Trouble with sleeping

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muldoon
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18 Jan 2013, 8:17 am

I get very creative at night, so I'm usually awake until 2am. Usually get up at about 11. I sometimes take melatonin if I need to be up early the next day, but my system gets used to it very quickly. Really, I'm past caring now. Some people's natural patterns are just like this.

chlov
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18 Jan 2013, 8:36 am

It happens to me all the time. I must take my med to sleep.

Unseen
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18 Jan 2013, 9:07 am

Cuddling my cat usually drives the insomnia away.

If I am expecting something importanrt on the next day, I might be unable to sleep. Sometimes it takes me a long time to fall asleep, even if the conditions seem perfect.

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seaweasel
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18 Jan 2013, 7:43 pm

maybe you should all try one of these two things =)

1. Try melatonin i have used that in the past and it worked real well however its not meant to be used as a permant solution.

2. If you want a permenant solution ask your doctor abour mirtazapine(aka remeron). it is like an SSRI and its real sedative. Its also weird the lower the dosage the more sedative it is. once again ask your doctor about it =), but i can say i have been on it for the last 18 years and i still have no tolerance to it and i have been on 15mg since day 1

blue1skies
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18 Jan 2013, 7:55 pm

Yeah, I always have trouble falling asleep... I hear every noise in the house thundering in my ears, especially my breathing. My mind is always racing. And when I do sleep, I usually wake up at least once during the night.
I usually imagine something familiar to me, like a scene from my favourite movie, or an experience I've had in life. That helps me fall asleep.
It's been proven that reading a book or watching TV if you can't sleep just makes things worse! The light disrupts your circadian rhythm.

Catharascotia
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19 Jan 2013, 1:15 am

Dreycrux wrote:

I suffer from insomnia: early morning awakenings starting at around 4 am and I wake up every hour until 8am when I finally get up.

The exact same thing happens to me! I would wake up every hour, almost exactly on the hour, sometimes the entire night, or most of the night. Either that or I simply couldn't fall asleep. First I tried melatonin, which worked at first, but then I think I became immune, though I never had side effects. Now I have a prescription for Trazodone. It was originally marketed as an antidepressant, but discontinued because it makes you so drowsy, it even comes with a warning label now. I don't know how it ever got past clinical trials--I take 100 mg, and within 10 minutes of taking it I'm so tired I can barely walk, I usually fall asleep right away. It generally helps me sleep through the night, or only wake up once or twice, though if I'm sleeping in an unfamiliar place I still have problems. It doesn't have the side effects of stronger sleeping aids.

Rascal77s
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19 Jan 2013, 2:36 am

CindySara wrote:

Rascal77s wrote:

SuSaNnA wrote:

Dear, I feel so sorry. Back then when I had my GCSE exams I didn't sleep for 5 days and thought it was awful...

I saw the doctor about it when I was 18. For some some reason he completely blew off what I was telling him. He told me to drink warm milk. When I told him I can't drink me he told me to eat turkey. When you have a serious sleep disorder that's like telling someone to take an aspirin to cure their autism. Maybe the guy thought I wanted meds to get high or something but I just never trusted doctors after that.

Anyway I've been like this so long I'm kind of used to it so no need to feel sorry.

We totally can sympathize. We're identical Aspie twins and we both have insomnia (we gave it to each other, ha, ha). Our doctors have pretty much done nothing about it, too. We also have anorexia, so the drugs they tell us to take (i.e. Seroquel) are out of the question because they cause massive weight gain. Also, we read that antidepressants don't work very well for people with autism. Not sure if this is true or not but from our experience it is

The drug that works best for us is clonopin. It's a benzodyazipin (this is probably spelled wrong) and is only suppsoed to be taken temporarily but we've been on it for alsmot a year and it still works. We take less than .5 mg with 50 mg of trazodone. We usually get 6-7 hours of sleep a night with an average of six hours and fifty minutes. The meds have not helped our circadian rhythms at all though. We have wacky schedules of 7-7:15 pm to 1:50-2:30 am waking time (usually 2:05 is most common waking time). Isn't that nuts? I agree with another person on this thread who said sleeping problems have f***ed up his/her life. It's certainly screwed up our lives. The past year has been one long nightmare because of it and even resulted in a hospitalization. It's at a dull roar now and we hope it stays that way but gosh, how nice it would be to have a normal rhythm!

I think I said it played a major role in f*****g up my life. I've just accepted feeling completely out of synch with the rest of world. I'll probably see a doctor about it again but I don't know if it's worth the effort. I'm thinking the problem with circadian rhythm is the priority but I'm sure fixing it is a major undertaking with an uncertain outcome. I don't know how old you two are but I'm glad you're getting a least some help.

corroonb
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19 Jan 2013, 9:46 am

Exercise is the best solution. Lots and lots of it until you feel like you're going to die. You won't. Probably.

I think when people are complaining that they can't sleep they are really saying that they aren't tired enough. If you get enough exercise, you won't be able to stay awake even if you have severe anxiety/obsessions/sensory issues etc.

None of the meds really work in my experience. Exercise is cheap too. Free if you can walk. I know that's not exactly a popular transportation mode in some places.

Dreycrux
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19 Jan 2013, 1:55 pm

Catharascotia wrote:

Dreycrux wrote:

I suffer from insomnia: early morning awakenings starting at around 4 am and I wake up every hour until 8am when I finally get up.

Ah great, well I always thought it had a link to anxiety levels, but it seems to happen every night. I wish to try whatever my doctor recommends.

I exercise, sleep routinely, sleep 8 hours a night, eat healthy. So I'm not sure what's up.

Rascal77s
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19 Jan 2013, 2:31 pm

corroonb wrote:

Kind of like saying people who have ASD just need to get out more. Some people have sleep disorders that exercise won't help.

Si_82
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19 Jan 2013, 7:01 pm

I have always had problems sleeping. I can usually sleep fine once I get to sleep but it is just getting myself tired enough to actually fall asleep in the first place. I can just lie in bed for hours and my brain just refuses to switch off. A good recent example was last week when I went to bed at midnight, lay there, tossed and turned a bit, listened to a few podcasts, tossed and turned a bit more and then checked the time - 5AM! I had not even begun to get tired and I was supposed to be up at 7 for work.

I believe that one of the probelms for me might relate to getting personal space and time alone. I am married and, happy as I am in the marriage, I do still need a certain ammount of time just to be alone. I only really get this after she has gone to bed which can lead to me staying up and quickly loosing track of time.

Si

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Raziel
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19 Jan 2013, 7:05 pm

yellowlab wrote:

Hey everyone I wanted to say I have trouble sleeping at times especally when I have something going on the next morning. I was wondering if this is an Aspie thing or just me and does anyone else suffer from this like me? and how do you cope with it? I hope all is doing great.

I have this to and have to take melatonin to be able to sleep, not every night, but very often.

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