Sleep Issues - El Monte,CA

Have you tried melatonin? Our bodies produce it to help us go to sleep, sometimes if we have two much "blue light" activity from TV and electronics our bodies don't produce enough of it.

And have you tried eating something a little before bed that will help you to sleep? Foods that contain tryptophan, a sleep-promoting substance such as dairy foods, honey, bananas, nuts and seeds, and eggs are good. If you eat a carbohydrate-rich food along with something containing tryptophan it increases the effect, like cereal and milk, cheese and crackers, yogurt and crackers, or my fave, milk and crackers. Stay away from protein before bed, it's harder to digest and can keep you awake, as well as heavy high-fat or spicy foods for dinner, not good.

When cutting out caffeine make sure you stay away from tea, chocolate and even decaffeinated coffee, it still has caffeine, (found this out when my Dad had kidney failure and on the list of bad foods was his decaf coffee) at least 4 or 5 hours before bed, the same with any alcohol. Certain medications can keep you awake so check OTC and Rx drugs from pain relievers to weight loss pills to diuretics to see if there's any warnings of insomnia or that it can interfere with sleep. The same with smoking, if you do, it can keep some people up at night so that's a no-no in the evening. And stress. I think of things late at night and that sometimes keeps me awake (like tonight, my friend lost her husband yesterday morning and she and her young son are on my mind.)

Last but not least, is your bedroom comfy enough to sleep in? I HAVE to have a fan going, even in winter, I need the white noise.

Hope you can get to sleeping regularly soon, I know it's a pain not to be able to.

I used to be a great sleeper! Eight or nine hours a night. If I woke up in the middle of the night, I'd drop back off. Even when I started having night sweats and hot flashes in the middle of the night, I could still fall back asleep.

Then I got sick. I went through a long bout of it, finally had surgery, but I think my brain got rewired. My doctor and I talked about it, and here's what she told me. I need to sleep, regardless of how I feel about sleep aids. I take Ambien (no more than 5 mgs - 10 will make me throw up) for jet lag or if I go a week without sleeping through the night. I don't want to take Ambien. I want to naturally sleep. And if you take Ambien everynight, you'll need it everynight, because your brain becomes dependent on it.

So, I take Ambien if I have not slept for a while. I will NOT take it every night. She recommended taking it every other night, but I'm not where I can do that yet in my mind. When I actually go through a week with no Ambien, and at least 6 hours of sleep, I count myself blessed. Most of the time, it's only 5.

Here's what has helped during my better times. Not going to bed late. (Easier said than done!) Picking up a boring book to read, one that I realize I've read the same paragraph twice and still don't know what I read. My husband beside me - that gives me comfort. Like you, not drinking caffeine, or only drinking a little bit early in the day. Not watching TV in bed. Not taking a nap during the day, no matter how much I'd like to.

I feel for you, and understand exactly what you are going through. I will say that I have slept less in the last 3 years then I did through my pregnancies and when I had little kids. I just can't believe that I started having these problems.

I hope that something I've detailed here might help you. Sleeping is so important.

Dawn

I would go to a good health food store and research your options. Melatonin works great for a lot of people. I have a daughter on the autism spectrum and she has serious sleep issues. The dr tried her on several rx medications before we said enough is enough (they did not work, and had bad side effects for her) and went the natural route. She takes a supplement which is 1.5 mg of melatonin with 22 mcg of chamomile, lavender, and lemon balm. Melatonin alone never worked for her, but something about the combination of these herbs works great for her and with no side effects. You can find it under the brand name "Midnite" or "Nature's Garden Sleep Remedy". I have found it at Walgreens, Target, and even occasionally the Dollar Tree! You might also try L-Tryptophan. You can get it in capsule form at a health food store. We used that for awhile with our daughter and it worked great with no side effects. It was just hard to get her to take because she is a child and cannot swallow pills yet, and the granules in the capsules are bitter tasting. Also, my sister swears by Valerian root. Hope you can find a way to rest! :)

Now, I'm just the opposite of Luckymama. If I go to bed early, I have a horrible night. I cannot go to bed before 11:00 p.m.

I do take Unisom almost every night. I don't have any problems getting up in the morning. One tablet, tops. I have discovered that if I'm not going to sleep after taking one tablet, I'm not going to sleep no matter how many I take. At one time, I was taking 2 Unisom AND metatonin. Talk about groggy in the mornings! So, now it's one tablet, period. And I have been sleeping great for the past several months.

Maybe you can take your sleep aid a bit earlier so they're out of your system by the time you get up. I find that eight hours from the time you take it (not the time you try to sleep), it's out of your system and there is no groggy feeling.

I used to take OTC sleeping pills but like you, they made me want to sleep all the next day. A dose was two pills; I'd take half a pill and still be groggy most of the next morning.

Now I take melatonin and I don't have the "hangover" the next morning. I take a "time-release" version that I found at Walgreens. The brand name is something like Natrol. It's a purple bottle. I had to take it for a few days (or maybe a week) when I first started it before I noticed the effects.

Also, we bought a white noise machine. We went ahead and spent the money to get a nice one - got it at Bed Bath & Beyond for around $60. It's made a HUGE difference. Now we can hardly sleep without it. We take it with us on trips and everything.

One other thought - could it be your bed? How long since you got new mattresses?

I hear you!! It is 2:15 am here and I just logged on before going to bed. I am in specialty laboratory sales, my office is in my home and was on a roll (it is always here, I see clients during the day). I was up at 3:30 yesterday. Fortunately, I don't need very much sleep and haven't slept more than four hours in years. My brain doesn't shut off at all, I dream about work (sad but I do love the fast pace of selling/educating in the OBGYN market).

Melatonin is like a tic-tac for me, heck I have tried Ambien and and Lunesta with no effect. Forget it! Good luck, maybe melatonin will work for you.

Wow....I've been there. I used to take sleep aides - I do not recommend them! You could try melatonin (my asperger daughter takes it). Long sorry short, I have TMI and that contributed too my sleeplessness. A dentist found it, I wear a guard at night. Even now sometimes I have to play with it take out in and out some nights because I guess you can get used too it. I also need to go to bed early like in bed by 9 pm our I'm up all night. I use a fan year round and love out blowing in my face that seems to help for some reason. I also don't eat before bed and drink a hot cup of Camomile tea or a sleep side herbal tea before bed. Just like with babies, sleep is a habit....good luck. Oh and no naps no matter how tempting!

I would take the sleep aid as soon as dinner is over and let hubby deal with everything for at least 3 days. Then you can go to bed at an early hour and sleep at least 8-10 hours. When you wake up you may still feel groggy but your body will be getting used to producing the chemicals that put the body into REM sleep.

That's the most I would take them in a row. It will also help you retrain your body. You may just feel better after getting a lot of sleep a couple of days in a row too. If this persists you need to go to a neurologist for a sleep study.