Welcome to everybody’s hated game show: The Insomnia Show! Filled with all kinds of interesting things like watching infomercials on TV and reading up on disturbing stuff on Google! Stay up all night and be tired all day! This has been the story of my life for quite some time, and it’s not necessarily a very interesting one. Heading into the SADD season and coupled with my rampant ADD and Anxiety it’s all just a big old party in my messed up little head.
Oh don’t get me wrong, Insomnia CAN be interesting. I have a fellow blogger who even put it in the name of her blog. Go check out the Insomniac’s Dream sometime. She is one cool lady.
The other day I drove to the town that my husband works in, daughter in tow. I went to get my eyes checked for new glasses and then got to go out to lunch with my husband and his boss. Somehow we got onto the subject of insomnia and I interjected that I had not had an unmedicated night’s sleep in years. It’s not something I’m proud of.
I’ve tried a lot of different things and some things work for awhile, other things don’t work at all. Not drinking caffeine (HA HA-right), valerian root (which to me sounds sexual and I don’t know why), soothing tea, wine (my personal favorite), melatonin (which sounds too much like melanoma), and Ambien. Not all at the same time now, I’m not nuts!
It’s not THAT bad.
Why do I not sleep? There are soooo many reasons. A lot of it is a combination of ADD and Anxiety. All that time to lay awake and think about all of those anxious thoughts randomly for hours without interruption. My brain welcomes this opportunity and takes it and runs with it. I think some of it has to do with the fact that I am just not active enough these days. When I do go and lay in my bed without assistance from any sort of foreign substance, I do this weird half awake half asleep thing. It’s bizarre.
Back to the assistance with sleep-these days I take an Ambien most nights. When I go to bed I have a little sound machine that I turn on and sometimes I even light incense Unfortunately, it’s all for naught-sometimes it seems to not even help. Even if I take the other half I’m just up. If I do fall asleep it’s odd and only for a few minutes. This isn’t every night. Every night is different. I am thrilled to sleep seven hours, which something that can definitely be obtained on a good night.
Incidentally, did you know there are whole websites dedicated to the stuff that people do when they are on Ambien? That’s pretty freaky. I do stuff like… fall asleep at my computer after taking it. Isn’t that exciting? Oh once I typed letters that did not form words. Call the police, that’s pretty racy stuff.
Falling asleep at the computer is the best I do. I’m surprised I don’t pass out somewhere like my kids have done in the past. How do they do that?
No insomnia here, just sheer princess stubborness.
These days I could just go and go and go and pray to just get tired enough to go to bed. Which is just plain weird because I’m tired all day. I wait, and I wait to get tired enough to sleep. I do stuff online. I freak myself up because I start looking up all of the symptoms that I imagine I’m having. There have been some nights I have even started seeing things I’m up so late. The other night I kept seeing something out of the corner of my eye. I finally concluded that maybe it was just my mind…
Ironically, I suppose I could take an antihistamine or a Xanax and sleep for DAYS. As wonderful as that sounds, I think there’d be some people upset with me.
For now, I take my half Ambien, and if the stuff is not cooperating then I take the other half. Most nights some combination of this works in some way. The ones that don’t, well, aren’t good nights.
I’m hoping that once we can get our finances better understood and where we were going to be at, then I could try a different method to help me sleep. Some different herbs, burn that incense, maybe even a massage. That would be a nice night.
Do you suffer from insomnia? Any weird stories to share?
She just couldn’t fight it anymore…
The Sadder But Wiser Girl 
I love my sleep and need way too much! cute pictures, my kids have tons of teds too! x
I have the opposite problem – I really really want to sleep but my 1.5 year old is an insomniac.
Oh my daughter contributed to it when she was younger. We still go through phases when she won’t sleep. My son has never ever had any trouble sleeping, though. He’d sleep all the time if we let him!
I fall asleep with the tv on- I’ll close my eyes but still listen to the show, trying to fool myself into the idea that I’m not really trying to fall asleep.
I love the pics of your daughter…we have so many of Bency this way…he can fall asleep anywhere and sleep walks! Anyway, I have always found insomnia fascinating because I have NEVER had it! I am so tired when I go to bed which is early mind you that I fall instantly to sleep! I won’t say I’m jealous of you because it sounds horrid but I just can’t wrap my mind around it!
My son and I we are both insomniacs 🙂 it’s really hard at night + now he’s having night terrors so I am lacking 1000 hours of sleep 😉 btw, your daughter is the cutest 😉
Thanks for the shout out. I feel like the Queen of Insomnia. Unfortunately for me, nothing works, not even medication. Good luck in your travels to slumber!
The Ambien isn’t working as well. Today I went to get a refill and the pharmacist informed me that they’ll be changing how much you can get. This will be interesting.
I sleep much better when I exercise during the day. Otherwise, I like to lie awake at night worrying about things that don’t matter, and things I can’t change. Insomnia really blows, and I’m sorry you struggle with it.
I have no stories to share, but I must say I LODE the pictures of your daughter snoozing!!!!!!!
I have more of them of both kids but the computer is being a douche. Perhaps a future post!
I’ll be anxiously waiting 🙂
I have it, too. You’ve probably tried this, but just in case, I recommend Benadryl. It doesn’t ALWAYS work, and sometimes I have to take a third one an hour later, or add a couple glasses of wine, but if you’ve never tried it, it’s worth a shot.
Good old Benadryl. It certainly knocks me out when I have a real reason to take it-for allergic reactions.
I take two every night, an hour or two before bed. It’s safe, I swear.