Another Nightmare Sleep Thread

Here we go again - another night of either  A. No Sleep,  B. Halfway decent sleep filled with nightmares or C. a mix of both.  Of course I have been trying everything, but then i research this morning and literally all of them have notes of "may cause vivid dreams or nightmares"

 

Atenolol - helps with my BP and heart rate and adrenaline surges, but can cause nightmares

tryptophan - helps with serotonin and melatonin and relaxation, but can cause nightmares.

Melatonin - helps with sleep, but can cause nightmares

Valerian and Hops - helps with sleep, but can cause nightmares

On and On and On (no I don't take these all at once, but they are what I have tried lol)

 

I am truly beginning to think that I or we are damned if we do and damned if we don't.  Perhaps none of these 'things' that we ingest are truly the answer.  Perhaps it really is a matter of time and healing and making sure we have the basic nutrients to ensure our bodies can produce our own natural sleep aids and neurotransmitters on its own.  Perhaps I am also just discouraged and on the wrong train of thought completely 

As a side note, I tagged along with my lady to her psych appoinment today.  The psychiatrist was really adamant that she not use sleep meds or supplements since it is pretty much all artificial.  he said that a short bout of sleep restriction works best and setting the alarm for the same time every day including weekends. In the beginning you stay up late until you are beat, but wake up at a normal time.  In the beginning it will compress the sleep for more quality sleep in a shorter time.  Then you slowly go to bed earlier and earlier until a normal time and it resets your rhythym.  The key is to wake up at the same time every day, avoid too much light stimulus from tvs, phones, BB forums , caffeine, etc.  Also, if you find that you are tossing for more than 15 minutes, get up and do something relaxing. 

 

I know, I know - withdrawal is a whole other animal and this will probably not work any better than anything else we try, but perhaps by forcing ourselves out of bed at the same time and doing something like this it will help get things back in balance.  Or not!!!!!

C, I have tried sleep restriction and it works pretty good.  My sleep time is 1145 to bed and wake up at 6 .  When I go to bed at 10, I wake up at 2 or 3. What are you using for sleep and wake times.  Thanks.        Mark

I haven't done it yet.  The pstch just told my girlfriend about it today so she will try it tonight and is doing "no earlier than bed at 12 but must wake up at 6:45".  I will try and stay up some but my problem is I tend to get anxious at night if I stay up and then the thoughts start so I have to deal with that lol. 

Good luck with it. If u read posts by jittery and geisha girl they swear by it