I'm keeping this short because I've had to spend most of the day catching up on sleep and am probably heading back to bed after I have my lunch:
Bad weeks have come before, but this one arguably has been the worst. Between panic episodes over first my dad retiring and then another one when details of how the T is going to close its budget came out, sleep has been at a premium. The sound therapy I have just got completely overmatched, and so from a productivity standpoint the week has become a total loss because I don't function well when I don't sleep well.
If not for one of my friends here (you know who you are and you have a double hug waiting for you), I would be a lot crabbier today than I actually am.
Bad weeks have come before, but this one arguably has been the worst. Between panic episodes over first my dad retiring and then another one when details of how the T is going to close its budget came out, sleep has been at a premium. The sound therapy I have just got completely overmatched, and so from a productivity standpoint the week has become a total loss because I don't function well when I don't sleep well.
If not for one of my friends here (you know who you are and you have a double hug waiting for you), I would be a lot crabbier today than I actually am.
Replies
Why do you think the sound therapy is not working anymore? I have tried using a small battery powered water fountain at times when I can\'t sleep or I need to drown out other noises. The sound of rain has always soothed me, so a water fountain with trickling water is great for mimicking that. Also I use something called Formula 303. It\'s a natural relaxant made from Valerian root, magnesium, and passiflora.. It works great for my anxiety attacks and it definitely puts me to sleep. It\'s all homeopathic so it shouldn\'t be addictive like other sleeping pills. I just buy it off of Amazon.com.
I\'m sorry this has been so crappy...I hope things start to get better soon
HUGS
I should answer this for you, Friend19, in case someone one wants to comment later:
I think it comes down to one word this week: Nightmares. The worries the last few days have been so severe -- perhaps the worst I\'ve ever felt -- that so-called worst-case scenarios (which seem to be a specialty of mine to my detriment) have been a little too easy to dream up, and so I\'d wake up with a start at a bad hour, usually before midnight, and everything would go downhill from there.
I don\'t want to eliminate said sound therapy because before this week it\'s shown promise, but it is looking like I\'m going to have to combine it with something else...an up-to-now untested and for me potentially dangerous venture because it doesn\'t take much for me to get over-dependent on something.
Sorry this week is rough for you :(. I wouldn\'t give up on the sound therapy though. I used to take something similiar to Friend19\'s suggestion...would totally recommend it. I used to get mine at Walgreens. Now I take Melatonin, which is great for what you mentioned (nightmares) because you can take another one in the middle of the night...you can buy just melatonin, or the brand MidNite is mostly melatonin based and tastes good.
You could always try another type of sound therapy. They really have everything...I use like 20 or more different sounds, just switching them up. There\'s also guided imagery and stuff like that. Don\'t give up!!!
I also read something interesting a few days (weeks? lol) ago...you know how they always say not to exercise right before bed, because it gets your body all worked up? Apparently now they say that if you exercise to exhaustion, you actually sleep much deeper. Not like heart-attack type exhaustion lol...but the example they gave was using a stationary bike until you just can\'t turn teh pedals anymore, then pretty much crashing into bed. I don\'t know...maybe that be something to try on crazy-stress days? Plus all those endorphins would probably have you falling asleep happy :) I don\'t know, just throwing out ideas like always lol. Wishing you brighter days