I haven't been able to sleep in a week...

[Aubrey]

I've been taking a Benadryl AND a Tylenol PM the nights I do sleep. Normally, Benadryl is like Kryptonite to me--all I have to do is look at it, & I'm out till next Tuesday.

 

I finally got up & took *just* a Benadryl two hrs ago, & NOTHING.

 

How can a body change like that?

 

And why can't I sleep?

[Rosie_0801]

Is this some sort of global phenomenon?

 

I'm sitting here waiting for dh to bring some dinner home because I'm so zonked out I couldn't even be bothered to make instant couscous. I did try to nap on the couch earlier, which helped, but dd kept piling stuff on my head, so it didn't help much. Surely at age 3, a person could understand that a sleeping person doesn't want a soccer ball towels and jigsaw puzzle pieces on their face. I think she did understand and just didn't care :001_huh:

 

I hope you get some sleep tonight, and I hope I do too! Dh is away this weekend and two weeks in a row of hardly any sleep will result in worse things than take away dinner! (Tantruming zombie smilie, but you can probably tell that, huh.)

 

Rosie

[Paz]

Well, this evening I am up with you. I am sorry that you can't sleep. For me, I think it is changes in hormonal levels. I don't know how old you are but sometimes perimenopause can result in difficulty sleeping. I know that for me when it is close to my cycle I tend to have a few sleepless nights. I did have many more before I began taking natural progestrerone cream. You may not be there yet, agewise, so if may be other things at work. Are you doing anything different such as eating more chocolate or drinking caffeine too close to bedtime? Do you do housework or exercise too close to bedtime or do you stay up past the tired point? Sometimes it also helps to have a regular ritual of what you do each night at the same time to prepare for sleep.

[Aubrey]

Is this some sort of global phenomenon?

 

I'm sitting here waiting for dh to bring some dinner home because I'm so zonked out I couldn't even be bothered to make instant couscous. I did try to nap on the couch earlier, which helped, but dd kept piling stuff on my head, so it didn't help much. Surely at age 3, a person could understand that a sleeping person doesn't want a soccer ball towels and jigsaw puzzle pieces on their face. I think she did understand and just didn't care :001_huh:

 

I hope you get some sleep tonight, and I hope I do too! Dh is away this weekend and two weeks in a row of hardly any sleep will result in worse things than take away dinner! (Tantruming zombie smilie, but you can probably tell that, huh.)

 

Rosie

 

It must be a global phenomenon, Rosie, because I *cooked* tonight. AND I cooked last night. I doubled both meals, so I've got more in the freezer, actually served side dishes & bread, & precooked all the meat in the house so I can do it again tomorrow w/out much fuss. :svengo:

[Aubrey]

Well, this evening I am up with you. I am sorry that you can't sleep. For me, I think it is changes in hormonal levels. I don't know how old you are but sometimes perimenopause can result in difficulty sleeping. I know that for me when it is close to my cycle I tend to have a few sleepless nights. I did have many more before I began taking natural progestrerone cream. You may not be there yet, agewise, so if may be other things at work. Are you doing anything different such as eating more chocolate or drinking caffeine too close to bedtime? Do you do housework or exercise too close to bedtime or do you stay up past the tired point? Sometimes it also helps to have a regular ritual of what you do each night at the same time to prepare for sleep.

 

Bite. your. tongue! I'm 31! :lol:

 

I usually have a kind-of bipolar pattern to my sleep, but it still responds to PM if I take it. And I'm not fun or creative right now, so I might as well be sleeping. :glare::lol:

[Rosie_0801]

It must be a global phenomenon, Rosie, because I *cooked* tonight. AND I cooked last night. I doubled both meals, so I've got more in the freezer, actually served side dishes & bread, & precooked all the meat in the house so I can do it again tomorrow w/out much fuss. :svengo:

 

 

:svengo:

 

 

:tongue_smilie:

 

Until this bout of non-sleepingness I was doing very well at cooking. Last week, I actually cooked 5 nights in a row, and even cooked lunch a few days. I haven't managed 5 in a row like that since before I even had kids. I tell you, I'm nearly Wonderwoman when I get sleep. It is so much better to be Wonderwomanly in practice than in theory. Today I'm not Wonderwomanly even in theory. Though I did drag my sorry self out to playgroup and wasn't even badly dressed. Ds didn't have shoes, but you can't win 'em all. He got them absolutely sodden yesterday by sitting in a puddle at the local homeschooler park day (:seeya: Keptwoman!). Then he went and rolled in the sand, so he came home looking like a little boy shaped doughnut. :001_wub:

 

Rosie

[Paz]

Aubrey, you are way too young for my problems. :lol: My dh turned 48 on Sunday and I turn 46 in September. Sleep in a strange thing. My brother has had a severe sleep disorder since college so this is something we always talk about in my family. Right now his schedule is 4 a.m. to 4 p.m. He is single so he can sleep when he needs to or is able to. I hope you and Rosie get some restful sleep soon. I am watching crazy, random things on TV and feeling like I cannot complete a thought in this post.

[Peela]

OK, I am getting goosebumps because last night I could not sleep either, and I could not work out why. I went to bed early so that I could get up early. I lay in my bed from 9.30pm till 2am, then I went and got into bed with dh in his room and had a pity party about not being able to sleep. He cuddled me and we chatted and I think by about 3am I probably fell into a fitful sleep. I then woke at 6am. 3 hours just isn't enough! And whats worse I tried to have an afternoon nap and I couldnt sleep then either.

 

I also did all my normal things- meditation, listening to the sound of waves on my ipad :), and I think it was about midnight I got up to make a hot milk. None of it worked. Tonight I will take my herbal sleeping tablets a while before bed. But I couldnt work out why I coudlnt sleep, either- normally it is underlying anxiety or hormones, and neither seemed to match.

 

So at least we are not alone and can think of each other while lying there counting sheep!

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I've been taking a Benadryl AND a Tylenol PM the nights I do sleep. Normally, Benadryl is like Kryptonite to me--all I have to do is look at it, & I'm out till next Tuesday.

 

I finally got up & took *just* a Benadryl two hrs ago, & NOTHING.

 

How can a body change like that?

 

And why can't I sleep?

 

Are you going to sleep thinking about all the stuff that you have to get done? I find that I have trouble sleeping before scout camp because I have so many details that I have to organize for the troop. Last week I didn't sleep for a couple weeks before camp.

 

If you can read in bed, I would read something that was pretty soothing. Maybe a story that wasn't so exciting you would stay up late to finish it. (Actually, Pilgrim's Progress and one of the Charlotte Mason books both work for me.) I read enough that my head isn't full of the stuff that is stressing me out. No one's going to dream of Charlotte Mason theory.

[Robin's Song]

I had severe insomnia with my first pregnancy ;)

[KidsHappen]

I have had this problem for years now. It really sucks. I crave sleep the way most people crave oxygen. I have heard that it just keeps getting worse the older you get. The only thing that works for me is Ambien and then only about half the time.

[Terabith]

How much sleep are you managing a night?

[gingersmom]

My insomnia comes and go for the past few years.

 

I had been sleeping incredibly for months and now for the past 3 nights I have been sleepless. At midnight I am wide awake. I sleep for 4 hours and I'm ready to go.

 

I know it will pass eventually but its still no fun.

[Kathleen in VA]

Are you going to sleep thinking about all the stuff that you have to get done? I find that I have trouble sleeping before scout camp because I have so many details that I have to organize for the troop. Last week I didn't sleep for a couple weeks before camp.

 

I have trouble sleeping when I have lots on my mind and lots to do. Making a list of everything helps me get it out of my head.

 

If you can read in bed, I would read something that was pretty soothing. Maybe a story that wasn't so exciting you would stay up late to finish it. (Actually, Pilgrim's Progress and one of the Charlotte Mason books both work for me.) I read enough that my head isn't full of the stuff that is stressing me out. No one's going to dream of Charlotte Mason theory.

 

Sometimes I wish I hadn't sold my college Western Civ. textbook - it put me to sleep easily, lol.

 

 

I've had success with melatonin (Walmart sells this in the vitamin aisle).

[Tutor]

I'm convinced that there is some environmental/ atmospheric cause because although I have had bouts of insomnia before, nothing has ever lasted this long (it has probably been almost 4 weeks of poor or little sleep) and it has affected my dh quite a bit and when I mention it to anyone irl, they also comment on how difficult it has been to sleep.

 

Maybe it's been the heat? Here there has been a heat index of at least 105 for the last 3-4 weeks. Toady is the first day it is not predicted to be above 90 *and* it's finally raining! Maybe a good night's sleep is finally in my future?

[Aubrey]

Yeah, I'd guess the heat, too. I'm getting no sleep w/out the pills; last night w/ only 1, I got 3-4 hrs. Yuck.

 

There's stress, but there's always stress. But once dh falls asleep, my mind goes to the worst possibilities, & I get really scared or angry or whatever. But I do put effort into chaning that--I know I can't sleep that way.

 

I did read one night, & that helped, but that was *after* a Tylenol PM AND Benadryl, & it still took over an hr to fall asleep. But at least I didn't have that hr of dark thoughts!

[amys]

Melatonin helps my boys enormously (major sleep onset issues here.)

[MamaT]

I'm not sleeping either. I have tried taking Melatonin, Benadryl, and Tylenol PM (different nights of course) - all of which used to work like a charm. I CANNOT sleep. I am so tired and drained from only getting 3-4 hours of sleep. I am thinking mine is due to perimenopause, but Aubrey, you are too young for that!!

[Aubrey]

LOL--dh says, "The hive mind is troubled," in a deep intro to sci-fi voice. Then, "It's collective insomnia." :lol:

[BikeBookBread]

LOL--dh says, "The hive mind is troubled," in a deep intro to sci-fi voice. Then, "It's collective insomnia." :lol:

 

Another non-sleeper the last two nights.... this is getting strange. In fact, the precious little sleep I got last night was filled with terrifying dreams of cannablistic zombies :eek: I NEVER watch or read horror tales. No idea where these dreams came from. I just never have bad dreams. Weird yes, but rarely rarely scary.

 

I've had really good results with Hyland's Calms and Calms Forte.

[emubird]

If you're taking both Benadryl and Tylenol PM, you're getting a double dose of Benadryl. So you could just take 2 Benadryl and skip the Tylenol. But I don't know what a safe dose of Benadryl is. You might want to check that.

 

It's more drugs, but I've had success with Unisom (doxylamine succinate). I take half a dose. I think a full one would knock me out for 24 hours. (Don't take it along with the Benadryl!)

 

I don't sleep if I eat anything I'm allergic to -- which is just about everything these days. Or rather, I get to sleep, but then I wake up with nightmares and my heart racing. So, yes, I was up last night. And the night before...

[missiemick]

I had severe insomnia with my first pregnancy ;)

 

 

This is my favorite reason, Aubrey :001_smile:

[Aubrey]

This is my favorite reason, Aubrey :001_smile:

You think the hive is collectively pregnant? :bigear::lol:

[Rosie_0801]

Well I got nine hours sleep last night, so maybe you lot will be lucky tonight too!

 

I did have a really weird dream about having to give a media interview on being part of a minority culture, which isn't quite as bad as cannabilistic zombies, but is getting close. The stupid thing was I'm not part of a minority culture. Having a Polish grandfather doesn't make one a representative of Australian-Polish culture, and I was sitting in a lecture hall with a bunch of Australian Greeks. Why not interview them? Stupid dream, I might have got another 20 mins of sleep if I hadn't had to wake up to avoid that stupid interview.

 

Rosie

[Aubrey]

Well I got nine hours sleep last night, so maybe you lot will be lucky tonight too!

 

I did have a really weird dream about having to give a media interview on being part of a minority culture, which isn't quite as bad as cannabilistic zombies, but is getting close. The stupid thing was I'm not part of a minority culture. Having a Polish grandfather doesn't make one a representative of Australian-Polish culture, and I was sitting in a lecture hall with a bunch of Australian Greeks. Why not interview them? Stupid dream, I might have got another 20 mins of sleep if I hadn't had to wake up to avoid that stupid interview.

 

Rosie

 

Oh man--I've been having weird dreams, too. The other night, I dreamed about my

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LEGS.

[Marylou]

Perhaps you're here too much!

[LibraryLover]

Is the moon in an odd place...? I have had a couple of fitful nights. Interesting.

[Diane in CO]

Count me in! I have had a difficult time getting to sleep the last three nights in a row...I have also had a reoccurring headache for the last three days as well. Both DH and I are only getting 4-5 hours sleep a night with headaches most of the day. I am thinking it is the shift in weather over here (cloudy, rainy and cool one day, sunny and scorching hot the next).

 

Whatever it is I want it to stop.... I need my 9 hours of snoozing every night :lol:

 

Diane