do you suffer from sleep deprivation?


bcguy
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I hope I spelled that correctly :)

I have sleep apnea and have a cpap that helps a great deal. In the last two-three years, I have also been experiencing insomnia. I get up at 3 am watch tv till 4 -5 am and go back to bed. Part of the issue is of course, the wife. She likes to keep the tv on till 10:30 and some times latter in the master bedroom. She has struke a deal with me to have it turned off at 10:30. But I wonder if the effects of having a noisy device like a tv has some what caused my insomnia?

Also, has anyone here had or have insomnia and figured a way to sleep at least five hours?

Anyone here tried melatonin and it worked?

Thanks

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Can't sleep without it.

I had sleep issues since I was a kid. I started taking Melatonin (bought the huge bottle from Costco) and wow! I can sleep! But I have to take it around 9p, 10p latest or I'll get up late.

My Asperger's child takes it also. She's like me, she can't sleep at nights. We used to hear the TV at 1am. She would be in front of it the whole night. Start off with the small dose, something like 3mg. IF it doesn't work, double it. If it still doesn't work, talk to a Doctor.

Another med that puts you to a gentle sleep is Trazodone. It's a prescription anti-depressant, but it's cheap, really cheap, not addictive and works well. It will gently put you down in about 30 - 45 minutes. I stopped taking it because I would wake up with huge headaches but then I was taking other meds at the time so it got to be a bit much for my brain chemistry.

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I've used melatonin but I adjust to it, seems like after 3 or so days it's like taking sugar pills. Same deal with using antihistamines like diphenhydramine. It is useful as a once in a while thing. I've even been prescribed anti-depressants before (don't remember which ones, it was on my mission), I do recall though that paroxetine made me sleep after taking it for the first week and a half or so.

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Red wine and turkey....er wait...nevermind. :P

Seriously I use sleepy time tea (herbal) as well as Chamomile tea, I know it's not the drugs, but sometimes it works, sometimes not. I work out early, right after work, because if not I tend to stay awake too late.

I drink Chamomile a bunch, it helps to calm my nerves...sure it might be a placebo affect but hey what ever works.

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I hope I spelled that correctly :)

I have sleep apnea and have a cpap that helps a great deal. In the last two-three years, I have also been experiencing insomnia. I get up at 3 am watch tv till 4 -5 am and go back to bed. Part of the issue is of course, the wife. She likes to keep the tv on till 10:30 and some times latter in the master bedroom. She has struke a deal with me to have it turned off at 10:30. But I wonder if the effects of having a noisy device like a tv has some what caused my insomnia?

Also, has anyone here had or have insomnia and figured a way to sleep at least five hours?

Anyone here tried melatonin and it worked?

Thanks

My sleep specialist told me to have no caffeine after noon. He told me to wake up around the same time each day. Dont sleep longer than 30 minutes at the most for a nap in the afternoon.

He told me to shut off the tv at least an hour or two before sleep to relax the mind. Turn off the lights because it keeps the mind active an hour or two before sleep.

It really does work! Of course it might help that I take a few sleepy meds too.

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Can't sleep without it.

I had sleep issues since I was a kid. I started taking Melatonin (bought the huge bottle from Costco) and wow! I can sleep! But I have to take it around 9p, 10p latest or I'll get up late.

My Asperger's child takes it also. She's like me, she can't sleep at nights. We used to hear the TV at 1am. She would be in front of it the whole night. Start off with the small dose, something like 3mg. IF it doesn't work, double it. If it still doesn't work, talk to a Doctor.

Another med that puts you to a gentle sleep is Trazodone. It's a prescription anti-depressant, but it's cheap, really cheap, not addictive and works well. It will gently put you down in about 30 - 45 minutes. I stopped taking it because I would wake up with huge headaches but then I was taking other meds at the time so it got to be a bit much for my brain chemistry.

No oh not Trazodone! I found out that out the difficult way man woke up in the middle night all messed up from the meds all confused and disoriented my heart pounding through my chest. i was gonna call a freaking ambulance but i was too messed up to use the phone!

It was the worst night of my life

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I have sleep issues from chronic pain. I take Restoril (sleep med) but sometimes need to take a med vacation when it stops working. During those times I take Valerian (herb). It works well, but has the same problem with becoming less effective when taken for a long time.

I tried melatonin. It didn't work very well for me.

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I've always had mild sleeping issues. What saves me is melatonin (and sometimes hardcore sleep medictation) on hand and a very strict sleeping schedule. Often, listening to Coast to Coast or having a movie on sends me right to sleep. I also use lavender on my pillow.

About a month ago, I was rather sickish and loopy. So my mom gave me a pill. Now, my family's medicine cabinet, due to the various issues of my family, could be worth quite a bit on the streets. We're always sharing prescription drugs (I know we shouldn't, but we do, and I don't want to hear it). Sometimes my mom gives me trazadone when I'm too stressed to sleep, so when she gave me a pill, I assume it was that. No, it was Ambien. The couch I slept on (didn't dare drive) was moving and there was a Peter Pan treehouse in the room. I swear.

My mother, one morning, went to take a thyroid pill before she left for her job as an ESL aid at the local elementary school. She found herself three hours later staring at her messy hair in the bathroom mirror with no memory of those past hours. Turns out she had accidentally taken an Ambien, had driven to the school, had let her students eat all the candy she kept as treats, refused the principal's suggestion that she should lie down, and had managed to drive herself back to the house.

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No oh not Trazodone! I found out that out the difficult way man woke up in the middle night all messed up from the meds all confused and disoriented my heart pounding through my chest. i was gonna call a freaking ambulance but i was too messed up to use the phone!

It was the worst night of my life

I've has psych meds affect me like that as well as make me even dumber than usual. Others that are pretty benign. All psych meds affect people differently. That's why it pays to be careful and try it out first before committing. It's just another option to try.

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I've always had mild sleeping issues. What saves me is melatonin (and sometimes hardcore sleep medictation) on hand and a very strict sleeping schedule. Often, listening to Coast to Coast or having a movie on sends me right to sleep. I also use lavender on my pillow.

About a month ago, I was rather sickish and loopy. So my mom gave me a pill. Now, my family's medicine cabinet, due to the various issues of my family, could be worth quite a bit on the streets. We're always sharing prescription drugs (I know we shouldn't, but we do, and I don't want to hear it). Sometimes my mom gives me trazadone when I'm too stressed to sleep, so when she gave me a pill, I assume it was that. No, it was Ambien. The couch I slept on (didn't dare drive) was moving and there was a Peter Pan treehouse in the room. I swear.

My mother, one morning, went to take a thyroid pill before she left for her job as an ESL aid at the local elementary school. She found herself three hours later staring at her messy hair in the bathroom mirror with no memory of those past hours. Turns out she had accidentally taken an Ambien, had driven to the school, had let her students eat all the candy she kept as treats, refused the principal's suggestion that she should lie down, and had managed to drive herself back to the house.

Yea,I tried Ambien once. It made me dumber than a doornail. I sat and stared at my computer for hours and hours. I stopped it after a week. Hardcore stuff.

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Guest Alana

Part of the issue is of course, the wife. She likes to keep the tv on till 10:30 and some times latter in the master bedroom. She has struke a deal with me to have it turned off at 10:30. But I wonder if the effects of having a noisy device like a tv has some what caused my insomnia?

Thanks

I simply can not handle a tv in the bedroom. My husband for all his life fell asleep watching tv. He adjusted to no tv in the bedroom, but still missed watching shows in bed. Now he has an ipod with netflix and headphones. He can watch his shows, I can't hear it, and it's small enough that the flashing from the screen doesn't bother me.

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The only drug that has been effective for me, though far from consistently, is Seroquel, which is technically an anti-psychotic. Unfortunately, the side effects are significant, including hallucinations and restless leg syndrome. Otherwise, nothing works for me, not even Ambien or any of the other strong prescription meds. I regularly stay awake all night long one to three nights per week.

I'm disabled and don't work, so while I feel horrible until I do sleep again, at least I do not work, nor am I responsible for caring for anyone else, on those days following the sleepless night(s). But constant sleep deprivation has taken its toll.

Elphaba

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I have sleep apnea and use a cpap machine. The sleep specialist I have gone to recommends those with sleep apnea not use any kind of sleep aids. Kind of a catch 22. Can't sleep without them sometimes but can be dangerous to those with sleep apnea.

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About 10 months ago, I had the weirdest problem. I would drift off to sleep and right before sleep, I would have an instant panic attack. Not one that lasted for two or three minutes, but they lasted for about 8 hours. Every time I nearly slept, the same thing happened.

It started on a Sunday. I didn't sleep until Friday. That messed me up -bad-. But the Doctor gave me sleeping pills and the moment I had a good sleep, it disappeared.

Freaky. Those closest to me said that you couldn't tell I was having a panic attack until you'd spent some time with me. I thought there was something wrong with me, so I spoke to a professional. Turns out because I'm not the type of person to admit I'm afraid of something, it was all building up until I would fall asleep and my natural defenses came down.

Sleeping=good. I'm a fan.

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Relaxation breathing techniques at bed time, and whenever I awake in the middle of the night. There are several good audio/MP3 versions at the sites below to teach you how to do this. It usually takes 2 weeks of doing these at least once per day for them to really work well.

RELAXATION

All About Depression: Online Relaxation Exercises

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Like Pam, the sleep specialists I have consulted with (at the UofU Sleep Center) advise against sleep aids when apnea is present. It only compounds the issue.

It may seem counter intuitive, but in my case, I do believe much of my insomnia arose from the apnea. Only by getting the apnea under better control has the insomnia subsided. I suspect that the constant interruption of sleep predisposes our brains to not want to go back to sleep - even when we are exhausted.

Have you looked into mandibular advancement devices (if your apnea is obstructive)? What about devices to keep you from lying on your back? see: http://www.lds.net/forums/health-exercise/13562-sleep-problems-2.html#post489684

What about adjusting your pressure?

Keep looking for solutions to treat the apnea. Perhaps it won’t be as successful at resolving the insomnia for you as it was for me, but I really do suspect the two are connected for many people.

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Also, consider your meds (still on anti-depressant?). Some meds contributed to my insomnia also, and cutting back on the dose helped some.

Doctors will often say that depression leads to sleep disturbances. I have (yet another) my own theory - when apnea or severe insomnia is present, the chronic sleep deprivation eventually leads to depression. I can look back over the last 20 years and see a very strong correlation between the amount of sleep I get, and the resulting mood. For me, sleep drives the low mood and related issues. In my case, depression absolutely did not drive sleep problems. Apnea and schedule restrictions hurt my sleep, which in turn hurt my mood. 10 years of reduced sleep (effectively 4 - 5 hours) takes it's toll.

Again, I would urge you to continue aggressively treating the apnea and get it under control. For me, it was the root of many issues (insomnia, dysthymia, frequent illnesses, etc).

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