Can't sleep through the night?

Hi,

My husband can fall asleep just fine but always wakes up at the slightest sound and is unable to go back to sleep. Even when taking sleep aids, he still wakes up absurdly early and is unable to go back to sleep.

Has anyone who has this problem found any remedies that help? We've tried the obvious stuff: restricting caffeine, getting exercise during the day but not too close to bedtime. Writing down worries before bed. Avoiding light in in our bedroom after dark, including from TV's/phones. We've tried melatonin, valarian root, Tylenol PM, Zzzquil, random OTC sleep aids. We got a loud fan to drown out other noises (which works wonders for me but not for him it seems). He does not drink alcohol (does have his medical cannabis card). It's been a problem for a couple years but has recently intensified to the point it's worrisome. He does not have health insurance but if anyone found a prescription they swear by I'd be willing to spend the money to get him in, I just can't afford a bunch of trial runs and would like to have an idea of what to ask for/suggest to the doctor. But avoiding pharmaceuticals altogether would be ideal if anyone has any suggestions.

Thank you!

Hello treevoice: I'm sorry your hubby is having such a difficult time. It's so difficult to keep going when one is exhausted. Actually, as it happens, I had one of "those nights" last night... so I'm pretty-much exhausted today too. I don't know as I have any great ideas for you here. Currently what I do, when I can't sleep, is to get up & do walking meditation. I'll walk slowly around-&-around our dark & quiet home for anywhere from a half hour to a couple of hours or more. Typically, when I go back to bed, I am able to get to sleep. (I should have done this last night, & I finally did. But before I did, I laid in bed awake, thoughts racing through my brain like stock cars... for a couple of hours! I think I can be a bit manic sometimes...)

Quite a few years ago, when I was on psych med's, I had difficulty sleeping. Back then, I was prescribed Trazadone for sleep. It's an old antidepressant that's not much prescribed anymore. But, at least at the time I took it, it was still being prescribed to induce sleep. By the way, I have also tried Melatonin. I found that, if I was going to be able to fall asleep, I didn't need the Melatonin. And, if I wasn't going to be able to sleep, the Melatonin didn't help. Plus it always made me groggy the next day...

The past few years I've struggled with getting good sleep. If I do sleep it's tossing and turning and not good, restful sleep. Many nights I can get a few hours then my mind is off and going and won't shut down. I was prescribed Trazodone and it worked great. I did tend to build a tolerance to it as time went by, but since it's an Anti-depressant that happens help with sleep my PDoc didn't mind upping it a few times. Best sleep I've had was with it. Tried the actual sleep pills but other than Ambien (short term) Trazodone was geat for me. :-)

I really wish that I had an answer for you, but all I can do is commiserate and maybe throw out some other things that I've tried that may work for him. Poor guy. I've tried many of the same things and they didn't seem to help me all that much either, but who knows. In addition to what you also suggested, I bought lavender spray to spray on my pillows because it is supposed to have a calming effect. At least it made my bedroom smell nice. One thing that may help is a contoured sleep mask. Unlike other sleep masks, it's domed over the eyelids so that your eyelashes don't rub against the mask when you blink. It's also contoured around the nose so that light doesn't seep in that way. I read somewhere that if you can see your surroundings when the light is turned off, it's still too light in your room. This particular sleep mask also comes with ear plugs. This is the one I got on Amazon:

His anxiety is getting the best of him. Think about having him see a therapist, to help him deal with his anxiety.

I was prescribed trazadone for sleep for a long time but its effects seemed to go bad on me and started making me feel depressed after a long while on it. My doctor switched me to Doxepin and that helped me sleep really good. Doxepin is an older antidepressant, too, used for sleep, too.

Hi Treevoice. Other than his disturbed sleep, are there any signs of depression? I was prescribed mirtazipine (antidepressant) a few years ago and it helped me sleep very well throughout the night.