Have you actually been diagnosed, or could you potentially be diagnosed with insomnia? (Episodes of mania via Bipolar Disorder will answer yes. Energy Drinks/Coffee users answer no unless it is truly an addiction.)
well, i am not that bad of an insomniac, but i still mostly have to rely on medications to sleep(or keep trying to fall asleep for several hours).
Comment has been collapsed.
Hydroxyzine during most days, zolpidem during worse days and clonazepam when i have it worst(it's a last resort - doctors warned me it can permanently damage my memory if i take it too much).
Comment has been collapsed.
Change Hydroxyzine to Trazodone and then we're pretty much the same. Zolpidem is Ambien, and Klonopin is basically a longer acting ativan/xanax. Yeah I was told about taking to much ativan, "I'm not going to say your heart will stop, but your heart might stop" from my psych lol. I however have to take it pretty frequent and pretty regularly.
Comment has been collapsed.
Yes I get about 1-4 hours sleep a night after lying in bed for hours tossing and turning. Some nights I don't sleep, copious amounts of alcohol knock me out however :)
Comment has been collapsed.
One of these days you're going to be "AnAAGamer" lol.
Comment has been collapsed.
I go to sleep like at 9 or 10pm and wake up at 7am. I very rarely am a night owl and my sleeping patterns are extremely routinary. I love sleeping anyway!
Comment has been collapsed.
Not at all, I just can't go for an entire day without sleeping.
What I do suffer from its an extremely inconsistent sleep pattern when I lack a routine, I'll be awake anywhere from 4 to 20 hours and sleep 3 to 14. This tend to be directly related to my depression getting worse, thankfully I've had an estable routine for the last 10 months and I'm almost out of it.
Comment has been collapsed.
I think I understand that. Stress and depression play instrumentals on most peoples sleep schedule. It's the ones that don't know how to handle it that need help, how do you manage?
Comment has been collapsed.
I didn't wanted to recognize the problem until 2 years ago when things got unbearable, then I tried with a psychologist... barely had any result so I tried with another guy, things were just slightly better. Then I started working, it's been better than therapy.
Once I started putting some order in my life the rest of the stuff started to come together, I still have a bunch of stuff to fix but at least I have the will to do something, two years ago I couldn't care less about anything.
Comment has been collapsed.
Yeah when I was in the Navy that was probably the only time where my symptoms were minimal aside from insomnia. Having all of that structure in your life really gives you a sense of direction and takes away a lot of worries/stress. Thanks for sharing!
Comment has been collapsed.
I can sleep, but usually just don't want because stress, anxiety - it's easier to stay awake for longer and keep myself occupied :\
Comment has been collapsed.
I suppose that makes sense, you can be more productive, get more accomplished that the grand scheme? How do you handle the crash when it comes?
Comment has been collapsed.
I'm too tired and worried most of the time to do any actual work, so it's still a wasted time, often barely leaving the house because of anxiety. And sometimes I just gather some strenght, go for my classes as I should and things work out wonderfully and I'm good for a while. I still really hate it :(
Comment has been collapsed.
Yeah, my brother would always tease me when I crashed because I would basically be drunk, start slurring my words, falling into things. 10 days without sleep will do that to people, then I'd just hit the floor or a couch/chair/bed and sleep 48 hours straight.
Comment has been collapsed.
I suffered for years with insomnia, the solution for me was to switch to working nights, I still dont sleep much, maybe 3 hours a day on average, but at least I sleep.
Comment has been collapsed.
Better than nothing! I think by the time we're 80 recommended sleep will either be 12 hours or 4 hours twice a day for dementia concerns. Something crazy like that.
Comment has been collapsed.
Wow that must be intense, I don't think I've ever heard of a medical condition like that. Ever tell a professional?
Comment has been collapsed.
I have actually met 2 Psychiatrists (and a TON of bad ones) in my home city that do their job.
Comment has been collapsed.
Maybe, it's probably just anxiety/depression related though. I have trouble sleeping and usually only get around 3 1/2 or 4 hours of sleep during the week, if I don't wake up at 4 or 5 in the morning. I make up with it with 8-10 hours during the weekend. I have awful thoughts during the night and listen to podcasts to distract myself from them, but it still doesn't help me sleep. I tried medication, and they did work well to put me to sleep, especially the prescribed one, but I had trouble getting up, and I felt chemically tired all day, like something was tugging at my eyes, and I couldn't shrug it off with caffeine. It kept me physically rested but I still felt just as tired so it kinda defeated the purpose. Now I just use one or two energy drinks to get through the day because I can't drink coffee and I'm too lazy to make tea.
My sleep schedule was fucked this week, I was sleep at like 11 - 16, but I stayed up for like 30 some hours yesterday to fix that and feel asleep at 0, which is really good sleep for me.
Comment has been collapsed.
My honest opinion (because it matters from some stranger lol) is to not give up exploring medication options, and to maybe if you haven't try going to a talk therapist/Psychologist. Your thoughts are probably something deep rooted like mine and need help digging out so you can deal with them and so that you can get better. Maybe even cured? I hate that word...
Comment has been collapsed.
Damn, that's a lot of medication, relying on a cocktail of meds to sleep can lead you, well, where you are right now. Sleepless (potentially in Seattle, probably not).
Comment has been collapsed.
Yeah not, though I want to live in a suburb of Seattle one day.
Comment has been collapsed.
Nope. I dislike sleep actually, but I don't have insomnia. I only had a bit of insomnia for some days when in the navy and I never understood what might have caused it. o.O
Comment has been collapsed.
Can you explain what RTC/A's school means? :P I'm Greek and English isn't my mother language.
Comment has been collapsed.
Oh, my sincerest apologies me being American I just automatically assume most of the people I am speaking with is from the western world. Not because I'm an ignorant asshat that doesn't care about other nations. I care a great deal about other nations so I apologize for my ignorance!
I was also Navy in America so I just used abbreviations.
RTC = Recruit Training Command. I think it's probably best understood as boot camp.
A's School is actually a little more complex it is Navy "A"s School where people go to learn the trade/job of the navy, still kind of has the same hierarchy as boot camp in there's always people yelling but this time you're learning more than folding clothes, tying shoes, making beds, marching etc.
Comment has been collapsed.
Here, army is compulsory. We have something like a boot camp. I didn't have insomnia during the boot camp, but afterwards, when I went to the next place. Both in boot camp and in the next place (I can't think of another word for it), we were always doing stupid chores and we were also guarding the watchtowers. :/
Comment has been collapsed.
Yeah, I think that is a big problem keeping "watch" constantly, and when your comrades are sick you have to pull double shifts so you basically never sleep. It was rough.
Comment has been collapsed.
Sleep troubles are horrible to deal with, I'm sorry for you. My girl friend can't sleep more than 3 hours (4 on lucky days), and for my part I've been suffering from sleep apnea for years. Now I've a treatment so I wake up with the feeling of having a good rest, but years ago... every morning, I had to make the clock scream for half an hour before being able to get off the bed, with the feeling that I slept an hour only. I felt asleep after lunch, beginning of afternoon at work was a struggle every day. Well, now this is over for me, maybe you'll get out of that too. Best wishes for the future !
Comment has been collapsed.
I was in a happy place once where sleep was concerned, but other facets of my life were deteriorating so that was why we started the Clozapine listed above. Now we're just trying to get back to where I was prior to the Clozapine and so far I've had no luck.
Comment has been collapsed.
I was diagnosed with insomnia as a small child (~ age 6-7), and medicated quite heavily at my parents' request until I was of legal age. Once I was of legal age, I went with self-medication in lieu of prescription meds. Well, some of the meds I was taking were prescription, just not prescribed to me. I ended up becoming an addict -- I'd use weed, alcohol, and painkillers (vicodin, hydrocodone, and demerol usually, but even went so far as animal tranquilizers) to help me sleep a couple hours, and then cocaine to help me function through the rest of the day. I became so accustomed to being medicated all the time that no one realized I was under the influence - friends, family, and even co-workers. I remember, right before being admitted to rehab, my boss telling me "I never knew you had such a problem -- you never seemed drunk to me", to which I replied "because you've never seen me sober."
After 8 years of that, I cleaned myself up, and been clean & sober ever since. Now I just "cope" with the long periods without sleep by resting my body occasionally, or wearing myself down with work, exercise, and practice. I'm finally to the point where I can usually sleep 2-4 hours a day (actually slept 5 last night due to a cold), and I'm okay with that. Stress still gets me occasionally, and during those periods I find it impossible to sleep most days, but as long as I can manage my stress levels and stay active, I am able to get at least enough sleep to function (without additional substances outside of energy drinks).
Comment has been collapsed.
I wasn't addicted or anything but I would chug whole bottles of nyquil to get my sleep. Gives you a nice drunk feeling before you fall asleep but once I finally fell asleep it was really nice and I woke up energized. Problem was I needed more and more and more to get the feeling. It was pretty hard to kick the habit, that's when I started trying melatonin and everything to help me sleep and nothing worked like the nyquil.
I'm glad you're sober, I mean I don't consider the occasional vice to be terribly bad unless it's something like meth or heroine. Mine is soda and doughnuts :P. But to resist temptation completely takes a very strong willed person, and people don't get enough credit for it and are always labeled for their past misdeeds.
Comment has been collapsed.
Problem was I needed more and more and more to get the feeling.
That was my problem, too ... and it became a HUGE problem, so now I just deal with it sober. ;_;
Comment has been collapsed.
I sleep 3-4 hours a day, altough I feel tired, the my mood is helping me get things done.
It just fells like I need to enjoy more hours of my life, even though it gets me tired.
Comment has been collapsed.
same case here, but i sleep about 5-6 hours.
i dont wanna miss any single time of my life, i keep my eyes on even when i feel tired
that because i cannot manage my time, and i have few hours on one day, and it happen everyday
Comment has been collapsed.
Actually, that sounds kind of awesome that you enjoy your life so much that you want to spend as much of it as possible awake! I envy you!
Comment has been collapsed.
It's not quite like that, I work, then I go see my girl, and when I get home I feel the need to watch or play something, then the day is already gone.
Comment has been collapsed.
Ah I see so it's more like the day escapes you rather then you take advantage of every hour possible. I guess my only takeaway is that I'm sorry that you're tired through it all, some people are really good about bouncing back after few hours of sleep (myself included)
Comment has been collapsed.
It's depressing to see how many people have those problems. Fortunately for me, I don't have similar issue. I have problems with insomnia only when I'm playing great game. :)
Comment has been collapsed.
Lol, many nights playing WoW back in the day could potentially be the culprit for what started mine. Wake up 7am, School 8am-3pm, Football 4-6pm, Work 7-10pm, Wow until 5am, rinse and repeat lol.
Yeah, I figured it'd be about half of the "gamer" population, it helps that I started this article really late at night, but I'm overwhelmed with how many replies I've gotten. Both for support and people communicating their stories. It's been a nice experience, I look forward to doing something else like this in the future.
Comment has been collapsed.
Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger.
Comment has been collapsed.
What you failed to realize is the darkness can put out flames of anger. Leaving nothing but misery in it's tracks.
Comment has been collapsed.
yes. i have a lot of problems to fall asleep and also to remain sleeping for a long time. i can't sleep for more than 4-5 hours, even with pills.
Comment has been collapsed.
Yeah me too, not sure if you're actively going to a psych though but there's always new sedatives out there to try if you're interested. People like you and me tend to give up hope after so many years of suffering though.
Comment has been collapsed.
it's been like this for 8 years, already when to therapy and psychologists several times. ended up with pills because it's the only thing that works.
Comment has been collapsed.
Yeah you've got me beat, I've only been at it for 3 years now but in comparison to most people I talk to it's like I'm a veteran.
Comment has been collapsed.
Quite surprised by the number of people voting yes. :o
I don't have insomnia. I more likely sleep waaaaaay too much (at least the past couple of years). At evening / night I really really don't want to sleep since it's a waste of time (except the fact that the body needs it), and at morning I really really don't want to get up.. x_X I'll just continue to press the snooze button over and over, until it's nearly afternoon. Then be mad at myself. Stay up late. Repeat.
So sleeping like 8-12 hrs every day pretty much..
When I was younger (like 15-19 years old) I used to only sleep 3-5 hrs per day because I felt like it was cool to be able to not sleep that much, and also because it feels like a huge waste of time.
Comment has been collapsed.
Actually I don't think it's too surprising when you think about the group that I asked. We're gamers afterall, and many of us play video games for many reasons, but there are a whole lot of people that use them as an escape from their reality. Maybe not even because it's horrific or anything just because it's stressful and they need a break because of kids/work/whatever. So when you're lost in another reality like that you can lose track of time. I'm sure it's happened to everyone here where you wake up and we've gotten into a video game and the next thing we know it's dark outside..
I figured it'd be about half and I was pretty close to that (haven't checked the numbers right now because I have a CRAP ton of people I'd like to respond to)
And cheers for not having insomnia! Hopefully one day I can be like that!!! Lol
Comment has been collapsed.
Insomnia doesn't necessarily have to mean you don't sleep a lot; some forms of insomnia you can have a hard time falling asleep or staying asleep, meaning that you spend 8-12 hours in bed but can't wake up easily because you don't "rest".
Comment has been collapsed.
My girlfriend is a chronic look at the clock person in her sleep. She will wake up 100 times a night to see what time it is, and if there's no clock present she will continue to beat and bereave me until I answer her question of what time is it? People are funny.
Comment has been collapsed.
I would say I'm jealous, but I am not. My grandpa has this, you can be talking to him and he will be sitting up and just fall over :( It used to scare me I thought he died, but now I realize what's going on but I still check on him. He generally doesn't know what's going on when he wakes up.
Comment has been collapsed.
I have experience with Ambien. I found that if I take it daily, for months, eventually it stops working and your dependant on it.
Bad BAD combo.
Ambien starting dose is 3-5mg. Your taking twice that and the max dose is 10mg. DON'T ever take more than 10mg in a 24 hour period. Ambien is also suppose to be used 2-3 times a week, to avoid above mentioned side effects.
It is a bad spot your in, sleep depending on a med coctail that is sure to fail you at some point. Sounds like yours has.
I recommend talking to your doc about setting you up on 2 cocktails, provided you two can find 2 that work for you. Switch between them every month or three.
Comment has been collapsed.
I have a really good ability to come off drugs with basically no side effects, so I haven't really ever had any dependencies. My whole family is addicted to something so it's not like I'm not predestined to have addictions, I guess I just have the willpower and when my body decides it wants to complain I tell it to shut up literately. It helps that I have an exceptionally high pain tolerance, and drink a TON so my system is being flushed regularly.
Mine has failed because I have switched from a very heavy sedative "Clozapine" back to my old cocktail with one new addition and it's just not the same as a heavy sedative so my body expects the heavy sedative but it's only getting the medium sedatives.
And I take some 20 pills at night alone, setting up 2 cocktails is sadly out of the question.
Comment has been collapsed.
I think I don't have insomnia, but I often can't go to bed early (usually I fall asleep after 3 am; seeing mornings before sleep doesn't surprise me anymore). And then I sleep for too long, usually without any desire to wake up. I try to make a normal day regimen but it can last a few days, maybe 1-2 weeks at very max and then everything crashes and I start sleeping randomly again. It can be a result of big depression several years ago. I think back then I had insomnia - for one month I could hardly sleep more than 4 hours per day even though I wanted.
Comment has been collapsed.
Well, sleeping 4 hours per day would definitely not be considered insomnia I don't think. Doesn't mean you couldn't potentially have some kind of sleep disorder, have you ever thought of asking your doctor about a sleep study? Could be something simple like you're snoring too loud and wake yourself up so that's why you're only sleeping so many hours lol. Everyone that goes without sleep eventually crashes, if they talk about insomnia and don't mention crash then they have never had insomnia. Are you "over" your big depression?
Comment has been collapsed.
My whole life is disorder :D No, I don't snore. And no, I didn't plan to do that as I doubt the efficiency of it here. I think it's psychological (like stress, depression, etc) + habit. Also I started using sleep tracking to better understand myself - mostly Sleep as Android. It detects phases of your sleep (based on all your movements during sleep, it is also called actigraphy), records and recognizes various noises, has smart alarm (wakes up when you're in the light phase of sleep) and a lot of other useful features.
Yes, it got better in general.
Comment has been collapsed.
It's difficult to me to sleep without meds (although the doses are rather small - aside from antidepressants), but I've suffered an actual insomnia (about 2-3 hours of sleep once every 3 nights) only once, and it was pure hell. As for you, I think you should consult a doctor as soon as possible, you situation sounds dangerous.
Comment has been collapsed.
I've actually been in constant communication with my doctor. He emailed me last night at 11pm even! He's a great doctor, but yes it is definitely unsafe especially since I have to drive places.
Comment has been collapsed.
I know you already take medicine, but try chammomile tea. My mother have problems to sleep too, she takes medicine, there are some heavys. But I buy chammomile tea and "erva cidreira". I hate medicine.
When she drinks, she can sleep. (In quotes there is a name of a herb in portuguese. Sorry, I don't know the name in English)
Comment has been collapsed.
Yeah I actually have tried that believe it or not I just can't stand the taste of chammomile. I'm a pretty big tea buff too so I drink a lot of it even teas that aren't really tea like rooibos just can't stand chammomile, only tea I've found that I don't like. There's also a "Sleepytime" tea made here in America that tastes okay kind of minty but doesn't really have any effect sadly.
My problem with hot tea before I go to bed is it makes my body temperature raise exponentially (maybe not really but it makes me FEEL like it does) so I start sweating and get all uncomfortable even in a room that is 50 degrees Fahrenheit. I can't even eat dinner without getting rather warm.
Comment has been collapsed.
Involuntarily coming up on the 96 hour marker without sleep. I am heavily medicated, 300mg Trazodone (350 on nights like tonight), 10mg Ambien, and a plethora of other medications that "cause" drowsiness that I wont list because it''s none of your business HA! lol... I'm actually usually able to sleep on my "cocktail" but have not been able to as of the last few days for unknown reasons. Just wanted to see if anyone else on here suffers the same fate, and if you do I'm sorry! Let's talk about it!
EDIT!!!
Now 2 hours of sleep stronger! Going into my next day (don't make me do the math right now too tired) with 2 hours of sleep for coming close to a week without (I think). Yay!
EDIT 2!!
Finally went through all the posts and responded to most everything that had anything meaningful other than, "No I've never slept." etc. If I missed you yell at me again so I can respond, this has been a really interesting and enlightening experience and I've made some good friends! I think I'm going back to bed for the night just going to toss and turn tonight and see what happens so the thread wont be as active tonight. Wish me luck!
Comment has been collapsed.