[Snowangels11]

Hi all,

My name is Wendy (snowangels11 on twitter). Have had insomnia most of my adult life on and off. The only interesting thing I have to say about it is that I have had 2 neck injuries when I was young (as well as previous adrenal problems & a non-active pituitary tumor). My insomnia seems to go hand in hand with neck pain. When my neck acts up, my insomnia kicks in. I don't know which is causing which. I do know that I feel like my brain is buzzing and I sometimes go into a semi-awake/sleep mode. Interested in whether there is some kind of connection with interruption of brain chemicals/signals within the spine and what others did about it. I will not ever allow a chiro to touch my neck again, which is when my neck problems started acting up again.

Best to all,

Wendy

[Martin Reed]

Welcome to Insomnia Land, Wendy – and thank you for taking the time to introduce yourself.

I think you added an extra 's' to your Twitter name – I can find you on there as @snowangel11 but not as @snowangels11

Did you suffer from insomnia before your neck injury, or did it start as soon as that happened? Have you ever discussed your insomnia with a doctor?

—

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.

[Snowangels11]

Hi Martin,

Sorry – you're correct, it's Snowangel11 (I'm already following you on Twitter). My first injury (car accident) was at 9 years old, and I didn't suffer from insomnia as a kid. It was after my 2nd injury (whiplash/herniated disc after riding on Space Mountain at Disney). I did mention it to my endocronologist. She didn't take it seriously. Neck pain accompanies my adrenal symptoms when I have low cortisol as well, and I don't feel as if I'm at that point now, but will get there if I don't get some more sleep. I'd go so far to say that my adrenal problems may be related to my neck, because I had more problems with low cortisol during sleep. I also mentioned it to my chiropracter. Again, just a nod and no answers. Doctors don't seem to know anything these days. 🙄

[UliHarp]

Hello, Wendy! Welcome to Insomnialand; always nice to see a new member.

It's concerning that doctors aren't listening to your observations; I would think they'd take everything into consideration for treating your conditions. I haven't heard anything about myself about brain chemicals/signals and the spine, but I imagine there's someone here on Insomnialand who has (or is experiencing something similar). It would be an interesting discussion; perhaps you should start a topic on that sort of thing? There are a lot of knowledgeable, helpful members here.

Well, that's all I have for now. I hope you find what you're looking for here on Insomnialand; good luck with everything!

[Snowangels11]

Thanks Uliharp! I was watching Dr. Oz yesterday, who had a sleep expert on. He mentioned drinking tart cherry juice 2 hrs. before bed, because cherries & cherry juice have alot of melatonin in it (tart having the most). I happened to have some (old!) black cherry juice in the fridge and gave it a try. Low and behold I fell asleep within 1 1/2 hrs & slept SOUNDLY for the first time in 3 weeks. I've never used melatonin capsules before for fear it would cause hormonal imbalances. But will start using tart cherry juice, since I suppose it is a more natural source. Just thought I'd share if no one has tried this. Even Benadryl wouldn't put me to sleep. I'm amazed.

I was taking 5-htp on & off as well, for the serotonin, which wasn't working. Apparently it was the opposite – a melatonin imbalance. The thing is I'm one who has every light source covered in the bedroom and sleep in complete darkness, which should have kept my melatonin levels up…I assume.

[Martin Reed]

Just to let you know, we've mentioned cherry juice on the blog before:

http://www.insomnialand.com/blog/can-cherry-juice-really-cure-insomnia/

—

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.

[Snowangels11]

'Martin' wrote on '11:

Just to let you know, we've mentioned cherry juice on the blog before:

http://www.insomnialand.com/blog/can-cherry-juice-really-cure-insomnia/

Oh sorry…didn't even get a chance to peruse the website or twitter page. Shame the study was done by cherry juice mfg. which doesn't lend to legitimacy. But I am not susceptible to the placebo effect – especially with insomnia. I have tried too many things that didn't work. The sleep Dr. on Dr. Oz must have known it can work if it was one of only 2 things he mentioned.

I have had severe insomnia for 3 weeks, however I was not falling asleep before 2am for over 6 months now. And with much effort (meditation). I only took 2 Tbsp (as opposed to the 8 oz. quoted in your blog), and I fell asleep at 1am. I could barely keep my eyes open. And that was without all the mental tricks I've had to do to get to sleep.

No cherry juice here to sell, so I'm unbiased (count me as someone who didn't even know melatonin was in food). It worked for me. Hopefully it'll continue. I'm sure there is a point you have to stop, so that you don't get too much melatonin and too little serotonin, so I won't take it long term.

[Snowangels11]

Just an update: I ordered TART cherry over the internet. I used it and it had the opposite effect – I was up till 6am! Went back to the black cherry juice and got a good night sleep again. I think the tart juice may have lowered my blood sugar, which can have an effect on keeping me up (which doesn't make sense, but that's just how my body works). I was having night sweats that night, and that's one of my telltale symptoms.

So in the end tart cherry did NOT work for me and made matters worse. However, Black cherry works beautifully.

[Martin Reed]

'Snowangels11' wrote on '15:

Just an update: I ordered TART cherry over the internet. I used it and it had the opposite effect – I was up till 6am! Went back to the black cherry juice and got a good night sleep again. I think the tart juice may have lowered my blood sugar, which can have an effect on keeping me up (which doesn't make sense, but that's just how my body works). I was having night sweats that night, and that's one of my telltale symptoms.

So in the end tart cherry did NOT work for me and made matters worse. However, Black cherry works beautifully.

It's interesting you found such a difference between the two types of cherry juice. Thanks for sharing with the community.

—

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.

[Snowangels11]

Well, I'm eating a a piece of humble (cherry) pie, because it didn't last long. Oh well! Argh.

I was taking echinacea, and I think that was making the whole thing worse (recycles cortisol). I haven't had any 7am nighters. 5-htp is helping a little.

[Tommy ToXen]

Hey Snow, welcome from a fellow newbie.

This caught my eye “I do know that I feel like my brain is buzzing and I sometimes go into a semi-awake/sleep mode. Interested in whether there is some kind of connection with interruption of brain chemicals/signals within the spine and what others did about it. “

I feel exactly the same most nights. Like, I haven't slept since Monday night, and I just wondered if you experience the same as the following..

Sometimes, especially if I've been sat down a while and haven't slept for a couple of days, when I stand up, it, it's weird to explain, it almost feels like a tiny seizure, you know, everything just goes hazy and you can feel your legs and arms jerking but can't do anything about it, it only lasts a few seconds, and then suddenly passes and I can move again.

This is what I'm seeing specialist about when GP refers me, because, with the depression, insomnia, and the case of I was in a coma 3 months ago it's just difficult to tell where one problem ends and another one starts.

But as I said, after 2-3 days without sleep, I tend to have these little 'episodes', it just feels like a few seconds of where everything goes hazy and my body jerks, then I 'come round' and I suddenly feel better, and actually less tired. So I wonder if it is brain signals.

[Snowangels11]

Hi Tommy,

Wow, so sorry you were in a coma – bless you that you are (hopefully) recovered with exception of the insomnia/depression. Was the coma a result of a head injury?

The mind racing I have to say that I'm fine during the day – I don't experience that until my head hits the pillow. I don't know if it's the spinal cord connections getting jumbled, or if it's because I've spent all day busy with other things & it's my mind facing it when I have down time. But I really don't think it's the latter. I've had episodes in the past just as I'm drifting off to sleep that I've stopped breathing momentarily. Sometimes that goes on multiple times until I actually fall asleep.

As for the haziness during waking – I've also had that in the past but not during this episode. I've had episodes of feeling like there was a blip in my brain where the lights were going out. But I've had other health problems that can account for that. I don't think I have felt alert for years and am generally in a haze. No jerkiness – but this past week I've had ALOT of full body jerking a little bit after I fall asleep. I swear it does feel like a seizure & it's VERY annoying.

I do worry about stenosis in the neck. My stepfather has a severe case, and they told him one bad fall & he could have a stroke. He's too old for surgery. But yet, I'm terrified to get an MRI. I've just got dr. burnout and can't stand another long medical saga.

If you aren't sleeping for 2-3 days (my gosh!) it's understandable that you are getting that jerking though. Your body is probably trying to shut down. I've recently read something about how the brain does go into a semi-state of sleep during waking hours at times even when we feel alert – something to that effect.

Do you feel hyper-alert at all during the day/night? Have you ever had your cortisol levels checked?

[Tommy ToXen]

'Snowangels11' wrote on '26:

Hi Tommy,

Wow, so sorry you were in a coma – bless you that you are (hopefully) recovered with exception of the insomnia/depression. Was the coma a result of a head injury?

The mind racing I have to say that I'm fine during the day – I don't experience that until my head hits the pillow. I don't know if it's the spinal cord connections getting jumbled, or if it's because I've spent all day busy with other things & it's my mind facing it when I have down time. But I really don't think it's the latter. I've had episodes in the past just as I'm drifting off to sleep that I've stopped breathing momentarily. Sometimes that goes on multiple times until I actually fall asleep.

As for the haziness during waking – I've also had that in the past but not during this episode. I've had episodes of feeling like there was a blip in my brain where the lights were going out. But I've had other health problems that can account for that. I don't think I have felt alert for years and am generally in a haze. No jerkiness – but this past week I've had ALOT of full body jerking a little bit after I fall asleep. I swear it does feel like a seizure & it's VERY annoying.

I do worry about stenosis in the neck. My stepfather has a severe case, and they told him one bad fall & he could have a stroke. He's too old for surgery. But yet, I'm terrified to get an MRI. I've just got dr. burnout and can't stand another long medical saga.

If you aren't sleeping for 2-3 days (my gosh!) it's understandable that you are getting that jerking though. Your body is probably trying to shut down. I've recently read something about how the brain does go into a semi-state of sleep during waking hours at times even when we feel alert – something to that effect.

Do you feel hyper-alert at all during the day/night? Have you ever had your cortisol levels checked?

Well this has been one of my problems, I'm either one extreme or the other, this is why I'm being referred to a specialist cos they wanna know if the insomnia is causing the depression, or if it's depression/bipolar causing the insomnia, because I am super-active and alert most of the time, I can drink, I can take sedatives, but I still won't sleep, I'll have to get back up and do something, like 4 AM other morning I was up replacing motherboard on an old computer and installing puppy linux on it, that was after not sleeping for two days. No, never had cortisol checked.

Last time I slept was monday or Sunday, days just tend to fuse together and I forget, but, I can tell already that I'm not gonna sleep tonight, cos I just feel too hyper, but several hours ago I had one of those episodes, got up and dropped to my knees, jerking and everything going fuzzy, then after a few seconds, it's over and I'm fine and feel better.

I overdosed on morphine & amitriptaline with a lot of alcohol, hence the coma, and amitriptaline is quite a potent anti-depressant, so, I do wonder sometimes if it was the amitriptaline overdose that's messed with something in my brain, cos, to be fair, I did take 3 months supply worth (200mgx90), and they're designed to alter chemicals in the brain aren't they? I haven't told my GP about these lil episodes yet though, but once my letter comes through for appointment with the assessment centre (psychiatrist, basically) I'll tell him/her, and they're already referring me to a sleep clinic so at least I have all bases covered.

[Snowangels11]

I'm so sorry for what you went through, and glad you lived through it.

I'm just wondering – does depression/hyper-alertness coexist at the same time with bipolar? I thought it was either your low energy and depressed OR high energy, insomniac, etc.

I will say that insomnia for sure can cause depression – everything seems bleak when you are that tired. I'm sure everyone with insomnia feels that way. And you've got some extreme insomnia on your hands. The fact that you are not tired AT ALL is really a freaky thing. I'm sure there is some medical explanation – but just how you can go for days without sleeping without your body somehow shutting down seems against the laws of human physiology.

Did things get considerably worse after the overdose/coma?

I understand about days fusing together. My memory is shot as well. Even though I get at least 5-6 hours of sleep, it's not nighttime sleep. It's shift-worker sleep. In chinese medicine they say that your body detoxes & repairs different organ systems during each hour of the night. If your not sleeping during those hours, you're not getting the full benefits of that. If you're not sleeping at all…wow.

[Snowangels11]

I should correct that – I know bipolar is depression/mania switching back and forth. I just meant during the depression part does hyper-alertness coexist at the same time.

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