I need to sleep properly at night

jetcat

cally6008 wrote: »

The doc gave me a nasal spray to try and said I had sleep apnea. The spray worked for a couple of days but doesnt work anymore.

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you could ask to be referred to a sleep clinic, to get your sleep apnea assessed? There are different kinds, and different people suffer different extremes of it - maybe there would be another treatment to the spray you could try?

1sue23

flutterbyuk25 wrote: »

I had a period of not sleeping well and someone advised me to get out of bed when I couldn't sleep and do something active (not watch tv) like read/puzzle book/clean for a little while and after about half hour you should feel sleepy again.

I only tried it a few times but it seemed to work for me.

Hope you find something to help

x

I made mince pies on Friday when I could not sleep, at 3 in the morning and must admit I slept like a dream when I got back into bed at 5 .

Barneysmom

Trouble is I have to be up for work at about 6 o'clock so if I lose too much sleep I don't function. I have to drive a lot too.

Lil2002

The tips I've picked up over the years.

No TV for about an hour before bed - gives your brain time to unwind.
Warm bath - too hot will stimulate, you want to relax.
Milky drink, ie hot chocolate, Horlicks, they contain an amino acid that can help sleep.

When in bed, no reading, no TV. You have to train your mind that bed = sleep. (Unless you are getting lucky, whole other thread...)

If there are particular worries, keep a notepad beside the bed, write it down, & then tell yourself you will deal with it in the morning.

Tensing all your muscles, & then relaxing bit by bit (ie start with one foot, then calf, then whole leg) can be amazing. I never knew how tense I was, until I started consciously relaxing my muscles.

Hope some of that helps.

globalds

Camomile tea or sleepy tea


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cazziebo

I had hypnotherapy a few years ago and haven't had a problem sleeping since. I had about four sessions, and the therapist gave me a tape to listen to when I went to bed. After about a week, I wouldn't even have to put the tape on.

I can now sleep anywhere, and the quality of sleep is great - I only sleep 5 hours per night and wake up full of energy.

The only downside is that as soon as I go to bed, my body and brain are conditioned to sleep ie I'm not a very exciting bedpartner!

x_raphael_xx

Don't mean to be rude or pry but are you overweight?? I used to be really heavy and have really bad sleep, some times no sleep at all for two days.

I've since lost 5 stone and sleep a lot better, whether it's the increase in exercise, my improved diet or simply that I'm not being strangled by my own flab anymore I don't know, but it helped me

Do you have any worries at the moment? My dad grinds his teeth in his sleep when stressed over money worries. Drives my mum mad!

Savvy_Sue

As your GP has diagnosed sleep apnoea, you should get your medical advice from them, so my vote is for going back to the GP and saying the spray no longer works. There ARE other treatments, one of DS3's teachers has just had his tonsils out for that reason, but that's not always the solution.

All the other tips are perfectly reasonable and traditional, you may need to work through a few to see which of them help you.

My personal tip: I have a Rest and Sleep CD from Meditainment and a pillow speaker from Maplin (at least that's the cheapest I could find quickly) and I've very rarely heard to the end of the track, whether I've used it when I'm first getting into bed or in the wee small worrying hours.

DH on the other hand was sleeping VERY badly, waking up with sweat pouring off him several times a night, and for him the best thing was to get up as soon as it started (rather than hoping it would pass!), cool off, then come back to bed and listen to the World Service on the radio. Very soporific and didn't disturb me nearly as much.

However, for both us, dealing with the underlying health problem was more important.

Now, I shall move this over to the Health board where there are other useful threads which I may manage to search for later.

lisaloo1977

I second the not watching tv or reading etc in bed. The bedroom needs to be somewhere you associate with sleeping. (apart from if your lucky enough to be getting something else!!!)
I never ever drink anything such as tea, coffee or coke any time after 3pm.
A warm milky drink before bed can help as can half a banana and a warm bath.

If you do find yourself awake, take yourself out of the room so you do not lie there having negative thoughts about why you are not a sleep. That in itself can create a bad vibe about the bedroom and you need to train the brain that its a positive place that you sleep in, not a place you lie in a wondering why you are not asleep.

Exercise or even a walk to get some fresh air will help as well at some point in the day.
Try to have the bedroom at a cool temperature, not freezing but not hot either.

The best advice i can give is do not get to worked up about it. Easier said than done, but trust me that is the best thing you can do.

I have not slept well for over 10 years now. I have had all types of medications, been to sleep clinics, had tests in hospital and tried all of the above. You know what i and my doctors have come to the conclusion i just do not sleep well.

I cant be on meds all my life, but do have them every now and agin to get a bit of rest bite from it, though i often wake feeling worse than i do when i do not take them.

Many doctors have told me that your body will sleep when it needs to, and it will sleep for how long it needs to. Some people need 8 hours, some need 12, some need 3. I fall in to the latter group and whilst its weird being awake when most people are asleep i have decided to look at it in the way i can do so much more as there really are so many more hours in the day for me....

cally6008

fiscalfreckles - I don't touch coffee, only once in a blue moon.

frugallass - I have to be careful with yoga as I have a joint problem and yoga can aggrivate it. Reading in bed would last about 10mins before I fall alseep. I have thought about hypnotherapy and acupuncture but the cost puts me off. Something to maybe save up for next year.

1sue23 - I cant sleep with a fan on in the room, too noisy. I cant leave the window open due to said joint problem as cold increases the pain factor for me and leaves me extremely stiff and very sore.

Can I just point out - I do sleep, I drop off fine and sleep through the night .... It's what I do "in" my sleep thats the problem and I dont even know Im doing all this stuff.

jetcat - I'd love to be part of a sleep clinic. The chances are that my doctor won't refer me. He doesnt even see my joint problem as a problem and says I'm 100% fine (when I'm so obviously not). I'm better than I was this time last year but I'm by no means "fine"

Lil2002 - I don't watch TV after 9pm anyway. I have to have a bath before it gets towards bedtime as I dont like being in the bath at a late time of night (ie, 5--6pm). I dont like hot chocolate or horlicks, makes me feel sickly. Tensing muscles ends up with cramp and said joint problem affects proprieception (sp?) and I dont use my muscles properly anyway so it wouldnt really be an exercise for me to do without proper supervision to make sure I'm doing it proper.

cazziebo - I'm not either, normally too much pain or tiredness to bother doing bedroom activities

raphael - Definitely not overweight (approx 8 n half stones!). I dont have worries as such. I've been grinding my teeth for about 2 years so it cant be recent worries and stress affecting that side of things.

LMAO ... just listening to the ZZZ coming from bedroom from OH. Fat chance of him waking up to watch Top Gear shortly

Savvy_Sue - the CD looks interesting but no way can I afford $79 to get access to download the sleep ones. I dont have a CD burner on laptop either.

lisaloo - I get all my exercise walking to and from work, 20 mins each way, twice a day and then constantly on the go whilst at work. The bedroom is kept on the cool side anyway (we havent got heating on tonight as yet). I dont get worked up about it but after nearly 2 years of OH not getting a decent kip it is starting to concern me a lot. I'm very suprised he hasnt up and left me, I know some blokes would have.