Not Sleeping

[Traviesa 0]

To make a long story short, between the stress of planning the wedding, life in general, and being in immigration limbo once again, my normally healthy and natural sleep schedule has deteriorated. I have been dealing with insomnia for the past 5 nights and my psych prescribed Ambien for me. I'm really nervous about taking it, because I am a really good sleeper normally and I don't want this to mess that up. I'm hoping this is just a phase but I'm about to reach the desperation point because I feel terrible. Does anyone have any experience with this or thoughts for me? Thanks.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Melissa,

When my wife can't sleep, she drinks a glass of wine. I don't know if that's better or worse than Ambien but at least it's not a pharma product.

[iceyspots 0]

yes... use your bed only for sleep.. not other things like reading or watching TV... do breathing techniques.. make sure the room is just right temperature.. dont take the ambien for TOO long because after a while, you wont be able to sleep without it... hope everything comes out good i'm not sleeping well in algeria either, i really miss my bed!!

[almaty 19]

take ambien or a natural sleep aid

[almaty 19]

take ambien or a natural sleep aid

[almaty 19]

take ambien or a natural sleep aid

[hockeygal 0]

If you are already taking some other drug, I don't know about this... but I have taken melatonin, a natural supplement, and it helps. You have to be willing to go with the flow of it, but it helped me.

[iceyspots 0]

dean are you echoing?????

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

dean are you echoing?????

He clearly needs more sleep.

[Cristy 4]

I am with you. I have not slept in 2 weeks. I am taking nytol

[ChristinaM 0]

Melatonin will not do you any harm, and if you're concerned about Ambien it's worth a try. It just kick-starts some of your circadian rhythms.

Ambien is also a pretty good drug - it's what my husband takes on and off, and he has some seriously messed up sleeping patterns.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

To make a long story short, between the stress of planning the wedding, life in general, and being in immigration limbo once again, my normally healthy and natural sleep schedule has deteriorated. I have been dealing with insomnia for the past 5 nights and my psych prescribed Ambien for me. I'm really nervous about taking it, because I am a really good sleeper normally and I don't want this to mess that up. I'm hoping this is just a phase but I'm about to reach the desperation point because I feel terrible. Does anyone have any experience with this or thoughts for me? Thanks.

I have ambien that I take on Sunday nights to go to sleep because I tend to screw up my sleep pattern on the weekends.

Take Ambien only right before bed. Not in your car on your way home. You can google for ambien horror stories. It's very easy to become dependent on ambien, so go easy with it.

[raymaga 25]

I have suffered with insomnia for a very long time and I have two suggestions that really work for me.

One is take a hot bath (or just a warm bath if you don't like hot baths) and have a glass of milk (warm is best, but even cold milk is okay) right before going to sleep.

I don't always have time to take a hot bath before bed, but when I do..... I sleep like a baby.

Good luck with all the stress.... after the stress is gone, you should go back to your normal sleep patterns.

Edited June 22, 2006 by raymaga

[Kajikit 65]

Have you tried taking benadryl? It makes most people very sleepy and it's not addictive or something that your body will come to rely on to get to sleep. What about chamomile tea or valerian tablets? Playing soothing music at bedtime? Just lying in bed and relaxing and not worrying about how much sleep you're getting - sometimes a long rest where you let your mind wander and your body relax is almost as good as actual sleep. There are a lot of things you can try before reaching for a sleeping tablet. You might do better with a relaxation aid or some sort rather than a sedative.

I have sleep issues a lot of the time and I've found what works best for me is letting my body tell me what it wants to do - if it's sleepy, then I sleep and it doesn't matter what hour of the night it is... the clock is really just an arbitrary number. Of course that doesn't help much if you have to get up for work at a set time! When I start to stress about sleeping I get up and go and play with my crafts for half an hour, and it's a very relaxing activity for me, so I usually find that when I go back to bed I fall asleep.

[Traviesa 0]

To make a long story short, between the stress of planning the wedding, life in general, and being in immigration limbo once again, my normally healthy and natural sleep schedule has deteriorated. I have been dealing with insomnia for the past 5 nights and my psych prescribed Ambien for me. I'm really nervous about taking it, because I am a really good sleeper normally and I don't want this to mess that up. I'm hoping this is just a phase but I'm about to reach the desperation point because I feel terrible. Does anyone have any experience with this or thoughts for me? Thanks.

I have ambien that I take on Sunday nights to go to sleep because I tend to screw up my sleep pattern on the weekends.

Take Ambien only right before bed. Not in your car on your way home. You can google for ambien horror stories. It's very easy to become dependent on ambien, so go easy with it.

Do you find that it's more difficult to sleep the other nights of the week? My main concern is, because I am normally a really easy sleeper (asleep in 5-10 minutes) that taking medicine will interfere with that once I'm out of this phase. Although I've pretty much decided that I'll be taking it tonight because I cannot go one more day without sleep. I just hope it works. And that I can get up in the morning.

Thanks for everyone's comments/advice! I don't take these kinds of things lightly (putting chemicals into my body to make it do things). It was a real stretch for me to start taking my Celexa, knowing that it is mind-altering.