When you can’t sleep
This stuff must actually work.* I only woke up once last night to use the bathroom and fell right back asleep. And I slept like a log on the train ride to work this morning!
What do you do when you can’t sleep?
I normally would not take drugs to help me sleep. I actually try to avoid over-the-counter drugs as much as possible. However, I haven’t been sleeping well for weeks. At first because we were in the hospital for so many days, and then because I had a cold. I thought being exhausted would help me sleep, but I think stress is keeping me up. My mind is racing at all hours of the night. I try to shut it off, but all these thoughs pop in to my head.
So my sister suggested I try these. Thanks Christina!
Hopefully this issue will go away soon.
*Or it’s a placebo and the fact that I was up at 4:00 am yesterday, worked all day, “ran” errands then ran 5 miles just made me tired enough that I could finally sleep.
Themocracy
If I know I’ve got enough time to sleep the drugs off I will take them… but that’s rare. I’d have to take one at 8 I feel like or I’d be falling asleep at work! I find the more stressed I am about falling asleep – which of course happens more frequently when I’m having trouble sleeping over a stretch of time – the harder it is to do so because my mind is racing with a million different thoughts.
My go-to things though are hot tea (not caffeinated of course), a vanilla-lavender eye pillow, and deep breathing while counting the seconds for each breath in and out.
I take the up & up version on unisom. It knocks me out dead to the world for 8 hours. I don’t do it often, but when I get to the point of the walking dead and I can’t sleep–this is my go to.
I loved the asterisk comment! 🙂
I am supposed to run 8 miles tonight… I should see if I sleep as well without taking these pills!
I normally have no trouble at all sleeping… but for at least a week after Joey’s mom passed I had trouble falling asleep. My mind was filled with so many memories and thoughts that I just couldn’t fall asleep. I would eventually fall asleep though so I never resorted to any sleep aids though.
I eventually fall asleep too, but wake up every hour or so! Then it makes you feel like you haven’t slept at all. Hate it!
When I was in the crux of awful work stress I took them—it made a huge difference. Sleep is vital! I’m so sorry about all of this.
Thanks HotchPotchery 🙂
If I can’t fall asleep I try to read or watch tv, It tends to work. I also have some hot chocolate or green tea.
I don’t require a lot of sleep, but I’m also up at least once a night. It started being significant once I lived on my own, and I’ve never found much of a remedy. I sleep like I rock when I stay at my parents’ house 🙂 How’s that for an aid?!?
When my shoulder was acting up the doctor gave me some muscle relaxants to try. Those things made me sleep so well! I know, though, I have to take them early enough in the night or it’s really difficult to get out of bed in the morning.
I’m afraid to try any of the other over-the-counter sleep aids, though. I took Tylenol PM once when I was sick and it made me hallucinate!
Do you think the Tylenol PM did it, or the fact that you were sick? I just ask, since I have been sick before and had those weird dreams I was telling you about, as well as not understand where I am or what is going on. That’s been happening since I was a kid though 😉
My mind often won’t shut off and even if I am exhausted, it still keeps chugging. It’s like my mind is on speed! I haven’t ever taken a sleep aid but have friends who rely on them. I’m glad you got some zzz’s finally.
I wish I could just figure out how to shut off! It’s so weird! I even tried counting and deeply breathing but thoughts kept popping up!
Sigh. I’ve been taking prescription sleeping pills for about 5 years now. I have what’s called myoclonic jerks. I thought for sure that once I started running and exercising, it would stop. It hasn’t. I can’t tell you how disappointed I was.
I’ve taken that when I can’t sleep. Actually, I take Benadryl which has exactly the same ingredients. A lot of people don’t realize that – ha. Diphenhydramine HCL is what’s in Tylenol PM, Benadryl, over-the-counter sleep aids, etc. It makes me just woozy enough. However, it definitely doesn’t work as well for me now as it did when I first tried it. I think there is some tolerance that builds up. These days, I try to just relax if I can’t sleep. I figure my body will catch up sometime. I have intermittent insomnia and I try to just accept it. My head just goes and goes sometimes… Hope you’re getting some good rest!
Yeah, I want to be careful so I don’t build up an intolerance. I couldn’t sleep the two nights after using it. 🙁 Maybe I am just like you! 🙂
I think there is definitely a time and a place for taking something to help you sleep. Sometimes you just need a solid and quality night’s sleep to get back on track. I would consider taking this for sure!!
Kim, I have been taking melatonin for the past three weeks to help me sleep. I love it! It is a naturally occurring hormone found in the body that just signals you that it’s time to sleep. I can’t stand other OTC sleep aids because they make me feel like I’m being drowned or something, even Tylenol PM. But melatonin is the bomb.
Where do you find that? I looked for it and they did not have it at Tar-jay.
I have been having trouble sleeping since I was a little kid. Sometimes it gets better (for me, that’s when I’m practicing yoga regularly), but I often have to take something. I use melatonin. It’s a natural remedy and dissolves under my tongue. Everything else makes me feel like a zombie. But, melatonin? I love it!
Where do you get melatonin?
Whenever I can’t sleep I just let myself toss and turn until exhaustion finally knocks me out. It is extremely frustrating though because I don’t WANT to lay awake for hours trying to sleep, especially when I’m tired.
Hopefully those pills will help you get some rest! And hopefully you won’t need to take them for long. I hate taking things like that too.
I cant take sleeping pills because they give me so much anxiety that I cant sleep. Its ridiculous, but an ex boyfriend said something once about how they “will kill you” he probably said that because I was taking them when I was suffering with my ED, and was too weak to handle that kind of thing. But ever since they’ve scared the crap out of me. Instead I have a couple glasses of wine, or sleepytime tea.
LOL! Maybe I should just try the wine idea! 😉
With the exception of recreational drugs (he he), I do my best to reduce how many prescription and over the counter drugs I take. 2 advils at night when I have sore muscles or a headache help me relax and sleep. When I simply can’t sleep, it’s usually I have something weighing very heavy on my mind. For that, I would prefer just to sort out what’s bothering me, living with a few sleepless nights than to take any OTC sleep aids. Even cold pills when I have a cold mess with my ecosystem more than I want them to, so I just use more natural products to curb the effects of the cold (Grapefruit Seed Extract pills I get at Whole Foods work the best for me).
Reading or eating something sometimes does the trick for me. Sometimes. More often than not though, I just have to get up and start the day.
I’m glad they helped you get some sleep sister! 🙂 You don’t need any extra stress from not sleeping right now.
Love you!
Ummmm I should have tried this back in April/May when i wasn’t sleeping at all! It’s good to know they work though.