[roxyskater]

Dear Friends,

With me, the night time comes and I really want to sleep but I will get this bad memory and it will snowball into a whole bunch of bad memories...things I shouldnt be thinking about anymore...soon they becoming racing thoughts that I can not control...and then I cant sleep at all...I up and down until finally I come to the computer and try to talk to someone and Im crying over things and Im cutiing to gain some control over something ....to try and stop the thoughts and concentrate on the pain instead. These nights are spent crying and trying to type to get my feelings out of my head and onto the screen....its the best I can do right now My doctor does give me 3 meds for sleeping but on the bad nights the meds dont even work.

Sincerely,

Roxy

[perpetuallysad]

I'm sorry you have such a hard time with racing thoughts. They can certainly ruin a tired mood when you could really sleep, but are instead just tortured by a bunch of remembering and "what ifs". I have a sorta goofy tactic that I use (and is mostly successful): when I cannot get to sleep right away - this is most nights - I try to think of something really complex that will require all of my attention; like I may try to do a bunch of difficult math in my head, count by 43s something really hard for me OR I will try to only think in another language (I use French since its the only other language I know). Anyway, most of the time this is usually successful after about 20 - 30 mins. I know it sounds lame, but it does a great deal towards quieting my mind down to just ONE set of thoughts instead of a zillion things that remind me of a zillion more that all keep me from resting.

I hope that was helpful.

[Perna]

I read before I go to sleep so usually have a good novel I'm into and can think about what I've just read and those characters instead of my own worries. If it's middle of the night, I often will go down and treat myself to some toast or yogurt, do some little chore and think about what I'm going to work on the next day, etc.

[Rebound]

I am so glad to see these posts because I have much the same experiences. I torture myself with branching paths of reasoning that seem to go on forever into studies of the worst of my behaviour and they bring awful images that I can't get out of my mind.

I try much the same things as perpetuallysad but also, I try controlling my breathing and heart rate, thinking about some topic I'm really interested in, and for the images, I try to picture a blank white wall on a black background that gradually gets smaller and smaller until there's just black. It seems to help. There's no particular order I do them in, but I keep trying one after the other until something works, if anything.

I hope you can find something that works for you. It's awful, especially when you have a need to get up at a particular time and that just adds to the pressure of trying to get to sleep.

Take care.

[AuntieV]

Reading does not work for me because I get wrapped up in the story and end up reading all night.

I agree about trying different things till something works. Right now I am looking for some new ideas too because my brain just will not be tricked with the old tried and true methods.

One that has worked for me in the past was remembering sitting in a class with a teacher pacing back and forth lecturing in a monotone voice. I can not remember the teachers name but I can sure remember the droan and pacing. I still have not figured out how I passed the class.