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...
Ambien doesn't do anything worth a darn. Got woken up ridiculously early at 5:30 A.m from my sister and her kids getting ready from school. I would have been tired but I wouldn't have been so pissed off/cranky if I had at least been sleeping deeply before then with ambien. Oh and then when my sister and her kids leave I can't go back to bed because my mom turns on her tv and I can hear it. No one is ever on the same page. I can't do anything about my sister and their need to go to work and/or take their kids to school. My mom won't not turn on the tv if she isn't sleeping. When she asks did you sleep well? I say no. She asks why and I say light unrestorative sleep and then I could hear her tv when turned it on. She says you're weird.
I was doing pretty well until this week and now its not just bad it SUCKS. That's just it...it's a hopeless situation for me because evidently I'm a picky sleeper and its totally random when my mom can't sleep and its once every 2 weeks my sisters kids are over and so they have to go to school early. I'm on fall break from school and instead of enjoying myself I'm fucking pissed off. Have no reason to be stressed or anything yet every day I wake up early thinking hey you'll sleep well one of these nights so I go about my business but end up failing. I'm sick and tired of everything. I try every sleep friendly thing you can think of...I don't exercise late anymore, I don't eat late anymore, I don't or do everything and this is what happens.
I'm just considering always being angry, pissed off, a jerk to everyone and never trying to be happy. Then the worst thing that could happen is I end up more mad. So tired of pushing myself hard and beyond the limits when exercising and such and failing to sleep. So sick of feeling tired and having eyes that sting because I didn't sleep well. Thank you sleep for ruining my one week off of school.. It sounds crazy reading this and me venting about sleep but it's actually pretty damn accurate about my thoughts right now. I'm sure I'll have fun hearing from my CBT how I shouldn't be thinking this way but too bad for him he's not the one who always sleeps bad.
I was doing pretty well until this week and now its not just bad it SUCKS. That's just it...it's a hopeless situation for me because evidently I'm a picky sleeper and its totally random when my mom can't sleep and its once every 2 weeks my sisters kids are over and so they have to go to school early. I'm on fall break from school and instead of enjoying myself I'm fucking pissed off. Have no reason to be stressed or anything yet every day I wake up early thinking hey you'll sleep well one of these nights so I go about my business but end up failing. I'm sick and tired of everything. I try every sleep friendly thing you can think of...I don't exercise late anymore, I don't eat late anymore, I don't or do everything and this is what happens.
I'm just considering always being angry, pissed off, a jerk to everyone and never trying to be happy. Then the worst thing that could happen is I end up more mad. So tired of pushing myself hard and beyond the limits when exercising and such and failing to sleep. So sick of feeling tired and having eyes that sting because I didn't sleep well. Thank you sleep for ruining my one week off of school.. It sounds crazy reading this and me venting about sleep but it's actually pretty damn accurate about my thoughts right now. I'm sure I'll have fun hearing from my CBT how I shouldn't be thinking this way but too bad for him he's not the one who always sleeps bad.
Ambien worked very well for me -- until it didn't.
I've been trying natural remedies (emotional - not supplements) to help me sleep and they've been working - BUT I'm not tired until very late in the evening.
Last night I took 1/2 an Ambien to make myself go to sleep earlier. I didn't. And in fact I woke up several times during the night and woke up feeling awful - somehow exhausted and jittery all at once. My muscles ache and I just want this day to be over! Ambien does NOT allow a lot of people to sleep that deep sleep that is so refreshing.
Regarding the TV noise, every little noise wakes me up, too. Get a fan for your room and buy ear plugs (in my opinion, the squishy cylinder ones that Wal Mart sells are the best - they stay in all night).
One of the things that really helped me recently was the realization that those noises aren't what's truly keeping me awake. It's my body's reaction to thinking those noises are somehow harmful so my mind and body stay on red alert (not really resting) even when I AM sleeping.
It's NOT crazy for you to vent or be angry about sleep. Sleeping is something your body should be able to do on its own -- like breathing or thinking. Lack of sleep really screws with our quality of life. So, vent away!
Do something for a few nights, promise do to it and report back how it went (good or bad). You don't have to believe it in. Just do it.
This is something called EFT or "tapping" that's helping me. It looks and feels VERY weird at first but give it a try. It costs nothing - and instead of someone telling you what you "shouldn't" be feeling, it's acknowledging those feelings and going from there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AF092fOIjs
I've done it twice and both times slept without meds for the first time in over a year (and then I had to go and doubt myself and try Ambien again) -- NO MORE.
The idea behind it is releasing all the fear, anxiety, etc. that's causing you to not sleep (even releasing the fear and anger of not sleeping -- that same fear anger that you're almost apologizing for).
Anyway, try it. :)
From classes I've taken, I know there are 4 stages of sleep. Like I previously stated, I believe I feel more rested with stage 1 sleep than with stage 2 sleep(what I suspect I've been sleeping with the last week). I haven't full decided but I'm either going to go back to taking amytrypline or nothing because my experience with Ambien is making me feel worse than ever. Its almost like it makes me drowsy but not sleepy...there's a big difference! But yeah I'll try that. I don't know but perhaps my 1 party night where I stayed up much past my normal bed time and slept in is hurting me as well. It's just frustrating because every1 I know and even me before I turn 15 or 16 didn't get sleep a thought... no matter what we do, I used to lay down and they lay down and would sleep no matter what.
Ambien does wonders for making me fall asleep. Staying asleep? No. Allowing me to wake refreshed? No. And other people rave about it.
But yeah, you're not alone in Ambien making you feel worse -- and it's a slippery slope. Even if it DOES work, you end up needing to take more and more to get the same effect.