Jump to content

Insomnia


Phoenix

Recommended Posts

I can't help but I can tell you I know what it is like, couldn't sleep for the better part of 40 hours and still went around school in the state I was in, it was a never to be repeated experience, I'll put it that way. (Everything seemed to be almost merging together and frankly the place looked like something out of a beatles video or something like that).

Perhaps try getting pills from your doctor for it, I just got lucky and fell asleep eventually, as a matter of fact it was only 3 days ago I was walking around the school thinking " Hey, there are books in this place! what's up with that?"

Link to post
Share on other sites

If you've done 50 hours without sleep, you've either got something majorly stressful going on in your life, or you're in dire need of a visit to your doctor. As a word of warning doctor's tend to be of little use in themselves, and will most probably just prescribe you some drug or other, without addressing the root cause.

 

If its a persistent problem due to some external problem, get yourself down for some counselling. If its just an irregular/disruptive thing then try maintaing a regular sleep pattern that puts greater importance on quality of sleep rather than length.

 

From my own experiences with narcolepsy and sleep paralysis among others, I'd say that prescription medicines may offer a quick-fix, but long term you're better off investing some time in finding out what's at the bottom of it.

 

Short term - read a book, avoid the caffeine, cool your body temp down a bit and lie down. Should do the trick :)

Link to post
Share on other sites

forget insomnia, narcolepsy is really screwed up. I had it all the time last year from too much work and stress. You get like hallucinations and sleep walk during the middle of the day. My friends thought I was going crazy because I would like bugout and start running around thinking someone was chasing me in the middle of the day. Id also go to sleep and wake up in a totaly different place not knowing where I was.

 

If you dont sleep enough it will *beep* with your head after a while.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Good one my kung fu sifu taught me... tense the pairs of muscles in your body starting with your feet and working up. Tense 'em as hard as you can for 10 seconds, then 10 seconds off, then do it again. Something to do with getting rid of excess adrenaline so I understand.

 

Another good one's to rig up a light that gradually fades to darkness over a half hour or so ... it signals something primordial in your brain that tells your body clock it's sleepy time.

 

We're all prone to a little insomnia by the looks of it :)

Link to post
Share on other sites

Sorry to hear you havent got any sleep, (my god, i hope you have now, since it has been three days when you started this topic) I myself havent had any sleeping problems, well at least so bad as you have. Sometimes i just cant sleep, but that happens like once per year. Hmm, one time i was awake from like from friday to saturday night with like only 4 hours of sleep in a tent. This was in a skirmish that went up from frifday to sunday. Hmm, recon the number of the ppl who came there was about 560...

 

 

PS: Btw, Rikkster, i love your avatar ;D

Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm getting sleepy just reading this thread... :rolleyes:

 

My problem isn't getting to sleep, it's staying awake during the day. It seems like everytime I go into the study room to hit the books I wake up laying on the couch in there with books and papers scattered everywhere :unsure:

 

I think I should start consuming caffeine and actually trying to get in shape...

 

If you're having trouble getting to sleep it's best to go and find out what the root problem is rather than doping yourself up...

 

I better crawl into bed before I do a face plant and start sleeping on my keyboard... :rolleyes:

Link to post
Share on other sites
going on 50 hours! I havent been able to get any sleep at all in the past 2 days. I don't knwo waht it is I jsut cant sleep. help?

 

 

I've been a chronic insomniac for the past 10 years. I'm 27 years old now and things started getting bad around the time i started university. Insomnia is a symptom of a disease. 99% of the time, that disease is psychological. The other 1% is phyisical (e.g. you have a thyroid problem).

When I say that I'm a chronic insomniac, for the past 10 years, I haven't been able to stay asleep for more than 3 hours at a time. I'd fall asleep at some point and always wake up 3 hours (or less) later.

I had a breakdown a year ago (from way too much stress) which resulted in me not falling asleep at all for 5 weeks straight. It was horrible. I'd just lie down in bed and my mind wouldn't stop racing.. I'd just lie there for 10 hours not falling asleep everyday. It was the most frustrating thing I ever went through. I finally went to a doctor and he said that I have a severe anxiety disorder. I get stressed out and I don't know how to unwind. In high school, you may have learned about the "fight or flight" syndrome. Normal people go into that mode during really stressful situations like a robbery or something. For me, i would go into that mode for no apparent reason.. and I didn't know how to get out of it. My mind was constantly producing adrenaline. It's something you don't ever want to experience. trust me.. If you find yourself not able to fall asleep for more than a week, seek help from a doctor. Sure they'll put you on drugs but there's a scientific explanation for what you're experiencing and the drugs will help if you give it a chance. I'm off the drugs now and I'm doing more relaxing things like yoga and that stuff and I find it's helping me relax more. I know if it wasn't for the drugs, I would have gone insane. Going for 5 weeks without sleep felt like I was dying throughout the day. I'd get a headache at 2PM and it would last till midnight.

 

Well, I'm glad you're finally getting some sleep. The most important thing to do is to try to take an hour out of the day relaxing.. Do something that will let your mind calm down. Don't play games or anything stimulating like that. Try getting a massage chair.. I lie on mine for 30 minutes and it's heaven. Oh and for all those bits of advice like, exercise, drink milk, relax your muscles and all that... They will help.. but only minimally. Psychological insomnia is a result of a chemical imbalance in your brain. Milk and turkey have a chemical that has a mild relaxing effect on your body but severe insomniacs tend to be unaffected by this mild sedative. You need something stronger that will adress the serotonin imbalance in your brain.

Link to post
Share on other sites

oh.. and one comment on exercise. It really helps if you're not in the SEVERE insomniac stage. Right now, I'm a mild insomniac.. averaging 4 or 5 hours of sleep a day. If I exercise, I will get much better sleep and feel more rested.

 

When I was a SEVERE insomniac (not sleeping at all for days on end), exercise didn't do anything for me. It actually gave me more headaches. I don't recommend exercising if you haven't gotten back to "normal" or somewhat normal sleeping routine. Oh, and when I was not sleeping for days.. I found when i did exercise, I was lucky to be able to do it for more than 5 minutes. I was a complete zombie...

 

oh.. and don't exercise too close to bedtime!! That's really important to adhere to because exercise releases chemicals which make you happy and high, which is really hard to fall asleep when you have this "high". It's like drinking caffeine.

 

 

PS. I wouldn't be too worried about your sleeping habits. It's not uncommon for people to go through these insomnia periods. Just relax and take comfort in the fact that it will pass.

Link to post
Share on other sites

oh.. and I notice people have commented on having ambient noise or music on . That generally helps quite well as long as it's repetitve and boring. Commonly referred to as "white noise", your brain will latch on to the repeating pattern and it will make you sleepy. It's like counting sheep or coutning backwards. If you do any one thing repeatedly, your mind becomes calm. This is why people who meditate chant mantras REPEATEDLY. It brings their mind into a state of clearness/calmness. Don't think too much about it though.. sometimes you'll try too hard and it will have the opposite effect.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and the use of session cookies.