I’ve come to the conclusion that suicide is the only solution for some, perhaps many of us. There should be better medical procedures for that, for those who want to end their suffering. Untreatable chronic insomnia is a terrible way to live, indeed not really life at all.
Why Can’t I Sleep?
111–120 of 288 posts
Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?
#112I'm now sleeping pretty good, after decades of struggle. TLDR: After trying everything, most of my insomnia was resolved thru surgery, done for unrelated reasons. So I encourage every one to keep looking, experimenting. Here's my anecdata for what actually helps me sleep. Most of my anxiety (insomnia) was due to pinched nerves in my spine. Resolved with surgery. This possibility was never considered, mentioned. None…
Can you tell me more about the surgery you got?
Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes and it was a magnesium deficiency. Try a pill with a good amount of magnesium (400+ mg). Jamieson magnesium + vitamin d 500 for instance: https://www.jamiesonvitamins.com/products/magnesium-d3
Magnesium is a great addition in any situation. I recommend trying high-dose magnesium from magnesium chloride, it's easy to dissolve some (up to 15 grams at once) in some water and drink.
How did you settle on Mg cloride?
Mg orotate doesn't upset my tummy. Determined thru trial & error. I tried reading about the differences, but failed to understand.
Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?
#114I have yet to meet someone who complains about insomnia who actually accurately follows all of the advice. Notably usually absent or poorly followed: - waking up early, at the exact same time, every day. - as SOON as you get up, you need to eat a heavy breakfast of fats and protiens with as few carbs as possible. Some people think they are special snowflakes who "have never been able to eat in the morning", you need…
I agree with this. Everybody I've met who complains about sleep has terrible sleep habits. When I get loose about my habits, my sleep deteriorates, but when I'm good, I sleep like a machine: asleep within 5 minutes, out like a rock, spring out of bed in the morning like a fully charged battery. No morning grogginess; it's like a switch. No drowsiness during the day. I haven't had caffeine in years and never feel the need because I get proper sleep.
Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
I take a multi every day, but I’ll try this.
Multi vitamins are generally a complete waste of money. Check how much magnesium and what type yours has. Magnesium oxide for instance practically does not absorb into the body.
The one you recommend above seems to have at least some of it in oxide format:
"Elemental Magnesium (Oxide, bisglycinate, glycerophosphate, malate, aspartate)"
Unclear what ratio of each of the above.
Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?
#116Since about three weeks ago I cannot sleep. It’s very strange. I know the feeling of anxiety and how it leads to not sleeping, it’s something I’ve had in the past at very stressful jobs. I’ve learned techniques to deal with this, like breathing and mindfulness. But right now this feels different. I’m tired, I’m lying in bed, and I don’t have any stressful thoughts. Yet somehow I just don’t fall asleep. It feels like…
Yes and it was a magnesium deficiency. Try a pill with a good amount of magnesium (400+ mg). Jamieson magnesium + vitamin d 500 for instance: https://www.jamiesonvitamins.com/products/magnesium-d3
Is there a certain recommended time of day to take these supplements? Like at night so your blood levels of Mg rise to help you calm down?
Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?
#117Always the same old advise. Sleep hygiene, exercise, caffeine. Anyone with chronic insomnia can tell you none of that really works. For me it's always been impossible to fall into a regular day/night routine, it's actually whenever I try to force it I'm starting to rapidly feel worse. So the solution has been to just flow with it, I sleep when I can, stay awake otherwise. It's fine and I feel good, the real problem t…
> Anyone with chronic insomnia can tell you none of that really works. True, but that is a self-fulfilling definition. For most people, that advice will work. For the minority for whom it does not work, they have chronic insomnia. It does not invalidate the advice, it just means that some people are out of the norm and need something else. That being said, I agree with you. We all would be healthier if we'd just slee…
I found something that works for me. One of the things that prevents adults from sleeping is worrying about life problems. Getting your brain to shut up about problems that you cannot fix at night is the problem.
My trick is to listen (not watch) to old television shows ...all night. I selected a few hundred hours of old television that'd I'd seen many times before, got a pair of very comfortable ear buds to sleep with, and I just listen to the old TV shows for 8 hours straight. It works amazingly.
Now I sleep through the night, every night, despite having even worse life problems than when I started. One interesting side effect is that I don't dream the same at all. If I dream at all - it's actually about the show that I'm listening to. It doesn't seem to have any negative impact though.
Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?
#118Over here I have the opposite. I can't stand waking up and will sleep for half the day if I can. Always have been like this. Morning are the worst. Though, I would attribute this to my mom being a major nightowl and me being one as well. 2nd and 3rd shifts have been the highlight of my life, but those roles are so hard to come by that I just accept a WFH job where I skirt the system and work later while still handlin…
Same here, my body would take 12h every night it it wasn‘t for the alarm clock and I‘m still tired as hell.
All the usual advice I‘ve tried, I can kill my three alarm clocks, drink two coffees, take a brutal cold shower in my daylight bright LED lit bathroom and then go back to sleep within seconds like nothing happened.
Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?
#119I'm now sleeping pretty good, after decades of struggle. TLDR: After trying everything, most of my insomnia was resolved thru surgery, done for unrelated reasons. So I encourage every one to keep looking, experimenting. Here's my anecdata for what actually helps me sleep. Most of my anxiety (insomnia) was due to pinched nerves in my spine. Resolved with surgery. This possibility was never considered, mentioned. None…
Can you tell me more about the surgery you got?
Lumbar fusion (S1, L5, L4) to treat collapsing vertebrae.
Facetectomy, etc. to treat cervical bone spurs.
Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
You probably also don't know any life-long skinny people who count calories.
The point is that the "insomnia advice" is treated as "do literally all of these things, some of which are fairly oppressive lifestyle restrictions, or we will ignore your complaints of insomnia." There's no recognition that there is variation between people and maybe we should make things easier for a diverse set of needs rather than forcing people to do a bunch of labor to comply with someone else's lifestyle.
Wait till you hear how we treat those with substance dependence.