Tongue Tyed: Sleepless in Dallas

Dec 21, 2006

Sleepless in Dallas

I need sleep.

I spend 8 hours in my bed, and I fall asleep quickly, but I might as well have a 2 month old baby. I wake up 4 times a night. Every two hours or so. It is really starting to suck. I have done everything that is suggested to get better sleep except completely give up caffeine, but I stop drinking it between three and four every day. I don't drink much alcohol, and virtually none at all during the week. I have dark curtains so it stays dark in my room. It's cool in my room, but not cold. I have a fan for white noise so I don't get woken by things like my cats wrestling. I have even been going to bed at the same time every night (even on most weekend nights!) for a couple of months now. Yet, I still wake up at the same exact times every night. The worst one is 6:40am because I have to get up for work at 7. And when I say I wake up at the same time each night, I mean I wake up at the same time down to the minute. I might as well have an alarm clock.

I am just about to my wits end with this new habit my body has deemed necessary. I am getting very close to calling my doctor and requiring a prescription of Lunesta. There is no cause for this insomnia that I can see. It's simply some new habit, and I can't break it because it is happening in my subconscience. When I was in high school I had insomnia too, but then it was falling asleep. Not staying asleep. I seem to have insomnia in little bursts now and then, but usually they go away after a month or so and are caused by some kind of stressor. In those cases though, I wake up thinking about something. There is an obvious issue floating in my brain. But not right now. Right now, I just wake up as though I had slept a full night, look at the clock and then stare at it for the next 30 minutes. Tossing and turning. I might start thinking about some worry, but it is definitely not what is waking me.

So frustrating. I just want a couple good nights of sleep with maybe 5 straight hours of snooze time. God that would be great...

Labels: daily activities no one cares about

posted by Ty @ 12/21/2006

4 Comments:

At 3:06 PM, December 21, 2006, Anonymous said...: I hear you...remember when I wrote practically the same post you just did? I think you recommended I start taking some vitamins. :)

I really do think insomnia goes in spurts though - mine seems to have subsided, thank God.
At 6:49 PM, December 21, 2006, Sarah said...: I am sooooo feelin' ya. I've had trouble with insomnia since I was 14 (ask my mom... she can tell you all about me waking her in the middle of the night, crying because I couldn't sleep).

I still deal with it and have probably tried everything you have, including: some stints where I questioned my "relationship" with Tylenol PM (Addicted? No...), quitting caffeine entirely, making lists of worries, "meditating", etc.

This morning at about 3 a.m., after tossing and turning since 9:30 at night, I took a B-Vitamin stress blend and whether it was psychosomatic or not, I fell asleep until my alarm went off at 5:15 in the very dark morning...

If you can get Lunesta, I say take it! Sleeping is the BOMB. ;o)
At 12:45 PM, December 25, 2006, Anonymous said...: hey cuz,

For years I had sleep problems (and I still get them every so often), and it turned out that my intestinal problems were causing them. When I have dairy it I'd have trouble falling asleep, and I'd wake up one or 2 times a night (or more) for a few days in a row. Id always feel like i had to pee, even if I just had done so. If this sounds familiar, try cutting out dairy for a week and see if it helps...(or see a gastroenterologist).

I know how much it sucks not to sleep, feel better,
Rob
At 11:20 AM, December 29, 2006, Anonymous said...: Whatever you do, don't take Ambien CR. That stuff should be taken off the market.

I had good luck with acupuncture once when I was going through a several week bout of insomnia.

Hope you get some z's soon!

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