Insomniaaaaaargggghh thread

[imitationleather]

Unfortunately for pain there's nothing that works that isn't addictive. Also the ones for anxiety are pretty much the most addictive drugs there are.

For either issue it's now extremely difficult to get prescribed anything for them.

[Largely Babble]

Unfortunately for pain there's nothing that works that isn't addictive. Also the ones for anxiety are pretty much the most addictive drugs there are.

My doc and I have discussed my codeine addiction quite candidly. Unavoidable as I'm on doses and durations of treatment so long it's inevitable. I think she's just keen to make sure I don't self medicate in an uncontrolled manner. Opioids as a rule are relatively harmless to the body. Overdose is a worry, so that's why cocodamol have paracetamol in. Not for additional relief, but because everyone knows paras are overdose bastards and have a really low LD50. But not much else to worry about. APART FROM chronic addiction. The swings and roundabouts with a chronic condition though is you may well need them forever.
As she says, it's better I'm taking medical opioids under observation at a controlled dosage than injecting something no one is really sure what it is because by now I'm addicted anyway. Taking them off me would be counter-productive. She knows I'm a naturally addictive person with a history of self-medication so it's the only really decision.
I do realise I am blessed here with a great GP. Not everyone gets the chance to talk seriously and in depth about their condition with their GP, if they can even get an appointment. I miss her cause of lockdown. I think she almost certainly is in love with me. (This is a joke about transference)

(...)it's now extremely difficult to get prescribed anything for (anxiety).

Yeah. Dickhead won't give me Diazepam.

[earl_sleek]

No. I looked at the prognosis and balanced it up against the dangers of the side effects and chose for personal reasons not to go down that road. It's a shame because I have psoriatic nails which are pretty ugly to look at, but then again, setting about what is basically chemo to make my nails look nicer seemed silly.
Now it's ten odd years later and it's turning in to full blown arthritis, I might consider it again.
I just have 500/30 Cocodamol thingies. I get through probably 80/90 or so a month. Somewhere along the way I stopped getting constipated with them. Amazing how bodies are really good at self correction sometimes - and then other times they go "Shit! Better grow a whole load of substandard cells here for no reason..."
When I was in hospital for an op, unrelated, a few years back a doctor commented on my heroic morphine intake and then when I said I'd been on those doses of cocodamol for ten odd years she said she was actually surprised the morphine had any effect. Ha!

When my rhemumatologist first suggested methotrexate to me I was bit alarmed it was also used in chemo too, but it's a much smaller dose for arthritis. I've been taking it for quite a while now with no real side effects, and would prefer even moderate side effects to opiate addiction.

[Dr Rock]

Even barbiturates or hypnotics have a maximum recommended usage of days rather than weeks because tolerance is quickly developed.

I've been on zopiclone for insomnia for 25 years (changed my life) and one tablet still gets me off to sleep like the first one did.

[Largely Babble]

I've been on zopiclone for insomnia for 25 years (changed my life) and one tablet still gets me off to sleep like the first one did.

Excellent. Sounds like you've dodged a bullet there. When meds work it's ace isn't it?

[Largely Babble]

When my rhemumatologist first suggested methotrexate to me I was bit alarmed it was also used in chemo too, but it's a much smaller dose for arthritis. I've been taking it for quite a while now with no real side effects, and would prefer even moderate side effects to opiate addiction.

I love my opiates! Ha! But like I said, it was originally suggested for psoriatic nails. With it blooming in to full blown arthritis, I might reconsider. Glad to hear you're have no real side effects. It's reassuring if I do go down that path. The prognosis for it curing the nails by the way is about 30%. Hence why the risk didn't seem worth it at the time.

[flotemysost]

Insomniaaaaaargggghh, forever till the end of time
From now on, only you and I, we're staying u-u-u-u-u-up
Insomniaaaaaargggghh, an everlasting piece of fart
A beating hate within my heart, we're staying u-u-u-u-u-up

*applause*

Absolutely no joke intended, have you tried wanking? It works for me about 90% of the time when I have insomnia. I can find myself awake at 4am and post-coital slumber is literally the only thing that will stop me being rabidly awake.

In the first lockdown, like many, I was living and working from a small bedroom and back when you weren't even allowed to sit on a park bench outside, my breaks basically consisted of flopping onto my bed for a while to read (or more often just scroll through my phone).

Anyway I had pretty bad insomnia during that time (again, as did so many people), and of course all the pre-COVID articles about insomnia I found were full of wisdom like "only use your bed for sleeping or sex". Which I have to say wasn't especially helpful at that point.

[JaDanketies]

I call a bedtime insomnia wank a 'sleeping pull'.

[Nowhere Man]

Haha hah he he he

i'm your lack of sleep and you can't catch me

[flotemysost]

I call a bedtime insomnia wank a 'sleeping pull'.

Somnonanism

[zomgmouse]

*applause*

In the first lockdown, like many, I was living and working from a small bedroom and back when you weren't even allowed to sit on a park bench outside, my breaks basically consisted of flopping onto my bed for a while to read (or more often just scroll through my phone).

Anyway I had pretty bad insomnia during that time (again, as did so many people), and of course all the pre-COVID articles about insomnia I found were full of wisdom like "only use your bed for sleeping or sex". Which I have to say wasn't especially helpful at that point.

I mentioned it in my first reply but I think there's something incredibly potent about the lockdown activating some kind of trauma response, survival mode, what have you, and adding a layer of pressure to the brain and body that pushes (at least for me) anxiety to beyond our usual manageable threshold - and bad sleep is one of the first things to emerge as a symptom of that overflowing anxiety.

[Kankurette]

I actually slept better last night, at least until my cunt cat woke me up at 5:20 for feeding. I've been taking magnesium supplements as they're meant to be good for restless legs. They seem to be working.

[Largely Babble]

I actually slept better last night, at least until my cunt cat woke me up at 5:20 for feeding.

What method of waking? Mine currently goes for the "loud purr directly in one ear".

[Speak]

For people that have issues with waking up around 4am and not being able to get back to sleep, i highly recommend 5htp. 

I suffered from this issue myself, and after taking them daily (as opposed to just during festivals/heavy weekends to combat comedown) i found that generally i now sleep through til my alarm clock.

Apparently they do something or other to your seratonin receptors. Im not sure what exactly, but i generally have a good solid sleep when i take them, and have a mildly improved mood throughout the day. When me and my partner run out, we are noticeably more knackered and "off" the following day.

Have suggested it to friends and colleagues who have had a similar problem, and every one of them has also had a positive result, most of them also taking it regularly now.

I get them from holland and barrett, theyre a bit pricey but worth it. They appear to be safe from what ive read online about them.

Also you can have bloody intense dreams on them, if youre into all that! Really hope this helps someone!

[Janie Jones]

I got referred to a NHS sleep clinic and had a nice chat with a consultant who made me feel better. She said the sleep industry is nearly as huge as the diet industry in terms of selling shit that people don't need, from pillows and drugs to lights and herbal teas. She said it's all bollocks. Just do your basic sleep hygiene, avoid alcohol, nicotine, caffeine and other drugs, don't eat late, be as active as you can be, write stuff down, keep a routine. Some people are just more alert than others and need less sleep; it was helpful for the many millennia we spent as hunter-gatherers to have a mixture in each tribe, some larks, some owls, some light sleepers, so that's just how we are.

Most reassuring of all, she said the research linking chronic insomnia with dire diseases (CHD, dementia) was done on a handful of old white Americans with health insurance and is not very robust.

[Kankurette]

What method of waking? Mine currently goes for the "loud purr directly in one ear".

Mine does the old 'scratching the door while meowing loudly' routine. He's not allowed to sleep with me since he mauled my arm one night.

[shiftwork2]

I'd recommend reading this if you haven't already:

Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker

Wasn't a fan.  I found it hard to sleep after reading page after page blaming most of the ills of the individual (and the world) on poor sleep.  I learned a lot more from Counting Sheep.

[JaDanketies]

5htp

don't take this if you're on SSRIs

[Kankurette]

Question for fellow insomniacs: do you feel extra hungry when you've had a bad night? Gary woke me up at 4-ish because the little cunt decided he was hungry, even though I don't usually feed him that early, so I put some Dreamies in his snowman toy and went back to sleep and then woke up at half 10. I'm working on a horrible job atm and I feel hungrier than usual, though it may be PMS talking.

I am also trying to get out of the habit of being on the computer past 11pm. The longer I spend on it, the less chance I'll have of a good night's sleep.