Hey thanks for your help Leukeh and bobtomay!
The problem is (and its weird i guess) is that If i do the sort of things you have suggested, I end up more awake?
For example i LOVE reading Stephen King stuff. But When i start reading I always want to finish that last little bit... I then find myself 4 hours later moaning I'm not asleep
Perhaps im just awkward and need to be locked away? *Grins*
And its these stories that I've heard from many people that really put me off taking medication to help...
~~ TS ~~
Well, as scary as it might seem, when that happened to me it was a wake up call (oh wow, the irony in that.....), and I cut the dose in half, it never happened again.
Sometimes I think of going into the medicine cabinet and taking the seroquel again. It's just annoying how getting to sleep has to be WORK. While taking the pills, you had no choice, once you put it in your mouth, you WERE going to sleep that night. I took it like an hour before bed, then about an hour later I immediately went to sleep no problem. It was great. I miss it sometimes, but, the reason I stopped taking it is because i felt like it took away my freedom somewhat. I didn't have the freedom to just up and take off to a friends house unannounced, always had to make sure I had some with me. And when you take anything to help you sleep, it's a good idea to have a normal routine meaning to go bed and wake up at pretty much the same time. I didn't have that, I still don't.
If you decide to try something, you might want to take a couple days off, just to see how things are working, obviously while you are playing around with dosing you don't want to have a huge mid term or something like that.
For me, it's really hard to fall asleep. After I fall asleep everything is fine (until i hear the alarm ;D ), but getting to sleep is the hard part, it just seems like i can't possibly shut my mind down, i'm always thinking about something.
70% of the time I go to sleep without staying up past midnight, but it's mostly after the weekends.
During the evening, when I realize, hey, i'm tired right now, I drop everything and go to sleep. If I find myself yawning and in that really tired state, I go to sleep ASAP. I know that once that feeling is gone, it might not come back.
And before I go to bed, I turn off all the lights, and listen to my iPod.
I listen to about 5 songs, the SAME 5 songs, every night. They are songs that aren't on the iPod I take with me every day, so at night is the only time I listen to them.
Actually, i think it helps with my sleeping. They aren't like hevy metal songs obviously. My particular song choice also helps me not to go to bed angry at anyone, and it makes me appreciate the people I love in my life.
My "bedtime tunes" (lol) are from the RENT soundtrack, and one from Moulin Rouge.
1) How wonderful life is.
2) Seasons of Love
3) One Song Glory
4) I'll Cover You
5) Tango:Maureen
6) Santa Fe
7) Without You
8) I'll cover you (reprise)
9) What You Own
10) Your Eyes
11) Finale B.
I listen to them in that order, i repeat the last one or two a couple of times until I really empty my mind. It's really helped me, for sleep, but it's also helped me appreciate the people in my life. If you know the RENT soundtrack, you know what I mean. For whatever reason, towards the end I get really tired. It's just something I just sort of did one night because I couldn't sleep, and I just kept on doing it. I don't know why. My mini is my bedside iPod since the battery is dead and it has to be plugged in. And I only have the backlight on for 2 seconds.I've never told anyone about that routine, i've always wanted to though.
Does anyone else do that? I guess it's sort of like a lullaby that you would sing to a child now that I think about it. I just always thought it was something weird that I do.
Oh, and I also have a fan/heater running because I need the noise, I can't stand to hear myself breathe when i'm trying to sleep. My grandmother uses one of those things that covers your eyes when she sleeps, and she bought one of those cheap CDs that has rushing water sounds with violins and harps (LOL), it's the same routine she does when she is giving massages.
I heard on the radio (john tesh, intelligence for your life. IMO a lot of it seems like BS, but a small amount of it is helpful), that it helps you sleep if you take a shower before bed, and if you can't sleep, get up and do something until you feel tired. I have never done the shower thing, but when i can't sleep i normally read a book or something until i'm tired.
Let us know how it's going, and GOOD LUCK!
