Insomnia

Its 8am and I haven’t been to sleep yet

I’ve suffered with insomnia since early childhood. It’s very rare I fall asleep before 4/5am and can’t remember the last time I fell asleep at a normal time.

I’m now in my 20’s. Not working due to COVID closure so my sleeping pattern is all over the place recently. I’m awake all night, nap in the afternoon when I feel like I can no longer keep my eyes open then awake from early evening to the next day. The cycle is becoming unbareable.

Things I have tried (that don’t work)
• Hot bath before bed
• Reading before bed
• Not looking at my phone/tablet/tv before bed
• Lavender pillow spray
• Lush Sleepy cream
• Herbal tablets (kalms, nytol, St. John’s wart)
• Having background music on
• Blackout curtain and eye mask

I have suffered with generalised anxiety from childhood too, I have had CBT sessions and hypnotherapy due to my anxiety around sleep. But they haven’t worked either.

My last resort is seeing the GP for sleeping tablets. However I know they aren’t good long term.

Any advice/remedies/therapies not already mentioned on my list will be greatly appreciated.

I've been to the doctor with sleep problems before. What will be recommended to you at first is most of what you have tried - 'cleaning' your sleep mine referred to it as - keeping your 'sleep space' and 'work space' very separate, no phones. If you can't sleep, don't lay in bed for ages trying to - get up and do something else before trying again. Do you take regular exercise? I find that can help aid with sleeping too.

I no longer have insomniac type episodes but still struggle with good quality sleep. I take CBT oil or capsules. I'll be honest - I have no idea if they work! When I take them, I do sometimes notice that my sleep is better but I think it is probably the placebo effect. I don't mind if its working though.

If you’re not working at the moment and you’re not sleeping until around 8am, have you tried setting your alarm for around 12pm, get up, get out the house to do exercise and try and get in as many steps as possible that day (10-20,000) without taking naps. Get your head on the pillow at a decent time and set your alarm for earlier the next day until your body is forced into a different rhythm. I know this sounds too obvious but it’s worked for me when I’ve had insomnia in the past. It’s dreadful when the alarm goes off the first day or so but quickly your body gets used to it.

Oh OP I feel your pain I have also struggled with horrendous insomnia and it is awful. I forced myself to do an hours exercise every day and walk 10k steps as another poster mentioned. I also bought a fan and put it next to the bed and it helped as a bit of white noise. To be honest it is so linked to anxiety and I find when I have bad flair ups I go back into my insomniac ways good luck I hope you get it sorted x

I agree with the person who mentioned CBT oil.
I used to suffer badly with insomnia when I was at uni. The only thing that helped me was smoking weed or eating weed brownies. Please note this was in a time before it was was so specilised and strong.
So I wouldn’t tell you to smoke/eat weed but CBT will have the benefits and I know the sellers are normally very informative

Try a sleep mediation app (guided) they’re free on YouTube. Also, ugh the nurse works wonders as do nytol one a night. The herbal ones do nothing for me. But I use them infrequently to get me back into a routine. So I’d only use any tablets short term. Try the guided meditation on YouTube. It’s helped me massively. Jason Sealy has really good ones. It’s horrible when you can’t sleep x

I suffer from insomnia and take melatonin. Get it from a company called piping rock. You’d need to check how much you need as I started on 2mg or 5mg. Now take 10mg as that works for me x

Have you tried the non herbal Nytol? The ones with diphenhydramine in them? They work well at making you drowsy and sleepy.

This is only relevant if you’re the kind of insomnia that can’t get to sleep but can sleep forever once you are. I’ve suffered for as long as I can remember, even in primary school. It’s affected my life to the point I took work in split shifts to allow me to nap through the day at one stage. This is the only thing to work for me.
The only thing I can suggest is routine. It frustrates me to hear it from people like it’s that easy but the truth is, as an insomniac, you won’t get consistent sleep without a strict routine. You HAVE to get up the same time everyday and go to bed the same time, even if you don’t sleep with the exception of a sleep catch up day at the weekend. You cannot nap. If you start to drop off, stand up, go for a walk... whatever you can do. Trying to be active in the daytime helps generally.
Set realistic times, say 1am-8am. Use prescription sleeping pills to start you off (they’ll generally only even give you about 2 weeks in one go) Then take the strong anti-histamine sleep pills such as Doxylamine succinate as and when you need to stay in it.
You can eventually get the routine but you have to be totally strict.
Break any other habits such as a snack/cuppa or tv show at a certain late time that you can end up staying awake for, no ‘I have to check every social media’ or something that can end up down a rabbit hole, forget any FOMO. The only routine is the getting into bed and getting up.
As you can see I’m not in it right now being pregnant and unable to take any sleep aids and furloughed so don't have to get up, I’m finding it impossible.

I had limited success with a sunrise/sunset sleep lamp, more the sunrise element but it may be worth trying. Yoga also helped and grounded breathing.

You have to not pressure yourself, If you give yourself one day, say Saturday for a catch up day, you can survive. Some people only need 5-6 hours, anxiety about not getting enough sleep is a vicious circle. Accept you’ll be tired, accept you won’t be getting 8 hours, don’t overthink or count the hours. After about 4-6 weeks you should naturally start to feel tired at ‘bed time’.

Melatonin!!

Hi all, thank you so much for all your responses and advice. It really is appreciated and nice to feel it is so common

I will 100% look into CBD oil/capsules & melatonin as I have never tried before.

I’m starting a new job in January with fixed hours so hopefully a new routine will help also. Definitely going back to the gym & will take all you lovely people’s advice on board.

Hope you’ve all had a great Christmas and here’s to a better New Year!

Stupid question but where do you get melatonin?

Base2019 said:

Stupid question but where do you get melatonin?

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You can’t buy it in UK.They issue it on prescription for children with adhd. I first tried it abroad so order from a company called Piping Rock. I order there sleep aid which generic nytol as well. Also great for paracetamol which is known as Acetaminophen. Works out much more cost effective I follow UK guidelines on amounts to take tho. Also weary as none of the cap are childproof so I store them out the way with other medication. X

Justwishfulthinking said:

You can’t buy it in UK.They issue it on prescription for children with adhd. I first tried it abroad so order from a company called Piping Rock. I order there sleep aid which generic nytol as well. Also great for paracetamol which is known as Acetaminophen. Works out much more cost effective I follow UK guidelines on amounts to take tho. Also weary as none of the cap are childproof so I store them out the way with other medication. X

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You can get it on prescription through private online GP clinics but it’s only given for temporary sleeplessness so if you say you are regularly insomniatic they won’t give it to you. I’d definitely recommend a specialist or if that’s not an option, as others have said forcing yourself to be awake during daylight/daytime hours even if you haven’t slept, will help create a good circadian rhythm, as well as knackering yourself with exercise!

My problem has always been feeling tired and sluggish in the afternoons and then getting a second wind in the evenings. I could never drop off before 3am. I have tried a lot of things that didn't work and have recently (june) resorted to a sleep hypnosis app, ...not to be confused with meditation app as the two are different. Its worked wonders for me so far.

I know I'll won't be able to sleep tonight, but do you any of you suffer with restless legs as well?

Maid22 said:

I know I'll won't be able to sleep tonight, but do you any of you suffer with restless legs as well?

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look up mag365. It’s great for sleep and restless legs It’s magnesium citrate.... brilliant for these issues. Has helped me a great deal

Maid22 said:

I know I'll won't be able to sleep tonight, but do you any of you suffer with restless legs as well?

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Yes. Severely. I've been on prescription meds for it the last four years

Pinkblush said:

Yes. Severely. I've been on prescription meds for it the last four years

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Can I ask what meds you are on for it?

Base2019 said:

look up mag365. It’s great for sleep and restless legs It’s magnesium citrate.... brilliant for these issues. Has helped me a great deal

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What do you take and where can I get it? Sorry for sounding desperate, am fed up with insommnia and now restless legs .

Maid22 said:

Can I ask what meds you are on for it?

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Sure. Ropinorole 0.2mg x 4 a day. Its mainly for parkinsons disease but used to treat RLS too. I was first prescribed gabapentin but had to change because one of the side effects. It was good tho but it gave me dry mouth. This is an anti epilepsy drug also used for RLS.

Maid22 said:

I know I'll won't be able to sleep tonight, but do you any of you suffer with restless legs as well?

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What I should have mentioned is there are no specific prescription meds for RSL but research and trials have found parkinsons and epilepsy meds have worked well for rsl.