Sleeping without medication.

[whitedove10]

Hi all, I'm new here, I'm 74 and suffered with insomnia since I was a child, Ive used medication for very short periods, and spent a lifetime of trying to find a cure, the rest of the time Ive just learned to live with it. I also have RLS, it started in the later stages of pregnancy, I had never heard of it until I heard a talk on the radio, I used to get up, walk about and go back to bed, it went away after the birth but did come back with tiredness, so I think there might be a connection with gaining weight and tiredness. Also dehydration plays a part, so I drink water which also helps with sleeping. Its been interesting reading about how others manage with sleepless nights, and if they can do so without medication.

[BonnieSue Dream Team]

Hi whitedove!

I have had to go as much as 5 days without sleep. I can't work well that way, I need more sleep. I have ended up on disability and sleeping with meds for a few hours in order to work. I find having to drive, whether working or not, is a deciding factor for me. either myself or a child needs to see a doctor or has another app't. of such importance,,,and I take my med/meds get enuf sleep and drive us there and listen to the doctor. All right, that was somewhat repetitive, but you get my point. Best wishes for everyone struggling with this problem!!

[whitedove10 in reply to BonnieSue]

Hi BonnieSue,

5 days without sleep is very hard to cope with, I would find it very difficult, I was an Artist for many years delivering to Gallery's, I had to work around my sleep problems, I used to phone galleries on the day to make sure I had enough sleep to drive, I'm retired now, so things are a lot easier, but even after a bad nights sleep, I still keep busy.

I was never very happy at bed time, its no fun tossing around all night trying to get to sleep. After years of suffering, I had an idea while in the library, they had audio cd's, had a look through and chose six to take home. Some I didn't like the story, others I didn't like the voice, I then chose one for the night, it was quite exciting, for once I was looking forward to bed time, my headphones where ready and all set up. For the first time I wasn't feeling fed up thinking about a sleepless night. After a few nights I woke up to find my story was still going, I had dropped off to sleep.... so I fixed a timer to switch off after an hour, I soon found I was getting to sleep in ten minutes, Ive now moved on, I use a small speaker instead of headphones , and use the library web site to download to an mp3 player, you can listen to a sample before downloading, I will still get a bad night when nothing works, I still wake up several times a night, most times I go back to sleep or switch the story back on, its made all the difference for me. We all need our sleep, we shouldn't be struggling and shouldn't have to take medication, it should just happen, hope you too find a way.

[BonnieSue Dream Team in reply to whitedove10]

I'm so happy for you about your success story! I may just try it out for myself, so thanks for the info! Consider yourself hugged!!

[benmaise in reply to whitedove10]

I am going to try this. Thanks for the idea.