Insomnia Support Group
Insomnia is a symptom, rather than a disease, and is characterized by inadequate quantity or quality of sleep. People with insomnia complain of difficulty falling or staying asleep, which results in significant impairment of daytime functioning. Insomnia is categorized as transient (shorter than one week), short-term (one to three weeks) or chronic (longer than three...
I have been dealing with insomnia for 15 years. I am only 29. I have been on every medication both natural and over the counter. Ambien works best but I only get 3 hours if I am lucky. Anyway I have an oon call doctor that's filling in for my primary while on a 4 month leave. He refuses to refill the medication and has stopped me cold turkey. I have not slept in days. I don't know what to do anymore. Even with medication insomnia is ruining every aspect of my life. I can't play with my kids, enjoy days with my spouse or work. I feel helpless.
The doc who stopped the medication may actually be doing you a big favor, as sleeping pills typically only address the symptom, and not the true underlying root of the problem. Pills are not a sustainable permanent solution. There are better ways.
Help is there for you. You can get back control of your life and your sleep. There are a number of drug-free, proven strategies you can use.
If you haven't already checked out CBT sleep training methods for adults, I'd encourage you to do so. You might discuss this with your doc, and there is much info online if you're the self-help type. Good luck.
That sucks. I was also born in 1988, and have also been suffering from insomnia for a long time. One silver lining in my case is the fact that I work a daily job. I've often wondered what would happen if I had to do a job which involves night shifts, since I'm not good at sleeping during the day with all the noise and distractions.
I agree that your new (temporary) doc perhaos shouldn't have been so hasty. The perfect doctor for people like us would be one that also has trouble sleeping, otherwise we get lots of well-meaning but clueless physicians.
I wish I had some good advice to give, but sadly I don't. I hope you find a combination of drugs that works, they do pump out new ones all the time. Of course, if you find a drug free solution, all much the better.
Do your colleagues/bosses know of your insomnia? Is there a chance you will ome day get a position that leaves your nights alone?
As Hypnos07 said, CBT can really help, as can relaxation techniques. But, like you, there are some nights where it seems only medication/ OTC remedies appear to help.
I just make sure I never use them for more than a day at a time and rotate those that I use so that I am not becoming physically dependant on anything in particular.
I'm not recommending to anyone that this is the right strategy to deal with insomnia, I'm just being honest so that you know you're not alone.
Hope that's of some help anyway.
To what Edgar said, the sad truth is that people who don't have insomnia have no idea how to talk to people that do. You can try talking to your boss, but I've done that a few times and I got "have you tried this?" or "yeah I understand, I only got 5 hours of sleep last night myself." Sometimes, for me, it works to think of my family and how I'll get to spend time with them faster if I go to sleep rather than staying up all night. Corny? Yes. But whatever works right?