I hate not being able to sleep.

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Usually I don't even attempt to sleep till at least 12 am since usually that is the earliest I can get to sleep, but a lot of times even then I can't sleep till 3 to 5 in the morning then I still wake up a lot. Most of the nights I do actually get a significant amount of sleep its filled with disturbing/upsetting dreams so I wake up feeling like my brains been hit by a train or something. So then I have coffee or black tea or anything with caffeine since that seems to help a little so I am not so worn out feeling. I usually get up from 6 to 8 in the morning regardless of how little sleep I've gotten. Trying to sleep in after waking up from that crap regardless of how tired I am doesn't really work.

So yeah tonight I will try again.

sweatleaf,

sometimes i take 3mg melatonin or 1/2 tsp powdered ginger in a cup of warm milk to help me sleep. can't hurt to try.

double post.

Last edited by Sweetleaf on 07 Jan 2013, 3:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

hmm I am not sure what melatonin is, and I don't have any powdered ginger I might have some ginger tea and I have candy made mostly out of ginger which I had a piece of never heard of it being used for relaxing though but if it helps that's a good thing. I had some tea that's supposed to help as well.

Though even getting to sleep and staying asleep does not really solve the issue since then I still have the weird dreams.

I think something relaxing def is on the right track, but just have to add that melatonin isn't good for everyone; I get horrible sleep paralysis every time I take it. My partner is fine on it though, but it's more a tired feeling than calming.. Depends on what the issue is, I guess.



I get nightmares when I'm stressed about things. Maybe look if there is something like that causing it?

It's a hormone that regulates sleep.

Or more eloquently

how would one even get that? is it readily availible? It seems worth looking into at least.

Its lots of things but the main things that could be causing such dreams are not things I can do much about, aside from that I think its just general PTSD crap just dreaming about the main traumatic experiances as well as any less significant but still at least upsetting experiances or things based on how I feel. For instance I might dream that I'm trying to explain something and no one will listen or they totally misunderstand while I am getting more and more frusterated and upset feeling totally abandoned by everyone which is probably related to feeling isolated a lot and just generally disturbing and/or upsetting themes or situations.

I mean imagine dreaming that someone close to you just stops giving a crap and is in fact being downright mean, and ignoring everything you say just dismissing it as crap and then you talk to that person in the morning after waking up and can't get it out of your head how mean they were being in the dream and how hurtful it was.....and then you have to keep reminding yourself the dream likely does not reflect anything that persons thinking since it was just a dream. Then when I end up not getting enough sleep it gets more and more difficult to keep track of what experiances were dreams and which are real. Like a couple times I've woken up convinced I actually was arguing with my mom, sister or whoever and it got bad then I realize it was a dream but the feelings are still there like it really happened

You should be able to get melatonin at any drug store. It is sold over the counter.

My one caution on using melatonin is you should only take it just before (about 1/2 hour) before you NORMALLY go to sleep. I don't know if it would do this to you, but I have found if I take it late at night, for example, if I wake up in the middle of the night and takes some to get back to sleep, I will end up with really bad depression the next day.

But if taken just before normal bed time, I find it is very effective and it doesn't cause the depression.

alright well I shall look into it, I would have to estimate though since I don't have a set time I normally try and go to sleep.

That feeling is uurrgh, when feelings from dreams linger. I don't know what you can do about the PTSD stuff, and sorry you have to go through that, but there are meds for the anxiety you feel when waking? Maybe something that is both anxiety-reducing and a sleeping aid would be better for you than something that is merely sleep-regulating? Like one of the various kinds of benzodiazepines? (Not the fake-benzos like stilnoct etc, they are bad news)





It's illegal here.
Yeah and taken too close to when you want to wake up leads to feeling tired all day. I like benzos better.

Spent a week as inpatiant at mental hospital. The one thing they did for me there was help regulate my sleep. They did not force me to sleep but set up an inviroment that made me want to sleep. Oh and they regulated my meds very closly after that I no longer had issues with sleep. I would reccomend talking to a therapist about your sleep issues and get on some meds. The meds make my sleep very good with no dreams or thoughts. I just wake nice and rested. However timing is very important. If I take my meds to late I wake up SO sluggish it is awful.

When I was in the psych ward all the did was assure me no one else could get much sleep either, so I wasn't the only one. I wonder if they realize sleep deprivation can cause brain damage....so for the 5 days there I barely got any sleep at all. Also I might remain open minded to meds to help sleep.....but not entirely sure I'd want to go that route. I could talk to the therapist though because its really getting to be an issue I haven't talked to her about it yet since before it was just some nights were especially difficult not every single night.

Also, not sure if I could go to bed early enough to take sleep meds without waking up all sluggish....and some I want to stay away from since my friend took this one sleep med and ended up driving people home in his sleep and responding as if he was awake so yeah I don't want anything that has any potential side effects like that. But I'll talk to the therapist and also keep looking into herbal remedies and such.

When I tried melatonin it gave me vivid horrid nightmares.Valerian works,smells like stinky feet.You can get it ay any good drugstore.You are suppose to only take it for a few days and then stop for awhile.
I've had sleep issues my whole life,it's a bummer.

I have the opposite problem - wanting to sleep all the time.

Wow? They didn't do anything to help you with it? Like awgthtgtatas experience, often people are inpatients precisely because they want to monitor their sleep patterns and help them with it.




That's exactly why I warned about Stilnoct (just looked it up and it's called Ambien in USA! Should have said that) and that class of sleepmeds (hilariously called "Nonbenzodiazepines") - they hallucinate and sleepwalk and do all kinds of out of character things. With Benzos (Valium etc) it's only the occasional amnesia that is worrying. Also would just lead to feeling a bit groggy and relaxed if you stay awake on them anyway, as opposed to if you stay awake on Ambien...
I understand your hesitation. Pills to help you sleep could just be an occasional thing though, it's not like medications that people have to take daily.