Terminalcoffee discussion
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The Joys and Horrors of Insomnia
Brother, I feel your pain. I've been battling insomnia for the past 15 or so years. I fall right asleep, but always wake up at about 3 a.m. and toss and turn for anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes.
Pro: I've discovered better living through caffeine, not a bad buzz. Also, after 2 a.m., AMC screens some damn fine films about giant mutated insects, blundering mega-crabs, rudely-awakened dinosaurs, monsters from the deep, aliens – both good and bad, but mostly bad – from distant galaxies, and one seriously pissed-off 50-foot woman
Con: Crashing after the jolt wears off.
I'm considering the Ambien route. Until then, Tylenol PM or Advil PM work alright once in a while.
Pro: I've discovered better living through caffeine, not a bad buzz. Also, after 2 a.m., AMC screens some damn fine films about giant mutated insects, blundering mega-crabs, rudely-awakened dinosaurs, monsters from the deep, aliens – both good and bad, but mostly bad – from distant galaxies, and one seriously pissed-off 50-foot woman
Con: Crashing after the jolt wears off.
I'm considering the Ambien route. Until then, Tylenol PM or Advil PM work alright once in a while.
Thanks, brother Clark. Yeah, I watch whatever's on tivo or channel-surf. You don't know America until you've channel-surfed at 3AM.My wife wants me to go the Ambien route. How do I get some of those babies?
I use melatonin sometimes but I must have built up a tolerance or something.
RandomAnthony wrote: "My wife wants me to go the Ambien route. How do I get some of ..."
Simply walk into your doctor's office. When he notices your thousand-yard stare, you're in like Flint.
At least that's my plan.
As for channel surfing at that time? Between Tom Vu surrounded by bikini girls on his yacht explaining how you can get rich quick from real estate and supermodels peddling girdles that cut off your breath while compressing your back fat, it feels like you're in the middle of an opium dream anyway. And not a good one.
Simply walk into your doctor's office. When he notices your thousand-yard stare, you're in like Flint.
At least that's my plan.
As for channel surfing at that time? Between Tom Vu surrounded by bikini girls on his yacht explaining how you can get rich quick from real estate and supermodels peddling girdles that cut off your breath while compressing your back fat, it feels like you're in the middle of an opium dream anyway. And not a good one.
my wife is an avid and reg user of ambien. she not only has insomnia but also has had bad dreams her whole life. apparently sleeping with me has not helped either of those issues :)ambien def works. problem is they do not seem to work in a predictable time frame consistently. some nights she takes one and 30 min she is a zombie and has to be led to bed (imagine a 3am date with amy winehouse) and other times it will be 1.5 hours and then it is total lights out. i am talking rhino snoring-slobber spot on the pillow out. but she does get rest
The active ingredient in Tylenol PM etc. is Benadryl (diphenhydramine), FYI, so you could just take that by itself if you don't need the pain killer. When I really need to sleep I take my special combo of 1 benadryl cap and 1 Unisom tablet (active ingredient doxycycline). It knocks me out! I only take it occassionally so I haven't become habituated. The only drawback is a little grogginess when I first get up which is easily alleviated by strong coffee.Ambien is the sleeping pill of choice at my hospital but I have to say I've seen very mixed results. If I were to need a precription sleeper I would want some good old-fashioned Dalmane or Restoril. Or maybe a nice soothing Xanax to calm those racing thoughts I get when I'm experiencing insomnia.
Do you have anxiety about anything RA? Ambien will probably work, but if there is some underlying reason it may be best to find and confront this.
Clark wrote: "Until then, Tylenol PM or Advil PM work alright once in a while."Tylenol PM and Advil PM are just tylenol with benadryl... or advil with benadryl. I cut out the middle man when I can't sleep and take benadryl. I keep it in my nightstand.
Jim wrote: "Do you have anxiety about anything RA? Ambien will probably work, but if there is some underlying reason it may be best to find and confront this."
I prefer drugs.
:)
RA, have you tried chamomile tea? For the record, I had to take prescription meds to help me sleep for YEARS... and I tried everything - prescription meds, sleepytime tea, valerian root, melatonin, ambien, tylenol pm. My grandmother loved to remind me that I was going to become a junkie because the prescription drugs were addictive... like she was calling me a junkie. When I would try to sleep on my own, I'd end up awake at 3 in the morning and I'd read until I was sleepy again... and would go through books SOOO fast! And then I'd sleep through my alarm because I'd just be getting back into REM sleep as the alarm was going off and I'd sleep through it because when I do sleep, I'm a VERY heavy sleeper.
What finally appeased me was writing and it was an accidental discovery - when I started writing and getting the thoughts swirling around in my head onto paper, that REALLY helped. So when I read Harry Potter, specifically the parts around the pensive, I was like, "YES!!!" because it was like THAT. All of a sudden, for the first time in YEARS, I was able to sleep a whole night without meds. It was several months before I got to that realization, but when I noticed it, I was so excited because that was a HUGE thing for me.
Now I'm able to get by with just a benadryl if I have trouble sleeping. And NO internet before bedtime - it stimulates the mind when really it needs to be slowing down...
RandomAnthony wrote: "Jim wrote: "Do you have anxiety about anything RA? Ambien will probably work, but if there is some underlying reason it may be best to find and confront this.
"
I prefer drugs.
:)"
Understood
"
I prefer drugs.
:)"
Understood
My trouble is not sleeping, it's getting myself to go to bed in the first place. Maybe I should try writing as a bed time ritual.
Is it just me, or isn't it a bit early to go to bed at 9?
I wake up around 3 with anxiety attacks and audio-visual loops running in my head. I've have insomnia since I was about 12.
Jackie "the Librarian" wrote: "My trouble is not sleeping, it's getting myself to go to bed in the first place."me either, I do reading, something like.. "understanding stocks" for most of the times, it helps.
Her wrote: "Is it just me, or isn't it a bit early to go to bed at 9? "I'd think it would depend on your timezone... and/or when you have to be at work. I have to be at work before 7am, therefore 9 is a reasonable and smart bedtime for me (and I typically miss it)
Jackie "the Librarian" wrote: "My trouble is not sleeping, it's getting myself to go to bed in the first place. Maybe I should try writing as a bed time ritual."I typically did most of my writing around 5-7pmish, Jackie and then I'd print it out so I could have a hardcopy to read/proof if I started to obsess about my writing...
Also back then, I still watched television and I'd watch QVC if I was still feeling wired - it always relaxed me... esp. if they were doing makeover demonstrations.
ADDENDUM: I feel like I should also add that I tend to talk in my sleep, full conversations with people, when I'm really anxious/heavy on the insomnia.
Mod
But lately I'm not sleeping deeply at all, and when I do doze off I talk in my sleep, a LOT. And I hallucinate. I see a lot of spiders, glowing orange spiders.
Glowing orange spiders live on the Big Dam Bridge (a local pedestrian bridge that spans across the Arkansas River, it was built over a dam). They look really cool at night when I do a late walk on the bridge with Robby. And the wind off the river make the webs blow alot, so they zigzag in their spots and it creates a really cool optical illusion effect of sorts. I just have to be careful to not touch the railing because I spaz out pretty ridiculously when I realize my hand went anywhere near one.
Sally it's just in preparation for what is to come.
I was going to add more to this about my kids sleeping habbits when they were babies, but I didn't want to scare you.
I was going to add more to this about my kids sleeping habbits when they were babies, but I didn't want to scare you.
Mod
Misha, if it makes you feel any better, I've NEVER seen spiders like these anywhere else but on that bridge. As freaked out as I get when I see one, muchless lots, I can in all honesty say that they're fascinating to watch - just gorgeous (this is coming from a very slowly recovering arachnophobe).
Jesus hell. There are gonna be at least a couple tired people this morning. I hope you're not teaching, Sally, and you're not busy, Heidi.I Od'd on melatonin, so I slept well, but now I'm not ready to get up.
Mod
I have a week and and half till I take a spring break, and I have a feeling it will be a long week and a half.
I will be in Tucson and El Paso all next week. That's about as close as I'll get to a spring break, I'm afraid.
Sometimes we have to take what we can get I guess. The good news is at least you are where it should be warmer.
I was just talking with a guy in Alamagorda, NM. They're having a freak snowstorm there right now. Go figure.
That figures. Not sure when I'll get back there. Probably this summer some time, actually.
I don't start spring break until Good Friday. Stupid Catholic lunar calendar.
RandomAnthony wrote: "Jesus hell. There are gonna be at least a couple tired people this morning. I hope you're not teaching, Sally, and you're not busy, Heidi.I Od'd on melatonin, so I slept well, but now I'm not re..."
I am not on spring break. I was draggin' ass all day today. Bleh. I plan to sleep tonight, though. WOO!!!
No sense of superiority here... I'm pleased as punch when I get to bed before 9pm, and I'm not too proud to admit it. Then again, I'm probably not an insomniac. :)
Yeah well I wouldn't lose any sleep over it, Heidi.
Ok, I fucked up.A psychiatrist gave me lunestra (I keep calling the drug "lunestra", but today she said "lunesta", so I may have adding an r, not sure why) to help me sleep. Well, today I had to check in with her, and she asked how many I had left. I said 29 and that I only take them about once a week. She said, "oh, great, that supply will last you a long time."
FUCK. She would have given me a prescription for more sleeping pills!
Fuck. Now I have to be careful with my supply.
Maybe I'll say I can't sleep anymore and she'll give me more.
Yeah she's probably dumb like that. I'm sure nobody ever tries that.
Also, the woman in the pilates video I did today is a sadist.
Heh. I did the pilates displayed in the video. You bastards.laughs
I can't believe I walked into that one.
RA your are coming across far more perky this morning. I'm putting that down to the return of Sally. Yippee (for both).
i would give you some of my sleep, but i don't think that's possible.
Heidi, the writing thing worked well for me for years, ever since I was a kid. I work on my latest novel in my head while I'm falling asleep and it keeps my mind undistracted enough to fall asleep. I know when I'm close to falling asleep when I'm having trouble remembering what I'm "writing." Or maybe my writing is just boring. :) My sister has had full conversations with me in her sleep that got me in trouble with my mom. My daughter also does it.Sally, you hallucinate when you're asleep? That's called a dream. ;)
Misha, why can't you use drugs with a biPAP? I use a CPAP and take trazadone. My doctors are aware of this.
My sleep problems are so severe they are part of the reason I can't work a regular job (I'm self-employed). I am always exhausted. I can stay away 36 hours sometimes and other times I can't stay up more than 6. Recently one of my dogs ate my CPAP mask so I couldn't sleep at all (I stop breathing and wake up a little and my snoring wakes me up all the way). I ended up staying away for 4 days because it was a long weekend and that was the soonest I could replace the mask. I was hallucinating at the end, too, like Sally. No interesting spiders, though. I just kept seeing mice running at the corners of my vision.
Anyway, no matter what time I get up, I cannot fall asleep between the hours of 6 PM and 4 or 5 AM, sometimes later. So if I try to get on schedule and get up at 8, I will be up at least 23 hours. My mom thinks I'm a vampire. BUT NOT THE SPARKLY KIND!
RandomAnthony wrote: "Can't. Fucking. Sleep."
I read that as Can't Fucking Sheep. I thought I may have to run over to your house with an ice cold bucket of water to throw on you.
I read that as Can't Fucking Sheep. I thought I may have to run over to your house with an ice cold bucket of water to throw on you.
Mod
No way man, it is so much more intense than a piddly old dream.
I dream a lot, always have. This is like sleepwalking, but angry scary sleepwalking because there is a person in my house, spying on me, peeking on me from around the doorframe and I'm effing pissed. So I get up and march across the room, shouting "OHNOYOU DON'T" and only then wake myself up.
Terminalcoffee
Books mentioned in this topic
Anne of Green Gables (other topics)Whole Way To Allergy Relief & Prevention (other topics)
Teeth: Vampire Tales (other topics)
Pros: I get a lot done in the middle of the night.
Cons: I'm a fucking wreck the rest of the day.
Suggestions? Comments? Anyone else?