Desperate - Insomnia, can anyone offer some advice please.

i sympathsize with u...i use to sleep for 3-4 hrs and sometimes not for straight 48 hrs. recently i am back from my home country, my DH gave me a book on insomnia as a present! but he needn't have bothered as since coming back i am sleeping more then ever and i doze off in gatherings and parties too!! guess a trip back home did wonders :) poor DH hasn't read his book. <em>edited by manubhadauria on 03/01/2011</em>

There are meditation classes available - I went a few years ago to a little place at the back of the garage on Al Wasl rd next to the Post Office, next to the Smiling BKK Restaurant. I cant recall its name but Im sure its in Timw Out somewhere..... This may also help for now : http://dubai.rajayogacenter.org/meditation.html

Hi - have you tried to relax and go into Alpha (meditative state). There are many books on that or you can also surf the web. It works for me. You bascially relax your whole body and enter a very relaxed state but needs getting used to...worth a try!

Poor you! It could be hormonal - have you had them checked? Even if you are not pre-menopausal your sleep pattern can be totally screwed up by a hormonal imbalance. It happened to me and it drove me crazy! Now I'm very happily hormonally balanced and sleep properly - without biting everyone's head off coz I'm so tired!

oh, so sorry to hear about this. i've suffered with insomnia since i was 14 - and 20 years of it can really wear you down. one of the best solutions i have is paul mckenna's book 'i canmake you sleep'. it really helps! you read the book, do exercises, and it comes with a cd that i have on my ipod. he basically tells you how to re-programme your mind - you can sleep and you will sleep, you just have some bad habits that you need to break. there are times when i am so wired that he doesn't work, but most times he does. he's a genius!

I suffer from insomnia every so often and it drives me crazy! I've had sleep therapy and haven't come across a complete fix-it solution, but here are some things that help me: - Exercise in the morning, so that at the end of the day you are tired. Sometimes you are awake because you have extra energy... However, don't exercise at night as you can still be too 'pumped' to sleep. - Wear an eye mask. This forces you to close your eyes (I tend to keep my eyes open and think about everything), so this really helps me. It also makes everything dark, so that you're not kept awake by lights outdoors or early morning sun - Listen to relaxing music on an ipod or CD player. Again, I tend to think about my day, things I need to do etc but listening to music makes me focus on something else - Do not look at the clock. Put it on the other side of the room or throw it out. The worst thing you can do is think ''hmm now I have five hours til I have to get up, now I have four, now I have three'' and so forth... - Take a light sleeping pill for one or two nights to get into a routine. I find that sometimes my body plays up after holidays or a particuarly busy week, so forcing your body to sleep can make it easier the next night to get into a pattern. Hope that helps :)

you poor pet! Thats dreadful! I dont think theres a quick fix but getting a full medical workup would be a good idea anyway- cant hurt. Sleep patterns are usually habits but can be caused by some medicines and vitamin supplements. Your eating habits also count and being dehydrated can interfere too as can bladder weakness or fullness. (avoid tea or drinks at night- but particularly tea ;-) ) Retraining your sleep habits is hard work and can take time but it helps to start pinpointing your shut down switches or triggers that help you wind down in preparation for switching off. We all do them - mostly subconsciously. For example- checking doors and windows,pouring bedside water glass,brushing teeth,checking baby, dimming/switchng off lights,turning back covers, bathing (not a good plan for everyone- it can cause a wake- up reaction if your brain sees it as a morning routine too) You could build in a few deliberate moves- and stick to them- like reading 10 pages of a mindless fantasy book (nothing stimulating or intellectual- I mean) and if your partner is willing- a footrub can send you off quickly- but usually leads to something else hehe- not too bad for tiring him out but can wake you up! Try to exercise in the morning ;-)- not in the evening and dont eat heavy meals late at night. Sometimes- if its possible of course- a change in scene can break the cycle- like a holiday with different time zone or long travel which interrupts your usual pattern. Think of it as re-booting a computer. Clearing your caches and deleting some history also may help- so if there are issues currently bugging you then making positive moves to fixing or winding up loose ends can give you some peace of mind. Sometimes making a list of things undone is enough- you dont actually have to do them all- just putting them in order in your in- basket is enough to settle your conscience-if thats how you work. were all different. My outbasket could do with more logged finishes! Staying asleep is my problem- I can fall easily but wake later- at about 3 am and then start thinking. Thinking is fatal,so is internet cruising,emailing or working. Then Im dogfood by dawn,no sleep had and a full day to endure. I do feel for you. Go get help and dont leave it another day. Just worrying about it will keep you up and tense. And stay off the roads if you can- its not safe out there if youre sleepy. Farm out the kids and go dudu,Honey!! x <em>edited by sallymander on 03/01/2011</em>

Hi Hersay, something natural you can try is boiling a teaspoon of dried or fresh rosemary in a cupful of water into a tea. Boil it over the stove for a few minutes until the water changes colour, drain into a cup and drink the tea. It really does help bring on deep sleep - my MIL who is an insomniac tried it while she was here over Xmas and was amazed at how well she slept. Hope that helps!

Hersay, here's a bit of a sensitive thought: don't know your age; might you have possibly entered the peri-menopause stage (can start as early as the 40's) - lots of things change then...

Lack of sleep... ruins your life. Think you may have startet on the right track with avoiding coffee and alcohol, but there are many more foods/drinks we take that will keep one from sleeping. Why not keep a record of all your intake, however innocent it might look (such as green/black tea, a bite of chocolate, for instance), and talk to a nutritionist/or research the subject on the internet? In the meantime, perhaps you could try two drops of Lavender essential oil (pure) on your pillow? Wishing you sweet dreams...

I sometimes used have a period of a couple of weeks when it was impossible to sleep, and sleeping pills knock me out and give me the weirdest dreams. I now take Unisom Sleep Gels when necessary just to break the pattern - one night of decent sleep usually does the trick, and you wake up refreshed not groggy. I haven't bought them here but would think they would be readily available. Have also used them on long-haul flights and they've been great.

Sorry cant help but I think that the American Hospital has a sleep centre? Maybe you could contact them and they can offer you some advice? This http://www.ahdubai.com/newsletter/articledetails.aspx?id=6 article was in their newsletter

I go through phases of being a raging insomniac, so I feel your pain and it's exhausting and frustrating and the more worked up you get the worse it gets. First off you need a routine, a set time to go to bed. I always have a mug of warm milk or Horlix before bed, it's a natural relaxant and makes you sleepy - if you can tolerate milk that is. Read a book for a while can also help. I do sometimes end up taking sleeping tablets. Is it because there's something troubling you? Might be worth a trip to the doctors for some help. Is there anyway you could get someone to stay with the LO's for a couple of nights, so you can just focus on you?

Have you gone to a doctor to have it investigated ? It may not be just mind over matter. <em>edited by jewelsmiddle on 03/01/2011</em>