Help -- insomnia

My sleep has been a bit worse the past few weeks, as I wind down my work life. I'm not anxious or unhappy, but I can't seem to get the brain to shut down when I wake WAY too early. Yesterday was my last day in the office and I didn't sleep much past 1:30am. Ugh - long day with that little sleep.

Hoping it gets better as I ease into the ER lifestyle.
 
mamadogmamacat said:
I'm on HRT.....it has been no help with insomnia....gyno doc put me on it when i was in my initial panic about no sleep.......per same doc anything over 3 mg of melatonin is a very high dose.....but i really don't care if it works...even if only sometimes......it stays in my repertoire
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Actually up to 5mg is considered a okay amount according to the reading that I have done, it may interact with certain meds. For a doc to call that a "very high" dose is inaccurate IMO.
 
I've had insomnia all my life, at least since grade school.

Things that work:
Careful with caffeine and other stimulus

Routines have one and follow it

Self hypnosis is great as is white noise

Indicia

Things that work for a while:

OTC pills for short term (benedryl, melatonin..)

Prescription drugs:

I became dependant on zolipidam, if you didn't sleep before you'll be amazed when your body rejects these types of meds. I didn't sleep more than 3 hours for 90+ days.

Trazadone is probably better than the modern prescriptions but use it as little as possible.


In general mom's advice is the best. Eat well, drink nothing and exercise. Remember no one's died from lack of sleep.
 
ivinsfan said:
Actually up to 5mg is considered a okay amount according to the reading that I have done, it may interact with certain meds. For a doc to call that a "very high" dose is inaccurate IMO.
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My doc said that less is more with melatonin. He recommended 1mg or less.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Early Retirement Forum mobile app
 
I've never had any particular problem sleeping. But there are 2 things that hasten my falling asleep. First I read for 20-30 minutes (in bed) and that makes me very drowsy. Then I listen to something quiet/meditative on my iPod shuffle and I swear I am zonked out within 5 minutes. (My iPod Shuffle has no screen, hence no glow. I don't know for sure whether or not the newer ones have screens.)
 
I started taking 5mg melatonin back in May, when my work life turned upside down, and it helped a lot. I'm now sleeping a lot better with no drowsiness in the morning. Curiously, I find that not all brands are equivalent. After starting out on a small bottle from Walgreens (Nature's Bounty brand), I bought a big bottle of a different brand at Costco. (Unlike another one Costco sold, this claimed to be just melatonin and not mixed with random herbs.) It did nothing for me at all, so I returned it and went back to Nature's Bounty. My wife started taking it as well and she finds it very helpful.

You may need to experiment with dosage to see what's the lowest that works for you. The literature is all over the map on this, but 3-5 seems to be a popular choice.
 
bmcgonig said:
My doc said that less is more with melatonin. He recommended 1mg or less.

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If you want to go with your doc, that's fine, but I don't agree with his opinion. Most docs generally have a bias against natural remedies in my experience.Yet when the 1mg or less doesn't work, he most likely will be happy to write you a script for a "better" sleep aid.
 
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jonat said:
I started taking 5mg melatonin back in May, when my work life turned upside down, and it helped a lot. I'm now sleeping a lot better with no drowsiness in the morning. Curiously, I find that not all brands are equivalent. After starting out on a small bottle from Walgreens (Nature's Bounty brand), I bought a big bottle of a different brand at Costco. (Unlike another one Costco sold, this claimed to be just melatonin and not mixed with random herbs.) It did nothing for me at all, so I returned it and went back to Nature's Bounty. My wife started taking it as well and she finds it very helpful.

You may need to experiment with dosage to see what's the lowest that works for you. The literature is all over the map on this, but 3-5 seems to be a popular choice.
Click to expand...

Agree and I do recommend time release for those middle of the night wakers.
 
See if melatonin helps you. It knocks our grandkids out, and it's not a drug.

Tylenol PM does the job for many.

Stay away from Ambien--a product of the Devil. My father was in a haze on it. The doorbell rang while he was taking a nap, he jumped up, fell down and broke a hip.

I work very hard most days in retirement, and I go to sleep easy. My problem is I'll sleep 5 hours and get up for 2-3 hours, and then go back to sleep for another 2 hours.
 
Chamomile, mint or a combination tea before bedtime always work for me. Or a little Milk of Magnesia (magnesium) with a glass of water chaser. When I can't sleep it seems to usually coincide with an over acid stomach.
 
Ambien works for me well without any side effects, but my doctor is stingy and doesn't allow me to take it for an extended period of time. I use melatonin to fill in the blanks, but it doesn't work as well and I'm a bit groggy during the day.
I've tried just about everything people have mentioned with little success other than Ambien. But I will dispute the post about lack of sleep never having killed anybody. It contributes to heart disease.


Enjoying life!
 
And stress and falling asleep while driving or using heavy machinery. It can shorten your life in more then a few ways.
 
Bamaman said:
See if melatonin helps you. It knocks our grandkids out, and it's not a drug.
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Regulators in every country other than the US and New Zealand would disagree with you. Outside of those two countries, melatonin is considered a prescription-only drug, so be careful if you pack it for travel outside the US. My wife and I had our doctor write us a prescription for it. Here in the US, the "supplements" industry convinced regulators to not classify it as a drug because it was a "natural hormone".
 
bmcgonig said:
My doc said that less is more with melatonin. He recommended 1mg or less.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Early Retirement Forum mobile app
Click to expand...

+1. I often take 1/2 of a 0.5mg chewable tab and that works well. YMMV

Sent from my VS986 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app
 
Dash man said:
Ambien works for me well without any side effects, but my doctor is stingy and doesn't allow me to take it for an extended period of time. I use melatonin to fill in the blanks, but it doesn't work as well and I'm a bit groggy during the day.
I've tried just about everything people have mentioned with little success other than Ambien. But I will dispute the post about lack of sleep never having killed anybody. It contributes to heart disease.


Enjoying life!
Click to expand...

Lack of sleep is certainly not good for your long term health. I don't believe you will ever find "lack of sleep" as the cause of death on a death certificate.
 
True, but you won't find the words "ate too much" on one either.I would suggest chronic long term insomnia is more then "not good for your long term health". It can be very unpleasant for your long term mental health as well.
 
Lloydwtaylor said:
Trust me when I tell you I wanted to retire, I wanted to move on and do something new. Has anybody experienced anything like this when you first retired? ... I really think it's all in my head but can't beat it.
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I experienced a variety of symptoms when I transitioned from planning retirement to start taking concrete, burning my bridges type actions: panic attacks (first time in my life), appetite vanished, major insomnia. They stopped as soon as I stopped the actions. Returned when I started again. The cycle repeated.

Like you, I wanted to retire, wanted to move on, etc. It was voluntary. It was also obvious after a few cycles of symptoms that they were entirely psychological in nature. I started thinking of my retirement as a 'Big Vacation', one I could return from. I was able to resume taking the necessary steps without further panic attacks, insomnia, etc.

Insomnia can be caused by natural changes due to aging. It responds to learning new sleep habits. Insomnia is also a symptom of psychological conditions. You just had a Major Life Event. One that can't help but remind us that no one gets out of here alive.

The one common thread through insomnia threads on this forum is reports on how people have successfully treated their 'problem'. Few consider insomnia as a symptom. If none of the non-drug solutions work, one can either use drugs to control the symptom, or address the real cause. Taking drugs is easier.
 
I really try not to stress about how much/little sleep I get, as that increases my anxiety about sleep! I figure my body has a natural sleep cycle, sometimes I am awake at 4 am, sometimes 6 or 7. I try to go to bed at close to the same time each night and have a specific bedtime routine. If I really need help sleeping/relaxing, I take Valerian Root capsules. Stuff stinks to high heaven, but works well.
On the days when I wake up around 4, I do have a harder time at work, but I tend to sleep better the next night! I do not nap at all, as that definitely interferes with my nighttime sleep.
 
ItDontMeanAThing said:
Taking drugs is easier.
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It is until the drugs don't work anymore. I spent three months trying to learn how to sleep without Ambien, Zanax and the rest of their family. YMMV
 
Thanks everyone for all the thoughts and knowing I'm not alone. I'm on a pretty good run of sleeping only with a Melatonin and nothing else. If it gets crazy again I have Zquill which works great but is not something I want to depend on. Today was the first day of school so that psychological barrier has now passed and I had a great day today NOT being at work.


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Great news. Little thing can really help a lot. It seemed I was having a pretty spotty sleeping record this summer. Up here in the Northland it's light pretty late into the evening.

Since I didn't feel tired right away I would go to bed and watch some Netflix but still woke during that night and it gets light very early. Went to a huge library sale and bought some 50 cent books. I started reading at nite and it made a huge difference in sleep quality.I'll now log between 6.5 to 8 hours without waking. Two night in a row we had huge 3-4 AM thunderstorms and I slept straight thru it. MY 5 mg dose of time release melatonin is doing it's job.
 
Not for nothing but I had chronic insomnia for my first 55 years - my mind was always overactive, pursuing tangents when I was trying to sleep.

During a family illness five years ago my doctor prescribed me a small regimen of Xanax (alprazolam) to chill me out. I said I had insomnia too and he said it works for that too.

Boy did it. There's something about alprazolam at night that fixes my brain chemistry, so I can close my eyes and fall asleep like a normal person. No drowsiness the next day like sleeping pills. It shut off my insomnia like a switch after 55 years. My doctor let me keep the prescription for the insomnia.
 
Bob,

Be careful with Xanax, it is highly addictive and a horrible drug to withdraw from.

I have a script for it too, I wish I could use it every night but I don't want to get hooked on it. It works a incredibly well for anxiety too.
 
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