Thursday, September 04, 2008

fixing insomnia

I have been suffering from insomnia of late.

I have no trouble falling asleep but I wake up, at least once, and have trouble falling back asleep.

And then, during the day, I am having real trouble focusing. I have a list of writing I need to get done but the last two hours have been frittered away doing who knows what.

I think that I am doing all the right things to encourage a good night's sleep but I think I'm a little stressed. Perhaps I will sleep better once my latest blook deadline is past (next Monday) and I have another CT under my belt.

Sigh.

Perhaps I should have this guy come over to my house and sing me to sleep?


6 comments:

Babz Rawls Ivy said...

LOL! Those puppies are so cute and they went right to sleep! Shoot I better not let my kids see this...yikes!

I am one who suffers from insomnia. I accept it and I surrender to it. Then I fall back into my pattern of sleep.

Clear your mind. Too much going on in too many directions...my problem. Try to sit still and clear your mind

deb said...

wonder if he works on cats, too?!

Anonymous said...

There may be tapes of some of my lectures available. They always did the job with my students.

Dee said...

I suffer from insomnia, too, especially in times of stress or anxiety.

My acupuncturist said to spend a few minutes before bed thinking about the things that are stressing you out. Once you think of one, imagine putting it into a folder and filing it away. Or imagine typing it up and saving it on your hard drive. Once you've thought of everything, close the file drawer or turn off that computer.

I've tried it, but haven't always been successful, but I like the concept.

I also take timed release (6 hour) melatonin that come in 2mg pills. I take 8mg - an amount that seems to work. More than that doesn't seem to work and neither does less. The good news is that there has been some research on breast cancer tumor cells in mice where melatonin caused them to stop growing and dividing. I've seen some, like Bernie Segal on a bulletin board, that suggest as much as 30mg.

Good luck. I really hate having insomnia. I feel for those that get it regularly.

laurie said...

Thanks for all the advice. I have been trying to relax and clear my mind but to no avail....

Professor: perhaps your lectures would be a good idea. Can we convert them to mp3?

And Dee- I found out the hard way that I am one of the odd people that is revved up (REALLY WILD DREAMS and bad insomnia) when I take melatonin. I was on 30mg for therapeutic reasons. Perhaps I should try again at a much lower dose...

Dee said...

Hi Laurie,
With melatonin, I've seen that sometimes doctors recommend only taking a 0.3mg dose, as that is the actual physiological amount that the body produces for sleep. I think I've seen that people can take as much as 70mg with no side effects, other than feeling sleepy. I took 10mg (using another brand than the one that I'm used to) that was an 8-hour timed release capsule a couple of weeks ago and found that I felt really really fatigued the next day. The brand I use (Source Naturals) has the smaller dose (2mg) in a 6 hour timed release that seems to work for me.

I guess what I'm trying to say is I've had to monkey around with the dose and the brand to find out what works best for me. Another person I know only takes 5mg. Good luck!