

I have been suffering with pretty severe insomnia for a couple of months now. I typically go to bed around 10:30 as well and just lay there, seems like all night. I must be dozing off somewhat, but it sure doesn’t seem like it. Last night I laid awake until after 3AM without any appreciable sleep. After that wasn’t much better either, but I think I at least strung together an hour or so. I get up around 7AM. Since the day I started keto, (Feb. 2019), I haven’t been able to take a nap whatsoever. And I am someone who used to “nap” three hours at a time and more on the weekends (when I was working). I think it was my way of “checking out.”

Anyway, I attribute my periodic insomnia to my biorhythms being off because it comes and goes after an extended period. It is such a bummer and very concerning. I hope this doesn’t become my new normal.

Best to you!

(Robin) #5

@Goldengirl52 Denise, as you know, we are in the same camp with sleep problems.
About 2 hours before bedtime, I take a concoction of 2 Advil or similar PM pills, my Zyrtec allergy pill (can me sleepy) some magnesium and my beloved Clonazepam. I drink some hot Sleepy Time tea with Valerian.
I still don’t feel sleepy for a couple hours. But then I take 10g of Melatonin and within 10 minutes, I can often fall sleep.

When I have the luxury of sleeping alone, I turn on the movie You’ve Got Mail very quietly. My brain has memorized every word so I can just roll over and drift away…. Listening but not really paying attention. That works 9 times out of 10.

For me, it’s all about not being able to turn off the brain. I am not “anxious” or worried. My brain simply will not shut down. Clonazepam used to totally take care of the issue. Now, After many years I think I’ve built up an immunity. I’m also unable to nap. My brain races. So I intend to talk to my doc at my next check up.

I only tried Ambien once but made the mistake of not going straight to bed. So I stayed up and did some crazy stuff that I couldn’t remember in the morning. I’m tempted to ask for just 3 pills of ambien to try again and take it when I’m IN BED. My best friend has taken it for years with no issues.

Also… sometimes I will lie awake for an hour or 2 and finally get up then go downstairs and just lie on the couch and will fall sleep. A change of location can

I think this is not uncommon among people our age. But sleep is so dang important.
I’m rooting for both of us!

(Robin) #6

Ugh. I’m in the same boat.

#7

Hi, I’m in the same boat too. It’s really frustrating. I am in bed by 9pm and unless I take some form of ‘helper’ I’m awake all night. Strangely I don’t ever feel tired, quite the opposite.
The night’s are drawing in here and it’s getting colder, I’m thinking about taking a uni course as I get really bored through the night.
Hope you all get sleep tonight.

(Denise) #8

I have to rush as my morning, except for the time here, was wasted away Marianne, but yeah, maybe we can get some ideas today on how to beat this stuff :face_with_raised_eyebrow: Yours is worse than mine and I’m ready to scream :wink:

#9

I was having the same issue as well. I tried over the counter meds, teas, milk, etc and nothing was working. For me, insomnia will trigger a migraine that would last multiple days sometimes weeks. And the migraines would trigger more insomnia. I was stuck in a vicious cycle. It was very frustrating that nothing seemed to work. Not even the migraine meds. I had some testing done in April and was recommended rife frequency music. I’d never heard of it before. I don’t know if it’s placebo or not, but it has helped me tremendously. I think haha. I went from 5-8 migraines a month to just a few since April. It’s habit now, my husband will turn it on most nights just in case.

Youtube has a bunch of frequency music for almost every aliment including insomnia. To me it sounds like white noise. We figured it wouldn’t hurt anything to try and now we listen to it almost every night. If I do end up with a migraine, I’ll just lay down and listen to the migraine frequency. It does shorten the duration and even the pain for me. Who knew?

(Marianne) #10

Good for you with the migraines. Has it helped with your insomnia? Sometimes after several hours when I can’t take it anymore, I’ll turn on the tv to just barely audible. I can’t really make out the words. Not sure if it helps or not, plus I don’t know if the extra light bothers me. My sister who puts more emphasis on metaphysical stuff tells me that there shouldn’t be any electronics (tv especially) in the bedroom. Forget that!

(Denise) #11

I started out ok with waking up a lot to go to the bathroom, but I still got back to sleep. Then feel ready to go and mornings were my best times for energy then about 3 I would nap in my chair with some ambient sounds on my RokuTV :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: But now, well, I hope it passes soon for us all, you , @robintemplin and anyone else with insomnia :wink:

(Denise) #12

Thank goodness you found help for the migraines @Blue1 I’ve had them since childhood, maybe 3 days in a row. My younger brother turned me onto a script he got from his doc so I asked for it to and it nips a migraine in the bud for me, after all those years of missing work, missing school when I was a kid they finally have something that worked for me. I use the immitrex at the first sign of a headache, but it works if I get no warning signs as well. I stopped a bad one right at it’s worst with an immitrex. I know all things don’t work for everyone so I’m glad you found something. Yours were way worst than mine for length, and sleepless nights.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #13

Since going keto, the only time I get migraines is when I forget to eat enough salt. And for the two or three weeks after COVID, as well. Those migraines were definitely not caused by low salt, oy!

#14

Yes, it does help with insomnia. For us anyway. We turn it on, our minds go blank and we wake up refreshed. LOL it sounds crazy. My husband would sometimes be really restless when trying to fall asleep after working very long hours. This has helped him as well. We don’t remember falling asleep. We don’t even remember dreams most of the time.

Some videos do offer a black screen which is nice. We did have to find the “right” videos for us. Some were kind of jarring, or maybe made us unsettled? It’s hard to describe. But when you find the right sound, it’s very comforting and relaxing. I’d recommend a longer video 9+ hours so that it doesn’t switch to a random video next up on youtube.

I feel lucky that it was such an easy fix for me. After spending a few years and thousands of dollars with my neurologist, getting every blood test under the sun, medications and MRI’s etc something like a youtube video helped when nothing else did. I wish I found it sooner! I hope you guys can get some relief soon too! Insomnia is no joke.

(Denise) #15

I’m going to check these out today Blue, as I am putting my RokuTV in my bedroom for that purpose. I have the ambient stuff like the one I’ll attach, really comforting to me, but I want to see what yours are like as well! Thanks much for telling about them :wink: Whoops for got the video, I don’t know what it is about rain falling but ever since I was little it was so comforting, even a storm, just not too loud :wink:

https://youtu.be/07AxmDqHaTM

(Marianne) #16

What do you play it on? I’m not tech saavy at all - proud that I can use my phone to text and take pics, but that’s about it. I don’t know how to do music on it, and earbuds? I have no idea how/what you stream sound to them on.

#17

YUP! As somebody with 2 sleep trackers watching them, one on my wrist, and my bed itself, I can confirm the thinking your up when you’re not. I’ve thought I’ve done that a ton of times, and I was out cold.

(Denise) #18

I use my Roku TV (smarttv, or my desktop PC). I’ll show you a pic of mine Marianne with my fave video on it. Are you just using cable for Television? And if you have your phone, and the sound is good enough you could use that. I use my phone for white noise because I have another (yet another, lol) ailment called Tinnitus where my ears ring. Sometimes at night it’s so bad I can’t sleep w/o white noise of some sort so I just use my little app on my phone :wink: I’m uploading a video to my youtube and I’ll show just what we are talking about.

Also, on your phone you can find all sorts of free video “how to’s” if you want to learn more tekkies stuff. It’s fun and I started doing it in about 93, but I am all self-taught from videos for more tek things, and I did have to use computers on my jobs over the years. But I don’t believe it’s ever too late to learn new things, I love learning, but sometimes I have to go through it a few times before it really sinks in :wink:

Here’s the video I just made, silly, short thing but this is how I view things like ambience, and TV shows instead of cable. https://youtu.be/BJSvBHIPTvA

#19

I love rain/storm sounds as well. We have an Amazon fire stick on our tv and can watch YouTube videos or listen to Spotify. We can also listen or watch these on our phone. We don’t use earbuds, just set tv or phone volume down, this way we both hear it quietly in the background.

This is my go to migraine video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jmrIggwCXc&ab_channel=SleepEasyRelax-KeithSmith

It’s kinda bright but it doesn’t bother me, even when I have a migraine. I thought it sounded like a washing machine. But then I read it’s a waterfall. I can’t unhear the washing machine lol

This is the black screen one we’ve been listening to lately:

I can’t say for sure if it’s really cleansing our auras, opening our third eyes or awakening the goddess within. lol For me, I get stuck listing all the things I need to do the next day and that will sometimes keep me up for hours. I think this background noise is a good distraction from those thoughts and somehow sends me right to sleep.

Let me know if you guys try it. I’m interested to know if it works for you to.

(Denise) #20

Well I must have misread your other post about being non-tekkie because you obviously know quite a bit about using the internet on your tv :wink: and if you’ve done well with your phone, especially if it’s an iphone, your ahead of me :slight_smile: