Question:
does anyone here do anything to deal with the insomnia they get with
depression?
I hoped by treating the depression, we'd be treating the insomnia as
well, but I'm still up way too late at nights...unable to get to
sleep...
Answer:
For me, exercise really helped.
After experimenting with different meds and natural stuff.
If you have anxieties that are keeping you up, maybe something like xanax?
Not really on regular basis, but on occasion. Ask your doc about anxieties.
I've had insomnia to one degree or another since I was 8 years old. Back
then, I shared a bedroom with my older sister who conked out [and snored] as
soon as the light went out. I'd lie awake, my mind running like a hamster on
a wheel, seething and worrying. When I got my own room, I listened to the
radio all night long, which drove my father nuts because he's not a good
sleeper either and he could hear it through the heat ducts. I read until I
got to sleep. I counted backwards from 100 to get to sleep ... which does no
good when you can count backwards from 100 without having to think about the
numbers anymore. And it doesn't take that long to reach that point.
Sometimes, I'd just read all night.
When I got out on my own, I got in the habit of leaving the bedroom tv
running all night ... but that didn't work all that well, because stations
went off the air and I'd wake up to an "off the air" signal and a loud hum.
Then I started collecting comedy tapes ... Bill Cosby, Woody Allen, Richard
Pryor ... and others ... and listened to them. Familiarity with the comedy
material let my brain quit spinning and I'd go to sleep ... if the tape
player woke me by switching off, I'd just turn the tape over and start the
other side. Asleep again almost immediately. Cosby's stuff is very funny ...
and you listen to it a few times ... and then it's just soothing noise. His
rhythms are quite soothing. I got way bigtime into the Highlander tv series
and started taping episodes from television ... 6 per tape, and I'd slam a
6-hour tape into the bedroom VCR. If my mind wouldn't quit spinning, I'd
watch the episodes all night. But familiarity with the series eventually
gave it the same soothing effect comedy tapes had. Hit the play button,
close my eyes, listen for a while and off to slumberland.
Last night, my Irish setter had insomnia, so we were outdoors and on the
roof and eating waffles in the middle of the night. If he can't sleep, he
won't let me sleep. The other 3 dogs sleep, regardless. When he finally
settled down, I slammed a 6-hour tape into the player and got a couple hours
shut-eye, myself.
So there are some ideas for getting through insomnia. Sometimes, nothing
works at all ... sometimes, simple solutions work.
i'm painfully familiar with insomnia. i've dealt with it since i was a
kid. spouses could never understand and a couple even got angry with me
due to it. *shrugs* (that would be why they're ex's now.)
i've tried meds and found that i was more hung-over during the day as
opposed to rested / refreshed. the few times i've awoken "refreshed" ...
on an annual basis i could count the times on one hand.
i don't have any easy answers. i've tried meditation. i've tried sleep
clinics. exercise. lack thereof. i've tried simply staying up for days on
end, then only to crash and feel worse for days and days afterwards.
just know there are others out there with similar difficulties.
Personal opinion gotten from my own experience and reading some research
material: insomnia is not directly due to depression but to the anxiety that
very often co-morbidly accompanies the depression. I could give you a couple of
suggestions but they're aimed at the symptoms and not the underlying cause...
Physical exercise helps but after a while you acquire tolerance and it stops
working so well, anxiolytic drugs help but after a while tolerance butts in
again (by the way Xanax, if not taken on a regular basis, is the best and
cleanest knockout for a good night's sleep)... If you can find a good way to
treat the anxiety then you're on a good track.
PS I advise against sleeping pills because they usually make you very groggy,
tired and more anxious during the day; sleeping overnight on them, you wake up
in the morning feeling as if you've not slept at all.
