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Trouble Sleeping

Started by DrManBearPig
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DrManBearPig

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Hi guys,

Just recently I have come to terms that I am going to need help in getting to sleep because it has been a problem my whole life. I had RLS for a while pretty bad but now it only crops up every once in a while so I have stopped taking medication for it because nothing seemed to work anyway... So now I just lay in bed for hours waiting to fall asleep. Lately I have been doing some relaxing exercises and it seems to have little effect... My mind is just too active at night. I have also just bought some non-prescription sleep meds but they seem to effect my memory the next day and I am a little groggy. (initially I felt awesome because I was able to catch up on sleep but that passed.) So I was accepted to medschool this fall and need to get this figured out before I go! Do you guys have any advice on types of sleep meds/ ways to fall asleep.

P.S. The best sleep med with the least amount of side effects that I have tried is currently illegal without a prescription here in CO. So I dont know if it is possible to get a prescription for that symptom or if it is worth it considering the negative connotations and drug tests that you would fail.
 
DrManBearPig said:
So I was accepted to medschool this fall and need to get this figured out before I go! Do you guys have any advice on types of sleep meds/ ways to fall asleep.
Click to expand...

First of all, you're not going to need sleep meds in medical school if you are doing medical school right. You will be sleep deprived from studying so much. Then will you will pass out just fine.

If it is a serious problem until then, and you've exhausted all the other ways to fall asleep, just get a script for some ambien or lunesta and you'll be fine.

As for the medicine "without side effects," I presume you are talking about pot. Yeah, legal or not, probably not a good idea to smoke pot as a future physician.
 
I have similar problems, but not a textbook sleeping disorder. I have a hard time falling asleep when I am stressed and ridden with anxiety. Right now, I am 5 months away from my first day of medical school...and as the big day approaches, I get more and more nervous and often find myself worrying about how I'm going to handle all of the stress.

In short--my best remedy for the anxiety/ease in falling asleep: working out. When I have a regular workout routine in place, I sleep SO much better, so much sounder. You will already be mentally exhausted. To physically exert (not over-the-top exhaust) yourself, your body will find it much easier to drift into a good sleep. Mine does, at least. I hope we both can have a solid grasp on this well before classes begin. I am sure there are many others out there with this issue/fear. If it comes down to it, I think you need to speak to your PCP about a PRN Rx for Ambien or the like. Good luck!
 
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I don't know how serious your problem is, but here was my experience.

When I was younger (think elementary school), I had a lot of trouble falling asleep. I'd lie in bed for at least an hour, sometimes two, every night before falling asleep. I found that I could go to sleep if I concentrated as hard as I could on thinking about nothing. To start, I would visualize something in my head and think only of that. For me, that thing was an eraser shaped like an ice cream cone that I got from some raffle or whatever from school. I'd concentrate on just holding the imagine of that thing in my head, turning it in different directions. After I felt like my mind had gotten used to that, I would then try to think of a blank space, or in other words, nothingness. The coolest part is that sometimes, I would feel like I was floating around.

Sounds absolutely ridiculous and new age, I know. I came up with it when I was ~9.

It worked most of the time. Now, I fall asleep faster than anybody I know without even doing the thinking exercise. I can leave consciousness in less than five minutes, even on a flight on in a car (if I have a neck pillow). For me, I lay my head down on the pillow, think about what I want for a few minutes, and then decide at some point that it's time to just roll over and sleep.
 
Cheshyre said:
I don't know how serious your problem is, but here was my experience.

When I was younger (think elementary school), I had a lot of trouble falling asleep. I'd lie in bed for at least an hour, sometimes two, every night before falling asleep. I found that I could go to sleep if I concentrated as hard as I could on thinking about nothing. To start, I would visualize something in my head and think only of that. For me, that thing was an eraser shaped like an ice cream cone that I got from some raffle or whatever from school. I'd concentrate on just holding the imagine of that thing in my head, turning it in different directions. After I felt like my mind had gotten used to that, I would then try to think of a blank space, or in other words, nothingness. The coolest part is that sometimes, I would feel like I was floating around.

Sounds absolutely ridiculous and new age, I know. I came up with it when I was ~9.

It worked most of the time. Now, I fall asleep faster than anybody I know without even doing the thinking exercise. I can leave consciousness in less than five minutes, even on a flight on in a car (if I have a neck pillow). For me, I lay my head down on the pillow, think about what I want for a few minutes, and then decide at some point that it's time to just roll over and sleep.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a great idea. I have also tried to slow my thoughts and think of nothing but then I start to think about how I am trying to think about nothing and so on... haha, but yeah I can see that this would be a GREAT way to fall asleep because of no side effects! I have never been able to fall asleep in a car before ever or anything like that.

Thanks for all the advice everyone. Hopefully I can figure this out. Tonight I will work out and try visualization (of an object, etc.) to see if that helps. I do work out pretty regularly and am pretty active but who knows, right?
 
These suggestions are strictly from personal experience, but they may help.

My first question is if you consume any caffeine at all? I have that problem falling asleep even if I only drink 1 cup of coffee at 7am, it seems the minute I lay down for bed my mind wakes up completely. I rarely consume caffeine now, even if it means being tired during the day, I'll try something else to wake me up (like citrus fruit or exercise)

Do you have a fan or source of background/white noise in your bedroom? This also helps quite my mind and allows me to focus on the hum as opposed to where my thoughts take me.

Good luck! I feel your pain, I have fought to fall asleep many nights.
 
Working out doesn't always do the trick for me, unless it's swimming. I don't know what it is about swimming, but it makes it ridiculously easy for me to fall asleep at night.
 
I like to read some sort of fantasy novel before sleep. I find I can sleep more easily if I'm thinking about hot vampires rather than my credit card bill or the exam coming up. I also take melatonin when my schedule gets messed up.
 
Squeal said:
Working out doesn't always do the trick for me, unless it's swimming. I don't know what it is about swimming, but it makes it ridiculously easy for me to fall asleep at night.
Click to expand...

On the contrary, exercise at night is one of the few things that will keep me awake for ~2 hours. This is coming from someone who can down two Rip Its* and be asleep in 20 minutes.




*180 mg of caffeine each. From Wiki: "An acute overdose of caffeine, usually in excess of about 300 milligrams, dependent on body weight and level of caffeine tolerance, can result in a state of central nervous system over-stimulation called caffeine intoxication..."
 
DrManBearPig said:
Hi guys,

Just recently I have come to terms that I am going to need help in getting to sleep because it has been a problem my whole life. I had RLS for a while pretty bad but now it only crops up every once in a while so I have stopped taking medication for it because nothing seemed to work anyway... So now I just lay in bed for hours waiting to fall asleep. Lately I have been doing some relaxing exercises and it seems to have little effect... My mind is just too active at night. I have also just bought some non-prescription sleep meds but they seem to effect my memory the next day and I am a little groggy. (initially I felt awesome because I was able to catch up on sleep but that passed.)
Click to expand...

I was your sleep issues twin...😱 RLS, meds not working the whole thing. I also worked overnights while going to school so that only screwed things up further. Anyhow, I have a few pointers that have seriously helped me over the past couple months.
1. Get up early, it sucks but the sooner your body gets used to the whole sun=awake and dark=sleep thing the better
2. I only drink caffiene in the AM, the rest of the day I do green tea or H2O
3. If you work out do it in the morning or early afternoon. I run in the morning and yoga after supper
4. Use earplugs or a fan, I am a super light sleeper so earplugs have helped me tons
5. Make it completely dark...I am really sensitive to light and if the TV is on I find myself waking up frequently or having really trippy dreams
*I also take a vitamin D suppliment and a multi-vitamin in addition to fresh fruit everyday...

Most of these things I started about six months ago and I feel so much better now. I hope this helps and you can get on track before august :xf: 😴
 
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hmmmm I shadowed a DO who used to tell patients about a couple different things to try.

1. Lemon balm supposedly helps
2. rescue sleep (non-prescription sleep aid)
3. melissa- some herb that is supposed to help.

Also try keeping your room as cold as possible while still comfortable and eliminate all lights even if you have to tape over little lights.

One other suggestion would be to spend a good amount of money on a new mattress. Find one that works best for you. I have never had trouble falling asleep, but when we got a memory foam mattress there was a noticeable difference in how well I slept.

Good luck to you.
 
Cheshyre said:
On the contrary, exercise at night is one of the few things that will keep me awake for ~2 hours. This is coming from someone who can down two Rip Its* and be asleep in 20 minutes.




*180 mg of caffeine each. From Wiki: "An acute overdose of caffeine, usually in excess of about 300 milligrams, dependent on body weight and level of caffeine tolerance, can result in a state of central nervous system over-stimulation called caffeine intoxication..."
Click to expand...

Oh yeah I guess I wasn't clear about that. I meant during the day. I've found that exercise at night, no matter what it is, will make me stay up later. I just meant that in general, swimming in the morning as my daily exercise makes me sleep like a baby later that night.
 
Promethazine? It's a nice cough syrup with codeine.

It's mostly a mental thing if you're healthy and can't sleep.
 
Follow the "usual" advice: only use the bed for sleep + sex, no caffeine after 4 p.m. (not even decaf, which still contains trace caffeine), no alcohol after 7 p.m., no exercise within 2 hours of sleep.

Additionally: watch your diet. On nights you sleep well, note what you ate the day before. See if there's a pattern. Ex: Bananas help some people sleep while giving others energy.

Some people do a lot better listening to a book on tape than reading a book. Avoid suspense/thrillers.

Melatonin is a good way to reset your rhythm relatively naturally, but take it 4 hours before bedtime and limit light exposure.

Regarding the RLS, take your Requip or whatever your doc prescribes. If you don't take Requip, find out why. Additionally, NIH and Pfizer are each running new RLS studies, if you're interested. If your RLS is causing PLMS w/ arousals, your sleep will be nonrestorative anyway.

Don't drink yourself to sleep, don't use Benadryl unless you have allergies, etc. These things may make you feel like you're sleeping better, but your body is not doing a good job restoring/rejuvenating.

Trust me, I'm a sleep tech 🙂
 
A good exercise routine is going to be your best friend.
As someone else said, make sure its not TOO close to when you want to sleep.
If you nap - no more than 20 min - you shouldn't really be falling asleep during these power naps, just resting.
Hot showers before bed - the body cooling after the shower is a cue to initiate sleep.

Also, check this link out:
http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/howto.html
 
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What about preventing too much sleep? After class for some reason I get bored and want to take a nap, then usually fall asleep around 2 or 3 in the morning. What do you guys think the best way I to prevent these naps. Adjust my schedule to keep me always busy? My medication has no side effects on my sleep.
 
fitz0809 said:
hmmmm I shadowed a DO who used to tell patients about a couple different things to try.

1. Lemon balm supposedly helps
2. rescue sleep (non-prescription sleep aid)
3. melissa- some herb that is supposed to help.

Also try keeping your room as cold as possible while still comfortable and eliminate all lights even if you have to tape over little lights.

One other suggestion would be to spend a good amount of money on a new mattress. Find one that works best for you. I have never had trouble falling asleep, but when we got a memory foam mattress there was a noticeable difference in how well I slept.

Good luck to you.
Click to expand...


Ya, every time I get myself some "melissa" I am out in about 10 minutes. There's no better "natural" sleep aid.
 
I have always had trouble sleeping, and in fact have managed to stay up a long time at times. It's not god for your body, and the older I get the more sleep I need.

I have used Melatonin, which is amazing, and find that 5mg is usally the best dose. There's a mixture from the Herbalist called RelaxU You can read about the tinicture and ingredients here http://www.theherbalist.com/relax-u.html

I have foun that a mix of peppermint oil and lavendar oil in a diffuser is a helpful scent, as is vanilla. I have also found licorice root tea to relax me and put me to sleep. Be careful if you have hypertension or or anything wrong with your heart, because there is a ghlyzeride (sp?) that can cause the heart rate to speed up. It also acts as a soft mucle relaxant, and I've found it effective against menstrual cramps. Mak sure to purchase the actual root! You most likely will not need sugar. It's 1000 times sweeter than table sugar.

Best way is one to two roots in a pot of cold water usuall 2 -3 cups, bring it to a rolling boil let it stay there at medium heat for about 15 - 20 minutes, drink 1 cup and you'l feel pretty good. You can save the tea for the next night. PS ask a Doctor before trying this out, I'm only a massage therapist at this point 😀

Good luck!
 
See someone about it. A psychiatrist, psychologist or therapist may be able to help if it is a psychological issue. See your internist and ask about having a sleep study done. Progressive muscle relaxation may help. I'd get checked out to see that there wasn't a deeper issue.
 
This individual could have an underlying issue. Most likely psychological. Stress can be an issue, depression and bipolar disorder can decrease sleep as well. There can be other pathologies that cause decreased sleep.
 
Interesting thread to read because I too have trouble with sleep. Acupuncture finally fixed it for me after seeing a psychologist, psychiatrist, and getting a sleep study done. Many great ideas here.
 
Acupunture is one of the most proven and tested therapies. The only problem is, nobody knows what will happen after treatment, and every provider will try a different technique ;p
 
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