Hope you are all feeling well today My problem is I cannot sleep at night and usually find myself wandering round the house at 4am. I have been to the docs and they gave me different kinds of anti-depressants as they say these relax you but none of them work. I find the only way I do get any sleep is by drinking a couple of glasses of wine but to be honest the cost and impact on health are not doing me any good. Can anyone suggest anything that may help so I don’t turn into an alcoholic lol.
I used to use calms sleep aid, worked a treat. Im not working at the mo so i find im in bed awake till about 12 watching telly or reading, till i fall asleep.
I have tried these but they didn’t work either, I tried one a night nytol and they were great but now don’t work either. I work Monday to Friday 8am to 4pm and by Friday I am like a half shut knife cause I’ve had about two hours sleep every night, maybe I am just over thinking it who knows eh? Thank you both for the advice though x
I read somewhere that if you have tried to get to sleep in vain for 30 minutes – give up and do something else for a while.
I have real difficulty getting back to sleep once I’ve been up for the loo. Now I listen to an audio book on my ipod. It’s not soporific but it’s a heckofa lot better than tossing and turning with bad thoughts going round and round in my head.
I might listen for a couple of hours but I’m relaxed and resting so I don’t worry about it.
I don’t work so I have the luxury of sleeping late if I want to.
Here’s my tips to get to sleep. The main thing is to only go to bed if you’re sleepy. If you’re not asleep after 15 minutes or so, get up and do something relaxing like reading or a sudoku puzzle. Don’t go back to bed until you’re sleepy again (not just tired, but actually sleepy). Again, if you still don’t fall asleep after quarter of an hour or so, get up and repeat the whole process.
Staying in bed, tossing & turning & getting annoyed at not sleeping is never going to work. I never look at the clock either - knowing what time it is will make me more anxious (so I estimate the 15 minute thing).
In the evening, go for lower lighting, as this will help tell the brain that it’s the end of the day - too much light will be too much of a stimulus. If you go on the computer, lower the brightness of the screen.
Have a tidy bedroom, as this will be a more relaxing space. Don’t do anything in bed like watching telly. Don’t drink caffeine in the evening, and I find eating late doesn’t help me either (I try to have my evening meal no later than half seven). Getting some exercise during the day helps to tire me out too.
Practising meditation can help you relax. And I sometimes find it helps to have something to distract my brain from thinking too much - so I’ve got some audiobooks on my MP3 which I might listen to (with the volume very low, so I have to concentrate to listen). And something that’s surprisingly effective is a variation of counting sheep - I count backwards from 1000 in multiples of 3 (i.e. 1000, 997, 994, 991 etc). When I do that I rarely get into the 800s before I’ve nodded off.
I’ve also heard about a book that’s meant to be very good too - Overcoming Insomnia & Sleep Problems by Colin Espie. You can get it on Amazon, or check if your local library has it.
1 trick i do is close my eyes and conasntrate an my breathing. Do not try and change the rytham or timing just consantrate on the whole in out bit and i usualy fall asleap in around 10mins. Im an ex drug addict and used this trick when i was getting clean and eaven when my mind was going 10 to the dozen because it wanted its fix i could still fall aleap in around 10mins.
have you tried meditation tapes, i have an ipod and there are some good free podcasts there, also amazon have some for a couple of quid, also do you see anyone regarding your MS sometimes MS nurses have good relaxation tapes.
Thanks everyone I sure have a few good things to try now. I am going to see my MS nurse on Tuesday so will ask if she can recommend anything too, but thanks to everyone maybe I can stay off the wine now lol
hello, I keep Radio 5 Live on throughout the night (not appreciated by my husband!) - because the reason I can’t sleep is my back/legs hurting and my mind racing - so I need to take my thoughts away from my body and think of something else. It does depend on what’s on radio though, some programmes or items irritate or wind me up! If I am really desperate to sleep, I close my eyes and count to ten, then I open them wide for ten, close them for ten etc - that usually works after a bit. Works like counting sheep, I suppose. If neither works, I get up and go in spare room and read a book until feeling sleepier.Good luck.
Hi Claire, know how that feels! It’s now 2am and I sit here with some Smirnoff (makes a change from the wine). Still awake so I will have another ciggy and a bit more of the hard stuff and hope I can sleep. I get up about 7am even if I don’t go to bed until 4. My life sucks. Tracy
Hi Tracy, I was in seeing my MS nurse today as I started Capaxone today and brought up the not sleeping thing, the only advice he could give was try and stay busy during the day to make you more sleepy at night. Is he having a laugh, I am so tired during the day I can’t do anything, I sit all day at work and whenI get home I collapse on the couch but when I go to bed I all of a sudden don’t feel tired (figures eh?) I am waiting on my delivery from Amazon and will let you know how that goes but I tried one a night nytol again last night and slept for 6hrs which was amazing so you could try them. Good luck and I hope you sleep tonight
For short term use only and to get back into the pattern of sleeping properly, (I work nights), I use syndol which is an over the counter pain killer which has the effect of knocking me out for the night. I never use them in the day coz they make me so drowsy but I find if I don’t sleep I can’t cope with pain or work, Good luck x
Hi I have had problems sleeping which I found was made worse by what I was eating. Now I do not really believe in healthy diets as such (i’m a glass of wine a night sort of girl…although i’ve gone off even that lately) but for me I discovered I couldn’t get to sleep if I had eaten chocolate or anything fatty. Bit drastic having to cut out chocolate in the evening but it has helped. Just a thought anyway. Mish x
You’ve had some great ideas - I’d recommend a cool room with a nice duvet too - in addition to the room being tidy and dark (use black outs if necessary().
If you have an iPhone - there’s some (often free) apps available which can assist in slowing your mind down and pushing you gently into the world of dreams. I also use sleep cycle (cos I’m boring!) and I can monitor how much sleep I’ve had, its quality and what time(s) I’m disturbed.
I’d also recommend cutting down on the caffeine for the whole day and don’t have any after 7.00p.m. I also try to avaoid any drinks at all after 8.00p.m. or I’ll be up all night hobbling to the loo .
Wax ear plugs are good if you are disturbed by noises in the night.
I’ve had a heavy cold recently and used night nurse for 3 days - after 10mls I was out like a light and could barely rouse myself the following day - strictly for short term use though!!!
Oh and a nice warm bath usually wipes me out - I’m so exhausted after being in hot water I pass out anyway!
All great advice! As a life-long insomniac, the best tricks to actually GET to sleep I’ve found is to a) don’t go to bed until your eyes are actually having trouble staying open, and b) once in bed go through the alphabet thinking of a food item you can buy starting with each letter. If you get through the whole alphabet, try again but with a harder theme (say, only fruit/vegetables).
However, if you haven’t slept properly long enough that you get that low-level nausea, and start feeling like you’re losing the plot, ask the Dr for a short course of sleeping pills.
