Posted by simcha on October 7, 2007, at 12:48:39
In reply to Re: Seriously Does Anyone Sleep Really Well????, posted by mqduck on October 7, 2007, at 10:53:03
I've always had some form of insomnia. When I was a little boy I would stare at my ceiling while in bed for over an hour or two every night trying to fall asleep. I would have difficulty waking in the morning and I mostly had nightmares when I slept.
In high school it was more of the same.
By the time I got to college every year I had at least 3 or 4 nights (not in a row) where I couldn't sleep at all.
Once I entered therapy and started to deal with the content of my nightmares and the possible reasons they were there I started to sleep better.
Along with all of this I've had restless legs and teeth grinding ever since I can remember. When I was a kid I would wake up to find my pillows on the other side of the room because I had kicked them.
Even after years of therapy, I still had sleep issues. When I was initially put on meds, it helped somewhat. Once the first pdoc prescribed Klonopin for the RLS and bruxism I slept much better. Also I worked on sleep hygiene and did meditation, breathing exercises, and self-hypnosis before bed.
Then a very wise (note sarcasm) pdoc decided that the Klonopin that was working so beautifully for my sleep issues was not a good thing, he switched me to Neurontin for the past 5 years. I've had varying success with it. My general practitioner prescribed ambien (both the regular and CR) during this period so I could take it when things got really bad.
A month or so ago, my pdoc decided to put me back on Klonopin for RLS because our 5 year experiment didn't work. Now things are better again in the sleep department.
I still have sleep difficulties. I'll still need extra sleep meds to take on the bad nights, it seems. My Dad and most of my relatives have had sleep issues too so I think it's genetic. I'm one of the only ones who has sought assistance and hence, I sleep better than most of my family and hopefully will be healthier and happier.
I need about 8 hours of sleep per night. I can function on 7. 6 is minimum. Anything less than that and I'm a zombie the next day.
poster:simcha
thread:783605
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070929/msgs/787577.html