Unable to sleep

Hi whitewavemark2 it's a very difficult time for you and appreciate and take comfort in the fact that you are doing the best you can for your mum at the end of her life.My mum died very suddenly at 50 when I was pregnant with my 1st child and I never got to say goodbye. Lots of hugs and my thoughts are with you

I have been there too Whitewave and feel for you . Sadly it will come to an end but your Mum will be at peace and you will have some comfort in the fact you loved and cared for her and eased her path .
Take care .

My sleep pattern is very disrupted at the moment.

I am helping to care for Mum who is now very very frail and bedridden and we fear not likely to last much longer.

So I wake at night, usually about 2am and lay with my mind going into overdrive. Sometimes I may doze from about 5am ton7am but often no sleep until the following night.

There is nothing to be done. This is a perfectly natural reaction which sadly will come to an end.

youtu.be/ni7wkPJKJfU

This guy talks about the anti inflammatory effects and it is reassuring that he seems to be pretty well qualified .

Hi
I have had severe insomnia for last 20 years , I am 67. Life was pretty dreadful whilst I worked , dragging myself through life . Easier now I am retired . Typically I do not get to sleep till about 4 in the morning , so now I sleep till about 9 if there is nowhere I have to be .
I have tried everything everyone else has listed on here and spent hours on research etc . Done some pretty bizarre things as well in desperation !
The reason I am posting , and at this time of the morning , is that recently someone recommended Glycine to me .
It is an amino acid , I buy it on Amazon in powder form.
There is plenty of info available , people take it for its anti inflammatory effects as well as for sleep so win/ win for me .
I will leave you all to do your own googling .
Early days yet , about 3 weeks and it is not a case of take it today and sleep tonight , but fingers crossed it seems to be helping me MOST nights.
I get to sleep more quickly , still takes quite a while though usually asleep before midnight , maybe 1 , then wake up 5 or 6 o'clock .
For me that is a fantastic amount of sleep . Also much more pleasant , not having to be completely shattered before getting off and waking up feeling ok rather than still exhausted . So certainly makes me feel better , more normal , Hope this helps someone . It is dreadful , not to say dangerous , dragging yourself through life in a fog . There have been long periods when I have not driven as I know I am really not functioning well enough to be safe . ( I accidently typed sane and that is how it feels sometimes )
Various things have sometimes helped for a short while so fingers crossed that this one will last . Hope it helps someone .

Linjoy and all new members, welcome.
Try Clarityn to help you sleep. It is an antihistamine, but it does make you drowsy. Take it about an hour before you want to sleep.
You can ask your GP to prescribe them but you can buy them over the counter as well
I also have problems. sleeping. I take Zopiclone 3.75mg - but I don't find them addictive. There are nights I don't need them. But, please talk to your Dr or Pharmacist.

Go for it, Pjm. Nothing to lose by checking it out.

Thank you! AndI know what you mean, Pjm55. It can be quite torturous after time. Not sure if mine started due to me working nights for 7 years, then an evening shift we had from 5 - 10. Obviously this affected the old body clock.

Some people swear by warm baths and no screens in the bedroom etc, I've also heard that eating a couple of kiwis helps ... the fruit, not the birds!

I do hope that you manage to get it sorted. Sometimes it's just an annoying blip and you'll be back to normal soon. Good luck!

I may just check my thyroid as my friend suggested that might be a problem as well.
Thanks.

Sorry about your pain Minniemoo - I’m lucky in as much as I don’t have the chronic pain that you do. I just wish I could sleep for longer periods of time.

Hi and welcome, Pjm55. Again the thyroid can cause fatigue and lack of refreshing sleep. Always worth getting it checked out with a simple blood test.

I know what you mean about turning 50! Everything was going fine until I hit that milestone!

Evening
I’m a new member but felt I had to add a short post. I love reading all the threads by the way.
I don’t sleep very well and always wake up exhausted. I tend to wake up at the same times every night - 1:30 a.m 3 a.m - 4:30 and 6 ish. I always used to sleep quite well, but since turning 50 everything seems to have gone to pot! I’m only 55 now, but feel like I’m 80 some days.

I have had insomnia for years. I also suffer with chronic pain which makes normal sleep impossible. So I am on sleeping tablets which work like a dream but they're not for everyone.

I just love going to bed because I know for a good few hours I'll be at peace and pain free.

True BlueBelle, it's really better not to worry about it. I just get up if I've been lying awake for a while.

I have tea and toast, read my book or listen to music, do some housework, take the dog round the garden, have a shower etc. until I actually feel tired. If it's still before 7 am I'll go back to sleep. I'm sure we make up for lost sleep the next afternoon and/or night anyway.

I bunnyhop through the night normally drop asleep very quickly around 10.30 Im then awake around 1 or 2 have an hour or so awake then off again until about 4 sometimes another couple of hours or not I usually manage about 5 hours a night but I absolutely don’t stress about it at all I manage fine the next day and just accept this as my sleeping habit
Night before last I literally didn’t sleep at all (that’s unusual) no reason, not hot, not cold, nothing on my mind, comfortable, just complete sleepless however I felt fine the next day, worked as normal and didn’t feel tired

I would not take tablets ever, and I think a lot is about acceptance and not feeling worried by which ever way your sleep pattern goes
Welcome by the way to the new or nearly new posters ?

My husband bought me a sort of light show that danced about on the ceiling , you had to follow the sequence, guaranteed to give you a good nights sleep! Didn’t work, sleep inducing spray on the pillow, didn’t work, I refuse to take medication, but some days it’s such a struggle to keep focused

I have had chronic insomnia for years because of pain. I have severe arthritis and going to bed at night is like purgatory. Nothing has worked so now I use the time to pray for everyone in trouble. I try to nap during the day and listen to relaxation tapes. Good old vino may get me off to sleep for an hour or two but then it’s wakefulness as usual.

I have to take a lot of piriton anyway in the summer (sometimes six a day) and don't sleep well since a back injury in 2017. I'm often up in the night having tea and toast, then walking the dog around the garden.

It doesn't matter if I can have a nap in the afternoon. I do worry, though, if I'm out for the day and can't lie down (bad back and extreme tiredness).

I sleep better if I go for three long walks, rather than the usual two, also if I take codiene or tramadol (although I feel awful with a fuzzy head the next day).

The worst time was the night before my daughter's wedding, when I couldn't sleep at all at the hotel. Being claustrophobic, I spent hours wandering around the car park and was drained on the big day, drinking loads of coffee!

Thanks grandmaoftwo I've sent for some bimuno I hope it works

Has anyone seen 'The Truth About Sleep' it's on BBC iplayer number 12 in the series. Insomniac Dr Michael Mosley took part in a trial, he took a prebiotic 'Bimuno' daily, it increases good gut bacteria which in turn sent messages to the brain, it worked for him, I haven't tried it as I get a decent night's sleep, but would if I needed it. It's worth a watch.

I have had chronic insomnia ever since my fifties when my hormones dipped. I am now 78 and tried all sorts of things. When I used to tell a doctor I was told to find something herbal. About ten months ago I went to another doctor and burst into tears. I explained that I knew regular use of sleeping tablets could stop them working. I said if I could just get one or two nights sleep a week I would be grateful. He said it would be okay to use them up to twice a week and gave me 14 zopicione 3.75mg with instructions to take one at night but if it didn’t work take two which is actually a full dose for a younger person. He then put them on a repeat prescription for every 28 days. I have endeavoured to keep to one but often have to resort to two. I regularly don’t go to sleep at all for an entire night. Often I get 2/3 hours. My Fitbit usually cannot register details as my sleep is less than 3 hours. Even when I sleep longer I wake up every hour and a half on the dot! If I know I am going out anywhere I take a sleeping tablet or two. I can’t drive if I haven’t slept so regularly my shopping is restricted to a bus journey. My husband says try to sleep and not get up but that never works. I too have tried Piriton and sometimes I have managed to get a little sleep. The trouble is that if I have to take two tablets it only allows me 7 nights sleep a month. It’s a problem that really affects my life and my health. Last year ?i had months of a terrible skin condition which the doctor in the Times said was thought to be caused largely by lack of sleep. I then went on to have shingles. So yes, my heart goes out to anyone who has insomnia.

Has anyone tried CBD oil for sleep does it work

Hi, I often wake about 3 a.m....I think I need to try to break the habit. What I have found is reading a light story on my Reader can make me shut my eyes. I carefully put it down with closed eyes and often manage to get off again.
L

Septima I'm half way through that book. So far lots of theories have been debunked.

MissA I was prescribed and anti-histamine and it made me feel sick and weepy the next day. Sharon Kalms had a similar reaction too.

Keeper my GP prescribed sleeping tablets but said they are addictive and to only take every other night so at least I sleep one night in 2.

Crazy I'm glad that works for you but if I don't get my sleep I simply don't function and research says that lack of sleep causes so many health problems that I don't think I can just accept it.

It’s interesting to see that once retired the worry about not sleeping lessens, I found it so myself although I’ve always been a good sleeper even through the menopause.

In any month I only have one or two poor nights when I can’t drop off so usually get up and read (book, never computer or tablet) with a camomile tea then go back to bed. Anything worrying me is written down to deal with tomorrow and I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve looked at the list the following day and just crossed stuff off as too trivial!