Insomnia. Why?

Originally posted by seeker1963
reply to post by qualm91

 

Your describing what I the psych community calls "racing thoughts". During the day they are tolerable, but at night they really suck!

I suffer from the same problem. What helps me is to read fiction before I go to bed, until I have a hard time keeping my eyes open...... It seems that when I close my eyes, my mind is still focused on the story I was reading and I easily fall asleep....

I used to take meds to get to sleep, but I refuse to take Big Pharms poison anymore!

Anyhow, I wish you the best, no matter how you try to solve your problem!

Actually, i have conquered my mind. I don't have racing thoughts anymore as i can eliminate my thoughts at will.

I often partake in silence my new found ability and it is quite calming. I also have filled the void i feel inside me as well. I do not feel empty, nor lonely. Its actually quite amazing. I don't desire any woman at all. ( I am straight) I just don't feel that woman are that important. They have nothing to offer me anything i would want. Therefore i do not need them.

I have replaced all of my stress with Prophecy... -_- And it wasn't my choice. I had this stuff FORCED upon me, what was my choice was the initiation. Which i blindly accepted not knowing that the world would be put on my shoulders. Now here i am being a crazy !@#hole. Telling people about my secrets. Things that would get me killed. Why? Because of the visions of end times i had. I do not want it to come true. I do not want to see these ships invade. I want to stop them. I had no idea about any of this, until much later after Anubis showed himself to me and my friend. See my avatar? That is Anubis. You know. The hellhounds people see. They are egyptian gods. And they are running around implanting dreams in people.

In the following months many people will have dreams about earthquakes and alien invasions. I know this because i am a key factor in this whole scheme. Believe it or not.

So that would be my only stress. Is knowing to much, tho i do not over think or have a racing mind. It is the burden of knowing.

My body also aches and i roll around a lot when i try to sleep. Which prevents me from dozing off. I have felt permanently stoned after i had my awakening and everything dawned on me.

Welcome to the end my friend, The sky HAS OPENED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have the racing thoughts thingy. I lay at night and its like I can't turn my brain off. It's a never ending list of things I worry about.

My doc gave me Seroquel and while it helped, it also led to weight gain. I've been weaning myself off of it...two more weeks to go!

Since I've taken Seroquel (2.5 years) I've worked on meditation and trying other ways to calm the thoughts. It's my hope when I'm off the Seroquel that I can take what I've learned and put it to good use.

Something that does help me, valerian root taken about thirty minutes before bedtime. Then I put on an audiobook set to turn off after a set amount of time and fall asleep listening to it.

Interestingly enough, although I tend to sleep poorly through the week, I oversleep on the weekends. Today I woke up after sleeping 16 solid hours. I'll fall back asleep in a couple of hours, wake up at a decent time on Sunday, and have a great day with lots of energy.

I think some people just have funky sleep patterns. If I didn't work, my normal tendency would be to stay up late and sleep all day. Maybe I'm nocturnal?

I just don't feel that woman are that important.

reply to post by CrypticSouthpaw


This is profoundly sad and disturbing at the same time.

Women are people, just like men. We have purpose, and as much importance as anyone else.

Insomnia? Maybe if you shut ATS off at ten pm you could get to sleep. I can't

reply to post by smyleegrl


God people can take anything out of context if they feel the need to.

Woman are people too. I just don't follow kitties around because they are a waste of time.

And i don't care, Its my life other people can chase that crap, money and anything else that leads to Sin.
Il pass

Everybody experience episodes of insomnia once in a while, I had them too, my husband calls the "racing thoughts" the "chatter box" because the mind keeps repeating itself over and over everything that happens all day.

I take herbal remedies to calm down and be able to have restfulll sleep, exercises, yoga, meditation, deep relaxation and anything that wears the body down helps with sleep, I have done it all.

Finding a routine before bed also helps get the body and mind used to be ready for the sleep time.

I also have the problem with anxiety it wakes me up suddenly and keep me from falling asleep until I relax enough and realize that I am not going to die.

This episodes can happen to anybody but they subside and you get to have normal sleep patterns again, sadly for some it may take longer to find a way to deal with this problem.

reply to post by marg6043


I remember what that was like. Sometimes i stay up because i don't want to be caught off guard by greys.

LOL. That is my reason. Serious. Iv already had a couple lurking around my house but they got chased off.

A bird or w.e it was. Was responding to me speaking holy scriptures screaching through my wall. A bird in an earthly instance. Except i heard something tumbling on my roof. And its only one story. This happened last week i think or just a little later.

I am becoming less and less afraid of the black dogs and panthers but those experiences were still traumatic. I honestly knew those beings were the ones that have been lurking in my closet ever since i could remember. So they defiantly pop by from time to time to check up on me. Only things might be escalating now. I was never sent over the edge you know. Not until i came to my realization of my visions and my experiences just everything. It all came crashing down. The key factor in me figuring out what i needed to know was from my visions of the Towers.

I talked to someone random and they mentioned lots of indian Lore about these towers. Told me about the prophecy of the rattlesnake. I asked my close friend if he had any dreams about towers and he had an identical one around the same time i did a year ago. I only recently put it all together this year, Everything.

The beings i encountered, i dug up myths and legends. I found that the lion mythology is everywhere. I knew i knew something important. I never really expected me to be the messenger in this game. But w.e. im allowed to claim what i want. And that is my reason why i cannot sleep really. Also i crack my back to much and it makes me roll around. But its mostly checking my curtains to make sure i don't see any reptillian grey hands trying to climb in. Il throw a bottle at their head and go for the neck. scratching and kicking.

Their towers i saw in the vision.


Randomly typed cigar shaped ufo and got this. (since a ciguar shaped ufo is basically a tower and looked almost identical to what i saw and there were pods on them coming down taking people) These towers actually landed on the ground standing upright and towers hundreds of feet. Like some freaky escalator ride to hell.

Heres something interestingly random i found,

www.exopaedia.org...

UFO The term "UFO" stands for "Unidentified Flying Object." A vast majority of UFO-sightings can easily be explained. It usually involves either a natural phenomenon, or an "identified" flying object, like a weather balloon, or a sattellite. Depending on the source, between two to five percent of UFO sightings involve real flying objects that are genuinely unidentified. In real numbers, those two to five percent still constitute a large amount of forty to fifty thousands of sightings every year! Yet there is a remarkable degree of consistency with regard to the shapes of the "spaceships" that people encounter. There seem to be six main categories, two of which look indeed like "flying saucers." A first type looks like an upside down saucer. Often it has a dome on top. A second type is similar, but looks more like two saucers on top of each other, the top one upside down. Again, these ships often have a dome on top. A third type consists of spheres or balls. Then there are the cigars, ships that are silvery in colour, and look like one giant cigar. Next are the triangular ships with pulsating lights. These ships are seen more and more frequently. Lastly, there are the ships that are oval shaped, or look like an egg. Other types of crafts - that, e.g., look like croissants or crescent moons, or that have geometrical shapes, have been encountered, too, but not as frequently as those other types. It is believed that the saucer-like ships are used by both humanoid (mainly Pleiadian) and Reptilian / Grey species. Thus far, mainly Greys have been seen near the cigar-shaped ships, and both Greys and humanoids near the triangular ships. The humanoids that occupy the croissant-like ships often identify themselves as Sirians. Still, insufficient data is available to make any definite assertions.

HOOT HOOT someones reptillian >.>

I generally have the problem staying asleep. I sleep in short bursts at best, maybe two or three hours, then I have to get up and wander the house, go back to sleep for another two or three hours. Dad says it's me still standing a watch, and yeah, the timing's about right. I guess you get into habits.

Anyway, when I do have falling-asleep insomnia, I find that I either ate sugary foods like cake or pie, or I had caffeine too late in the day (after 5pm, for example) or I didn't grab a ruck and run for a mile or so that day. If I don't get some sort of aerobic exercise in I will rattle around just like you describe. Jumping rope outside will do it, running is good, I have an elliptical trainer that will get the job done but it's not as good as jumping rope for me.

In terms of meds, of course the VA always wants you to take Trazodone, they give it out like candy for anything that ails you. Traz has a lot of side effects with me, I'll go to sleep alright but I wake up in about three hours with...um...a cialis-OD like problem that can be pesky to the old lady. If you want to get a nap followed by an hour of mad wolverine whoopie, then maybe Traz is for you, but it doesn't help the lack of sleep issue.

A valerian-hops-skullcap bomb is VERY useful, I don't take it often but when I do, it's generally this one. I have never found a better insomnia cure, and while it's pricey and tastes like fermented liquid ass, it gets the job done promptly and with a decisiveness I don't get from ambien.

If it's just the racing thoughts thing, another thing you might want to give a try is a really chunky dose of inositol. Like a teaspoon of powder in a glass of water. You can buy it by the pound. It tastes tart and sweet, although some people can taste it as bitter, but it will damp down the secondary traffic in your head to a near silence.

reply to post by qualm91


My best advice besides like others have said, eating healthy, and excersize/hard work will make you tired and crave sleep. Eat dinner earlyish. And in general try to get into an earlier sleep schedule. When you do eventually fall asleep what time is it and when do you wake up? Try to wake up early like 6 or 7 or 8 am, go the whole day without sleeping or napping and by 9 or 10 you should be tired. and then keep that up. You say you meditate; the whole deal with meditation is stilling and quieting the mind. When you lay in bed, deep breathes, relax, and meditate. No worries, no thoughts. In order to sleep you have to be willing to let go, let go of your thoughts and the time, you cant feel like your missing out on something (reading, tv, computer, thinking), you have to accept the fact that nothing it wrong in your life or the world, and that for some time you will not need to exist, and that time is sleep. Make plans and a schedule something that you force yourself to wake up early, and once you are in the habit of waking early, and going the whole day, your body and mind should be tired by night, and should look forward to going to sleep because you will know how rested you have to be to get through the day.

Sounds old fashioned, but, hypnotism.

Any improvements? I've been hoping for the best since reading your posts. Lately I've been putting on Mystery Science Theater at night and it has become comforting such that I fall sound asleep, though it may also be related to the longer hours I've been working, getting up earlier, walking longer mileages and such. Good luck.

reply to post by qualm91

Insomnia. Why?

Most common cause is Anxiety

reply to post by centhwevir1979


Thank you for checking up on me. I don't think improvement is what you would call it, haha. I've been sleeping better than usual the past week but I've been having terrible nightmares every time I fall asleep.

what are you eating exactly, if i may ask?

you say you are 22 and a recovering drug addict; and that you are anemic. i don't know, but i am guessing you probably just 'grab' foods, or spend a lot of time making a supposedly healthy dinner. if you were my patient, i would put you on a diet of high protein; preferably lots of poultry(all kinds, too), lean beef, and a little fish thrown in now and then. i would also recommend more starches, things like mashed potatoes made properly are healthy and help balance the body. i would also encourage you drink milk if you like it, especially at bedtime--and the real kicker--i would not take any meds, whether they be over the counter or prescription, throw em in the toilet. rather, have a glass or two of a good wine with your meal; not only will help you digest all that great heavy food, but you might see an improvement in your ability to just 'shut off' once in awhile

diet is very related to sleep patterns, as is iron-deficiency..well, good luck to you, i know this is like 'old fashioned advice' but it works for me and everyone in the fam.. (and hey, we are some of those folks who should be afraid to sleep :: )

reply to post by qualm91


Insomnia happens because of 2 main reasons. 2 MAIN reasons. Either you watched tv all day and your brain went into sleep mode like your computer does when you don't use it but it's left on. Doesn't take alot of brain power to watch tv especially if it's been trained all it's life to watch tv.

Or you have a lot in the future about to happen and you need to prepare and plan for it. Say someone made you angry by a comment they said. You'll toss and turn showing them how dumb they are with your comments in your mind.

So you are very prepared to have that conversation again. And that is just an example. You may know you have an exam coming up and you know there is gonna be a few questions on there your going to struggle with because you always get 2 answers mixed up. It happened on the last test.

So you are preparing yourself to excel in those areas.

So like I've said. Brain either has to much energy stored up. Or your preparing.

I have insomnia also. It's the same, racing thoughts. If you exercise a lot, your metabolism is probably pretty high which probably doesn't help.

I have sleep apnea also so I wake up several times a night because I stop breathing. Because of the apnea, I get prescribed adderall to help me focus during the day but that will keep me awake at night if I take it too late in the day.

I took ambian a while back but I liked that too much. So I learned to just accept it. Sometimes I don't get any sleep and I just go forward. I was out of work for the last 3 months and just started a new job 2 weeks ago. I got about 2 hours of sleep total between last Tuesday night and Wednesday night. I rarely have back to back nights like that. I think it was due to the change in schedule. I was so used to sleeping until 11 being unemployed.

I usually get about 4 hours of sleep. 6 is rare. Rutine helps. Going to bed the same time and doing the same rituals. I'm working on that now with the new schedule.

reply to post by ZetaRediculian


Our situations sound very, very similar. I've tried many, many home remedies. And many "spiritual" (I'm not quite sure if that's the correct word in this situation but I'm gonna go with it anyway) remedies. Nothing works. Except the drugs, which I don't want to take because I tend to...enjoy them too much and start using them too much in return. And when I do get sleep I'm plagued with nightmares. It's a very tiresome thing. Because even when I get sleep I still toss and turn because of the nightmares and wake up hardly remembering where I'm at because my dreams feel so real. It's quite scary.

There are safer drugs than Ambien; I can't recommend my favorite here, but I can endorse herbal teas like the Yogi brand or Traditional Medicinals. Also, I have great luck with certain audio tracks played through headphones, like the Monroe Institute's Sound Sleeper with Verbal. Certain movie soundtracks and instrumental pieces help, as well.

reply to post by qualm91


Hi qualm91, Here I sit reading your topic with my usual insomnia thing goin on too. Boy, can I relate to all you have mentioned. I have suffered from this problem my entire life.
I am not sure what causes it but nothing stops it. I've tried everything....meditation, various supplements/vitamins/pills/foods...honey, milk, trytophane containing foods, nothing works.

Sometimes it is as you mentioned...the thoughts and memories in my head just won't shut down and I just can't seem to stop thinking. Other times, my mind is quiet and I don't feel like it is that yet sleep still won't come. Sometimes, I'll sleep for a while and have such bad nightmares that I wake up drenched and my heart pounding and then too afraid to go back to sleep. Tonite was actually one of those nights. I realized I was having a bad dream and was trying to do the lucid dream thing and wake myself out of it but couldn't for a long time...was horrible to not be able to get out of that dream! I hate when I have episodes like that.

Sometimes, I'm so tired, I fall asleep in my recliner while watching tv but as soon as I get to bed, that ends and no matter how tired I feel, the sleep won't come or takes a long time to happen or is sporadic. Never wake up feeling refreshed and great even when I do sleep...which is rare. I hate it!

Sometimes when I'm sick I'll sleep too much but as soon as I get well, that ends. Is all so weird.
I had a bad childhood and used to be scared at nite but not sure if that is the cause. My mind is my worst enemy sometimes as it just keeps going at nite like video tapes being played in my head non-stop. I am always so tired and I feel like my health would be better if I slept better...High BP and such. Some nights, I just sit at the edge of the bed and cry. I know what you are going through and sympathize, for sure. I wish things would change for us.

It makes life a little harder to never be able to feel rested enough. It is a rare night when I do sleep and when I do, nightmares occur often. Pleasant dreams happen on occassion but my night never really lasts as long as it should for good health and healing time, no matter what and I hate that. Hugs and Blessings to you. I am dead tired right now so hope I made sense.

I have tried reading at night, daytime excercising and none of that helps either. Eating healthy hasn't helped either. I try and not to over do on computer or at the doom/gloom threads but I do post a lot at nite at times as nothing else to do at nite and don't want to wake hubby. I like a lot of the people that come here so I enjoy that at least and feel better chatting here instead of just staring at the ceiling. What a drag. Take care.

reply to post by CosmicQuest


Hi CosmicQuest, I feel like anxiety may be the dealy in my case in a way as hubby has been very sick and still is and my health has been sucky lately too and I think about all the bad health scenarios that may be ahead for us like stroke/heart....nursing home dealys or whatever and that dosen't help. Hubby has already had 2 by-pass heart surgeries. When I was younger/child, I had awful stress from abuse so anxiety may have always been at the root of my sleep problems now that I think about it, as you said. I just wish it could stop. The doc prescribed a short, low dose script for one of the minor tranqs and it does get me relaxed/sleepy but seems to make nightmares actually worse? So, I don't go that route anymore.