# has anyone here dealt with chronic insomnia for years?



## sparkations (Nov 26, 2003)

Its been about 2 years for me. I sleep, on average, 4, 5 hours/night. And they're broken up too into 2,3 hour chunks. I always wake up during the night to urinate. Nowadays, I'm finding it harder to fall asleep. I went to my psychiatrist and asked for sleeping pills, but he said that he didn't want to write a prescription for me because I have a benign brain tumor. It's weird, because he is willing to prescribe anti depressants for me to help with my social anxiety. I tried attacking the nocturia problem (frequent urination), having to get up at night to urinate, but so far, everything i've tried has failed-the antidiuretic hormone, the anticholinergics to relax the bladder. Its frustrating and I don't know what to do now, it seems like nothing works.

What sucks the most is the fact that I'm currently a university student, and even though I'm tired during the day, I feel guilty about taking naps, and that's why I avoid them. I always feel like i'm wasting time too, because I hardly have the energy to really focus and study. I just waste my time online and listen to music mindlessly or mindlessly surf forums. 

I don't know what I should do. I tried anti depressants, but they increased my anxiety, and made school even harder for me-attending the lectures, particpating in groupwork, etc. The anti depressants I tried were SSRIs because I'm taking an anticonvulsant that interacts with the other classes of antidepressants. I tried cipralex and zoloft before, but I was on them for a couple of weeks before I gave up. My anxiety has actually improved since going off them, but of course, my sleep problem still exists. I don't think I'll ever be able to sleep well again. ever.


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## Maslow (Dec 24, 2003)

I take Paxil to help me sleep. I take it about an hour before I go to bed, then I meditate in bed and soon I'm sleeping like a baby.


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## sparkations (Nov 26, 2003)

wow, no one. i'm a lone ranger on this one.


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## readpill_blewpill (Jan 30, 2008)

I dealt with it for over 30 years until the shrinks started giving me meds for this specific issue. I've been on remeron for a while now and it seems to have worked the best. Can increase your blood pressure though, which it has mine. So I think a replacement is in my future.


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## RAR (Jul 20, 2007)

I've had mild insomnia for as long as I can remember. In my childhood years it was especially bad. I had a bedtime of 9pm and would lay there every night until about 2-3am.

I don't have a nocturia problem, fortunately. I have no idea what causes my insomnia. I naturally drift into a nocturnal sleep schedule when possible, which is probably related.


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## mserychic (Oct 2, 2004)

Since I was born according to my mum. Without Seroquel I only sleep 1-4 hours a night. Earlier this year I went 2 months straight with only 1-2 hours a night. That made me a bit insane. With Seroquel I get 5-7 hours. Before meds I tried every kind of home remedy imaginable but nothing helped.


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## Noca (Jun 24, 2005)

i had insomnia for 2 1/2 years. Theres many sleep aids to try.


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## BeachGaBulldog (Feb 13, 2007)

I have always been a night owl, even when I wasn't trying to be. I can, if I am lucky, fall asleep at 10 and wake up at 1, then can't go back to sleep. I gave up trying to figure it out long ago. I just live with it.


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## RAR (Jul 20, 2007)

Thinking more about it, insomnia is the wrong term to use for me. Though I've never been able to stick to a conventional sleep schedule, when I don't have interruptions I sleep well. I more closely match "Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_sleep_phase_syndrome


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## Mc Borg (Jan 4, 2008)

RAR said:


> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_sleep_phase_syndrome


That describes me perfectly.


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## maddy1407 (Feb 8, 2008)

Hi I have had chronic insomnia for about 7 years now. I have been drinking to sleep for the last seven years about 5 glasses of wine per night daily for the last 7 years. I have started to feel that its taken its toll on my body. I have tried all sorts things to help me get asleep but nothing works except alchohol.


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## Noca (Jun 24, 2005)

maddy1407 said:


> Hi I have had chronic insomnia for about 7 years now. I have been drinking to sleep for the last seven years about 5 glasses of wine per night daily for the last 7 years. I have started to feel that its taken its toll on my body. I have tried all sorts things to help me get asleep but nothing works except alchohol.


I bet Remeron would put you to sleep.


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## CoconutHolder (Oct 13, 2007)

I have trouble falling asleep, no matter how tired I am. Once I am asleep I can sleep forever.

You can try melatonin. I had success with that in the past. My dad and sister have also. Mabey its worth a try. :stu


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## lilly (Mar 22, 2006)

Yes. It has been the bane of my life and anxiety is the cause I think. I've tried natural therapies; sleeping tablets; read books about sleep. At the moment I started anti-depressants and it has been horrible trying to sleep so I hope this stuff will help settle the anxiety hence better sleep - I can only hope!
You may find reading different books about sleep helpful. I found some helpful stuff in some of these texts - things I'd never heard of before.


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## sparkations (Nov 26, 2003)

hey guys,

update:
I went to the store and bought some melatonin and this herbal remedy for insomnia which involves valerian, catnip, passionflower, and hop. its been helping me sleep deeper.


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## CoconutHolder (Oct 13, 2007)

So happy to hear that!

:squeeze


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## maddy1407 (Feb 8, 2008)

i tried 3 mg of melatonin had to get prescription from the doctor though. Its illegal in new zealand but freely available in australia. It only made me sleep for half an hour tops. So tonight I am thinking of using melatonin with valerian etc as sparkations suggested.


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## hurricane-nut (Oct 22, 2004)

I tried the melatonin once, but I had to stop because it made me violent. (God only knows why.) I have tried a number of sleep ideas, from vitamins, to teas, to medications. Nothing seems to do much good. It doesn't seem to matter what I take, I will wake up once an hour no matter what. I woke up once an hour on LUNESTA!!!

Anyway, hope the melatonin works well for you. If anyone has any other suggestions for sleep issues, I'm willing to try anything at this point.


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## maddy1407 (Feb 8, 2008)

nothing is helping me sleep except alcohol dunno what to do


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## DanCan (Jul 29, 2009)

I see this is an old thread- but wondering if anyone on here every found any solutions?


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## Shylar (Feb 20, 2011)

I've been having some luck with Unisom recently, or rather, the equate knock off. I tried it years before, and had no luck, but it seems to be working better lately.


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## nothing else (Oct 27, 2013)

yep it's difficult for me to sleep. Takes a long time. And I go to bed very late.


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## Grog (Sep 13, 2013)

Yes me . I embrace it and live at night mostly it's better because most people are asleep so it's nice and quiet and uncrowded I sleep about 2-3 hours at night and about 2 h during the day .


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## loneliness (Oct 3, 2013)

I've had some form of insomnia since I was 14. Tossing and turning for hours before I fall asleep, not sleeping at all, waking up every few hours, low total sleep time etc. You name it, I got it. It's been particularly bad for the past year and a half or so where I only get 6-7 hours of fragmented sleep at night most nights. Yeah, that sounds like enough sleep for most people, but in my case I require 8 hours of solid sleep or else I feel like hell. It must be genetic or something because I always hear about people who can be functional with 7 hours of sleep and it's completely unfathomable to me.

I know your pain. I could do so much more with my life if my insomnia didn't plague me. I've tried absolutely everything and nothing seems to work. I exercise, eat right, try to reduce stress, yet nothing works. It's hell. I wouldn't wish chronic insomnia on my worst enemy.


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## andy0128 (Dec 19, 2003)

I guess i have. I have only tried mild sleep aids but without much success. I tend to wake up after 4 hours and struggle to fall asleep again. The thing is i don't feel more stressed or unhappy than before. I've never been a great sleeper but lately its been particularly bad.


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## Piper haley (Jul 17, 2017)

*Sleep insomnia for 11 years*

Yes I've been suffering for sleep insomnia for 11 years now I've tried to deal with it but it takes about 7 hours to fall asleep and I hate it &#128564;=❌


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## truant (Jul 4, 2014)

Piper haley said:


> Yes I've been suffering for sleep insomnia for 11 years now I've tried to deal with it but it takes about 7 hours to fall asleep and I hate it &#128564;=❌


I've had insomnia my entire adult life. I just sleep when I can. Usually for a couple hours at a time. I usually give myself about an hour to get to sleep, and if I can't, I'll just get up and try again later. I work from home and set my own hours now, so it's less of a problem than it used to be. I used to hate working 10 hour shifts on 2 hours of sleep.


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## MadnessVertigo (Sep 26, 2016)

I have very bad chronic insomnia as well. Feels like heaven when I actually manage to get a good sleep.


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