That EVIL of evils, INSOMNIA!

[Lord Doctor]

Many sufferers here? How bad do you have it? How mad are you going?

 

[desdemona]

I have it bad enough that I don't fall asleep....I wait until I become unconscious. But I can crash on the weekends sometimes. Especially if I'm depressed. But I usually get by on 5 hours or less a night. So I'm functional at least.

 

[Lord Doctor]

My worse stretch was 3 years ago. About a day's sleep (total) spread out intermittently over ten months. How the hell I came through that, I've no idea.

 

[desdemona]

Yeah, that's messed. I usually end up getting like 4 hours/night repeatedly until I kind of shut down or collapse. Sometimes it doesn't matter. It depends on what other demands I'm facing emotionally/physically etc.

 

[Saeria]

For many years i functioned on the bare minimum sleep. Even if i wanted to i couldn't really sleep, there was simply too much going on all the time. I honestly think that after many years, almost an entire lifetime of insomnia i just kinda wore out. I now have a solid almost unshakable circadian (sp?) rythm, I wake up tired, go to bed tired and wake up tired again. It's almost as if years of not sleeping finally caught up with me. Long gone are the days of staying up so long i see little naked blue men running around in my peripheral vision.

 

[Lord Doctor]

My sleep dep hallucinations are extremely boring.

 

[TklDuo-Ann]

I go through frequent bouts of insomnia as a part of my CFS. I also have many nights when pain keeps me from sleeping. I can deal with it for a few nights. Then I start getting bitchy or loony or both from the lack of sleep.

I've gotten to where I'll chase a couple of benedryl with a wine cooler if it goes on for too long. That usually knocks me out long enough that I can at least function afterwards. I've also found deep meditation to be helpful. Even though I'm not sleeping, I'm at least allowing my mind and body to rest.

 

[Gothika]

i get it quite a bit like right now i have it darn it i want to sleep so baad and cannot it runs in my family to

 

[*giggles*]

been a sufferer since i was 8. sometimes i don't sleep for weeks, but after the first two days i get used to it. the worst was when i was 17, a period in time when i didn't sleep at all for nearly 7 months.
when i was diagnosed (at age 8), it was with "slow sleep" insomnia. the average person (as studies say, but everyone's different obviously) takes approximately 15 to 20 minutes to enter the first stage of sleep. people with slow sleep take a matter of hours, in my case 2 or 3, to fall asleep in the first place. once asleep, REM stage is never entered, and the person wakes up feeling like they hadn't slept at all, or not nearly enough. my problems have progressed to full on "no sleep for your ass" type insomnia over the years.

 

[Lord Doctor]

I seem to have several forms of it, but there is a general reluctance amid the quacks to do much about it. I don't thin there's much they can do, really.

 

[Adam]

Hell. Fucking. Yes. I have insomnia so bad sometimes that I don't get to sleep until the sun begins to rise. Other times I'll wake up in the middle of the night and be unable to fall back asleep for many hours, if at all. I've never been able to find the proper treatment for it. I don't do well with sleeping pills, so I'm not sure what could ultimately fix the problem.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I found the solution for my sleeping problems in the form of hard liquor.

 

[Evil Dave]

I'm not sure that what I have would be called insomnia as such but I only get about 4-5 hours of sleep a night which is distinctly sub-optimal.

I'll turn the lights out at 12.30 and lie awake until about 03.30. then I'll wake up and go to work at 07.30. This'll carry on all week until the weekend when I drink pretty heavily and crash out until midday.

I can function reasonably well like that but, like I say, it's far from ideal.

 

[SlaverTickler]

When it happens to me I either watch the Paris Hilton porn or Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

 

[Dialon]

I dont think i actually have insomnia, but i havent really slept in about 2 days.

 

[steph]

I've suffered pretty much since birth I think. I can remember my mother putting me down for a mandatory nap between 1 and 3 without fail, every day. My guess is it was to give her a break from the Spazz Child from Hell (me.) I may have dozed a little but spent most of the time playing with my little stuffed animals, imaginary friends, my books, etc. I was wide awake most of the time and pretty pissed about having to stay in my room. I think I was afraid I might sleep thru and miss out on something big. Not much has changed I guess but today I attribute it mostly to job stress.

XOXO

 

[Lord Doctor]

The worst thing about it for me is what it turns you into. Me I'm becoming a total goddamned prick! Snappy, bitchy, ranting.... I hate it! Bite your head of if you say hello sort of shit!

 

[desdemona]

The worst thing about it for me is what it turns you into. Me I'm becoming a total goddamned prick! Snappy, bitchy, ranting.... I hate it! Bite your head of if you say hello sort of shit!

Yep... I can relate. I have to just keep quiet or I'll say something I'll regret.

 

[Lord Doctor]

I've been doing that for a few weeks, worst of all today since a mate of mine, well, not a close friend, but a mate... died today (too many over the last ten years) and I managed to say all the wrong things and piss a few good people off.

 

[kopfhorer]

My sincerest sympathies to all here who cannot sleep at night or whose attempts (right word?) at sleep leave them feeling no better for their efforts. I have so been there and done that. My latest hassle was what turned out to be an acid-reflux-triggered laryngospasm which kept me from falling asleep no matter how tired I was. Each time I'd head for dreamland, my throat would close up . Lotsa doctors examined me and misdiagnosed my condition, though that didn't stop them from indifferently prescribing me marginally-effective but costly remedies (and people wonder why health care costs are through the ceiling). Most doctors I saw for it over many months were too damn lame to hit Google and check it out on the web, like I did. Guess that was too much like work for them. Better to give me a battery of unnecessary tests and then tell me I'm “fine”. 😡😡😡. The condition kept me up 48 whole hours one time.

The worst thing about it for me is what it turns you into. Me I'm becoming a total goddamned prick! Snappy, bitchy, ranting.... I hate it! Bite your head of if you say hello sort of shit!

(Sigh) Been there and done that too.

 

[Lord Doctor]

Yeah, done that too trying to sleep, if I understand correctly.

Think you have it worse than I though. Asthma and allergies don't help me, but I don't stop breathing... at least, not that I'm aware of.

The hallucinations are really pissing me off, however because right now my duvet is crawling towards me in a really freaky way! Why the hell don't sleep deprivation delusions consist of a really hot woman who's totally starkers?

 

[kopfhorer]

Yeah, done that too trying to sleep, if I understand correctly.

Think you have it worse than I though. Asthma and allergies don't help me, but I don't stop breathing... at least, not that I'm aware of.

My symptoms very closely mimicked asthma. If you have a halfway-decent sleep clinic near you, I'd recommend checking it out ASAP.

I'd check with a gastrologist for acid reflux too. There's something called a "GI cocktail" which can temporarily zap acid reflux and any other conditions it might be causing. You may want to give that a shot. I understand a natural supplement called N-acetyl cysteine has been known to mitigate symptoms of hay fever-type allergies (I'd check with someone who knows natural remedies before taking it). Please keep us posted. Hang in there.

The hallucinations are really pissing me off ...Why the hell don't sleep deprivation delusions consist of a really hot woman who's totally starkers?

Yeah, if we have to suffer with sleep dep, it could at least be more entertaining!

Seriously, the hallucinations must be a major scare.

 

[Lord Doctor]

There's one in London, about 300 miles away, and two in Scotland. i can't afford the fees, and can't get a referral from the quacks. I'll stay sane. Three/four weeks is a picnic compared to what I've been through before with it. It just doesn't seem that way right now.

The mega bitch? They say that in the hypnogogic state, that half awake-half asleep state that i seem to be trapped in right now... well, they say you can successfully tickle yourself into giggling hysteria. IT'S A COMPLETE AND UTTER LIE!

 

[Adam]

I found the solution for my sleeping problems in the form of hard liquor.

Alcohol will get me to sleep as well, but I've noticed that it's fleeting. I usually end up waking up in the middle of the night when it's mostly worn off and find myself struggling to get back to sleep. Plus I really don't want to be dependent on booze, fun as it may be to indulge every now and again.

 

[Lord Doctor]

It makes it worse in the long run 🙁