A little help with insomnia

[KatW]

Marti, I went through the same thing around a year ago. My neurologist just stopped prescribing Lorazepam and tried to take me off of it cold turkey. I told them NO, that they had to give me a weaning dose. They gave me 2 weeks of another med to wean me off. Before that, they tried to RAISE my dose and I told them no.

There was some change in the law about how they prescribe these types of meds and all my local docs are very skittish about prescribing them. My new PCP has no issues with prescribing it.

Needless to say, my bedtime went from 11pm to around 2am. I never completely recovered. I do have a script of Lorazapam available if I'm up past 2am or need to get to bed early.

[Mable]

Sleep restriction

I've had terrible insomnia for years. I was helped by using sleep restriction. Jules touched on the idea that we may not need as much sleep as we think. And understanding that was part of the solution. For me, too, the problem was that the sleep I was getting was poor quality...despite having a quiet, dark room.

Here's how it worked. I calculated that I was getting 6 hours of sleep at night (although it might take 10 hours to get it). At the same time, I wished I was the kind of person who gets up at 6:30 in the morning. So with sleep restriction, I started going to bed at 12:15 at night and getting up at 6:30, no matter how bad my insomnia. No naps. No being a zombie in front of the TV. Keep moving.

I was so tired when I started.

After about 5 days of that torture, I went to bed one night and slep deeply and beautifully for 6 1/2 hours! I added 15 minutes the next week, and so on. I'm not strict about it anymore. But 6 1/2 to 7 hours of good sleep is now possible for me, for the first time in decades!

There's a book with details: Say Goodnight to Insomnia, Gregg Jacobs

[marti]

I've had terrible insomnia for years. I was helped by using sleep restriction. Jules touched on the idea that we may not need as much sleep as we think. And understanding that was part of the solution. For me, too, the problem was that the sleep I was getting was poor quality...despite having a quiet, dark room.

Here's how it worked. I calculated that I was getting 6 hours of sleep at night (although it might take 10 hours to get it). At the same time, I wished I was the kind of person who gets up at 6:30 in the morning. So with sleep restriction, I started going to bed at 12:15 at night and getting up at 6:30, no matter how bad my insomnia. No naps. No being a zombie in front of the TV. Keep moving.

I was so tired when I started.

After about 5 days of that torture, I went to bed one night and slep deeply and beautifully for 6 1/2 hours! I added 15 minutes the next week, and so on. I'm not strict about it anymore. But 6 1/2 to 7 hours of good sleep is now possible for me, for the first time in decades!

There's a book with details: Say Goodnight to Insomnia, Gregg Jacobs

Thank you. My neuro recommends Melatonin, which I have taken occasionally. The dreams are crazy, but it does help.