AS if it is not enough to be chronically depressed, now sleep is a thing of the past. I get about 90 minutes a night total, 30 to 45 minutes at the start, around 10:30 and another 45 minutes to an hour just before dawn. Then, it is another day and the cycle repeats. This has been going on for about five weeks. The days are not so bad as I am busy with work but night just drags like a slow bus ride. Anybody have suggestions on how to get back to sleep at night? I don't like the antihistamine based OTC sleep meds as their half life is about 12 hours and I am too fogy the next day. I took Ambien for a couple of years and that stopped being effective some months ago. My MD won't prescribe barbituits (spelling?) not sure why. His reluctance takes on an ominous silence what I talk to him.

all suggestions appreciated.

Hi Quasimodo

Sleeping disorders are common with depression.
I am sorry that you are getting so little sleep. This can really make your depression a lot worse.
When you are battling to sleep what happens?
Are you getting racing thoughts, dreams, when you wake in the night?
Do you feel anxious?

If you have racing thoughts, meditation and quiet music can help.
If your doctor is reluctant to give you the right sleeping meds for you, you could also try a sleep study/sleep therapy.

Trace

Hi hi Quasimodo, what does the above you've written mean? What does 'half life about 12 hours' mean? Thanks and I'm also having sleeping problems though I am taking Atarax 25mg each night. I often have to take 12 mg of melatonin to shut myself off totally...

Going through the same thing. For months I had to self-medicate until I passed out. Benedryl and other antihistamines only put me to sleep for half an hour at a time on full dose and I've never wanted sedatives. I finally had to quit self-medicating because I couldn't even catch a buzz, but that was for the best. Here's what I do now to fall asleep:

I lay down in a cool place with a consistent noise (like a noise machine, an AC unit, something that makes the same sound continuously and doesn't knock or ding at irregular intervals.) I make sure very little light gets to my eyes (I sleep with two pillows over my head) I close my eyes and focus on the blackness of my eyelids. The human mind loves to make order out of chaos and I've found that when you actually try to focus your eyes when they're closed, your mind begins to make shapes out of the blackness. This helps calm the craziness in my head from the day. Once I begin to see shapes from the blackness, I categorize them. Often time during your waking hours, your brain and eyes pick up thousands of details that you're not able to process and decode. This is what dreaming is--a culmination of all those sounds and sights you experienced. So as shapes and objects appear behind my eyes, I name them. This helps take my mind away from my body. Once my mind stops focusing on my body, I begin to feel my body less and less, becoming unaware of my feet and hands, and then my arms and legs, and then my torso. If I'm able to maintain this state for a while, my mind usually begins adding noises to the shapes I see--bits and pieces of dialog from my friends and co-workers that I might not have picked up during the day, sounds I didn't process or think about. If I can maintain this state, the sounds and the images will eventually sync up to from dreams, forming "dream plot lines" and then I'm very lightly dreaming. If nothing external (like someone turning on a light or noises in the bedroom) disturb me, I am able to dream and fall into a deeper, more useful sleep. If someone distubs me, I wake up again and have to start over.

Now, as it is, this isn't full-proof. It's just my method, and I still get only about 20-30 hours of sleep a week anyway. My dreams tend to be very topical, focused on myself, a series of tasks I have to do (usually school, work, or life-related), filled with people I've seen that day and set in a location I'm familiar with (but that is very different from the actual location). I tend to be hurrying in them, from one person to another, one task to the next, and the surrealism of being in a dream is still there--circus elements, losing things like my clothes or my cell phone, and other elements like having to jump large distances or not being able to run fast enough. Sometimes these dreams aren't restful at all. But they help clear my mind because at least I'm able to process my life's data without being overwhelmed by it all. I'm told this technique is similar to putting yourself in a trance, so maybe it will help. Good luck on your sleep problems!

This post has been edited by PRT: Jun 29 2009, 02:52 PM

Hi Quasi,

You don't say if you are on any kind of medication for your depression. For me, what works to sleep well is taking celexa in the morning and trazodone at night. The trazodone is an antidepressant but works as a sleep aid as well. The celexa is tremendously helpful in relieving my anxiety. Both together are a perfect combination for me, and can be taken long term.

Exercise helps me a lot too, as do meditation and progressive relaxation. I know it's hard to exercise when you are exhausted, but even a 30 minute walk can help.

Good luck, I know how much insomnia can really drag you down...hope you find a way to get some sleep!

Lark

"Half Life" refers to the period of time a particular medication looses about 1/2 its dosage through absorption by the body. This is usually based on clinical studies and blood tests. It is often assumed that a drug is no longer effective after half of the dosage is gone from the body. If it takes 12 hours for the drug to loose its effectiveness then it can still be influencing the taker the next day. If I take antihistamine sleep aids at say 11:00 PM, then 12 hours later or 11:00 AM the next morning I am still feeling kind of dopey or punchy. Some sleep aids like the "Pams" as in Flourazapam have a half life of a couple of hours. I can take one at 11:00 PM and be wide awake at 2:00 AM, which sucks deeply!

You are fortunate that melatonin works for you. It does nothing for me.

Nighty night! Sleep well!

Sorry you're having such a hard time with this.

I've had insomnia on and off for years though not as intense as what you're dealing with.
The main thing which helps me is a sleep routine. Going to bed at the same time/getting up at the same time regardless of if I slept proper or not, (eventually you will) If I break the routine, the insomnia comes back, and going back to the routine solves this. Also if I skip meals, this plays havoc with anxiety and can lead to a restless 'broken sleep', or no sleep at all.

Anyway, just throwing my two bobs worth down. Hope you get this sorted soon, I know the torture of insomnia, wouldn't wish it on anyone.

I will be seeing my doctor this Thursday and will ask her as I have insomnia again, hard to fall asleep before 2 or 3 in the morning unless I 'take something'. I don't want to take any pills anymore (unless my cholesterol is dangerously high which it might be.) My hair has been falling out for 3 or 4 months now and I have never had this problem. I am going to try your technique well_now_what. My brain races without rest and even my dreams are like full length feature extended action-adventure, horror, sci-fi movies.