[daidk]

I suffer from chronic insomnia. I'm not sure exactly when it started, but I know that I was used to the fact that it took me a very long time to get to sleep by the time I was 9 years old. It's only within the last year (probably within the last 6 months, but I'm not sure) that I've been to my doctor about it as it got worse during my mid-teens (I'm 17 now). Doctors where I'm from don't tend to prescribe sleeping pills, but I was given a list of things I could do to try and get better sleep.
I was told to; not have anything containing caffeine withing six hours of going to bed; not have a heavy meal just before bedtime; not do any strenuous exercise within four hours of bedtime; get into a routine of going to bed at the same time and getting up at the same time every day; not do anything mentally demanding within 90 minutes of going to bed; only go to bed when sleepy-tired; not sleep or nap during the day; get up if I can't get to sleep within 20-30 minutes; and exercise during the day.
I tried all of the above and none of them have worked. I still take between 1 and 4 hours to get to sleep at night, feel tired and don't function well during the day, often feel more tired when I wake up in the morning than I did when I went to bed the night before, and get a very poor quality of sleep. Often, I will be very tired during the day but as it gets later at night, I start to feel much more awake. I am also a very restless sleeper and have injured myself several times during sleep, on one of these occasions I had to go to the doctor.
In addition to the things listed above, I have tried herbal sedative tablets (Nytol) containing Hops, Valerian and Passion flower. Although these did make me feel sleepy after taking them, they did not help me get to sleep and I did not feel any better in the morning.
So I would like to know is is there any particular reason why none of these things have worked for me or why I have had trouble sleeping for such a long time and from such a young age and is there anything else I could try that might help me get a better night's sleep?
Any advice is greatly appreciated

[vans1974]

Originally Posted by daidk

I suffer from chronic insomnia. I'm not sure exactly when it started, but I know that I was used to the fact that it took me a very long time to get to sleep by the time I was 9 years old. It's only within the last year (probably within the last 6 months, but I'm not sure) that I've been to my doctor about it as it got worse during my mid-teens (I'm 17 now). Doctors where I'm from don't tend to prescribe sleeping pills, but I was given a list of things I could do to try and get better sleep.
I was told to; not have anything containing caffeine withing six hours of going to bed; not have a heavy meal just before bedtime; not do any strenuous exercise within four hours of bedtime; get into a routine of going to bed at the same time and getting up at the same time every day; not do anything mentally demanding within 90 minutes of going to bed; only go to bed when sleepy-tired; not sleep or nap during the day; get up if I can't get to sleep within 20-30 minutes; and exercise during the day.
I tried all of the above and none of them have worked. I still take between 1 and 4 hours to get to sleep at night, feel tired and don't function well during the day, often feel more tired when I wake up in the morning than I did when I went to bed the night before, and get a very poor quality of sleep. Often, I will be very tired during the day but as it gets later at night, I start to feel much more awake. I am also a very restless sleeper and have injured myself several times during sleep, on one of these occasions I had to go to the doctor.
In addition to the things listed above, I have tried herbal sedative tablets (Nytol) containing Hops, Valerian and Passion flower. Although these did make me feel sleepy after taking them, they did not help me get to sleep and I did not feel any better in the morning.
So I would like to know is is there any particular reason why none of these things have worked for me or why I have had trouble sleeping for such a long time and from such a young age and is there anything else I could try that might help me get a better night's sleep?
Any advice is greatly appreciated

Sorry to hear...insomnia sucks! I don't know if you can get Melatonin or Benadryl, or Nyquil, or Trazodone or Neurontin. Those have helped me somewhat. Sometimes I listen to a sleep hypnosis app on my iphone and it can help. I know too, I can only sleep when I'm in a pitch black dark room! Hope that's help a bit!! Best of luck!!