Trouble With Sleeping

You have described a lot of things you have done to try to resolve this but what I was not able to find after reading is the symptoms you are having?

All I got is that you're having trouble sleeping, and that you feel fatigued often as a result. But what do you mean when you say you are "having trouble sleeping"? Is that having trouble going to sleep, having trouble staying asleep? What does a typical nights 'sleep' look for you? You did mention in a later post that you wake up often in the night, however, is this every night, or just some nights? Do you always feel tired still after waking up from sleeping?

While the community of this site is not comprised of medical professionals but mainly of individuals with their own experiences in health and other practices, I would still consult a specialist about any information we may give you just to be sure.

Now, I am glad that a couple things were mentioned here by other members:

1. Sleep Apnea. A lot of people have this disorder, and it can give several signs including waking up in the middle of the night to the lack of paced breathing while the body is resting - forcing you to feel tired as your body is not getting the required oxygen for recovery time. Of course, this diagnoses depends heavily on - again - how a 'nights' sleep goes for you. As you said, one of the doctors you mentioned did indicate you might have a snoring problem, and this does tie into the sleep apnea theory at this point. I think this should still seriously be considered as well due to some of the other doctors referring you to nose and throat specialists as you mentioned in your later posts - which tells me that they think you might in fact have a breathing issue and want to check if you're healthy in those areas to rule out anything and bring a clearer diagnosis.

2. Routine. As mentioned by HearthWitch in her post above, it is important to have a good routine for bed and to only use your bed for activites of rest (mostly). Healthy sleeping patterns are important and do improve overall quality of life and health.

Now, with these having been mentioned, I think another important thing should be considered. I think we are neglecting a possible psychological factor.

For example, people who have PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) often have trouble falling or staying asleep due to their subconscious mind bringing up the traumatic memories during periods of rest and REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep cycles, and as a defense mechanism, the brain fires off signals to wake the body and mind up to avoid further damage from the trauma. While that's great the brain is protecting itself, it's also screwing with the sleep and rest of the rest of the body. I don't think something to this level should be ruled out, and should be talked with your doctor or therapist/Psychologist if you have one.

On a more personal note, I know that when I had broken up with my Ex-Fiance after finding that he had left me for another man and had been seeing that person behind my back for quite some time, for a few months I could only sleep for maybe 3 hours a day, I was so hurt. And I still find myself sometimes waking up in the middle of the night if I dream about it. So don't rule it out just yet, there could be a psychological factor in play. The mind is very powerful over the body.

I am so sorry you are going through this and I know it must be crazy making, and hard on you. Try not to rule anything out unless it's absolute, and be open minded about treatment. I have faith you will return to normal sleeping patterns soon

You don't have to apologize, I really appreciate all your advice. I also told his assistants that I think I have sleep apnea, and they all said that his report said otherwise, that I don't have it, but I think you are correct.

Hollabaluru- You make some really great points, thank you so much for your analysis.

I wake up multiple times every single night. Also because I do this it will throw off my sleep pattern and I will sometimes have insomnia issues even though I'm extremely sleepy. I will get through that and get yo a more normal pattern, but still I wake up multiple times, only to feel exhausted the next day. I feel terrible and I look it. This trouble sleeping has affected me all my life.

I honestly think it could be psychological. I read that with some people their brain waves can be overly active during sleep. When I'm in the process of going to sleep I don't think much at all, but maybe in my sleep I do? Maybe I have several problems attributing to my sleep problem? My ex gf did say in the past that I snored, but since I have taped my mouth in order to breathe through my nose this has eliminated my snoring completely. I have had people monitor me while I sleep. They all claim that I don't stop breathing, but I do wake up.

I'm really sorry you went through that Hollabaluru! You might be right that it's psychological, because I do have depression, and breaking up with my ex that I was about to marry did harm me psychologically. I haven't been happy since. I also wonder could it be that the tape does fix my snoring, but my breathing could be too shallow? So maybe in the future I could use my sleep apnea machine and see if that fixes it? It is also possible that it is psychological and I need mediatation or medicine or both.

The dr. and the assistants wouldn't let me buy a machine, so I bought one from someone off of Craigslist. It took me forever to find the right mask, but I finally found one last month. I tried using the machinr, but apparently the water reacted badly to the colder room. So it didn't work properly. I assume thr once it is Spring or Summer it might work a lot better. I read that I could buy some kind of thing to keep the water warm in the hose, but I have already spent too much money on everything else.

Hollabaluru and everyone, thank you for all your support and informative advice. I really do appreciate it! Thank you.

I've dealt with chronic insomnia since I was a kid. I've tried everything from pills to deep meditation l, but the thing is not only one thing works.

Focus all of your energy in everything you do. Read more and longer, work harder and better, think more deeply and feel more freely. My dreams are the things that wake me up or keep me up, and a doctor told me to remedy this, I'd need to be so busy during the day, when my head finally hit the pillow I'd be out in a switch.

This worked until I was in my early teens. I began experimenting with marijuana, which helped for awhile until it only blurred my dreams. They could still affect me and scare me. It got the point where I'd sleep two or three hours every couple days. I started to meditate before going to sleep. At first only for ten or fifteen moments, calming myself and convicning myself that my thoughts were law and that nothing could harm me. I visualised shields being built around me that would protect me as I slept.

Progress was slow, but as I began to do this regularly, making it a ritual, I found it easier to slip into sweet sleep, and I found that since I had been calmed, by dreams really could not hurt me I began sleeping throug whole nights, and now I usually sleep every night. If something happens I'll go a week or so without sleeping, or with very little, and then to back to normal.

This has been a persistent problem for me, and if it continues to be for you, Blue, I would be glad to help you further. I only ask that you ask me

Arduous, thank you for sharing your story. I'm sorry your sleeping problem persists as well. It gives me a bit of inspiration to keep trying.

I read through and I can tell you that it can be a combination of many factors that causing your sleeping issues. It could be a number of things that result in your ability to stay asleep and get the amount of rest your body requires to be healthy and active during the day.

Sometimes lack of certain hormones and nutrients can contribute to your brain cells not getting the proper nutrients they require such as choline for one example. Depression is an imbalance in these chemicals that can certainly cause sleep disturbances and irregularities but it is not the only cause.

Sometimes people have an over stimulated nerve system which can cause a number of issues including lack of proper sleep and can cause chronic fatigue syndrome, which is a condition that resembles and nearly mimics clinical depression however with some key differences being that those with CFS still want to partake in activities they enjoy but lack the energy to do so which leads to the misdiagnosis, but it is also true that some individuals may have both clinical depression and chronic fatigue syndrome.

My advice would be to seek out a holistic medical practitioner such as a naturopathic MD and explain your symptoms, share your medical records and test results, keep a journal or log of everything and keep it together to help explain the whole picture. You may also want to look into getting blood tests done for vitamin deficiencies because a lack in many vitamins can cause sleep problems one of the most common being vitamin D deficiency.

I suffer sleep issues as well and wish you the best of luck in any case.

Thank you so much Bazir, and I wish you the best of luck with your sleep trouble as well. I will definitely look into everything you just mentioned. A lot of what you said seemed very possible.

Maybe this is a dumb answer but I don't mean it that way.
Try rubbing some Vicks Vaporub under your nose and maybe even a little in your nose. It helps to keep breathing well and the smell of mint is said to stimulate psychic courage as well (which might be a reason why you keep waking up)

For any of you that have difficulty sleeping or staying asleep like I do, and always feeling tired-sleepy, how do you cope with it? How do you manage your daily commitments despite not feeling very good?

Thanks for your time.

Nah , maybe this can help
With science magic
You should eat melatonin sleep hormone
Important "melatonin" not others
You will feel very sleepy
But don't go sleep
,don't force ,here's come spiritual aspect
Feel force from end of spine ,
Then after you feel no rest but no tired
Inverse the force ,
Nah, just do it then you will never tired again