Insomnia, and NOTHING works to fix it. I am looking for those who might be able to offer their exp

Just reading this thread is making me sleepy! lol.

Good tips and I'll know where to come for solutions if I have trouble getting to sleep. I had insomnia once for one year, when my life was a pressure cooker. It was horrible. I tried everything, and nothing helped until I rearranged my life. Divorce worked for me.

Insomnia can have a variety of causal factors. Sometimes it is simply physical pain, but the OP didn't mention that, she mentioned traumatic stress.

Here's something to ponder: Ruling out physical causation, if you go to sleep okay, but then wake up a couple of hours later, or "early morning awakening", is symptomatic of depression.

If you just lay there, mind all over the place, and can't fall asleep for hours, it's usually anxiety.
Now, BOTH, is when it really gets ugly. Looking for a quick fix? Probably not going to happen. I noticed some of the suggestions have the potential to be deadly, while many others are illegal.

There are, however, techniques that are helpful for these symptoms. I noticed OP hasn't revisited the thread for a while.

Here's hoping you are asleep.

If you prefer big pharma's pills over nature, you lost already.

The only real thing you can do is change your life, to a healthy sleep pattern.

I drink Valerian root tea I make myself and a relaxed wind down and sleep.

I certainly understand your frustration. I have quite a bit of experience with insomnia, and it's probably one of the most frustrating things in my life. Mine isn't as severe as yours, but still bad. I've gotten down to taking 3 Benadryl a night, but without those, I won't sleep. I was on Ambien for a period of time as well. The only thing I can think of is that there are stronger Benzos (the type of drug like Kolonpin), like Xanax, and taking it even higher, Temzepam. You could also try Seroquel, which is more of an anti-psychotic, but has off-label uses for insomnia. Another drug I didn't see mentioned was Tradzodone, which is an anti-depressant but is prescribed more often now for insomnia. The only draw back with Tradzodone is that it gave me insanely vivid dreams and nightmares, but I did sleep pretty well.

Herbal remedies for this type of stuff are crap, melatonin never even made me tired when I attempted to take it, and honestly, for some people who are in a severe enough spot, powerful medications are often the only choice. I would suggest stepping it up from Kolonpin (it's actually one of the weakest Benzos) and try Xanax or Temezpam, or Triazolam. But to get scripts for things stronger than Xanax you have to have a pretty well documented medical history, given the abuse potential of those high powered medications. I had to get a prior auth from my Doctor to get Temezepam, so you may have a similar situation. If you're paying out of pocket, Temezepam and Triazolam can run 300+ dollars per month.

Best of luck to you my friend.

Cough medicine works yes, but also makes you dream more active.

I don't recommend cough medicine (drowzy stuff), you get hooked onto it.


Herbal remedies, not the prepackaged stuff do work, I had bad insomnia, I took Valerian root, made myself tea from the raw root, also changed my sleeping pattern and wound down and stopped stressing.

If you go out and buy 5-HTP (precursor to serotonin), in pills , your wasting your money, don't bother packaged crap.

That is why "herbal" remedies do not work, there is bugger all in them except GELETINE and stabilisers, chalking agents and crap.

You are fooled by the industry to make you buy a prepackaged pill.


Buy the damn raw herb root, make your tea, and most importantly, CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

If you are not prepared to CHANGE your life, quit your whining.

reply to post by TheArchaeologist


I can't say that I understand what you're going through. But I did suffer from anxiety about 10 years ago and had 3 instances where I couldn't sleep for about 3 days each.

Mine were caused by anxiety attacks. As soon as I closed my eyes my heart would pound faster, my thoughts would accelerate, my senses would heighten, etc.

I was poking around the internet looking for a solution and all I was finding were these elaborate programs which take months to apply and require a lot of journaling. Then I stumbled upon this guy's home made website with free information concerning anxiety attacks. And what he suggested worked. I'm sorry I don't remember the website but the jist of it is as follows:

Most anxiety attacks are caused by the fear of anxiety attacks (or just the fear of anxiety in general). So logically the way to get rid of the anxiety is to get rid of the fear causing them. This may seem backwards to many people but in order to get rid of anxiety attacks you want to seek them out. Pray for them. Whatever you need to do to get over the fear of having them. I remember telling myself that "I wont be sleeping tonight because I have a date with an anxiety attack!" I was telling myself that to combat the fear of it. As soon as I got that overwhelming feeling in my belly, I would that it would become the worst anxiety attack I ever had. Well, I became unafraid of them and I stopped having them, in a short amount of time.

Interestingly enough, this willingness to face my fear of anxiety attacks spread into other areas of my life. I started applying the technique to everything (social nervousness, fear of what people thought of me, etc) and those life long fears began to fall away. It was a very exciting period of my life where I could have face anything with a smile.

"What you resist persist. What you accept goes away"

Good Luck

Originally posted by TheArchaeologist
Thank you for the above comments, the caveat is,

I have tried relaxing baths, soothing candles, I have tried valerian root, melatonin. I have tried relaxing and reading.

I have tried a glass of wine, I have tried a cup of chamomile tea, fact is, I lay around miserable all night. I can be awake for two days sometimes, which is hard when you have a four year old, a job, and a husband. It is, impossible.

I have cut out caffiene, even in food items. I am at a lost. Todays pharmas are not supposed to create addiction, and I often skip a month or more because I hate spending $120 for pills that do not work very well.

I am not passing judgement, but I do not smoke pot. I never have, not even as a kid, and I dont believe I ever will. I wouldn't even know where to get it. It just doesn't interest me.

Have you tried acceptance, mindfulness, positive self talk or surrendering?

dont mean to be short but this is stuff you have to figure out on your own....google those words.....pure gold.

If you want to try something really weird, try having your feet rubbed.

The idea is that so much is going on in your mind that there is too much energy there. So... rubbing your feet brings the energy down from your head and most people who cannot sleep for this reason, drop off while their feet are being rubbed. Yes, you may need a partner to do this for you and make sure they do it firmly (but not so that it hurts) and for about 10 minutes.

The other thing I would advise which others have advised too, is to have a good detox of your system - liver flush, gut clearout, etc. All those medications get stored in your liver and in the hardened fecal matter in your gut and so a good clean-out is definitely a benefit to your body. Particularly since the meds are not working, so obviously you need to try something else. Currently you are banging your head against a brick wall and nothing is working for you.

Another thing to try on the mental level, is something called EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) which is based on tapping on acupuncture points and was used effectively to help Vietnam vets get over their re-occurring horror movies in their head. It can be learned easily and the manual to tell you how to do it can be downloaded for free too. Some practitioners may give you a free first-time half-hour if you ask them to too. Google it for yourself as you will probably think I am trying to sell something! Good luck to everyone who has insomnia.

reply to post by TheArchaeologist


I'm the same way. Suffer from SEVERE anxiety attacks & insomnia but if no one has mentioned it (simply because I don't have the time or patience to sift through 4 pages of replies) go to GNC or Wal Mart & grab a bottle of melatonin. It's all natural but make sure you get the kind that dissolves under your tongue as it goes into your system faster. Works wonders for me & I'm like you, nothing else works, after 4 nights of very little to what seems like no sleep it's very frustrating & you're all but desperate. Get the melatonin!

reply to post by TheArchaeologist


Hi, I found eating quite a lot of bananas evey day helped with my sleep disorder why not give them a bash as they will not harm you.

Coincidently, whenever I try meditating with those new fangled bio rythm tone things on an mp3, I never mange to get in a meditative state but allways fall asleep.

Good luck whatever you choose to do but I think big Pharma chemicals make matters wors.

PS I never fail to fall asleep when I go camping.

reply to post by TheArchaeologist


When I was a teenager, at night, I would put on my 'Kraftwerk' album called Computer World

and not be awake by the end of one side of the album and I would wake up at 8am
in the morning with the record player still revolving, yet I only played it just to listen to.

A Kerry Cassidy video now puts me to sleep, with her talking and actually not saying anything

reply to post by TheArchaeologist


naw.... don't go the path of trying to sleep...
Do The Opposite.... intend to stay awake for 24 hours (easy)... 36-48 hours (there we start hitting the wall)

anything longer of being sleep deprived is likely unhealthy

but hey... your extreme, as you say. so endure for the 72 hour long-march... your body, mind, intellect, will all start falling apart, the crazy world of spirits, ufo's, chimera, a pantheon of gods will take over your preceptions...

After all this psychotic mayhem....You will come to relish the periods of sleep your internal self demands
and you attitudes, instincts, behaviors towards sleep will be a long time altered for the better...

thanks
(this is not a prescription or anything)

maybe there is a reason behind the loss of sleep
when things arent right maybe your just supposed to be awake
dont change it bro it my help u one day

I don't have Insomnia, nor do I usually have trouble sleeping. But I have an extremely active mind. I am always playing the "chess game", figuring things out in my head. That sometimes makes it difficult to turn your mind off.

What works for me, in addition to the great suggestions in this thread are:

Melatonin - 3mg and if that doesn't work...5mg
Fantasy thoughts - Simply think of yourself, while trying to go to sleep, in a movie of the type you find interesting.
A cool breeze - An air cleaner set on low, lightly blowing on my face helps
No TV - Don't sleep with the TV on
Reality - Understand that there are things you can not control. There are things that you can not fix. There are problems that will ALWAYS be there. Realize that you can not do anything to fix some things and (at least for me) it makes that problem not stick in my head so much.

Just my 2 cents.

reply to post by TheArchaeologist


If you have it that bad i would recommend marijuana, dont try manmade drugs they will make it worse. Im not a hippie or any big time stoner. I suffer from real bad depression and so far i`ve tried all kinds of things and a nice joint or bowl of weed just makes it better. It grows naturally, you cannot overdose on it and the worst side affect is a bad case of the munchies. Many people think its bad because its against the law and are stuck with all the ancient sterotypes but i think it will work for you. But make sure you are in a comfortable place throw in a good movie or some music and try to calm down before you start, paranoia tends to sink in sometimes.

Take your laptop or something and watch a video while laying on the bed. Or do that when watching tv.

reply to post by TheArchaeologist

If you smoke cigarettes you should cut those out, or at least have your last one after dinner, doing an hour or 2 of cardio might help, and if you have a TV in your room take it out of there, Have you tried smoking pot during the day. I know if i burn one at about 4-5 oclock i get really tired around 10 unless i drink a monster or something. i hope some of this helps.

Something I forgot to mention in my previous post--your insomnia may be a sign of an underlying mental health issue. It might be useful to talk to a psych doctor. They may prescribe you medication that might help with the underlying causes of insomnia, which are often things like stress, depression and high anxiety. Combined with your sleeping meds, it could finally get you "over the hump" so to speak.

reply to post by TheArchaeologist


Cannabis my friend. Find your sleepy dosage, don't smoke too much. After lots of different doctors prescriptions both from the chemist and herbal...it was the only thing that helped. I just needed to chill out and find my spiritual center.

reply to post by deltaboy


Read a book, not a technical one.

Video is bad because the screen most likely has a flourescent backlight which is BLUE light and that will keep you awake even more. Try not watching TV before bed and even the computer.

They do sell those YELLOW glasses to filter out flourescent blue light to reduce fatague.

Just stop watching TV and sitting in front of the computer, 1 or more hours before bed, read a book

reply to post by TheArchaeologist


I have problems sleeping, and have been to many doctors who have prescribed many pills. I have PTSD and anxiety. I've been on every medication for sleep and none of them had satisfying results. Either they didn't work or made me feel brain dead the following day. Most recently, a doctor prescribed Ativan (lorazapam) for me and I sleep well enough. It is an anti-axiety pill and not a sleep aid. I take some about an hour before bedtime and feel relaxed enough to sleep when the time comes. It helps to cut down on the number of thoughts racing through my head.