Difficulties sleeping...

So I have a headache pretty sure from not sleeping right, keep ending up thinking I am seeing things out of the corner of my eye...probably due to not sleeping enough. Its about 3 in the morning now and want to sleep, thought of taking trazodone so I can but am afraid of dreams related to things on my mind being overwhelming or very unpleasant.

perhaps some lavender tincture can help with getting some rest when I sleep which is what I will try to do now.

I have the feeling of seeing something out the corner of my eyes often, daily for long periods, and my therapist told me a while back that it was part of the hyper vigilance that happens with ptsd. It's a horrid thing when it happens at night, sorry you are being kept awake and affected by this.

Lavender can help with sleep. What about a chamomile tea or if you like milky drinks then a warm milky drink apparently help. Rest well when you can Hellion.

I get that corner of eye thing as well when I'm sleep deprived. A shadow will become a silhouette, a rock a dead bird, a spot on the floor a spider, etc. When I get normal sleep it goes away.

Do you have any melatonin supplements? Even half of one of those can zonk most people out if they're trying to sleep.

I had a cup of chamomile tea earlier last night I try to drink that before going to bed when I remember to it seems to help a bit. And I don't really even have like horrid nightmares every night or anything like that just weird, overwhelming dreams that sometimes end up being related to traumatic stuff or bad things in the past. But yeah just got a little freaked out with the seeing stuff out of the corner of my eye, I actually was worried about being confronted by something evil that could try to be harmful..but I am not 12 its not like there's a demonic shadowy figure that is going to come just to scare the crap out of me in the dark but that is what i was more or less afraid of when I went out to smoke before I came in and posted this.

Makes sense some of that is related to hypervigalence though, I really do hate that its like I just want to relax and my mind is off trying to figure out what dangerous situation could arise right then and what to do.

No I do not not sure what exactly melatonin is..but yeah I kept thinking I saw or thought I saw spiders throughout the day yesterday, but I also didn't sleep much at all the night before. I once went 5 days with no sleep messing around with adderall recreationally and things got weird. But yeah its like I am afraid to sleep since i know I will just have overwhelming dreams that make me feel stressed when I wake up so even taking something to sleep can be hard for me....but at the same time if I don't get a reasonable amount of sleep its only a matter of time before I start suffering the full effects of sleep deprivation which is also scary.

Melatonin is something your brain produces that helps you maintain a regular sleep cycle. It plays a role in telling you to wake up in the morning once it gets light, and makes you tired at night when it gets dark. The supplements just give the brain a bit extra, which gives that sleepiness a bit of a kick so it's easier to fall asleep.

You wouldn't want to take it every night for weeks on end since that can (over time) decrease the amount your brain thinks it needs to produce on it's own. But it's good for nights when you want to sleep but can't, or for when your sleeping rolls out of normal hours and you want to reset it.

If it's your dreams that you're wanting to avoid you may find keeping a dream journal to be beneficial, and to practice some of the techniques people use for lucid dreaming (they're called reality checks). Whenever you encounter anxiety in waking life you would do a reality check, and that way the habit will translate into your dreams. When you do a reality check in a dream it will fail, which causes you to realize your dreaming. At that point you can choose to wake up, or you can exert control over the dream (lucid dreaming) and change whatever is happening in it.

That was how I managed to stop having flashback dreams earlier in my life.

I was having nightmares and my doc put me on 6mg of prozatin (I think that's what it's called) and it helped stop the nightmares. I do have dreams everynight though and I hate it. Hopefully she can increase my prozatin. It works so you should ask your doctor about that medication. I also take melatonin at night and it helps me fall asleep.

I think I did try it, and it didn't really help but they couldn't give me a higher dosage because it would lower my blood pressure too much or something...apparently my blood pressure is already sort of low most of the time. But not sure if that was the one I tried or not.

from what I heard melatonin causes horribly vivid dreams though.

also, this may help.
Trauma Nightmares and Lucid Dreaming - Kellevision
(I found that since i can't do lucid dreaming, i just recap the dream, however brutal it sounds and then end it on the note i want it to end. that way I realize it is a dream and can manipulate it to something less scary).

I had interesting experience with salvia (a brew... I used like 7 or so small leaves of the plant)... I had dreams on it, vivid and my mind was going to memory lane.... but I was able to think of it... neutraly (and I dug up memories tht were cool but forgotten). I am not sure I would recommend it though, as it is potent plant and it's said that in salvia daze you will see yourself the way others see you.... (to get really high though, you would need much more of the plant).

GABA is depleted by prolonged stress. Supplementation.will normalise you and.restore normal.sleep.and normal dreams without nightmares. This is a cure by restoration. I have not found any relief fromnightmares and sleep resistance because of fear of nightmares in herbs or sleep.meds or psych meds or anything but GABA.

Yoga works wonders too. Try TRE as.well.

I often too get headaches anytime I wake up and it's usually when I didn't get that much sleep during the night. Maybe you should try meditating right before you go to bed. Wish I could be more helpful to you, but I'm suffering with this as well and wanted to let you know you're not alone.