chronic insomnia- does anyone suffer from it?

I have had this on and off for 2 years and its horrible, Ive been to the dr and they precribed ambien- didnt help, paxil which helped daytime anxiety and a llitle bit for the night time anxiety but its not safe for pregnacy and hopefully ( if I can get this under control) I would like to try for another baby someday , tried melatonin and it worked for a few weeks then stopped and klonopin which usually has been a lifesaver for me but hasnt been working lately and Im too afraid of addiction to up the dosage. Its a horrible thing and I dont know what to do about it, It usually afftects me about 2 days per week really bad. Last night I got maybe an hour or 2 of sleep that is it. I get so worked up about 6pm about whether or not Im going to sleep that night. Im at a loss of what to do. Should I go back to the dr? Anyone else deal with this and overcome it?

Re: chronic insomnia- does anyone suffer from it?

I used to have a problem with this, and it surfaces now and then under times of stress, but never like it was at one point. I had no trouble falling asleep, but every night around 2 or 3 in the morning I would wake up and stay awake until it was almost time to get up. Ambien did not help, and one doctor suggested Paxil, but the side effects scared me, so I never took it.

At that time, I had gone through some HUGE past-relationship problems (the guy was a stalker and broke into my apt. and destroyed a lot of my stuff, there were police reports, orders of protection, court appearances, etc). The insomnia surfaced months later though, so I didn't put two and two together immediately. I went to see a therapist, and she thought I had mild post-traumatic stress disorder. So the therapy helped a lot with that. I don't know if you need therapy, but I'm mentioning this since insomnia can be a sign of depression.

If not, you can try the other things I did which involved setting up bedtime rituals for myself such as taking a shower before bed. I cut caffeine down to one cup of coffee in the morning, if you are having it later in the day, that might keep you up. Also, try not to watch TV or go on the computer just before sleep or while you are trying to sleep (they stimulate your brain). If I really couldn't sleep, getting up and reading also helped. It seemed to take my mind off of the things bothering me.

Good luck, and I hope you are on the pregnancy board soon!

Re: chronic insomnia- does anyone suffer from it?

Re: chronic insomnia- does anyone suffer from it?

I've hardly slept in years! I've had a problem since high school. I never went to the dr for it.

Re: chronic insomnia- does anyone suffer from it?

Definitely look into it if it helped you before. Were you sleeping better then?

I hated taking those mental health days--but I often felt hungover, without the fun of drinking the night before! Oh, that was one other thing I cut out for awhile. Alcohol can also make you restless during sleep.

I really hope you can get a handle on it--I know how miserable this is.

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Message edited 3/4/2013 12:00:33 PM.

Re: chronic insomnia- does anyone suffer from it?

I have initial onset insomnia, meaning that I am usually okay once I fall asleep. It is tough because I tend to need a lot of hours of sleep to feel okay. I have been prescribed Ambien but I do not take the time release Ambien because I do not need it to stay asleep. I am often on here when I can't sleep, even though I think that being on the computer late is not good for insomnia. ETA: When I was pregnant, it was a lot easier than I thought it would be to stay off sleep aids.

Message edited 1/24/2008 3:10:29 PM.