Results 1 to 15 of 15

Thread: ANyone suffer from chronic insomnia?

  1. #1
    Guns Network Lifetime Member #2

    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Minnesota
    Posts
    8,845

    ANyone suffer from chronic insomnia?

    Have you found a solution? I take Ambien every day and I'm getting 3-5 hours sleep tops. I'm about to go out of my mind. I work nights so it's hard enough to sleep 8 hours and drive all night. I've had to take two nights off in a row this week, because I'm unsafe to drive. Is there something else I should ask my doctor that works for you?

  2. #2
    Guns Network Contributor 01/2015 Altarboy's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Posts
    4,927
    Yep. You gotta work days. Most of us aren't built for sleeping days. You might even have to take a pay cut, but it's cheaper than dying 5 years earlier. I go back and forth between Unisom , magnesium and melatonin. The doc took me off Ambien because he figured out I have a cdl.

  3. #3
    308
    Guest
    Coffee can disrupt our sleep cycles. I've heard even one cup can do that. Probably why I wake up in the middle of the night thinking it's been a full eight hours...but it was only three or four.

  4. #4
    Guns Network Lifetime Member #2

    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Minnesota
    Posts
    8,845
    Quote Originally Posted by Altarboy View Post
    Yep. You gotta work days. Most of us aren't built for sleeping days. You might even have to take a pay cut, but it's cheaper than dying 5 years earlier. I go back and forth between Unisom , magnesium and melatonin. The doc took me off Ambien because he figured out I have a cdl.
    You can get a letter from your doc. Like I said Ambien isn't working for shit after 10 years of using it.

  5. #5
    Guns Network Lifetime Member #2

    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Minnesota
    Posts
    8,845
    Quote Originally Posted by 308 View Post
    Coffee can disrupt our sleep cycles. I've heard even one cup can do that. Probably why I wake up in the middle of the night thinking it's been a full eight hours...but it was only three or four.
    I avoid all caffeine so that's not the problem.

  6. #6
    Guns Network Lifetime Member #2

    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Minnesota
    Posts
    8,845
    Quote Originally Posted by Altarboy View Post
    Yep. You gotta work days. Most of us aren't built for sleeping days. You might even have to take a pay cut, but it's cheaper than dying 5 years earlier. I go back and forth between Unisom , magnesium and melatonin. The doc took me off Ambien because he figured out I have a cdl.
    Been working 30 years of nights mainly, maybe it's time for my last couple to change. Melatonin makes me feel wacky next night.

  7. #7
    Senior Member JTHunter's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Posts
    5,015
    Quote Originally Posted by 1 Patriot-of-many View Post
    Been working 30 years of nights mainly, maybe it's time for my last couple to change. Melatonin makes me feel wacky next night.
    Sorry to hear you have problems with the melatonin.
    Twenty two years ago, I was working a "split shift". I would come in at 4 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. on Monday, then have to be back at midnight. I then worked midnight - 8:30 Tu - Fri/Sat as we sometimes had to work 6 days. That's where I started taking melatonin and I've been taking it ever since. As I have gotten older, not only have I upped the melatonin to 20 mg, I frequently add a 25 mg of diphenhydramine (Benadryl). Even if I wake up during the night, I am able to go back to sleep quickly (unless I have to "go"). My brother is an OTR driver and he also takes melatonin but I don't what dose.
    “I have little patience with people who take the Bill of Rights for granted. The Bill of Rights, contained in the first ten amendments to the Constitution, is every American’s guarantee of freedom.” - - President Harry S. Truman, “Years of Trial and Hope”

  8. #8
    Team GunsNet Silver 04/2015 Nobeard's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Posts
    586
    Quote Originally Posted by 1 Patriot-of-many View Post
    Have you found a solution? I take Ambien every day and I'm getting 3-5 hours sleep tops. I'm about to go out of my mind. I work nights so it's hard enough to sleep 8 hours and drive all night. I've had to take two nights off in a row this week, because I'm unsafe to drive. Is there something else I should ask my doctor that works for you?
    Drugs are probably not the solution. It's always better to cure the root cause of the problem instead of treating the symptoms.
    Here's what works for me (also on a night shift with weird hours).

    1. No 'screen time' at least one hour before going to bed (preferable more).
    Computers, tablets and phones emit EMFs and a type of light that excites areas of the brain which will keep you awake.

    2. Use only incandescent bulbs in the bedroom (natural light is always best but not always available).
    CFL and LED bulb produce UV light waves that have the same affect on the brain as electronic screens.

    3. Practice basic stretching exercises about an hour before going to bed.
    Roll your shoulders several times then extend both arms straight out to the side and parallel to the ground.
    Start making slow circles, gradually increasing to large circles, until your arms move parallel to your legs and extend straight up toward the ceiling and straight down toward the floor.
    If you started with your arms going 'up' in front of you and 'down' behind you? Switch to the opposite direction.
    Start with wide circles, arms moving parallel to your legs and gradually decrease to small circles, ending with your arms parallel to the ground.
    Now...as your doing this, one direction will 'feel' correct going to wide circles and the other will 'feel' correct going back to narrow circles.
    It's hard to explain, but there's a natural or instinctual rhythm of movement that every person has.

    Also practice correct breathing while making arm circles.
    Slowly inhale through the nose, filling the lower part of your lungs. Instead of 'inflating' the chest you want to breath to inflate the 'abdominal' area.
    Exhale slowly with your mouth open, as opposed to blowing the air over your lips.
    Warning: this can actually make you dizzy or light-headed the first few times doing it, so be careful.
    It's usually best to drop to one knee and place palms on the floor instead of reaching for a wall or table if this happens.

    4. Get one of the soft hair brushes, the kind sold for infants.
    Have 'Mrs. 1 Patriot' lightly brush the crown of your head for 5 minutes right before bedtime.
    (sounds crazy - but anyone that's had a fussy baby knows how well this works to calm them down)

    5. Get a small bottle of lavender essential oil. Put one, tiny drop on the center of a handkerchief then fold it up and put it in the bottom of the pillowcase (opposite side from your head). This works to calm the central nervous system but should be avoided if you're on any blood pressure meds or an SSRI<--(which is EVIL shit anyway and should be avoided like a slobbering climate activist with a raging case of herpes and a bullhorn).
    Also be careful not to get it on your skin and never use it around kids.

    Hope this helps and keep us posted.
    Last edited by Nobeard; 03-16-2023 at 02:54 PM.

  9. #9
    Senior Member

    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    harms way
    Posts
    17,742
    Put some wooden blocks under the bed to raise one end a few inches compared to the other end. If that doesn't work try the other end or sides even.
    "And how we burned in the camps later thinking, what would things have been like, if every security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain, whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family?"

  10. #10
    Senior Member jet3534's Avatar

    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    West VA
    Posts
    2,056
    Quote Originally Posted by 1 Patriot-of-many View Post
    Have you found a solution? I take Ambien every day and I'm getting 3-5 hours sleep tops. I'm about to go out of my mind. I work nights so it's hard enough to sleep 8 hours and drive all night. I've had to take two nights off in a row this week, because I'm unsafe to drive. Is there something else I should ask my doctor that works for you?
    I worked at night for several years and it gave me chronic insomnia for life. At the end of a 35 year career I had spent an estimated 99 percent of my sick leave for insomnia related inability to work. I not forced to use this leave I would have cashed it in for many thousands of dollars. So based on a lot of experience I will state the following.

    1. Firstly, for those who do not take ambien I have to say don't start. It is not addictive in the sense of terrible withdrawal but at a certain point you will never sleep without it. Getting a legitimate Rx filled often results in being treated like a criminal. I have blue cross Federal and they mostly pay but ever now and then will not. Not a terrible issue as a month supply uncovered is about $50. For a long term basis my prescription requires a visit to a sleep doc every 6 mlnths, the occasional sleep study and a CPAP machine is strongly pushed or surgery puts a sort of breathing pacemake in your chest, i.e., if you stop breath it will start you breathing again with a never impulse.

    2. If you take ambien and sleep duration is an issue, ask for the 12.5mg extended release tablets.

    3. If the ambien needs a boost get a doctor to prescribe some progesterone tablets. This harmone is not just for women. An oral dose for a man will be much less than a woman.

    4. In general all other over the counter stuff is useless in my experience other than the 10mm sublingual tablets of melatonin. Avoid the benadrly sleep meds as the drug seems linked to dementia.

    5. Alchohol will make the ambien kick in quick, or so I have been told. Probably a dangerous practice to avoid.

    6. Insomnia causes racing thughts so repetative droning music in ear buds quiets the man, chants, mantras, gregorian chants, that sort of thing.

    7. White noise generators are helpful.

    8. If waking up to soon take two capsules of Gabatrol from Purelife to go back to sleep This if a form of GABA that will penetrated the blood brain barrier. The actual drug is called Phenabut. Phenabut is adicting and must be cycles, but is easy to get and is legal.

    So that is what I know and hope it helps.
    Last edited by jet3534; 03-17-2023 at 01:43 AM.

  11. #11
    Senior Member

    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    harms way
    Posts
    17,742
    Avoid adding salt to food consumed before bedtime, try not to eat salty food before bed, while on the subject heard about a study where a drink of water before bed cut down on a lot of strokes.
    "And how we burned in the camps later thinking, what would things have been like, if every security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain, whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family?"

  12. #12
    Team Guns Network Silver 04/2013 alismith's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    44th "Free" State
    Posts
    19,018
    Quote Originally Posted by 5.56NATO View Post
    Avoid adding salt to food consumed before bedtime, try not to eat salty food before bed, while on the subject heard about a study where a drink of water before bed cut down on a lot of strokes.
    I subscribe to the theory of 3 before bed....3 beers, that is.
    "Valar morghulis; valar dohaeris."

    Commucrats are most efficient at converting sins and crimes to accidents or misunderstandings.-Oswald Bastable

    Making good people helpless won't make bad people harmless.

    Freedom isn't free.

    "Attitude is the paintbrush that colors our world." TV Series, Haven.

    My Spirit Animal has rabies.

    I'd rather be an American than a Democrat.

    "If you can make a man afraid, you can control him" Netflix Series, The Irregulars

  13. #13
    Senior Member

    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    harms way
    Posts
    17,742
    Want better sleep? Avoid these 5 foods before bedtime
    "Really no sleep aid is the magic bullet and there's not one best sleep aid for everyone."
    If you struggle to slip easily into a restful night’s sleep you may want to reevaluate what you do before bedtime – including what you eat, experts say.
    Cleveland Clinic sleep specialist Michelle Drerup told Nexstar that about 30 percent of American adults report symptoms of insomnia.
    https://thehill.com/changing-america...efore-bedtime/
    shame about the dark chocolate
    "And how we burned in the camps later thinking, what would things have been like, if every security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain, whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family?"

  14. #14
    Senior Member Oswald Bastable's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Somewhere In The Troposhpere
    Posts
    7,417
    Quote Originally Posted by alismith View Post
    I subscribe to the theory of 3 before bed....3 beers, that is.
    You started this ali!!!

    Okay...I work 3rd shift as well. My regimen is that I get up about an hour before I have to head out the door...YMMV.

    When I get home in the am (about 7:15) I begin drinking heavily.

    What can I say...I can't really drink before work, and for some reason they really frown on me drinking at work...so I'm limited.

    Drink heavily until at least noon, 1pm....sleep like a baby (except for those damned trips to the bathroom) till morning.

    There you have it...the ultimate guide to beating insomnia.
    If we refuse to rule ourselves with reason, then we shall be ruled by our passions.

    He, Who Will Not Reason, Is a Bigot; He, Who Cannot, Is a Fool; and He, Who Dares Not, Is a Slave. -Sir William Drummond

    There are some things I will not abide within my sight!

  15. #15
    Guns Network Lifetime Member #2

    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Minnesota
    Posts
    8,845
    Quote Originally Posted by Oswald Bastable View Post
    You started this ali!!!

    Okay...I work 3rd shift as well. My regimen is that I get up about an hour before I have to head out the door...YMMV.

    When I get home in the am (about 7:15) I begin drinking heavily.

    What can I say...I can't really drink before work, and for some reason they really frown on me drinking at work...so I'm limited.

    Drink heavily until at least noon, 1pm....sleep like a baby (except for those damned trips to the bathroom) till morning.

    There you have it...the ultimate guide to beating insomnia.
    I've found that drinking actually puts me to sleep but as my wife noted, it causes you to wake up when the alcohol is depleted. Plus I generally feel like shit the next day if I go heavy. I did an experiment and drank nothing for two days after work and found the ambien and just a quarter of a pill of my muscle relaxer led to better sleep. I still woke up periodically, FING DOGS we have barking at everything and my wife moving around during the day, but able to go right back to sleep. I have gotten some of the Gabatrol that was recommended by Jet but it's inclusive so far. Thanks everyone for the suggestions. NoBeard, if I even suggested that to the mrs. she would probably shoot me with the new suppressor.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •