Insomnia

[Janey]

I've decided to post the question first, in case you don't want to sit through reading my story/vent ;) ... Have any of you suffered from insomnia? If so, what did you do about it? I'd love to hear cures -- strange or not -- the "hold a spoonful of sugar under your tongue and count to 20" type cures are not too strange/silly for me.


Ever since the week before our wedding, I've been suffering through some seriously annoying insomnia. On our wedding night (after the you-know), I even begged for sleep. 3 hours of laying in bed tossing and turning, and I said to B, "Please! I just want some sleep!" The sweet man went into the sitting room with me and rubbed hotel lotion onto my feet/legs and watched HBO until 2 in the morning when I thought that maybe I could get some shut-eye. I did... I ended up getting 4 hours that night.

I got some fairly decent sleep on our honeymoon (not counting the night I got up to use the restroom, couldn't find the light switch in the loft bedroom in our cabin, and went careening down the stairs), but now that we're back, here it is again.

It's almost 6:00 and I've been up since 2. Not just up, but wide-awake up. Went to bed at 10pm, as is normal. Woke up at 11 to use the restroom. Went back to sleep, woke up at 2. Puttered around, checked email, back to bed at 3. At 4, decided sleep just wasn't happening for me. It's now almost 6:00, and B will be getting up to get ready for work. Maybe I should make him some oatmeal or something.

That's the thing, you know? If I could do something productive during these hours, then maybe it wouldn't bother me so much. Anything productive that I do will wake B and our neighbors below us (who is similar to the crabby neighbor on Friends). The idea that I'm going either going to be sleeping or suffering sleep-withdrawl during the hours when I should be doing productive things makes me crazy.

[jimmysgirl424]

I think it sounds like it may be time for you to pay a visit to your doctor. I went through a period of not being able to sleep for the two weeks leading up to my wedding, but the problem went away as soon as it was all said and done. The fact that it has continued for you suggests it could be a long-term problem if you don't get some help. There are some really good sleeping medications available now that are non-habit forming (Lunesta) that your doctor may want to have you try.

[allison]

You sound just like me. I started suffering from insomnia since right before our wedding over 2 years ago. I have no idea what has caused me to have it, but it's sure as heck annoying. There are plenty of nights that I end up in tears just wanting nothing but to get some sleep (like last night).

I finally went to the doctor after 6 months of suffering. I got a full physical, bloodwork, tests...the works. I'm completely healthy. My doctor then perscribed me a light dose of Ambien which has been a lifesaver. I actually only take half of a pill (they're tiny).

There are good and bad things with Ambien, but for me it's been all good. I don't take it every night, though. I won't allow myself to do that for fear of becoming too reliant on the drug.

After a year I went back to the doctor for another physical and round of tests. Still healthy, my doctor switched my Ambien perscription to Ativan.

From Drugs.com:

What is Ativan?
• Ativan is in a class of drugs called benzodiazepines. Ativan affects chemicals in the brain that may become unbalanced and cause anxiety, insomnia, and seizures.
• Ativan is used to relieve anxiety, nervousness, and tension associated with anxiety disorders. It is also used to treat certain types of seizure disorders and to relieve insomnia (induce sleep).

Ativan is not safe to take if you are pregnant. I still don't take it every night and only take half a pill.


I would definitely see your doctor and explain what's going on.

[Janey]

Thanks, both of you. I actually have to make an appointment with my ob/gyn this month anyway; perhaps I'll talk to her about it. If she says "See your GP" then I will. Alison, Thursday morning I also ended up in tears in B's arms, frustrated from lack of sleep. I'm glad I'm not the only one who does that, but I'm sorry it happens to you too. :(

I'd rather not take a drug for it, because it's not every night that it happens, and I don't want to take a pill every night if I wouldn't have needed to take it -- I just never know when I'm going to wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to get back to sleep. On the other hand, it's happening often enough lately to be really frustrating & annoying... and anything that will help that would be great.

Thursday night I went to sleep at 9:30 and woke up at 6, so I caught up a little. Friday night I was in bed around 11, and woke up at 7, which is about normal for me. We'll see what happens over the next couple of days, but I'm still going to talk to the Dr. about it anyway.

[ejs]

I've been an insomniac for as long as I can remember. It takes me forever to fall asleep, and if I finally do, I can't stay asleep I've tried everything from melatonin to biofeedback to OTC sleeping pills to Rx sleeping pills to meditation to herbal tea to you name it.

I actually went to a local university's sleep disorders clinic. I don't have apnea. The ONLY thing that has worked for me is an Rx cocktail of Ambien, which helps me fall asleep, and a low dose of Trazodone, which keeps me asleep. It doesn't work 100% of the time, but I have more good nights of sleep than I do bad.

My dr had considered putting me on Lunesta, but wanted to wait until it's been on the market a little longer.

Melatonin caused me to have really vivid, freaky dreams and nightmares. OTC sleeping pills left me feeling groggy. Herbal tea just made me pee in the middle of the night. Meditation and relaxation methods just don't work for me.

I took an insomnia class at the sleep disorders clinic. They said we should go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even weekends, no matter how awake or tired we are. If you wake up in the middle of the night and decide to get out of bed, you are to do nothing that causes stimulation: no reading, no computer, no TV. Basically they said it's ok to go sit in another room in the dark. (I didn't buy that one.) They also said to keep a "sleep log" for a couple of months. Write down what time you get into bed, what time you turn off the light to go to sleep, what time you think you feel asleep, how many times you woke up and for how long, what time you woke up in the morning, what time you got out of bed. You then total how many hours you were in bed and how many hours you were actually sleeping. If you notice that you are in bed for 8 hours, but are only sleeping for 5, then you should be in bed for only 5 hours. After you are regularly sleeping for those 5 hours, add another hour to the time you're in bed. Repeat.

Good luck!

[Meredith]

It may be related to your diet. Have you been drinking a lot more caffeine or eating more sugar than normal? You may want to wean yourself off both and see how you fare. Also, have you tried a nighttime yoga DVD? Herbal tea? When all else fails, have you considered a small television in the bedroom (assuming DH is cool with it) to let you lull into sleep with background noise? HTH!! :D

[eponymous]

I suffered from insomnia for over three years. It still makes a recurrence every once in a while.

1) For me, the single biggest thing was stress. I was constantly stressed about chronic things, not just a single event, like the wedding. I dealt with some of those, started making lists of things that I needed to do the next day so that they would stop swirling in my head, and just got better at starting things earlier so that they would get done.

2) Second was definitely following a more set schedule. I don't keep an absolutely perfect one; I'll sleep 30 minutes more on Thursday 'cause I can, and I don't set an alarm on the weekends, but it's very important to try to keep the wake/sleep times as close as possible. When I'm travelling for business and they my schedule is way off, I suffer a lot.

3) Pay attention to your bedtime ritual. I was leaving too much stuff to do at the end of the day. I also realized things like the fact that I was washing my face with cold water (it takes about 20 seconds to get hot water from the basement to the upstairs bathroom). HELLO WIDE AWAKE KITLYN! So now I wash my face downstairs and don't get woken up by the cold water.

4) Learn how you sleep best and make adjustments to allow that. I sleep best with my right arm under my pillow, but because I wear short-sleeved t-shirts to bed, my arm would be too cold to do that, so I'd tuck it inside the covers and wouldn't sleep. Now I wear long-sleeved or sweatshirts to bed so that I can make sure I'm positioned correctly.

I've become less rigid with things like my arm positioning when I go to sleep, but it made a big difference at the beginning of my "recovery," and I will return to them on a night when I'm having trouble sleeping.

Good luck finding something that works for you - insomnia truly ruined my life during those years and I don't wish that on anyone!

[Sol]

I have bouts of insomnia here and there, and the usual remedies made it worse (e.g. trying to keep a fixed schedule just made me feel a lot worse when it was time to sleep and I felt wide awake, so I'd get anxious about that and sleep even less). My therapist recommended me to just try to sleep 4 hours a day. It didn't matter if it was at midday, if it was in four 1-hour naps or whatever. Just wait until I felt I was ready to sleep, and then sleep, even if it was just 30 minutes.

That was easy enough for me to handle, and it taught me to read my sleepiness signs better. I still tend to go back to very little / no sleep when I'm anxious, but now I know that it's at most a couple of days and I just make the most of it (I usually just go on with my usual life as if I had slept and whenever I am too tired, I go sleep). After a few days it adjusts itself.

Sol.

[Delaney21]

If you wake up during the night and can't fall back asleep - put a bar of soap in a nylon and hang it from the end of your bed.

[Janey]

Well, I'm bumping this thread back up because guess what -- the insomnia's back. :mad: Last night I got in and out of bed 3x before I finally fell asleep at 2AM.

I'm in the 2WW, so taking drugs is out. Two nights ago I had the insomnia, and sort of forgot I was in the 2WW, and took a Tylenol PM. That solved the insomnia problem, but each day I wait it becomes more risky to do that.

kitlyn, those are some good suggestions. I read them the last time I was going through this, but fortunately the last bout just sort of wore itself out. I will try some of them this time.

I'm ready to try Delaney21's hang a bar of soap from the bed trick. Can't hurt, right?


I wonder if the 2ww is a big enough stressor that it's what's been messing with my sleep. I don't feel stressed... but I'm having some weird dreams lately (last night, I had a Cobra for a pet), and that is usually another sign of stress for me. If the 2WW is what's causing this... well, I hope for a quick BFP. 'Course, a friend of mine told me that she didn't sleep through her entire pregnancy because of stress. Lordy. Something's gotta give at some point, yes? :)

[tlew12778]

How often do you work out? I notice that I sleep a lot better if I work out on regular basis.

Something more natural to try would be valerian root. You cannot take it during your 2WW but I think you can take it in the first half of your cycle.

http://www.1001herbs.com/valerian/

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Valerian.asp

[Janey]

I do at least 2,000 calories of physical activity every week, which means it averages out to at least an hour of brisk walking daily. That being said, I haven't been as good about going to the gym for some high intensity stuff as I have been in the past.

Thanks for the valerian root tip. I will check it out.

[ramaba]

I know you said you're TTC, but I would offer this...

in the past 3 years or so, I have noticed a definite pattern with PMS - I will have insomnia for 3-4 nights, then have one night where I sleep really well - the next day is when my period shows up. Like clockwork, on and off the pill, I have insomnia those nights.

[j*east]

Hey there MrsHill. I had almost complete insomnia (didn't sleep more than 2-3 hours at a time) for about a year after I was attacked on the street. Clearly that was anxiety related, and it's gotten much better since. Now I sometimes have briefer episodes.

Here's what works for me, most of which you've heard:
--Go to bed early and get up early (9-11 pm and 5-7 am), pretty regularly.
--EXERCISE. Can't emphasize this enough for me. I too get about an hour of walking in every day, plus weight lifting and running 1-2x a week. Maybe it's time for you to add some more intensity, at least during the 2WW? A hard workout will leave me tired for two days, so you might not need to do it every day.
--Have a snack around 7-8 pm, just a small bowl of cereal, yogurt, sometimes ice cream so I won't be hungry.
--No caffeine at all (I'm really sensitive), or never later than 4 p.m. (one coke at lunch every 6 months).
--No alcohol.
--No work or work email for a few hours before bed.
--No scary movies or TV at night.
--I read every night before bed.
--Keep lights low at night (no overheads) and generally brush my teeth etc. w/just a nightlight (DH mocks me, but it helps me get in sleepy mode).

When it was really bad, I'd do these things:
--Shower or bath in a dim bathroom (candles or nightlights) and be extra calm, soothing, and nice to myself--hot drinks, etc.
--Try relaxation stuff to get myself to sleep: thinking of things from A-Z (flowers, names, food, whatever: Adam, Ben, Colin, David...the worst part though is when I get to Z and it hasn't worked)
--Not fighting it. Sometimes I still get up (so as not to bother DH) and go in another room to read and eat a little snack.
--If it was 4 am or so, getting up and getting started on the day: working out, showering, whatever. Then I'd be more tired the next night.

Finally, this is what worked when it got really really bad:
--Trazodone every night, which is a mild tranquilizer. (I don't take this anymore, but I vaguely recall reading that it's safe for TTC and PG, but obviously I could be wrong.)

I became a very high functioning insomniac, so after getting through a year on no sleep, I remind myself that a few nights won't kill me.

That's a book, but maybe something in there will help. It's probably the 2WW getting to you. I know the feeling. Good luck! :)

[Janey]

J*east - I'm so sorry to hear of your attack! I wouldn't have slept either. Thank you for your 'book' ... I do most of the things on your list as a matter of course, but will definitely start doing the rest of your suggestions.

You both are right -- I need to get back to the gym. I note exercise on my chart, as sort of an 'exercise accountability' thing. When I look at Cycle 5's exercise, and then this Cycle's exercise, it's pretty telling. I have slacked, big time.

Last night I got 7 consecutive hours of sleep. It felt fantastic. I'm still groggy this morning, so apparently I haven't "made it up" yet, but it's a step in the right direction, for sure!

[Delaney21]

I'm ready to try Delaney21's hang a bar of soap from the bed trick. Can't hurt, right?

It worked for me as a kid - so I'm interested if it would work for anyone else.

[Brandy]

My insomnia is back. I go through spells where I'll sleep fine, 8-9 hours a night, staying asleep, deep sleep. But most of the time, it takes me hours 2-3 to fall asleep and I can't stay asleep the whole night (waking up every 2 hours or so).

I don't have a TV in my bedroom and will only be in my bed to sleep. I don't have caffenine, at all. I try to go to bed between 11-11:30 and wake up between 730-8am. I get a lot of exercise (I watch a two year old, enough said!). I try to write down my worries before I go to sleep. I do relaxation exercises, I take warm showers, nothing works. By the time I figure out I can't get to sleep, I have to be up in a few hours and don't want to take any medication because it makes me too groggy (I have Elavil, a RX muscle relaxer- they are the only medications that will work (on occassion) Tylenol PM makes me nauseated in the morning, Nyquil excites me and I've fainted on Benadyrl- I have a lot of medication sensitivites).

I hurt my back 3 weeks ago and couldn't sleep for more than an hour or two at a time for a whole week, then I got the flu for a week, then I was on vacation, staying up too late, and now I haven't slept more than 4-5 hours a night this week. I'm getting headaches, my stomach is all messed up, nauseated, and it's all making my normal stress so much worse. It totally sucks and I just needed to vent and get it all out lol. I've been like this since I was 5 years old.

Has anyone read any books on the subject? I've been looking at this one:

Say Good Night to Insomnia : The Six-Week, Drug-Free Program Developed At Harvard Medical School

I just don't want to buy a book that says everything I already know, kwim? We'll see!

[Janey]

Brandy - If you get that book, I hope you'll post a review here. :)


Just an FYI, if anybody else gets pregnant or is TTC and is wondering what they can do. I got my BFP last Thursday. Of course, the insomnia has been lingering off-and-on since. I went in Friday for a blood test. When the nurse called me back with the results, my first question was about sleep aids. I said, "I'm having trouble sleeping." She said, "Welcome to Pregnancy." :)

I asked her if there was anything I could take, or if I just had to hope for the best. She told me that Unisom was okay during the first trimester, and that it would also help with the nausea. After the first trimester, an occasional Tylenol PM would be OK as well.

[j*east]

Thanks, MrsHill. I've been wondering about that since we're going to Italy next month and I hope to have a BFP by then.

Brandy, yuck! that your insomnia is back. That's lousy. I know how it feels to feel sick from lack of sleep. :( Is the book any good? Oh, I mean, did you buy it? And is it any good? :)

[lawyerlee]

White noise has been helping me. I have a somewhat loud fan in the bedroom that drowns everything else out and kind of lulls me to sleep. It doesn't always help, but if there is any chance of me falling asleep on a given night, that does help. There are some medical reasons (chronic migraines and depression) for my insomnia, so we've been adjusting my meds to see if we can find a combo that helps my migraines and sleep. I recently went off an anti-seizure med because it is known to cause insomnia. I've also been reading that anti-depressants (I'm on 2!) can contribute to insomnia. That might be something to consider if any of you are on one.

[Brandy]

I slept well 4 days last week (7-8 hours) but the past three nights I haven't slept well again. Yuck.

I looked at the book at Barnes and Noble and read parts of it and it was basically everything I already knew. I guess the exercises and sleep diary might help, but I'm not sure.