Another sleepless night

[justplaincharlotte]

Dear heavens my sleep schedule has changed to that of a newborn with their days and nights mixed up.

I've knitted through the BCS Championship more than enough to make my hands hurt- maybe I've strengthened my hands and wrists a bit. (wishful thinking there ).

I've cleaned my kitchen *and* my kitchen cabinets inside and out.

I've considered cleaning our bathroom, but that would wake up DH. Really bad idea.

I've entered every knitting book I own into my Ravelry library.

I've watched a video on how to work a new to me stitch for the vintage baby sweater I'm too tired to knit on, lest I mess it up. (at least something good other than a clean kitchen has come of this particular sleepless night)

No, no, no, I can't go to Knit Picks, eBay, or any of my favorite online yarn sites and browse. That way financial madness lies.

I did find a way cool slipper pattern on Ravelry to add to my ever-growing list of projects/patterns I'll likely never get around to knitting.

I know I'm tired when swapping places with Wile E. Coyote so the anvil drops on my head and I achieve blissful unconsciousness sounds like a remarkably good idea.

All, how do you get to sleep when you just CAN'T get to sleep?

[ChatyKathy]

I know where your comming from its so hard to get my mind to shut off at night. I lay in bed reading till I start yawning and then try to go to sleep but the dogs outside will start barking nd then the dogs inside start also. So guess who is awake??? Hopefully I will catch up on sleep soon. Good luck and hope you do to!

[GrumpyGramma]

Sorry to see this here. Hope you catch some good zzzzzz soon. Sleepless is the pits. Sometimes melatonin seems to help me. Mostly I read till I fall asleep then wake up about 3 hrs later. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[Lighting57]

I understand your grief.
Most nights that I have trouble going to sleep, I usually drift off to sleep around 3am.
Some mornings it can be as late as 5pm.
I don't stay up late either.
I'm usually in the bed to sleep between 10-11pm.

On the worse nights I will finally get up and read for a couple of hours.
That is unless hubby rolls over and realizes I'm not in the bed. He then insist that I come back to bed.
He can't sleep without me in there with him.
I'm the opposite.
I sleep best alone.

I'd love to do the cleaning then, but it would wake him up.
So I'm stuck either laying there in the dark waiting for sleep or slipping off to read.
If I can remember where my glasses are.

In my case I believe it has a lot to do with post menauknowwhat than anything else.

[Wanda Witch]

I see I am not alone in the 'sleepless in bed' routine. I will be sleepy, yawning, ready for some zzzzz's and then in bed I am wide awake looking at the ceiling. Eventually, I give up, get up, browse around on the computer until it is generally around 1:00 a.m. It is really a drag on the body too. I wish I had a solution - would gladly share with all.

[justplaincharlotte]

I'm sorry to hear I'm not the only one who goes through this.

Lighting, my DH is similar to yours, heaven forbid I can't sleep and stay up. He will get up and ask me to come to bed. Laying abed and unable to sleep is a special form of torture.

GG, I will investigate melatonin for whether or not it interacts with other meds (an ever-present issue of mine) and if I can take it, I'll give it a try.

I'm wondering how much of this not being able to fall asleep is change of life related? I wish it was as fast and easy as Archie Bunker told Edith it should be: "So change!"

[Antares]

Me too!

I used to never have problems going to sleep, but here lately, it has been recurring just about every night. My hubby does not like it when I'm not sleeping with him either, but I sleep best alone. So I usually start out in bed with him, make sure he's asleep, and then move to the other bed where I usually go right to sleep! He whines and complains about me not sleeping with him, but that's the price I'll have to pay if I want to sleep some every night! I just try not to let his whining annoy me. But what's with these men who MUST have their wives in bed with them?

And then there's the sleeplessness. I used to read really really boring books--historical geology and social theory to put me to sleep. That almost always did the trick, and I was asleep in a few minutes.

I've cleaned out my books, though, and no longer have those gems. Now I'm more likely to play word games, read bookmaking books (something about this instantly makes my brain tired even though I love to make books), or knit or crochet something simple.

Some nights I try to go to bed early when I'm really really sleepy, but if hubby's not in bed at the time, he will ALWAYS wake me up when he comes to bed. He can't seem to do anything in the dark, and must have all the lights on. I've ask him not to do this, but he can't seem to get it through his head that lights wake me up, and I don't want to be woke up because then it will take me hours to go back to sleep. SIGH!!!

Sometimes being married is a pain!!

[heatherm36]

I actually had to be prescribed meds to sleep. Now that i'm not working right now, I don't take them so I don't go to sleep till about 3 am then I don't sleep till after 4 at the earliest.

I found that reading the news sort of lulls me to sleep sooner, so I have 15 different news sites on my phone

[Jan in CA]

Ugh! I feel for you all. I've never been a great sleeper though it is worse since menopause. I've tried the various OTC remedies, but they don't work well for me. I finally decided my quality of life was being compromised being so tired all the time so I ended up getting Ambien. I get the highest dose (10 mg), but often only take half along with a couple benedryl. I only use the other half if I'm not asleep within a few hours.

My DH gets up to see if I'm okay but then let's me alone thank god. He usually doesn't mind the light on in bed either if I read late. .

[justplaincharlotte]

GG, I just had to tell you the melantonin worked! Thank you so much for bringing it to my attention! Last night I went to bed *and* went to sleep at 11 pm for the first time in months. And I woke up at 8 am feeling like a brand new woman. Slept like the proverbial babe....

I will say that if you decide to try it, please look it up online to see if it it reacts with medicines or medical conditions you have.

I'll be honest, I was desperate enough to try it even though it might have raised my blood sugar. It didn't, checked by testing. And the med I take that it can affect, I'll be having my regular bloodwork shortly so we"ll see.

I figured it was a worthwhile experiment having fought this insomnia for a few years, and I'm tired of fighting if I don't have to.