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bonez
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08 Jan 2009, 4:34 am

every night i struggle to fall asleep for hours and hours due to insomnia and it really kills my day the next day since i have to get up early. so when i finally fall asleep at decent hours some nights, i just waje up a few hours later at like 2 am and im up for the rest of the night and i dont even feel tired until its time to wake up. why am i waking up? why cant i just stay asleep?? its a lose lose situation. if i cant fall asleep, it kills my next day. and if i do fall asleep, its for 2 hours and then i wake up and then it kills my next day!! why cant i just stay asleep???



08 Jan 2009, 4:58 am

I'm having the same problem too. I'm going to make an appointment with my doctor when daytime comes.

I used to not have this problem until I stopped taking my medicine. I think I have always had sleeping problems my whole life though. I always hated naps as a baby and I hated going to bed. My mother always had to fight to put me down for a nap and then she gave up finally, I was always overtired when bedtime came.



melissa17b
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08 Jan 2009, 5:12 am

Bonez, I cannot explain why you specifically have this particularly severe insomnia. I can, however, share my own nightly adventures and what I have observed and learned over the years. Hopefully this will help, at least somewhat.

As with many people on the spectrum, I experience a plethora of sensory integration issues. Mine fluctuate substantially in intensity from day to day, and also have a pronounced diurnal variation, being least severe from mid-morning through early afternoon, then steadily worsening through the evening, peaking around 3AM.

Typically, I'll first feel ready to sleep between 11:30 PM and 1 AM. This takes two distinct forms - either I am shutting my eyes and "disconnecting my senses" because the environmental stimuli have become too much, or I am genuinely ready to sleep (which I identify by a distinctive "sleep smell" that appears from within for about a second or so). If I experience the latter, and go immediately to sleep, I have my best chance of an uneventful and restful sleep (but even this is no guarantee, even if I am not disturbed). If I feel the latter, but do not immediately go properly to sleep, I will "miss the cycle" and become alert and restless again. I will be completely unable to sleep again until at least 3 or 4 AM. The best I can do is go into a dark, quiet place and "zone out" - especially with music playing (gotta love iPods!). The worst situation, however, is when I experience the former symptoms - disconnection from overstimulation. When this happens, I become exceptionally hypersensitive to touch and pressure. Ordinary nighttime clothing feels like it weighs 50 pounds, so it is quickly shed. My restless leg becomes unbearable unless I am walking or stimming it. Even the slightest light or noise is painful. But the worst happens when I fall asleep anyway. Usually, I wake up within an hour or two, with a feeling of something crawling inside of me, trying to get from the inside out, from head to toe. It is the most uncomfortable feeling, and only moving around makes it tolerable. Come 2 or 3 AM, moving around is the last thing I want to do - there is truly no concept of rest on these nights. I last experienced this about five nights ago.

I have yet to detect much of a pattern with this, but have noticed at least a few things:

1. "Bad" nights come in bunches, like maybe five or six nights out of seven usually following an extended period of elevated anxiety.
2. High levels of caffeine, especially after about 6 PM, all but guarantee a rough night. There seems to be a threshold, however - low levels, such as evening tea, do not appear to have any effect.
3. Eating, even late, seems to have little effect.
4. If my sleeping room is cold - not freezing, but noticeably chilly - I sleep my best. In particular, the pressure sensitivity usually does not get all that bad.
5. If my sleeping room is warm, the sensory issues are usually at their worst.
6. If the room is hot - above about 25C/77F - I just write off sleeping for that night. Not gonna happen.
7. A vigorous morning hike is often followed by an uneventful night.
8. As long as I sleep during my "core hours", 4AM to 7AM, I am usually OK the next day, perhaps dragging myself a bit through the mid-afternoon. If my core hours are violated repeatedly, I become perpetually fatigued, irritable and badly disconnected.
9. From about 9 PM onward, I like to gradually "ratchet down" any sensory stimuli. Music volume much below daytime levels, dimmer setting on computer screen, gentle lamps instead of overhead lights.

Finally, other people swear by a few basic rules:

1. Take any activities other than sleeping and intimate encounters out of the bedroom, especially from evening onward.
2. Whether you sleep or not, shut down lights/music/television at whay you would like your bedtime to be and turn them on when "wake-up time" should be. Tough it out for a couple of weeks; after that, your brain may get the message and do its chemical timing better.
3. If it is nighttime, you can't sleep, and can no longer stand the dark, quiet bedroom (because you are heeding #2), then leave the bedroom before turning any stimuli on. If you live in one room, step outside before turning anything on and right after turning everything off - establish some separation between your sleeping environment and any stimuli.
4. If all else fails, there are sleeping medications. See your local friendly doctor for details.

I hope this helps.



ouinon
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08 Jan 2009, 5:35 am

I find that diet has a huge effect on my sleep.

Caffeine, as melissa17b says, is one factor; I limit myself to one cup a day, and always before 4 in the afternoon.

Dairy too is a factor. If I am eating dairy often, or in quantity, I find it very difficult to fall asleep; I can't stop thinking, turning, and twisting.

Also, and perhaps most significantly, gluten/wheat. I have cut it out completely, ( mainly because it induces depression in me ). The effect it has on my sleep is almost worse than the coffee or dairy because although it allows me to fall into a "drugged"/comatose sleep it then wakes me up, repeatedly, or for hours at a time, later in the night, either because of intestinal irritation/inflammation which I am aware of, or because it gives me disturbing dreams, or just seems to "switch things on" somehow.

Since cutting out gluten, and reducing dairy consumption, I have found I sleep much better.

Exercise also helps me to sleep, but I'm not very good at doing any.

.



Age1600
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08 Jan 2009, 5:47 am

i went to the sleep doctor for the same problem, asking for something other then melatonin like chlondine, did some tests on me includin wearing this sleep bracelet, determined it wasnt insomnia at all, to be considered insomniac is if ur absolutely not sleeping for days, not a day, dayss, and for me that wasnt the case i had some cat naps thats all, but did determine all my body needs is 4 hours of sleep, said sleep drugs will only turn me into a zombie/angry. he says its actually very common among autistics to have such a short sleep cycle. they usually take a lot of cat naps durin the day to add up to 4 hours. So i made sure to buy a new heavier weighted blanket to keep me in bed for 4 hours straight so i can sleep them at night not durin the day, jsut waiting for the blanket now. I use humidifer, noise machine, fan, a lighter weighted blanket, body pillows galore, special sheets, tempur medic pillow and mattress, light therapy, black out shades, a small humifier with euclypus in it, zest to smell at night, everything which helps me stay in bed more. I recommend getting a weighted blanket, helps keep u grounded, along with blackin out all noise, and light, and tryin light therapy to use durin the day to tire u at night, do plenty of exercise will all help. Good luck Bonez, feel ya pain hehehe.


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bonez
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08 Jan 2009, 6:37 am

now i have to go to college in a few hours for 6 hours of classes on 2 and a half hours of sleeo



familiar_stranger
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08 Jan 2009, 6:53 am

for the past week i've been waking up between four and six in the morning, i've always had sleeping problems but they've started getting worse again.
i tend to use the toilet and then grab a small glass of water before going back to bed, i've been laying in bed for hours before not able to sleep yet as soon as i use this method i seem to be able to continue my sleep.

as for sleep in general the best thing i can advise is exercise to tire yourself out, not using any stimulants (coffee included) from late afternoon onwards, and shutting your brain off at night. i was once told to count back from one thousand and it would help, i did it several times until my alarm went off for school... everyone's different and so you need to find the correct method for you, if all else fail and you feel desperate for sleep you could always buy over the counter sleeping pills.


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08 Jan 2009, 6:59 am

I have the same types of problems, off and on; I'm in an "on" phase right now. Part of it is having "sneaky stress," the type that comes from something you just put in the back of your mind but still subtley affects your anxiety levels. I forget to be aware of those things until too late and then I wonder why I feel a little more stressed than usual. Part of it could also be changing temperatures (really cold to starting to warm up a little).

Because of my apartment set-up (and just generally how I am) stepping outside of the bedroom is not a great option. I have actually noticed that while too much tv/computer/stimulus can throw me off (especially if stay focused on something when i know I should go to bed), I find going on the computer or turning the tv on helps stop my restlessness and gives my active mind something to focus on briefly and then zone out before I fall asleep. It sems like stimulus from the usual suspects (in moderation) in my room actually help me settle in for sleep more than it hurts me (I am the same way with non-electronics, like reading).

The waking thing is especially frustrating; last week I fell asleep about 11, woke up at 2, and couldn't get back to sleep until 7 or a little after. I'm making mental notes and switching and am going to play around with things a little bit, but I may also end up seeing my doctor (I am also looking at Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome and want to ask him about it).

My body's ideal sleep time seems to be 3-5 am to 12-2 pm (with a couple awakenings thrown in for fun).

Good luck with classes; uggh, I am so glad I am done with school. I loved the learning, but never liked the structure it imposes on your life. I could only ever be able to stand part time schooling at most, if I ever did any more.