When you're tired you'll sleep....ugh

So I have had problems for years trying to get good quality & quantity of sleep. I don't get tired at night, try to sleep but my mind keeps going. If I do sleep it's a few hours then up and going again. My PDoc has been helpful with this and I've tried many medications (from Anti-depressants to sedatives) that help or(or don't). Recently my PDoc is on a new kick and took me off my meds that help me sleep stating:

"When you're body's tired it will sleep". Really?

When I don't get sleep for a few days my anxiety will go up or my mood will plummet. That's great that it will 'eventually' happen but I have to work and function in society and sometimes my mind is not onboard with my body. Anyone believe that statement or heard it from their docs? I'm now at 1week without the meds and that's 1 week of 3-5 hours of sleep a night. Hoping it will regulate soon. Craving some good refreshing sleep. Any suggestions/thoughts?

I have this exact same problem. It's part of my bipolar disorder. Geodon will knock me out, that's all. I relate. xo

I have this same problem too. Its the manic part of my bipolar. Klonopin knocks me out but not totally. I still get up. I am yet to have a restful sleep.

I also have trouble sleeping whether I am tired or not. I have an Rx for klonopin, but it doesn't seem as effective as it used to be. My pdoc prescribed other medications that did make me tired, but I still have a restless sleep and feel so dopey when I wake up that I cannot function the next morning. I really envy people that can fall asleep right away and feel refreshed when they wake up. In addition to meds I've tried all sorts of things like magnesium, melatonin, new pillows, lavender spray, an air purifier for white noise, and none of it seems to work that well. My muscles in my back and neck feel stiff all the time and I have tried stretching which gives me some relief, but not enough to put me to sleep. The only thing that seemed to work is that I got a massage at one of those places in the mall where you can get a 20 minute massage for $20. I was really relaxed afterward, but it's not feasible for me to do that all the time. I wish that I could find something that works because this is super frustrating.

Yes. I have been told that by others not in medicine...

I tried everything...sleep cd's, lavender, regular exercise, yoga, relaxation techniques, different pillows, boring books...the list goes on and on.

My brain will not shut off. I could probably go quite a while with zero sleep, but I did read somewhere a while ago that it's as bad as alcohol/drugs in that your reaction time is slowed and it becomes dangerous to drive, etc.

And no, I do not and cannot nap.

So it's ambien for me. Some nights, even that does not work. I have also tried Trazadone (nope), and Xanax (nope). Meds that others say make them sleepy don't work the same on me. A sleep study would be next, but I can't imagine being able to sleep while there...

Being exhausted and being sleepy are two different things imho.

Boy can I relate to this right now! All this week I was getting very low hours of sleep, compared to my usual 7-8 hours... and I had to take lorazepam to get that out of desperation. I took it 4 nights in a row and decided NOT to take it last night (Friday), well, i did not sleep a wink! I tried melatonin and I'm trying it again tonight. I decided if I have another awful night of sleep I will take lorazepam again sunday night to be able to function Monday. But I hate having to rely on it. What really used to work well for me was exercise.. when I was training a lot for races (running) I was dead tired all the time and would fall right asleep! My training has suffered lately due to a lot of issues so, so has my sleep I hope we both find solutions soon!