[jrrocco]

Well Hey Guys,

It feels strange joining a group for this condition, it seems like it gives more power to the problem. The mind is a funny thing.. But I'm starting to rule out this “all in your head” thing.

I feel like I'm in perpetual cat nap mode. Started about a year ago when i literally forced myself to break my sleep pattern and wake up every few hours to check on my online marketing campaigns. I don't know why this time it broke me.. I've been online marketing since 1996 in one form or another..

I can't get back to just sleeping for 7 or 8 hours, no matter how tired I am.

I have no problem falling asleep but I cant' sleep for more then a few hours at a time.. It's destroying me

If i take enough supplements and drugs to put down a baby elephant I might squeeze 5 hours or so.

I know everybody has their own “brand” of insomnia but is my situation unique?

Thanks so much for listening and best of luck to all of us..

I hope we can help each other on this seemingly endless journey.

Matt

[AliDeal]

Hi Matt, welcome to this interesting group, just sharing sometimes makes things easier, only if you sharing with another insomniac of course, those sleepers, have no idea – hope we can find some solutions – if nothing else, the group is motivating me to find solutions – I am one of those people full of advice and inspiration for others – so where I can help I do – maybe this is what keeps me up at night, amongst another things, or course.

Alli

[jessallie]

I suffer from exactly the same thing although I don't know how it started. I think it is a common problem. I go to bed around 10:30–11:00PM and wake up like clockwork around 1:30 AM, then I'm up for an hour or two like I had a good nap, get back to sleep finally either by pill or naturally, and wake up again at 3:30-4:00 AM. Up until 5:00 AM and then have to get up at 6:00 AM. There are a couple of pills out there that have short half life's like Sonata and Intermezzo. I often take Sonata which has a 2-3 hour half life. So when I wake way too early with a few hours to spare, this will knock me out for only a couple of hours, or I might break up an Ambien into half's or quarters. This is usually when I am desperate to get some sleep because my body get accustomed to medication and no longer works, so I have to really space it out to only once in a while. Broken sleep is just no fun and I find myself falling apart in the afternoon or falling asleep in front of the TV way too early to go to bed. Someone like you since it has only been going on for year might benefit from sleep deprivation by going to bed really late and then pushing the hour back little by litte (if you can stay up, that is).

[lowercasebecky1952]

'jrrocco' wrote on '02:

Well Hey Guys,

It feels strange joining a group for this condition, it seems like it gives more power to the problem. The mind is a funny thing.. But I'm starting to rule out this “all in your head” thing.

I feel like I'm in perpetual cat nap mode. Started about a year ago when i literally forced myself to break my sleep pattern and wake up every few hours to check on my online marketing campaigns. I don't know why this time it broke me.. I've been online marketing since 1996 in one form or another..

I can't get back to just sleeping for 7 or 8 hours, no matter how tired I am.

I have no problem falling asleep but I cant' sleep for more then a few hours at a time.. It's destroying me

If i take enough supplements and drugs to put down a baby elephant I might squeeze 5 hours or so.

I know everybody has their own “brand” of insomnia but is my situation unique?

Thanks so much for listening and best of luck to all of us..

I hope we can help each other on this seemingly endless journey.

Matt

Hi, Matt

I don't think any of us would be here if this site only gave power to the problem. Just like you, we are here to find possible remedies FOR the problem. We've reached a point where the problem has begun to interfere in our daily lives. In my case, it's a constant bone of contention between my husband and me. He thinks I stay awake to defy him. I know I'm awake because I can't go to sleep! That's just one of the ways it affects my life. When I go for days with little to no sleep, I begin injuring myself. This morning I prevented a fall twice, but strained my bad knee doing it. The third time I began to fall, my knee wouldn't hold me, so I fell on the floor, hitting my back, just below my shoulder blades, on the metal rail of my bed. My husband called paramedics, thinking I needed to go to the hospital. Instead they ended up helping me get back into bed. I'm sore, but nothing's broken.

As you stated, you began getting up and checking on market reports. Bad idea for anyone to begin that sort of habit deliberately. I'm sure you didn't expect this outcome. But insomnia can begin from something that simple. I said when I joined this group that I could trace mine back to the summer after we moved back to New Mexico from Missouri. But after giving it some serious thought (lots of time on my hands), I now realize that it actually began the previous fall, after movin here. In the winter of that year, my mother became very ill and I went to Albuquerque to spend time with her because my brother, who was already there thought her death was imminent, and he thought I should be there. I was there for two weeks, during which time she made what doctors called a recovery. Knowing my mother, when she was released from the hospital, she was nowhere near recovered enough to go home. When I eventually went home, my neice took over her care in her own home. No sooner did I get home, than we were informed that my father-in-law had been diagnosed with incurable liver cancer. He passed away May 20. Just prior to that, on May 3, Oklahoma City was hit by that monster tornado. My brother-in-law's house was just skirted by the big one, and his roof sustained minor damage. On June 1, I got a call that my mother was in a coma and it wasn't looking good. I was called upon to make the determination. I had to tell them no heroic measures to save her. She passed away early the next morning. We borrowed my mother-in-law's van for the trip and headed out immediately. It was a tumultuous year. Can we all see why I quit sleeping. I always wondered if I did the right thing with the no heroic measures call. But my sister has backed me and said if they had gotten hold of her first, she would have done the same.

So, Matt, you see, it can be a relatively minor thing that gets us started losing sleep, or a trainwreck such as what I've related, that starts us on that slippery slope into insomnia. I think you belong here. But I hope you change your thinkig of what the group is about. We are a support group. We talk to one another and sometimes, someone comes up with a remedy that may or may not help us. It's basically trial and error and hopig for the best.

However you got here, and for whatever reason, Welcome.

Becky

[jrrocco]

'lowercasebecky1952' wrote on '02:

Hi, Matt

I don't think any of us would be here if this site only gave power to the problem. Just like you, we are here to find possible remedies FOR the problem. We've reached a point where the problem has begun to interfere in our daily lives. In my case, it's a constant bone of contention between my husband and me. He thinks I stay awake to defy him. I know I'm awake because I can't go to sleep! That's just one of the ways it affects my life. When I go for days with little to no sleep, I begin injuring myself. This morning I prevented a fall twice, but strained my bad knee doing it. The third time I began to fall, my knee wouldn't hold me, so I fell on the floor, hitting my back, just below my shoulder blades, on the metal rail of my bed. My husband called paramedics, thinking I needed to go to the hospital. Instead they ended up helping me get back into bed. I'm sore, but nothing's broken.

As you stated, you began getting up and checking on market reports. Bad idea for anyone to begin that sort of habit deliberately. I'm sure you didn't expect this outcome. But insomnia can begin from something that simple. I said when I joined this group that I could trace mine back to the summer after we moved back to New Mexico from Missouri. But after giving it some serious thought (lots of time on my hands), I now realize that it actually began the previous fall, after movin here. In the winter of that year, my mother became very ill and I went to Albuquerque to spend time with her because my brother, who was already there thought her death was imminent, and he thought I should be there. I was there for two weeks, during which time she made what doctors called a recovery. Knowing my mother, when she was released from the hospital, she was nowhere near recovered enough to go home. When I eventually went home, my neice took over her care in her own home. No sooner did I get home, than we were informed that my father-in-law had been diagnosed with incurable liver cancer. He passed away May 20. Just prior to that, on May 3, Oklahoma City was hit by that monster tornado. My brother-in-law's house was just skirted by the big one, and his roof sustained minor damage. On June 1, I got a call that my mother was in a coma and it wasn't looking good. I was called upon to make the determination. I had to tell them no heroic measures to save her. She passed away early the next morning. We borrowed my mother-in-law's van for the trip and headed out immediately. It was a tumultuous year. Can we all see why I quit sleeping. I always wondered if I did the right thing with the no heroic measures call. But my sister has backed me and said if they had gotten hold of her first, she would have done the same.

So, Matt, you see, it can be a relatively minor thing that gets us started losing sleep, or a trainwreck such as what I've related, that starts us on that slippery slope into insomnia. I think you belong here. But I hope you change your thinkig of what the group is about. We are a support group. We talk to one another and sometimes, someone comes up with a remedy that may or may not help us. It's basically trial and error and hopig for the best.

However you got here, and for whatever reason, Welcome.

Becky

Hi Becky,

Thanks for welcoming me to the forum. My “power to the problem” comment was not intended to offend anyone. So please accept my apologies. Upon joining I simply wasn't prepared to label myself. I know what brought me here so I can't fool myself with any kind of sincerity. However, just the fact some suffer with this condition for years is quite a sobering thought that this can become my story as well.

To say my year hasn't come with quite a bit of financial turmoil is an understatement. Throughout the years I've dealt with programmers stealing code, Bigger companies reneging on signed contracts with a “so sue me” attitude in which I've lost several hundreds of thousands of dollars.. left me broke and forced to move back home while still struggling to pay programmers, limping along, trying to reinvent my business.. quite humbling.

It took 3 years to basically build myself back up with an incompetent lead programmer who was way to deeply involved in my project to start over with another. After finally getting him up to speed Microsoft stepped in, merged with Yahoo and brought the entire business to it's financial knees. Time to switch gears once more and look for a new opportunity….. again. The ups and downs, thinking you finally have something and then like Lucy pulling the football from Charlie Brown it happens again Maybe my brain snapped from all the cumlative stress in the past. It seems we don't bounce back like we used to. The consistent report checking was basically riddled with anxiety, shock and disbelief at the immediate financial impact Microsoft negatively had on my business. And the futile attempt to turn it around for the past year.

I'm sharing this not to one up you it's just to share. The Family issues you faced are much more impacting as they really highlight how powerless we are for the ones we love. I truly feel for you and hope that maybe now you can finally look after yourself. You seem like the one to always take the bullet, so I hope you don't think of that as selfish..it's actually the opposite

With all this said.. I've been lurking around some of the posts.. I'm really liking the braintraining and brain music therapy suggestions that Wonderhussy and Martin posted. Definitely something to explore.

As for now, I'm taking Jessallie advice (thanks btw) and sleep depriving myself after a rough night last night with no drugs or supps to help.. i got a whopping 2.5 hours of sleep. I went to the gym today as well and worked out for 2 hours.. so I'm hoping i can do a little better then last nights debacle.

Thanks again to everyone.. I really am grateful this forum exists.

Best,

Matt

[jrrocco]

'jessallie' wrote on '02:

I suffer from exactly the same thing although I don't know how it started. I think it is a common problem. I go to bed around 10:30–11:00PM and wake up like clockwork around 1:30 AM, then I'm up for an hour or two like I had a good nap, get back to sleep finally either by pill or naturally, and wake up again at 3:30-4:00 AM. Up until 5:00 AM and then have to get up at 6:00 AM. There are a couple of pills out there that have short half life's like Sonata and Intermezzo. I often take Sonata which has a 2-3 hour half life. So when I wake way too early with a few hours to spare, this will knock me out for only a couple of hours, or I might break up an Ambien into half's or quarters. This is usually when I am desperate to get some sleep because my body get accustomed to medication and no longer works, so I have to really space it out to only once in a while. Broken sleep is just no fun and I find myself falling apart in the afternoon or falling asleep in front of the TV way too early to go to bed. Someone like you since it has only been going on for year might benefit from sleep deprivation by going to bed really late and then pushing the hour back little by litte (if you can stay up, that is).

Hi Jessallie,

yep, that pretty much sums it up – it sux.. I've been loading up on melatonin, gaba, zma and occasionally one of my dads sleeping pills only to get 4 or 5 hours.. I finally said enough of the drugs.. so yes I'm taking your advice and going to sleep deprive along with CBT I'm hoping I'm not too far deep into this problem like you say and can turn it around.

If not, I'm liking the brain wave training and/or brain wave music suggestions.. That along with a vitamin/mineral blood test and a brain chemical saliva test i found here http://www.integrativepsychiatry.net/neurosleep_profile.html as my next course of action.

Thanks again and good luck to us all

Matt

[jrrocco]

'AliDeal' wrote on '02:

Hi Matt, welcome to this interesting group, just sharing sometimes makes things easier, only if you sharing with another insomniac of course, those sleepers, have no idea – hope we can find some solutions – if nothing else, the group is motivating me to find solutions – I am one of those people full of advice and inspiration for others – so where I can help I do – maybe this is what keeps me up at night, amongst another things, or course.

Alli

Hi Alli,

Well hopefully Karma is on your side. I've learned however you can't expect it – for some reason it doesn't work that way. But I can still wish it for you.

Just to reiterate – in case you miss my replies to the others – i'm looking at brain wave training and vitamin/mineral blood testing and even a brain chemical test.. I found a link here. http://www.integrativepsychiatry.net/neurosleep_profile.html – something to explore and see if there is indeed a physiological correlation.

Thanks so much

Matt

[Jane]

Hello Matt, welcome to the forum.

We can't promise a cure but we can offer advice and help where needed.

On Christmas Day I woke up at 2 am and for the life of me I couldn't get back to sleep. SO I came downstairs and watched some TV until 4 am, managed to sleep for about an hour and half and then was up with the birds. So unfair when everyone else is soundly asleep isn't it.

Welcome again, and happy new year to you. 🙂

[lowercasebecky1952]

'jrrocco' wrote on '02:

Hi Becky,

Thanks for welcoming me to the forum. My “power to the problem” comment was not intended to offend anyone. So please accept my apologies. Upon joining I simply wasn't prepared to label myself. I know what brought me here so I can't fool myself with any kind of sincerity. However, just the fact some suffer with this condition for years is quite a sobering thought that this can become my story as well.

To say my year hasn't come with quite a bit of financial turmoil is an understatement. Throughout the years I've dealt with programmers stealing code, Bigger companies reneging on signed contracts with a “so sue me” attitude in which I've lost several hundreds of thousands of dollars.. left me broke and forced to move back home while still struggling to pay programmers, limping along, trying to reinvent my business.. quite humbling.

It took 3 years to basically build myself back up with an incompetent lead programmer who was way to deeply involved in my project to start over with another. After finally getting him up to speed Microsoft stepped in, merged with Yahoo and brought the entire business to it's financial knees. Time to switch gears once more and look for a new opportunity….. again. The ups and downs, thinking you finally have something and then like Lucy pulling the football from Charlie Brown it happens again Maybe my brain snapped from all the cumlative stress in the past. It seems we don't bounce back like we used to. The consistent report checking was basically riddled with anxiety, shock and disbelief at the immediate financial impact Microsoft negatively had on my business. And the futile attempt to turn it around for the past year.

I'm sharing this not to one up you it's just to share. The Family issues you faced are much more impacting as they really highlight how powerless we are for the ones we love. I truly feel for you and hope that maybe now you can finally look after yourself. You seem like the one to always take the bullet, so I hope you don't think of that as selfish..it's actually the opposite

With all this said.. I've been lurking around some of the posts.. I'm really liking the braintraining and brain music therapy suggestions that Wonderhussy and Martin posted. Definitely something to explore.

As for now, I'm taking Jessallie advice (thanks btw) and sleep depriving myself after a rough night last night with no drugs or supps to help.. i got a whopping 2.5 hours of sleep. I went to the gym today as well and worked out for 2 hours.. so I'm hoping i can do a little better then last nights debacle.

Thanks again to everyone.. I really am grateful this forum exists.

Best,

Matt

Matt, No apology necessary. And you didn't offend me. I just don't want anyone thinking that this is the place we go to pat one another on the back for yet another sleepless night.

To address your business troubles, and they sound horrendous, I'd like to paraphrase Einstein: Insanity is repeating the same behvior and expecting a differnt outcome. When the outcome remains the same, unless you enjoy a good beating, maybe it's time to look elsewhere for employment (she says, knowing full well what the chances are of finding anything new in this economy!) Perhaps, if you can't change careers, you can change your approach to this one. First, take that sign off your back that says, loudly, “Kick Me”. If your gut is telling you not to trust someone or some deal, TRUST YOUR GUT!!! I can't say that loudly enough! Like you, I seem to wear a tee shirt with the logo: Screw Me, written in bold letters. If you ever want to sleep again while you're in your curren career, You have got to make changes in your approach to it. Sorry, I'm a mom and in the habit of giving advice! But it didn't cost you anything.

I hope you find something here that will help you to sleep. If my “sound advice” doesn't do the trick, nothing will. That is, unless you read my replies and stories and they bore you to sleep!

Again, Welcome to the madness!

Becky

[jrrocco]

'lowercasebecky1952' wrote on '03:

Matt, No apology necessary. And you didn't offend me. I just don't want anyone thinking that this is the place we go to pat one another on the back for yet another sleepless night.

To address your business troubles, and they sound horrendous, I'd like to paraphrase Einstein: Insanity is repeating the same behvior and expecting a differnt outcome. When the outcome remains the same, unless you enjoy a good beating, maybe it's time to look elsewhere for employment (she says, knowing full well what the chances are of finding anything new in this economy!) Perhaps, if you can't change careers, you can change your approach to this one. First, take that sign off your back that says, loudly, “Kick Me”. If your gut is telling you not to trust someone or some deal, TRUST YOUR GUT!!! I can't say that loudly enough! Like you, I seem to wear a tee shirt with the logo: Screw Me, written in bold letters. If you ever want to sleep again while you're in your curren career, You have got to make changes in your approach to it. Sorry, I'm a mom and in the habit of giving advice! But it didn't cost you anything.

I hope you find something here that will help you to sleep. If my “sound advice” doesn't do the trick, nothing will. That is, unless you read my replies and stories and they bore you to sleep!

Again, Welcome to the madness!

Becky

Hey Becky,

Yes Madness indeed. I appreciate your advice.

Through the years I've definitely changed my approach to business. When entering new business deals instead of trusting with blind, endless optimism I definitely now keep one eye open. Unfortunately, it's become literal. So ironic.

I'm grateful however that even though we're being forced to evolve the one good year we had put me in a position to move out of my parents, get into a house and give me and my programmers some breathing room for a few years. It's like this, Feast or Famine.. Success can strike quick and take care of you for many years.. but it can end just as quickly and then you have to weather the storm.. I've been on this rollercoaster several times. I thought I was getting good at it 🙁

I'm reading everybody's story.. don't worry it's not boring me to sleep – damn it 😉 I find them fascinating though. It's like we get caught in this endless negative feedback loop. I say this at 4.49 am after being up for 2 hours, on 3 hours sleep again. We have to break the cycle, I'm sticking with the CBT – it's going to be exhausting I know – but I have to try.

Btw.. does anybody wake up in a sweat? I'm noticing this happening to me every night after 3 hours or so. It could be part of normal sleep process depending on the phase we're in – but I find it odd.

I'll post this in the other forum so not to clutter the intro's

Matt

[jrrocco]

'Jane' wrote on '02:

Hello Matt, welcome to the forum.

We can't promise a cure but we can offer advice and help where needed.

On Christmas Day I woke up at 2 am and for the life of me I couldn't get back to sleep. SO I came downstairs and watched some TV until 4 am, managed to sleep for about an hour and half and then was up with the birds. So unfair when everyone else is soundly asleep isn't it.

Welcome again, and happy new year to you. 🙂

Hi Jane,

Yes – insomnia doesn't take time off for the holidays. Yes it is unfair.. And I hate the bird sounds. I find them annoying because it usually means I'm not sleeping.. I would never use that bird sound setting on my sleep machine either – it's so insulting. lol

My body needs sleep after weight training the other day.. I'm exhausted.. I've always been of the mindset that the gym fixes most everything.. I've trained on and off my whole life –

It will be interesting to see if I completely deteriorate now that I'm back on.

Thanks and Happy New Year to you too! – Matt

[Martin Reed]

Welcome to Insomnia Land, Matt. As you've already seen, we're a friendly and supportive bunch of people here. Although we use the singular term 'insomniac' to describe members, as you'll see (and have probably already noticed) everyone has their own unique issue with sleep.

Keep in touch, and I look forward to getting to know you better.

—

If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.

The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.

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