Haven’t slept properly for weeks now

See or at least speak to your doctor.

Esspee

See or at least speak to your doctor.

I have, he prescribed the sleeping pills..

That’s miserable.

Have you done all the usual things they suggest, no screens for an hour before bedtime, a warm bath, calm atmosphere etc? Are you lying awake worrying about things? If you are, I was told of a technique that was remarkably effective for me. When you get into bed, write down anything that’s on your mind on a bit of paper or notebook then lay it aside and tell yourself you’ll think about those things in the morning.

I was very sceptical indeed but to my astonishment, it worked! Not only did I manage to sleep, it also eliminated the awful dreams I’d been having. It’s almost as though I was giving myself permission to relax and sleep. I only needed to do it a few times, it kind of reset my body, or something.

Try white noise...or one of the variations, pink, brown. My daughters use it for their children, and it’s amazing. It really does work. At first you just think it’s going to annoy you, then you realise you’ve been asleep, and it’s so refreshing when you wake. My daughter describes it as a brain washout!

Also, hot milk, a banana, tomatoes, nutmeg, are a few things which induce sleep. My whole menopause kicked off with insomnia, so that’s finished now after 5 years. Could it be this with you?

Good wishes ?

I have a year’s subscription to the CALM app which I have on my iPhone. They have lots of sleep stories by different people, the best is Eric Braa. I listen to one every night through ear phones plugged into iPhone. It switches off automatically at the end of the half hour story. I have 1 GB on my phone plan to be able to use the Internet each night.

If I’m having a really bad night I get up make a cuppa and Rich tea biscuit take it back to bed, I play a couple of games on my iPhone then settle down with a new story. Alan Scalar is good.

I find my lack of sleep is due to nocturnal dashes to loo several times. Best thing to induce sleep for me is Lavendar oil. I used to by Avons sleep therapy. But now I make my own. I spray it round edges of pillowcase. I get some sleep then

By means buy

Shinamae. As your doctor’s solution is tablets and you don’t want to take them I would suggest first of all that you force yourself to stay awake all day. Having a nap to make up for lost sleep impacts on your next night’s sleep. Before bed a warm relaxing bath with lavender scented products followed by a cup of warm milk should help you drop off.

Hi. Have you tried a lavender sleep spray ? I use the one from This works it’s a bit pricey but it does work for me. Also half a 10mg tablet of Phenergan, you can buy it over the counter. Good luck .

I'm lucky to get 4 of sleep a night and am usually up a having a cup of tea around 5am. My doctor prescribed Zopiclone which I had been taking at the lowest dose a few nights a week, but I have stopped taking them entirely after reading and suffering from the side effects - metallic tasting mouth, sweating and worse of all, shortness of breath. Taking one to one and half hours to fall asleep would be wonderful for me. Sometimes it takes 4 hours!! I have just accepted it now as my sense of taste has returned, the sweating has abated and I am less breathless since I packed the pills in. I also found that once I had decided not to stress over falling asleep and accept the situation, then sleep came a little easier.

Thank you all for your suggestions, I shall for certainly try some of them..????

You can try Melatonin
ask your GP for it.
It helps me fall asleep. I have some problems staying asleep but can cope better if I have a few hours of sleep at the start of the night.

Melatonin is a natural hormone that can diminsh as we get older. Start with a tiny dose and see how you get on,

I have given up worrying about my random sleep patterns! Sometimes I’m tired and fall asleep by 10pm and sleep for ten hours - apart from two or three toilet trips! Other times I’m still wide awake at 4am having tossed and turned and fretted for hours.

Now I look at my diary while getting ready for bed and decide if I need to wake up at a particular time then set an alarm. I might only have five hours sleep but I can cope with that. If I have a free morning and I’m struggling to settle down, I might set my alarm for 10am or even later this getting enough sleep, just not at normal times!

It seems to balance out, maybe three or four days of only a few hours sleep followed by a few days of late nights but late starts followed by nights when I get 12 hours sleep! I can only do this because I’m now retired, live alone and can schedule social events for afternoons or evenings. My friends know not to pop round without calling and never before mid day!

If anyone else calls while I am in bed, I either pretend not to be in or answer my door in my dressing gown saying I’m just about to have a shower after doing the housework! Friends might know I’m lying but casual callers don’t!

I'm addicted to Court TV and watch it every night . I get so involved with the cases, and love to hear the Barristers questioning the witnesses.....basically, I'm nuts. I follow the case until the verdict ?

It's not funny, this not sleeping thing Shinamae. Fine if you feel ok durung the day, but I too often feel half awake all day. I have 5mg amitryptiline pills from doctor. Half a pill taken an hour before sleep helps me. Like you I am reluctant to use pills all the time. But if I take them for a couple of nights they sometimes change the sleep pattern for a while. Which I'm about to do now.
I've tried the lavender and sleep meditation.
Chamomile tea seems to help a little too.
We are all different. I hope some of these suggestions help you. I like the one about writing things down.

I SO sympathise having been an insomniac for years ?
I recently did an online CBT course.
Basically you need to keep a sleep diary for a couple of weeks noting:-
What time you go to bed
How long it takes to fall asleep
How often you wake in the night-early, middle, late
How long it took to fall back asleep.
After that I had to sleep restrict-for me it was go to bed 12.30-1 am. Get up at 6am but I did 7am
It did help a little but i still wake several times every night and struggle to get back to sleep!
It might be worth trying the above? When I’ve gone a few nights of poor sleep I take a nytol or night nurse for just one night.
All the best!

Some more very good suggestions thank you.?? I did use the CBT oil with no effect whatsoever and ended up giving it to my daughter-in-law. As most of you know I am a recovering alcoholic and pills don’t really affect me that much, I have to say and I know I shall be shouted at but sometimes I would take 3 or 4 zopiclone at a time and I think that is 22 mg which obviously is not good and probably not safe but it did guarantee a solid nights sleep and I was desperate! ?I am now A full week without taking anything and I am still not sleeping well, going to work later and that will get me going, I find the energy levels from somewhere and as I work in a care home I need to but if I’m just at home I just feel completely drained for most of the day..

SueDonim

That’s miserable.

Have you done all the usual things they suggest, no screens for an hour before bedtime, a warm bath, calm atmosphere etc? Are you lying awake worrying about things? If you are, I was told of a technique that was remarkably effective for me. When you get into bed, write down anything that’s on your mind on a bit of paper or notebook then lay it aside and tell yourself you’ll think about those things in the morning.

I was very sceptical indeed but to my astonishment, it worked! Not only did I manage to sleep, it also eliminated the awful dreams I’d been having. It’s almost as though I was giving myself permission to relax and sleep. I only needed to do it a few times, it kind of reset my body, or something.

A similar technnique works for me, though I do not have a sleep issue.

I have found that if I have about five or six things or more that I need to get done on a day that I can get a bit overwhelmed by it, even though they are not each in their own way any problem.

For example, do some washing, order some shoes online, etc. The mix is on my mind all together.

I have found that if I sit down and write a list of tasks to do, . and it is, perhaps, seven or eight items when the list is completed, then I just look at the list and decide which one it is best to do first, but not try to put the rest in a timetabled order, then go and do that task, then go back to the list and choose the next one, and so on.

If they are all about equal priority I tend to do the quicker ones earlier so as to reduce the number of tasks still to do, and to alternate physical ones with sedantary ones. For example, washing some shirts, ordering shoes online.

I’m another who has notebook by my bed. It was recommended to me when I started teaching at the age of 36. There was so much on my mind that when I got to bed, I was getting probably on average 4 hrs sleep and finding it difficult to drop off like you. I still do it now 11 years after retiring.

Once it’s on paper, as SueDonim says, you sleep.

The thing is I’m not aware of anything actually on my mind, it’s just busy random traffic in my head..?‍♀️

Lack of good sleep really is miserable, and you are probably very wise to try to avoid the medication route given your history of addiction ( well done on kicking it!). I suffer occasionally, and could be far worse, but the few things which work for me are; a sleep spray, I use This Works which is lovely, I also have Radio 4 on quietly, which morphs into the World Service, so if I wake up, I just lie and listen to it without fretting that I am awake, I guarantee I never hear the end of anything! To actually get off to sleep, I find that composing a letter in my head, or thinking about moving into a house in the village that I have my eye on and re-decorating it, is enough to send me off! Good luck, it truly can be miserable and I hope you find a solution.

lack of exercise = lack of sleep. If your body is ready for rest, you'll fall asleep quickly and stay asleep longer. Have you tried a nice, long evening walk?

Hetty58

lack of exercise = lack of sleep. If your body is ready for rest, you'll fall asleep quickly and stay asleep longer. Have you tried a nice, long evening walk?

I suppose I don’t really walk enough but my job in a busy care home gives me plenty of exercise I can assure you..Although I only do that 4 days a week so maybe try to walk on the days I’m not working..

Hetty58

lack of exercise = lack of sleep. If your body is ready for rest, you'll fall asleep quickly and stay asleep longer. Have you tried a nice, long evening walk?

Not necessarily. I have found in the past, that my body is weary, whacked out, from various exercising, but my mind is still wide awake and active?.

It can be such a nuisance can’t it.