Aspies For Freedom

I feel a bit like that guy in the insomnia song from the ninthees.
I just dont know what to doo

The best cure for my insomnia is lack of sleep - sounds weird, but I just keep staying up until I'm so tired I have to sleep... and then I start feeling like that guy in the 'narcolepsy' song by Third Eye Blind.  The video has nothing to do with narcolepsy that I can see, but you can hear the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng-Bl5zTZkI

Also, I try to think up some sort of story line or scene for my novel or rework something I've already done to see if I can make it better... It keeps my mind off of things that I would otherwise worry about or look forward to or in some way occupy my emotions and keep me up. Of course, if I come up with something great that I'm afraid I'll forget I have to get up and write it down... but generally it helps me fall asleep.

If all that fails, I have taken sleeping pills... but only before a trip when I was so worried/excited to go and I KNEW I needed a good night sleep to function the next day.

Hmmm, what else... warm milk? Sometimes music helps...  Having kids that make me work all day long until I'm exhausted helps, but I can't recommend that as a sleep inducer. Too many side effects.

DON'T use those crappy over-the-counter sleeping aids. They just make problems worse.

I had problems for years with insomnia. My doctor prescribed Desyrel (Trazodone Hydrochloride) and it's been happily ever after.

I used to be an insomniac... I would stay awake for days at a time unless something made me sleep. Like Max, I was prescribed Trazodone as a sleep-aid, and it helped greatly. I took it for a few years and then stopped in 2003, and I haven't had any major problems with insomnia since then (I think it was depression/anxiety related, as those problems used to be a lot worse than they are now). Even nowadays, however, it still takes me an hour or two to fall asleep at night.

Valerian herbal extract.  Active ingredient of Alluna (it doesn't make you sleep, it lets you sleep)

Thank you all!
Narcolepsy-I am tired a lot but my mind is not...
I have tryed sleeping pills for about 10 years ago but I didnt like it because of all the side-effects.
One person in my family however does not complain over any side effects but I surtenly do.
Its angsiety and depression ive still got now,so thats way I cant sleep.
Tried milk and honey,and it tastes good and relaxes me to some degree as does a nice cup of tea.I often just sit and read cause that "Knocks me out".
But last night i sat there almost all night.
I have never tried Alluna but I shall try to remember the name.

XD hihi

If it's anxiety and depression that keeps you up, you might need to seek out relief for those things in order for the sleeplessness to go away completely.  Since not getting sleep can make someone more anxious and depressed so it is a cycle it's good to at least try to deal with the symptom.  

It could be that reading helps because it gets your mind off of the things that make you anxious and depressed?

Maybe you need more boring books? *L* Seriously, I would try to look at what's keeping you awake and focus on that. Sometimes when I'm anxious, talking with a friend before I go to bed to get validation and affirmation can help me put things in perspective. Praying does that for me too.

I never got any side effects from sleeping pills, and they worked great for me, but then again I only took them for one or two nights before traveling to a large convention and wouldn't recommend them for everyday use if there is an on going problem causing the sleeplessness.

Everyone needs to figure out what works for them in their circumstances.  It's good to ask questions like this though because you might hear something you hadn't tried.

Twisti wrote:

Twisti, that's an interesting strategy! I have kids and when any of them so much as coughs or get up to go to the bathroom, I'm awake... My problem is I'm worried if I have them in (besides being uncomfortable) I wouldn't hear my kids if they should need me... which is why I keep my door open.

Thank you so much!
You gave good advices an I will from now on fread the telephone-book at nighttime

*hehehe* Not the yellow pages with the restaurants and menus though, that might just make you hungry.

Sleeping pills should DEFINATELY only be used short term, I used ot abuse them (barbiturates, benzos) and I almsot killed myself, so let that be a warning.

Although, I still dohave terminal insomnia, what I do, and I am not advising it, is rotating different classes of sleep aids, such as one day, an opiate, the next, an anticholinergic (promethazine is a good one, thats OTC, its also a very, very VERY mild antipsychotic, so mild its actually OTC, but its dopaminergic antagonist effect is weak enough to be used as a sleep aid), and take GABAergic sedatives now only very rarely (benzos, barbiturates, GHB/GBL, that kind of tranquilliser)

That way, I avoid addiction, but again, I'm not advising downers of any sort.

Melatonin works for some, its rx only in the UK, but it can be bought very cheaply online via ebay, and has a very good pharmacological safety profile thus far known.

I think one must have a recipt for that  here,not sure...heard it works for many people.

Milk & honey sounds about right to me.
I had a real problem sleeping when I was working, I would still be awake at 3am, knowing I had to get up at 5.30am & would be nearly crying with desperation.
Then, I realised that on night shift at work, at times I would struggle to stay awake, so I simulated the conditions at home:- low light, sit in chair,read & try to stay awake etc
It worked great.

I still am an insomniac, but not working so it doesn't matter any more, I can stay up until 4am if I want, it just means I don't get up until around 11am.

Dad used to rub his feet together to get sleepy. I have a habit of doing that too.  My cousin used to rock himself (not actually rolling over) in bed to get to sleep. Sometimes I do that. I don't know why it works but it often does.

Sometimes I watch videos of sleepy puppies on Youtube right before bed or I lay with eyes closed and concentrate on the details of my special interest.

You don't need a script for melatonin, anywhere, all you need is ebay.

Just steer clear of anything less that 3mg or so, there are melatonin tablets purporting to contain amounts in the micrograms (mcg), and these ain't worth ***, but somewhere in the region of 10mg/night, worked really well for me, makes for real strange dreams though, in a pleasant, but odd kind of way.