Please help me fall asleep.....

Hi guys, I am new on this forum. I was surfing the web for insomnia forums because I just absolutely cannot fall asleep. I do not know what it is. I've went to the doctor and told them I just cannot fall asleep, I expected for them to give me sleeping medicine or something because I feel that I really need it. But, I ended up with frustration and disappointment because all the doctor said was to "clear my mind, try to relax, TRY TO SLEEP, don't take sleeping medicine". I know sleeping medicine can be habit inducing by I feel that I need it to at least help me on nights that I really need sleep, such as the night before a big event or something. Believe me, I do "TRY TO SLEEP", but I lay in bed for 8 hours straight awake with my eyes closed. I've been like this for almost two years and it is really effecting my daily life. About 4-6 months ago I noticed that once it hits night time and it is time for me to sleep I get the thought of the difficulty and trouble I get with sleeping and that causes me to not sleep. I then researched it online, and I read that this is called psychophysiological insomnia or something which is developed when you have not been able to sleep for a long time that you expect that you will not be able to sleep at night. I've tried sleeping medicine such as Unisom which does not help and only leave me feeling weak and groggy the next day withoutt helping me fall asleep, even if I take two of them. I've also tried Melatonin because I've read online and many people say that this WILL knock you out. But, Melatonin also did not work for me, it felt as if I never took it. The one medicine that did help me sleep was a muscle relaxant known as carisoprodol (SOMA), a friend of mine had a back injury and was prescribed these pills for a month. He told me that the pill usually gives him a good night sleep, so I tried it one time and this was the only medicine that helped me get a good night's sleep. PLEASE give me some advice guys I really need it, I am going insane from this lack of sleep. Sorry about the long comment.

Hey,

I can sense your sheer desperation here, but I must remind you that I'm not a doctor. I have had trouble sleeping too in the past though, and have some suggestions. Firstly, what are the things you do just before you go to bed at night? - Do you do anything that would somehow interrupt your sleep? Do you live in fear of anything? - Fear increases the amount of adrenaline in our blood, and this in turn makes us alert (and less likely to sleep). Is the bed cold/hard/just not right for you?

One thing you could try (which I have found works great) is to eat a light snack just before bed. Having food in our stomach's causes a hormone to be produced in our bodies that actually makes us tired. It does this by diverting more blood to the stomach and intestinal region, which in turn means there is less blood (and oxygen) for the rest of our body; and this makes us tired.

Kevin

Have you tried self-hypnosis? When I was an insomniac, just trying to relax my body was enough to get me to pass out, most nights.

My insomnia didn't resolve itself until I found a good osteopath, for manipulation. And it wasn't cured until I started using the Radial Appliance I'd built for myself.

-James Knochel
http://www.teslabox.com/insomnia.html (a work-in-progress as of 1-06-2010)

Have you tried Magnesium supplements? Modern diets are severely deficient in this vital nutrient, and if one doesn't have enough magnesium in their body, they can't relax.

-James Knochel
http://www.teslabox.com/insomnia.html (work-in-progress)