Can't Sleep

I go to bed pretty early. I go to bed pretty early because I always wake up early, regardless of when I went to bed. Four, five o'clock in the morning. I've been trying to go to sleep for more than two hours. No luck. Took the sleeping pills. Took the tranquilizers. No luck.

This happens from time to time. Around eight o'clock in the evening my brain now and then goes into overdrive. And I can't shut it down. One thought leads to another, intensively, and on and on and on. Lie down, turn off the lights, nothing works. Like a truck stuck in the mud spinning its wheels. And I'm perfectly aware I'm not having earth-shattering thoughts. But they're so pretty, like Christmas tree lights, more and more and more of them.

Actually what it feels like is drinking a quart of espresso. But I haven't. Yet I keep going and going and going. The pills aren't worth a thing when we're up against this phenomenon. Unless I want to take phenomenal quantities, which unfortunately would create all kinds of prescribing difficulties and pdoc problems.

I like sleep. I'd like to do more of it. Seriously. If I could do more of it I'd probably have more dreams, since the ones I remember seem to come mostly at the tail end of it around six or seven o'clock in the morning. Which is no good for me if I'm up everyday (as I am) at four or five. And if I had more dreams my T and I could go through them for Insights. Which would be nice. Insights are always nice, even if they don't feel particularly good at the time.

So here I am, typing away when I should be snoring, wondering how many of you guys are out there doing the same thing. All over the world. Time to try again. Take care!

I'd give you some of my Seroquel if I could, that **** knocks you out!

Hi Ygrec,

I'm sorry to hear of your sleep difficulties, and boy, can I empathize. I wish I could be a font of knowledge and suggestions for you on this one, but maybe I can be something helpful, nonetheless--a signpost. You may want to have a look at my posts in the Sleep Issues and Health Support forums concerning lack of sleep--people left me some very good approaches and strategies that may be of use to you. Forgive me for not having direct links handy.

I do envy your ability to get up at the crack of dawn. I can do it when I must, but my body clock is set a mite later than that, and I've always been more a child of the night than a zippy day person. I do enjoy daylight, however, and like getting up early in the morning--just can't convince myself of the lifestyle, I suppose.

Hope you are able to get some restful sleep soon, Ygrec.

Thanks, Nola! I didn't even know there WAS a sleep issues forum, otherwise I would have posted there! Take care.

Certainly hope that doesn't stop people from discussing the dreaded Night of Elusive Sleep with you here! Just wanted to offer some help--people mentioned some good stuff in those other threads.

I hope you were finally able to get some sleep Yg... I take a low dose of Seroquel and giving it a couple of few hours to kick in it usually can slow my brain down enough to help me get to sleep. It doesn't always work though and I admit I don't always help it along. I am not a big fan of sleep myself. It can sometimes actually trigger a mood swing sometimes. I would limit my sleep to a few hours to lessen the chances of a mood swing. Either way I like the energy I feel in the night through to sunrise. It is when I usually feel my best. Life doesn't afford me the opportunity to sleep in the day so if I don't get to bed early enough to get at least 3 hours before the alarm is due to go off then I just stay up till the next night. I vow to stabilize my sleep patterns and for the most part I have been a good girl about it but with the holidays it was too easy to slip off schedule. Risky but its been fun!

Oh.... I heard this the other day.... a little bit of mineral salt on the tongue is a great sleep aid. I haven't tried it because I don't want to go to sleep but I will since I happen to have some around here. It would be great if it worked so I could cut out the seroquel.

Thanks Nola for the hint about the other thread. I will visit there to and see what ideas people have. Sometimes it really is a pain to not be able to sleep when you need it.

I used melatonin and it works pretty well. You can get it from 3mg to 10mg. I take 5mg. It is found in the vitamin isle in the stores. I am not sure if you are in the US, but I am and they sell it over the counter. It helps the racing thoughs to quiet and my mind is still and allows me to sleep. Hope this helps

Hi sanityseeker, I don't know how you manage with such a small amount of sleep some nights! I used to do that when I was in college, but I was also working a full-time job then, and had an active social life. I felt like three people sometimes, none of whom slept very much.

I hope you, Ygrec, and anyone else who feels motivated to get that good night's sleep has found it or will find it shortly, at least before the alarm goes off again.

Its symptomatic I guess. I am moderately hypomanic right now so I just don't get tired. I have been up for 2 days now and I could easily stay up all night again. It has been like that all week. 2 nights up and one night down. It doesn't really effect my energy in the day but I do loose my balance a little bit.

When I am in this state it is too hard to get myself into a sleep mode so I end up not trying or putting it off and putting it off until the night is gone anyways. I am trying to convince myself now to shut it down and try to sleep because I know that if I don't it could escellate the mania. I don't know your dx but some of us with bi polar symptoms kind of like the mania and have a hard time giving up even a minute of it when it comes round. The crash is inevitable so it is easy to convince yourself to make the most of the high while it lasts. Totally self distructive and reckless thinking.

I would much rather go into my studio and play with some design work or do some writing or even do some house work right now then even think about going to bed. It will be a battle of wills the next hour or so to see which wins out. At very least I will sign off the internet for the night and see if that can't start a momentum of winding down.

I share Nola's hope for good sleeps all around.