Anybody Suffer With Chronic Insomnia?

Well, CC you can always post on Prius Chat..wait...I see you have
I use the Benadryl approach but it's not too strong...I try the Children's chewable form, Walmart brand. Seems maybe melting in your mouth, it somehow works a little better. But I think the body gets used to it, so the effect wears off.

Alcohol is generally not good for sleeping in part because alcohol acts as a diuretic making you pee, but of course we should not let that stop us. But as far as sleep aid, it is not so great.

I have experimented with Ambien years ago. The doctor at work used to give us a prescription if we had a flight to Japan or something like that. That can do the trick, but you really have to go to bed after that you don't want to be sleep walking. I suspect the doctor at work stopped giving out those prescriptions, but 10-years or so ago it was more common.

 

there's always work at 7-11.

 

Hmmm... Might we have identified the problem?

 

I avoid caffeine after about 3pm; otherwise, I'll be wide awake all night. Perhaps you need to switch that coffee to hot chocolate or something.

It's an off-topic subforum. This is precisely the sort of thing you should be posting about.

 

What's your height/weight, general health (be honest), and diet?

Topical news today: Online Insomnia Treatment May Be a Cure for Sleep Disorder - NBC News

 

hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza and donuts.

 

I'll second the recommendation of using 10 mg melatonin. Ordinary melatonin in grocery stores and pharmacies are typically 1-3 mg. Several doctors I know recommend 20 or 30 mg for anti-aging purposes. For sleep purposes, you just take it about 30 minutes before you want to go to sleep. Note that it makes it easier to get to sleep, but doesn't keep you there. Sleep occurs in approximately 1.5 hour cycles, so you're most likely to wake up at 1.5, 3.0, 4.5, 6 hours into the sleep session. Actually, my cycle time is more like an hour and 20-25 minutes, but the theory holds. I'll frequently wake up on a cycle boundary, and then go right back to sleep. This is a commonly reported condition when using cycloastragenol (TA-65 or, in my case, generic 98% pure cycloastragenol that I import from China). The purpose is to lengthen telomeres, but another effect is exaggerated sleep cycles.

Bright light therapy has been used successfully to improve mood by people living in the far north where there are such long nights during winter. While melatonin tells your body to go to sleep, bright light tells it to wake up. And sleep should be done in the dark - turn off or cover all those LEDs, lighted clocks, night lights, etc. And/or wear a sleep mask to block the light.

Magnesium supplements might settle your mind a bit. The most enjoyable way to get it is with an epsom salt bath, preferably with a nice scent such as lavender. Several times when I've been unable to sleep, I've just settled in to a warm bath for an hour or two. It's a lot more pleasant than fighting the pillow...

Lithium supplement works to calm some people. Just try whatever dosage a bottle of lithium orotate says on the label. Might work, won't hurt.

Proteolytic enzymes digest scar tissue. Old farts have lots of scar tissue that make exercise, or even rest, just plain hurt. I use Vitalzym in the enteric coated gel capsules. The enzymes have kept me going while my peers have scarred out.

CoQ10 diminishes with age, and the solution is to add some as a supplement. A doctor I know has one patient on 700 mg per day of CoQ10 because that's how much it takes get a good blood test for him. I take 200 mg a day now, and will adjust that quantity when I get the results back on a recent blood test. A friend of mine takes 300 mg and a statin drug. Guess his doctor has found that the statin wipes out that much CoQ10. I avoid any statin because they do more harm than good. Low CoQ10 is associated with low energy, and the extreme case is congestive heart failure.

Exercise to exhaustion works wonders for sleep. So instead of spending 45 minutes walking, walk/jog till you're really tired or something is starting to hurt. If you can do the same exercise everyday, you're no where near exhaustion. Exercise hard enough that you have to rest every 3rd day or so.

I have a favorite type of birthday card for 60 year olds. It's one of those "over the hump" cards for people turning 40. Inside the card, I add "remember when?". I'm 72. 40 was 32 years ago. At age 70, I came in 2nd in my age group at a local 5 mile race on New Year's day. I was never fast, but now I can place just by finishing the event. Yeah, I took a nap after the event, but then I had to get up several hours earlier than usual.

Check out Julia Ross' THE MOOD CURE . Julia Ross is an expert on nutritional support of mood. As I recall, she started with psychological talk therapy. But her clients really had brain chemical imbalances that had to be addressed. Treating those imbalances with nutrition worked. Sleep coaching is one of her specialties.

If you like to wax cars, I have some "opportunity" available... Actually, my 2006 is peeling the clear coat so maybe wax isn't enough...

 

Hey CC. It's 2:45am in my neck of the woods. Still wide awake.

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Another thought about melatonin. I've seen time release versions available, but I haven't tried any because what I'm doing is working. Since 1 mg works for some people, and 30 mg hasn't caused any problems that I've heard of, maybe multiple doses throughout the night would work. So if 3 mg works, take it for the first sleep cycle. When you wake up, take another 3 mg. And so on. Maybe you insomniacs clear out your melatonin faster than long sleepers. I think the natural cycle is to generate melatonin when it gets dark, and slowly reduce the amount until your body knows that it's supposed to get light. One massive dose at bedtime isn't the natural way. Actually, staying up past dark is a very recent practice in terms of evolution. Shift work goes against the natural rhythm humans have established for 10,000+ years.

One thing to absolutely avoid is taking melatonin during the daytime. Unless you like jetlag without ever traveling...

 

What helped me:
Avoids
Avoid caffeine. Stop using it altogether. Or at the very least in the evening and at night. (Hot chocolate and cocoa do have caffeine.)
Avoid strenuous exercise in the evening.
Avoid bright lights in the evening, especially very cold white ones. These suppress natural melatonin production in the body.
Avoid screen time (even Priuschat!) in the evening unless you are using a software blue light filter on your device
Avoid anything mentally stimulating for at least an hour before bedtime. Including tv news, books with exciting action etc, problem solving.
Do
Do have a routine, esp going to bed at the same time each night and getting up at the same time.
Do have the bedroom as dark and quiet as possible..
Do use audio books to drown out noisy thoughts BUT they must be gentle soothing ones. Well written children's books can work well!
Do get plenty of exercise and daylight, but NOT in the evening.

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can you tell us more about the blue light filter? i see it on line, but have never heard of it.

 

Changes the colours of your device to reduce the blue, as this seems to be the colour that has the strongest effect on impairing melatonin production.
Some work automatically based on the time, others need to be turned on and off manually. We have an auto one on our Windows pc and a manual one on my android phone.

Here is the PC one:
f.lux: software to make your life better

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Remember that a blue film over the screen is definitely NOT the same thing!!!