Insomnia

[Labyrinth]

For years I've suffered what is termed 'delayed sleep phase' tendencies. It's left it's lasting impression, let me assure you. Months on end with 3-or-less hours a night, along with innumerable times where sleep for several days was not an option can do that to you.

Now that I've got the whinge bit over with, I was wondering how many other people in our unusual forum suffer from insomnia, no matter the severity.

 

[rottenbutter]

Well, up until recently, I used to get pretty bad insomnia. I have no idea why it stopped.

 

[Vortigar]

No matter the severity?
Well, it takes me about one to three hours to go to sleep after lying down in bed, no matter at what time, no matter how tired I am. Reading books during that time helps though.

I'm also extremely sleepy in the morning and quite capable of falling asleep again under a cold shower.

 

[Jamanticus]

For years I've suffered what is termed 'delayed sleep phase' tendencies. It's left it's lasting impression, let me assure you. Months on end with 3-or-less hours a night, along with innumerable times where sleep for several days was not an option can do that to you.

Now that I've got the whinge bit over with, I was wondering how many other people in our unusual forum suffer from insomnia, no matter the severity.

My, that sounds familiar..... My insomnia (great word, by the way) started when I was a sophomore in high school and hasn't let up since then- very late to sleep and very late to rise would be the ideal condition for me

 

[Gitsnik]

Chalk another one up here. I regularly (read 52 weeks a year) go for 7 days without sleep. Thankfully I crash, hard, on friday nights mostly through a culmination of vodka and painkillers.

I see things when I sleep so I think I'm afraid to. I see the past mostly, sometimes the future or reliving things that have happened to me.

Such joys.

I find that it is easier to sleep if someone is next to me though, so that's a bonus.

 

[Labyrinth]

Chalk another one up here. I regularly (read 52 weeks a year) go for 7 days without sleep. Thankfully I crash, hard, on friday nights mostly through a culmination of vodka and painkillers.

I see things when I sleep so I think I'm afraid to. I see the past mostly, sometimes the future or reliving things that have happened to me.

Such joys.

I find that it is easier to sleep if someone is next to me though, so that's a bonus.

Funnily enough, I see things when seriously sleep deprived. Take the three-days-without style of thing. Shadows in peripheral vision. Lights. Movement. Shapes and colours really out of the ordinary. People around me always look different after that long.

 

[Jamanticus]

Chalk another one up here. I regularly (read 52 weeks a year) go for 7 days without sleep. Thankfully I crash, hard, on friday nights mostly through a culmination of vodka and painkillers.

I see things when I sleep so I think I'm afraid to. I see the past mostly, sometimes the future or reliving things that have happened to me.

Such joys.

I find that it is easier to sleep if someone is next to me though, so that's a bonus.

Funnily enough, I see things when seriously sleep deprived. Take the three-days-without style of thing. Shadows in peripheral vision. Lights. Movement. Shapes and colours really out of the ordinary. People around me always look different after that long.

Yeah, completely. Hallucinations (both visual and auditory) are completely normal symptoms of sleep deprivation.... I hate hallucinations......

EDIT: and the people looking different? That could be a form of de-realization (another common symptom that I have as well)

 

[Death Magnetic]

I talk in my sleep and occasionaly shout. I also just randomly sit up crossed legged whilst still asleep which is kind of creepy. Also-

Spoiler: Picture detailing sleep.

-Ricky

 

[Jamanticus]

I talk in my sleep and occasionaly shout. I also just randomly sit up crossed legged whilst still asleep which is kind of creepy. Also-

Spoiler: Picture detailing sleep.

-Ricky

This further cements the idea that sleep is for lazy people who want to entertain themselves

 

[Calobi]

I have a something like insomnia. I can't fall asleep until about 1 in the morning, regardless of how tired I am. Once I fall asleep, though, I won't wake up until I have something to do. An example is that I can get out of bed, walk across the room without waking my roommate, turn off my alarm, check the time, go back to bed, all without actually waking up. However, if I have class soon, I immediately wake up, I just don't remeber getting out of bed or anything.

 

[super_smash_jesus]

I have mild insomnia, where sometimes i won't sleep for a night (but thats about it). This was caused by my severe sleepwalking issues. In a nights time (every night) I will be walking around, talking, acting out anything that i saw that day or 2 days before hand. I actually played syphon filter for a day, and slept walked around my house, avoiding light and hiding from "would be" terrorists. The problem with this is I do not get any rest, and I generally wake up getting only an hour or 2 of sleep a night.

It has also become enough of a problem that I have to drug myself before bed to not move around anymore, mainly because I fell down the stairs once, I also tripped on a coat and bashed my eye into a corner of my nightstand (9 stitches is in no way good to wake up to), walked to school when i was young through the snow at 2 am. Needless to say, the girlfriend has a full time job making sure i stay in bed every night.

 

[manicfoot]

I've had insomnia for around 6 years. One time I didn't sleep for 3 days and I started to halucinate. I genuinely thought I saw a car drive up a tree and got insanely paranoid. I thought people were trying to break into my house and I could see red eyes watching me from my window. it was strange, but fun in a fucked up kinda way.
I don't mean to whore my music to my fellow escapists, but I wrote a song about insomnia called Requiem for a Dream (yes, I know its a film. I was pissed off when I found that out) which you can check out at www.myspace.com/philhaynes. Don't listen to the other songs though because they're shit

 

[broadband]

i just remember 2 times years ago where i couldnt sleep 1 night, i think the 2nd time was cause by something i ate.

 

[Bakabaikun]

I've had quite 'mild' insomnia since I was about 10. I was told (by doctors & parents who researched it) that it was "probably due to hormones", then it was because "I was one of the few people who don't need very much sleep" and finally I "just have insomnia".

It often takes 2 or more hours for me to fall asleep and I often wake up multiple times during the night for no reason other than I'm a 'light sleeper' (as an example, and excuse my vulgarity, I used to wake up whenever my brother farted in his sleep; a frequent occurrence unfortunately).

Every time I'm disturbed it takes another couple of hours or so for me to then drift off again; thus on average I get 4-6 hours most nights.

Worst I've had though was three days of absolutely no sleep, two of which were college 'cram days' I had to attend or I was going to fail (and I still don't know why they thought it was a good idea to do half a term's worth of work in 2 days).

 

[Dudemeister]

I'm a really poor sleeper, no matter how tired I am, I just don't sleep well, or for long.

 

[Jamanticus]

I've got insomnia and sleep apnea. According to numerous sleep studies I've been to.

I've found a cocktail of Diphenhydramine, Clonazepam, Quetiapine, Zopiclone and Melatonin put me out in conjunction with a Binaural Brain-Thetawave syncronizer and my CPAP machine.

That's probably akin to killing a mosquito with a bazooka in your case though, so I'd recommend Melatonin, as a starting point. It's available OTC and you can pick from the kind harvested from animal peneal glands or the synthetic version, if you're a veg.

Whoa- insomnia plus sleep apnea must not be a good combination...

 

[Alleged_Alec]

I sleep really badly the last few weeks. I sleep well whenever I sleep, however, I think too much. I think of the uselessness of life and what will happen after the death and stuff like that when lying in bed. It just keeps me awake the entire night, in some extreme cases.

However, I feel for you. Real insomnia must be at least a thousandfold worse.