How to Fall Asleep: The Diary of an Insomniac

Started by Autumn Sativus, September 05, 2011, 12:51:13 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Autumn Sativus

Sleep. What a wonderful mistress you are, yet so cruel. You entice me, you make me long for you... and so I do my best to please you. I prepare carefully by going through the motions of brushing my hair and my teeth, getting a glass of water. I make the bed up the way you like it and fix my pillows so I can slip in comfortably.

And then I lay down and close my eyes and get comfortable. Perhaps for ten or twenty minutes I lay still and try to convince you that this is your opportunity - this is your time to take me. But no, you refuse. You tease.

I adjust my position, try again, close my eyes and stare into the blackness of my eyelids. All I want now is just to go to sleep. Sandman, sprinkle me with your dust. Magic faerie, brush me with your wand or leave a little gold dust on my nose. I just want a few hours in the land of nod, is that so much to ask?




Living with insomnia, not an easy task. Especially when you've got yourself a doctor that refuses to prescribe you anything other than the drugs you've already tried. The ones that don't work. No, they can't give me anything else because I might become dependent on it.

You know, I'd be happy to be dependent on a pill if it let me sleep. I would gladly pay for and take my little pill every night and know that I would never sleep without it. Because you know, it really sucks to not be able to go to sleep with the person you love every night. To have opposing schedules because your insomnia keeps you up until the early morning when they are getting out of bed.

Missing early morning classes becomes an unavoidable and regular occurrence because the well being of the mind must be placed ahead of the learning. How can I learn if all I can think of is the fact that I need sleep and very likely badly. A person cannot function without sleep, so why must it be so fucking hard to come by? ~Sigh~

Routines, meditation, you name it... I've tried it. Maybe I should get myself a new doctor... one who's willing to actually help me with my problems instead of refusing to do so for the sake of a possible addiction. At least it would be a manageable addiction, one that would help me to live a normal life.

You bitch. You defeat me again.
Us against the world
Just a couple sinners making fun of hell


~~A&A(updated March 2021)~~Tales~~Wants~~O&O~~Wiki~~

didoanna

Umm...I've had real difficulty sleeping in the past.  It was horrible.  I did try some medication but it seemed to make me very loopy and a bit queasy so I stopped.

In the end it just seemed to be a phase I was going through.  Not sure why.  Maybe stress or work or relationships triggered it.  In the end I was happy to just sort of learn to sleep again but I still get the odd spell.  And it's still horrible.

Marina

I spent the greater part of 2010 being unable to sleep.
I guess thats the price you pay for sobriety.
I never take sleep for granted anymore.
Best of luck in your turbulent quest for a little shut eye.

Oreo

It never hurts to get the opinion of another doctor. I had one that refused to give me medication to help with my dizzy spells because I could become addicted. Thankfully I found another doctor with more than a peck of compassion. You definitely need to sleep. *hugs*

She led me to safety in a forest of green, and showed my stale eyes some sights never seen.
She spins magic and moonlight in her meadows and streams, and seeks deep inside me,
and touches my dreams. - Harry Chapin

SunnyBlack

That;s hilarious. I usually spend most of the wee hours watching 80s cartoons and bingeing on skinny cow ice-cream sammies. Between the sugar and cheesy 80s-esque stories, I hypnotize myself into a trance of catalepsy. Everynight.


Banner & Avatar by Sunny Black
-.-.-
Choose your poison:
Nasty * Naughty * Filthy
-.-.-
[D-cups, full of justice. Sweet!]
:: "Come into my cage," said The Joker. "Where the bodies are hot, and the love is mad." ::

SunnyBlack

Quote from: SunnyBlack on September 20, 2011, 06:08:45 AM
That;s hilarious. I usually spend most of the wee hours watching 80s cartoons and bingeing on skinny cow ice-cream sammies. Between the sugar and cheesy 80s-esque stories, I hypnotize myself into a trance of catalepsy. Everynight.

Alright not hilarious as in your plight is not without concern, but hilarious in the personal irony that I go through every night just to knock out. Sorry if it seemed I was mocking you. Totally didn't mean that.


Banner & Avatar by Sunny Black
-.-.-
Choose your poison:
Nasty * Naughty * Filthy
-.-.-
[D-cups, full of justice. Sweet!]
:: "Come into my cage," said The Joker. "Where the bodies are hot, and the love is mad." ::

InariShiftskin


Kierkegaard

Hi Saffron,

Insomnia is indeed a curse.

I'm sure you've read and heard all the remedies under the sun, but this one works for me at least. In my limited sample of 1 that's a 100% success rate. I did read it somewhere first. It's not just my wacky idea. Anyways, my tip is not to close your eyes when trying to drift off. Just let them idly focus on something in the room. No staring or intensity required. The wall next to my bed works for me, just with the light of the moon / my partners awful LED alarm clock (delete as appropriate).


Cheka Man

For me, the morning is my night, which is fine until someone comes and wakes me up too early. My brain takes time to warm up when I am woken most days.

ZenFranklin

I've had real difficulty sleeping in the past.  It was horrible.  I did try some medication but it seemed to make me very loopy and a bit queasy so I stopped.

In the end it just seemed to be a phase I was going through.  Not sure why.  Maybe stress or work or relationships triggered it.  In the end I was happy to just sort of learn to sleep again but I still get the odd spell.  And it's still horrible.....................

horizen

What a great topic!

Sometimes I too get cursed for a couple of weeks. I never tried medication, only self discipline. I'm going to share what I mostly read on the internet, what did work for me.

1. Remove everything related to work (or that makes you active) from your room. You won't be able to let your unconscious drift into relaxation if it keeps thinking in work or what you been doing in the computer. Examples of stuff you should not have in your room: Computer (yes, I know), exercising tools, TV, ...

2. Hide objects which are connected to "traumatizing" experiences.. You won't want your dreams to be converted into nightmares or you won't want to spend the night thinking why you did break with your EX.

3. Don't use strong bright white lights at home after the sun going down. They will interfere with your biologic clock which resets itself with some bright lights which makes your body think it is morning..

4. Don't eat food with a lot of proteins before going to bed. They take longer to digest and prevent your body to relax. A good think to drink before going to bed is milk because it has some natural hormones which induce sleep.

5. Sex, sex and more sex. Men after ejaculation produce a hormone which induces sleep. For both men and women, muscular fatigue caused by sex will indeed relax your body for sleep. You can also exercise instead, just be careful to let your body warm down before going to sleep.

6. Don't close window shades! Receiving white bright light in the morning is critical to reset your internal biological clock. If you cannot sleep with light, put a shirt in your face.

7. Watch out the coffee, tea and redbulls! You know why!

8. If you get stressed out by random noises happening during the night, put some headphones on with relaxing music. If your mp3 player supports it, make it lower the music volume gradually.

That's it all of these helped me sleeping like a baby. After you get your sleep rhythm into shape again, you can start ignoring some of these rules.. I hope this helps!

MrModular

I can identify with this, Saffron. While not chronic, I've been dealing with insomnia for the last three months since the loss of a partner. Thank you for sharing this.