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What to do when you can't sleep?



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Yep, next thing you know, BBK, you will be featured in one of those "can't hold their alcohol" emails!!!!

Has anyone mentioned seeing you snoozing?

My former BIL passed out one year at Christmas, and we decorated him.....hung ornaments on him, icicles, put his MIL's curly toed elf slippers on him.....and then we just waited.....and oh yeah---took LOTS of pictures!!!!

Kat

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hahaha.. I have insomnia too, as does my mom. I can't believe you fell asleep in the bathroom!! I totally would have taken pics of you too!

My mom swears by Tylenol PM, but I don't like taking 'medicine'.. so I've taken Unisom for years. It gets me to sleep, but doesn't keep me asleep.. I still wake up throughout the night, but groggy enough I can fall back. One thing I really like about it (opposed to Nyquil) is that if I get a full 8 hours, I wake up bright and perky.. Nyquil gives me a hung-over affect till noon the next day.

My sister was on Ambien, so I tried it one time, to see if it's worth finding a doc to get it.. it didn't do ANYTHING for me. I was up for about 6 hours after taking it.

I don't talk to my docs about it, afraid they'll think I'm a looney tune. So Unisom has been my self-medication since I was about 18.

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BBK have you tried any essential oils? If my mind is racing I try a bit of frankincese on my pillow. (as long as you don't have heart problems). Lavender works for some, but for me frankincese helps me breathe deeply and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Poor thing, falling asleep in the loo!

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okay i will ask the obvious................what is your caffeine intake? before band I could drink Starbucks any time of day, now I can handle one cup of coffee a day! Whoa, stock in Starbucks dives to all time low!! maybe your metabolism has changes prompted from eating/exercise/stress/hormones. keep a log each day and see what may be different that you can change yourself. just a thought......g2s.

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BBK have you tried any essential oils? If my mind is racing I try a bit of frankincese on my pillow. (as long as you don't have heart problems). Lavender works for some, but for me frankincese helps me breathe deeply and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Poor thing, falling asleep in the loo!

I have tried lavender, that didn't work. I will look for some frankincese.

Thanks!

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okay i will ask the obvious................what is your caffeine intake? before band I could drink Starbucks any time of day, now I can handle one cup of coffee a day! Whoa, stock in Starbucks dives to all time low!! maybe your metabolism has changes prompted from eating/exercise/stress/hormones. keep a log each day and see what may be different that you can change yourself. just a thought......g2s.

Ya know I never thought about that, I am going to log it and see! Thanks, that is a great idea!

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I don't drink any caffeine. The only thing I drink is Water.

Unisom used to work for me, but it doesn't anymore. I am so thankful that Ambien works so well for me.

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Boo, I am married to a raving insomniac who refuses to take sleep drugs. He does, however, have an arsenal of other potions that he mixes and matches. He uses melatonin, tryptophan, liquid coral Calcium and a particular herbal combination. He'll use one or two of those on any given night.

I suffer from severe jet lag when travelling against the sun and, being that I was in school for years in England, the trip back to there from the west coast of Canada would just about kill me. It would take me a whole week to get myself back on track. That is, until I discovered tryptophan.

It's sold under the name of 5HTP. It's an amino acid and it doesn't directly make you sleep, but it is the substrate your body uses to make serotonin. For me, when I take it, I sleep like a baby, have colourful and beautiful dreams then wake up refreshed.

All this stuff you can buy at health food stores.

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I tried that stuff. It gave me headaches and made me jittery the same way those SSRI anti depressants do.

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I wanted to throw this one out there.... I used to have a terrible time sleeping, literally for years. My doc did routine blood work and the nurse called me and asked if I was tired. I couldnt remember the last time I was NOT tired and I told her that. I said no more or less than normal, I dont sleep well (could never fall alseep) so...long story short, I was anemic. They had me take Iron pills and I tell you about 2 months later, I sleep LIKE A BABY! That was over a year ago. Now I dont take the iron pills all the time, I hate that pill taking on a regular basis but if I start to have problems, there i am taking them bad boys again. Now I just try to take them regularly before and after my period to keep things my levels adjusted. Just a thought.....

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If you can't sleep go the doctor and checked out. I had a doctor put me on Ambien which took a couple of months to kick in and then I was calling into work because I couldn't wake up to drive. I finally go off of it and went to another doctor who had a sleep study test done. I have sleep apnea and on a CPAP and feel much better.

You too might need to be checked for sleep apnea. I have a co-worker who does not have weight problem but has severe sleep apnea to the point that he stops breating for 38 seconds at a time. You might have same type of problem and don't know it.

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my brother has always had trouble sleeping and his psychiatrist was warry of putting him on any meds. so she told him to just lay down, close his eyes and say 1 in his head, breath, say 1, breath, and so on. i was skeptical at first but i tried it on a really long car ride and i fell asleep. apparently it helps keep your mind empty. i do it alot now if i'm stressed and can't sleep. might be worth a try!

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