Been a tough stressful week... can't sleep.

[Soap]

You every have a week or two like that?
You just want it to clam down enough to gets some rest/sleep.

I may have had so far this week give or take about 12 hours of sleep.
About 3-4 hours of sleep each night this week.

My meds aren't working and don't work very well when I get like this.
Just simply way too much going on.
My mind is racing and I'm struggling with all of it emotionally and mentally.

It's mostly me and partly everyone else, and I'm being honest about it.
I get in these difficult places moods and etc throughout my life.
I usually get through them fairly well but this one is one of the tougher ones.

I hate it when I can't sleep and get rest.
To know me, knows I can't afford not to lose sleep.
I don't function well without sleep/rest.

When I was younger I was a heavy sleeper.
I could sleep through anything.
The last 15-18 years I've been a light sleeper.
The slightest noise peep I'm wide awake.

If I turn over, I'm wide awake.
If I got to get up to go to the bathroom, I'm wide awake and struggle with getting back to sleep and many times I don't.

There's other stuff that's personal and it adds to it and doesn't help matters none,
and I won't get into that.

Gonna surf the net a bit then try going back to sleep.

Thanks for listening.
Love ya guys and gals.

On a side note,.
I was listening to the news earlier and just when it started to look somewhat better for the people of Japan. Alot damage has been accessed and their food and water and etc has been greatly contaminated. My heart goes out to them across the pond.
Serious life altering life changing stuff they are currently and will continue to deal with.
Very unfortunate.

[Hellbat]

Maybe dome some research on meditation techniques or something. I don't often have problems sleeping but when I do I try to concentrate on slow regular breathing and work to empty my mind (not much in there anyways hehe). If you need the sleep it's usually not too far away once you learn to control the relaxation.

My high school football teacher gave us a few days lessons on meditation and visualization in PE class in grade 12 and it's always helped me in those situations where life was throwing a lot at me and I was having trouble sleeping. Maybe it could do the same for you. You could also try to PM LouSiffer (I believe he practices hypnotism if I recall correctly.) for some self hypnosis tips that could help you control your thoughts a little better.

[DRM]

I've been having insomnia and night terrors for about 13 months now. I have a few things that have been successful with helping me, and might help provide some relief for you as well. If you ever feel like talking about it, just shoot me a PM any time brother.

You deserve some "you" time. Hopefully you push through this stressful period and can take some time to yourself soon. I feel for ya, bro.

[Trem]

Funny you should say that, i can't sleep for shit either and when i do i wake up every three hours.
A lot of shit hit the fan since last couple of months. Lost job, have had to sell axe fx, amps, fx, guitars, savings have dwindled to nothing, have a car that needs some repair that i need to sell but can't afford to fix it to sell it for what it's worth. Luckily have picked up some side work this month or i could be living in a tent. Even with all that, i still am thankful that i'm at least ok for now.. with all the other shit people in the world are going thru i can't bring myself to bitch. My nerves are pretty stretched tho.

[Twitch]

I hear you on the sleep thing. I never sleep very well either and if I dont have an early agenda for the following day its even worse. I usually take Benedryl to knock myself out, but if its a night when I know I dont NEED to sleep, it wont work, so Im sure some of it is mental. My mind races all the time and night time in bed before sleep it gets worse. Endlessly "day dreaming" (no pun intended) about things that have happened previously or that I plan or would like to do course through my mind like an open fire hydrant. I find that like Mr. Bat said about the deep, controlled breathing will work occasionally, but with the tourettes its pointless most of the time. I can actually use the tourettes to narrow my brain activity to telling myself not to twitch, but thats a shot in the dark usually too. Over the many years of sleep deprivation, Ive learned to deal with it by sticking it out and caffeinating myself as much as possible during the morning upon first waking up and desperately looking forward to that day when I can sleep in until noon.

I find I sleep just fine during the day when everyone else is normally awake, but 3rd shift jobs suck, and nights alone are well, lonely. Ive resigned myself to the fact that it is the way it is and probably wont ever change, and I seem to be surviving on not much sleep ok for the most part. I succeed in school and my job, though I do find my general attitude towards most things to be apathetic, but I wont go so far as to say that it comes solely from a lack of sleep.

Surf the web, pop some Benedryl or Nyquil (provided its safe to do so with your meds) and go to bed and dont worry about it, youll survive.

[Grim]

I have chronic insomnia.

I used to drink until I passed out.

[atomic charvel guy]

soapster,
not sleeping is one of the worst feelings in the world.
coming off of ten different types of junk once kept me sleepless for over 17 straight days.
no joke. i was exhausted, worthless, and unable to move, but i could not close my eyes and drop off into any type of sleep whatsoever. then after that 17 or so day assault, i got back about an hour of sleep a day every other day or so. when i got to the 3 hours of sleep point, i was doing cartwheels. then it was sleep 3 hours, stay awake for the rest of the day, hope for 4 hours the next night. it took over 6 months for my sleeping patterns to return to just getting 7 a night with little interuption.
Marijuana is a miracle worker when it comes to sleep for me now.

[dg]

It might be best to see the doctor, especially if you're on meds already. In the last couple of years, my mother-in-law and two friends have all had issues with their meds not working or starting to interfere with each other, and it turned out they all had thyroid problems that were messing with their metabolism. We had another friend who had been trying to get pregnant for years, spent close to six figures on fertility treatments with no luck, then she got checked for a thyroid condition, & once she got that straightened out she got pregnant the next month.

One other thing that I stumbled on accidentally that really worked for me: St John's Wort. I was getting mild depression in the Winter months a few years ago and decided to try St. John's Wort. It worked great for me after about 2 weeks, but it also had the great side effect of helping me get 8 good hours of sleep every night, which I definitely wasn't getting before. There are debates about how it works or whether it's effective or not, but it's prescribed by doctors in Europe and it works well for me, and I still use it a few months a year if I need it. A month's supply is about $10 at WalMart or Target. You shouldn't take it if you're on another antidepressant, though.

[rudociliak]

Well, as a highschool student, I get average around 4-5 hours a night ever since I started going to highschool. I Don't think I fell asleep earlier than 1am since school started And I look like a zombie going through the halls . But who cares, staying up to look at guitars is more important! And yeah, I am always up thinking too, I day dream a whooole lot. If I don't, I feel like a mindless idiot. I sometimes force myself to think about random things until I eventually tire myself out.

[dg]

I was a night owl all through HS and up until I was almost 30. There was an interesting story on one of the news shows about how most teens & young adults are naturally like that, and how early-starting school days hurt them because they all end up like zombies. Supposedly, some school districts in Minnesota went to a 10AM start for HS, and most of the kids' grades went up.

Sorry for the derail. Hope things get better, Soap!

[Endrik]

I never really had insomnia but I know the zombie feeling. The first hours in school were always horrible. I never had problems getting up early but while I was physically awake, most of my mind and body was not, hence the zombie feeling. I always need some time to do absolutely nothing after I wake up. Of course going to bed 4 or 5 AM didn't help either. I was always out, so all the movie watching and jamming on the guitar was done at night. It worked though as the best movies on TV are played during the late hours and I always play the best when its night. Or when it was a party or concert night, then I couldn't go to bed at all as everything starts very late in this country. Usually better gigs start around 11 PM but when I want to go to a club or something like that then I usually leave the home at 2 AM. But it's not like Spain or Argentina either where you go to school or work whenever you feel like it, so there was very little sleeping going on and a lot of zombie experiences when I grew up.

[kramer]

Mary Jane works oh so well for sleep inducement...A little drink helps too......

[Rsmacker]

Put a 5th generation German Sheisser movie into the VCR, put on some fishnet stockings, insert a large dildo up your bum, write "SLUT" and "BUGGER ME DADDY" all over your body in permanent marker, have a nice oily wank, with a well-worn pair of your Mrs' knickers over your face, smear the spooge all over yourself...

I guarantee, the next thing you will hear, after several hours of beautiful sleep, is the door slamming as your wife gets home, followed by stunned silence and possibly sobbing.


Works for me!

[etepbbb]

Try a small portable fan in your room when you sleep. The background noise can be somewhat hypnotic, and it'll help cover other outside noise that wake up light sleepers. Just point the fan in another direction if your cold, the idea is the constant hum. My bro-in-law does this, now he can't sleep without the fan noise.