Ahh it is 3:30 am and I am awake. As usual.

I have been having insomnia every single damn night since February. I talked my doctor. Tests were run. No problems. Talked to my physciatrist (sp?) he gave me Ambien. I sleep through the night if I take it but......

He won't give me much more so I cut back to taking it once per week so I can get sleep just one night a week. The rest of the nights I wake up at 1 am, 3 am, and 5 am. I will be awake for an hour and fall back asleep but my sleep is not real per say. I feel like I am sleeping and half awake. I can hear the birds outside, husband turning over, etc yet I am sleeping. Strange. I go to bed at 9 or 10 so you can see I don't get much sleep. Also the side effects of long term Ambien use suck. I pretty much lost my short term memory until I cut back on it and now my memory is coming back. I would go to my car and forget where I was driving to or call my husband and could not remember why. I forgot my sister's name!

I have covered all clocks in the room and bought black out shades. My room is pitch black, I tried a night light too but that made it worse I think. My husband is a quiet sleeper so that is not the problem. My mattres is only two years old and top of the line so that is not the problem. Temperature? Nope it is perfect. I have practiced mediation and breathing techniques. Neither work. I have tried getting up and doing stuff until I am tired again. All that did is make me go to work after being up since 3 am. I tried hot baths before bed. I tried excersizing, not excersizing, t.v. watching, no t.v. watching, eating, no eating, caffine, no caffine at all (none through the day either), camomille tea, what have I not tried?

Any one else go through this? Did it go away? I did not think about surgery until April so it is not about that.

Glad to see this posting. For the past 2 weeks, I have had next to no sleep. I did the sleep study before surgery and didnt have "bad" apnea (not bad enough to be a co-morbidity). For years and years, I would fall asleep easily, but wake up at exactly 3am every night.

After surgery, I slept great, especially once I started losing weight. I actually slept through the night for the first time in over 10 years!

My job is not so stressful (actually our busy time starts at the end of August, ugh) and I'm not waking up worrying about deadlines or anything. Im exhausted all day, yawning constantly and taking Vitamins trying to stay awake. When I lay down, I feel anxious and nervous..thinking about 100 things I need to do over the next days, months..whatever. This is crazy!

right now I'm taking a 1/2 pill or maybe 1 pill of the Tylenol Simply Sleep. That puts me out pretty good. I took Lunesta for awhile before surgery, but at $60 a month, I just cant do that.

I'm going to try some of the recommendations in this thread to see if it gets any better...I hate this feeling and really hate that my boss sees me yawning non-stop. :biggrin:

one question - does anyone else get the anxious/nervous "knot in your stomach" feeling when trying to go to sleep? Its almost like a scared feeling - I about come out of my skin whenever I hear a noise.

Thanks. :smile2: going to go take my 1/2 pill now and try to get some sleep...

Lunesta may be cheaper for you than it is for me. It all depends on your insurance. Mine Rx coverage is not good at all.

I had Lunesta last year, and its on some wonderful list that my insurance wont cover. :biggrin: I stretched that month's supply out - took it only every 2-3 days..lol

Jennyt71, If you are having that difficult a time sleeping- talk to your doctor. Try an over the counter med , like melatonin. You may not have had 'bad' apnea, then, but maybe with the weight loss, other factors have made it worse. Or. maybe it is another issiue. I have a medication I must take occasionally and my sleep is disrupted when on it. Taking an over the melatonin or Tylenol PM has helped. Sinus infections,allergies, and upper respiratoy problems can make sleep a problem. is your head elevated all the time in bed? Do you take meds at night that may affect your sleep(Check side effects) ? So many things affect sleep.

Ambien has gone generic. It's way cheaper than Lunesta. Lunesta doesn't work as well for me as Ambien so I was thrilled when it became generic. It's now about $7

thank you for the recommendations! I'm kinda weary of trying Ambien - my parents were on it for a very short time and experienced pretty bad side effects. I fell asleep about a hour after taking my 1 pill last night (11pm) but then woke up at 3...I did do better at work today tho. :thumbup:

I'll definitely try the Melatonin though. I'm not on any other medications and I dont drink diet cokes or coffee after lunch...so I'll have to talk to the doctor and see what might be going on.

Thank you again!

Does all of a sudden,getting Acid Reflux at night constitute insomnia?

After a too tight fill last month I developed acid reflux. Even after the band was loosened, the damage was done. I am taking prescription Prilosec in the AM, it makes me dopey for about an hour or so, and then at night, as soon as my head hits the pillow, there is the backup starting. I never had this before in my life.

Its irritating me now too...

I tried Benadryl, per my doctor - and couldn't function during the day - :closedeyes:kind of a Jekyll /Hyde can't sleep but too tired to function. The doctor then recommended Tylenol PM- I was already taking Tylenol for other things during the day.

Tylenol PM is Tylenol with Benadryl in it. So, if you can't function taking the Benadryl by itself, you should react the same as you did when you just took the Benadryl. Make sense?

Joan

Does all of a sudden,getting Acid Reflux at night constitute insomnia?

After a too tight fill last month I developed acid reflux. Even after the band was loosened, the damage was done. I am taking prescription Prilosec in the AM, it makes me dopey for about an hour or so, and then at night, as soon as my head hits the pillow, there is the backup starting. I never had this before in my life.

Its irritating me now too...

Chrisann:

Strange how different drugs effect different people. I take prilosec and it doesn't make me dopey at all. I take two prilosecs per day when my acid reflux is acting up (one in a.m., one in p.m.). Please call your doctor and ask if you should be doing something else because you still have the acid reflux at night. Have you tried raising the top of your bed so that you're sleeping on a slant with your head higher than your feet? This may help too. You should try to stop the reflux because it can damage your esophogus.

Take care.

Sue

I spoke with the pharmacist today, and she said I should take the prilosec at night instead. Since I wasn't feeling any reflux or burning this morning, I figured I would try it tonite to see if something changes. I guess if its going to make me dopey, might as well do it when I am trying to go to sleep...lol

My husband says it makes him feel like that too.

Ok so its been a few days taking the capsules at night. One thing, I can swallow the capsule and it goes down with no trouble, so no more mixing it with Applesauce. I couldn't swallow the capsule when I was taking it in the morning.

So far, still get some reflux, but its 75% less than what I was getting, although tonite I am lying, cause I am burping grease. I ate something earlier that was a little greasier than I thought. So I am not going to lay down yet....

Glad to hear that changing when you're taking the Prilosec from morning to night is helping. I take the generic version (omeprazole) and if I'm having a flare up I take it in the morning and at night, but this happens rarely. You might want to keep an eye on the clock and not have any food after 6:00 too. Just another thing to try if you're still having discomfort.

I love my band and my new flat tummy!

Sue

Since the Lunesta is so expensive, I have been taking a generic sleeping pill from walmart. It has the same thing as Benadryl in it. It says to take 2 of them, but I have just been taking one. It has been working really well and I am not sleepy during the day like I would be if I took 2 of them. And it's cheap too.