I can't sleep

Hello.
My problem has started a while ago. The problem is that I can't sleep. It is 4.18 in the morning and I don't feel a bit tired. This would not be a problem if I didn't have school at 8 in the morning.
The problem started with me hearing voices. Sometimes, I hear people talk when it is actually 3 in the morning and the streets are empty. I hear the talking or some other random voices as long as I lie down. As soon as I get up, they stop. Get back to bed, and they start again. Sometimes I'm up for 3 days in a row. Right now, this is my second day that I haven't slept a bit. I may daydream for a hour or half, but that's it. Mostly where I sleep, is in school. I have also alot of problems in school because everyday I'm late to school.
I am not sure if this Insomnia forum is the right place to post this, but it feels like to me. If you can, please help me with my sleeping problem.
Thanks.

Wow, no one?

Insomniac,
Sorry for the delay. We are all volunteers, and we have family obligations which are amplified this time of year.
Hearing voices is a very serious symptom and not necessarily associated with insomnia. In cases where people lose sleep for 3 days or more, some report hallucinations and all sorts of sensory disruption. I read your entry, and I do not see the incoherent ramblings of that level of sleep deprivation.
Please see a mental health specialist immediately. What you describe can get very bad. The voices can become threatening, accusatory, and impossible to ignore. On the other hand, it might pass, but do not ignore it. Get some help right away.
Keep in mind that insomnia is a symptom of something going wrong. Insomnia is not a disease by itself. It is a symptom of another problem. You have described a big problem that can get worse. Please get some professional help right away.

GaryM

If you can't fall asleep because of those reasons then you might really have a problem mentally. And you should seek for a professional help about that. The voices that you can hear might also be a product of stress that you have in your daily activities. Try relaxing a bit. Then observe if it this problem still exist.

GaryM wrote:Insomniac,

Keep in mind that insomnia is a symptom of something going wrong. Insomnia is not a disease by itself. It is a symptom of another problem.

GaryM

Sorry Gary, but being a fellow insominac myself and having a very well educated background in psychology, I have to clarify about insomnia!
It is absolutely a DISEASE! One I have struggled with since the age of 8 (I'm now 28). However whether it is a mental disease or some other type is still in debate, but in either case I just wanted to state INSOMNIA IS A DISEASE NOT a symptom!

"Many psychologists claim that insomnia is a mental disease developed by strong thinking patterns which trick the victims mind into believing that sleep is hard to achieve. Some others believe that insomnia is a real disease where a person cannot achieve a state of sleep due to many reasons, including and not limited to, too much caffeine consumption, anxiety and stress disorders, extreme excitement and or depression."

Source: http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/606 ... sease.html

I read a good book on sleep issues by a doctor running a successful sleep clinic. He said before they get into treatments, CBT, sleep hygiene actions, room layout, sound, pre-bed preparations etc, they have a simple starting point; First Get Off Caffeine and Alcohol. They won't treat you until you do that.

Both these drugs are known to seriously disrupt sleep.

I know folk need to self-medicate to get themselves through the day, but there are times that come when you can go for cold turkey (or reduction by stages) withdrawal from them. It has got to be worth running a trial in your life, say for 60 days? Withdrawal will actually increase your sleep disruption and anxiety for the first c.21 days, but you'll then see improvement. A great improvement, like getting your life back.

http://coffeefaq.com/site/node/11

http://caffeineevaluation.blogspot.co.uk/

liz,
I am heartened to hear there are those who believe insomnia is disease unto itself. I am not a medical professional, and my assertion that insomnia is not a disease is born from just about everything I have read and everything I have heard from medical professionals including several sleep specialists. Honestly, I did not make it up.

Having lived through insomnia to varying degrees for decades, it makes more sense to think of it in terms of something separate rather than a symptom of something else. I never could find a cause. I never cared for alcohol, and I have abstained from caffeine for months at a time without a positive effect. My caffeine intake is generally moderate.

My situation has improved in the last few months with an unorthodox treatment that seems to help no one else. I can get 7 hours sleep on a good night and 6 hours most nights. I still have nights without sleep and 3 to 4 hours of sleep in a night is still common. The situation is much better than it used to be.

However, being a disease in itself does not help me treat my insomnia. No professional seems to understand insomnia and treatments vary from the absurd to the horrendous. My best improvements have come from my own experimentation along with suggestions from nonprofessionals. I try to provide sympathetic and empathetic council as best I can, and pass along those things that have helped me or helped friends with a similar problem.

I truly appreciate your assertion that insomnia can be considered a separate issue without an underlying disease or poor sleep hygiene. It makes me feel a bit better, but I'm not sure why. It bears some contemplation.

I stand corrected, and I appreciate it.
GaryM

***** INSOMNIA SUCESS STORY*****

Ok here goes... I felt it was my duty to give back my story and give all you guys hope. I remember searching for sucess stories and finding like 2! It was such a disaappointment. I felt like I was so doomed because no one seemed to get better.. but I want you to know they do. Unfortunately once your better, its SO easy to forget to give back and help all those in your shoes once. I too was like you all once.. I went through a year of hell. I couldnt sleep one night , and it went on for a year. During that year I thought I was going crazy, I had melt downs, I thought I would never be able to live a normal life..I thought my husband would eventually tire of my problems and leave me, I thought I had no life.. I was even suicidal at times.. Pretty intense stuff to randomly happen to a young 30 year old woman, with a blossoming career, and happy life.. Scary times, but folks you CAN get better. I did! Let me tell you how it happened.

At first I thought, gee my body is stressed, my mind is stressed, thats why I cant sleep. I need to slow down, I need to relax.. Ok first for me this was the WORST thing I could do. The more down time I had the more I obsesivvely thought about my problems, and focused on it. This only made it worse! I took time off of work and again, TERRIBLE Idea. I would just sit at home crying.. my husband thought I was losing it..

When did I start to get better? When I finally was like F&$# this.. I am still going to do everything I want to do. I started making plans with friends, I went out, yes I was a zombie at times, and yes I was out of it at times, but sometimes my fun and activities were enough to pull me out of this mental state. The more and more I engaged my mind to focus on fun and other activites and people around me the more my insomnia began to fade in to the background. I started thinking of fun times and experiences I was having at bed time, and when I went to bed thinking about those things, before you knew it I was out! I adopted a reading habit and found some awesome series to read right before bed time with a little reading light. This made me excited to go to bed, kind of changed my perception about bed time, because before I dreaded it! I went through the girl who series, then hunger games, now game of thrones.. Sometimes I would just read lighthearted chickliterate books where were awesome as well. I always make my bed in the morning because it is so much more welcoming to get in to in the evening. To this day I still sleep with ear plugs. CVS has these yellow and pink striped ones that are SO soft, and sometimes an eye mask. Back in the day when my insomnia was horrible I had a little bed side table set up and I always had cough drops, because my mouth would get dry, a glass of water, some scentsy candle scents,, (sometimes when I would get anxiety attacks I would just grab these and deeply inhale the smell of the scents,, it had a calming affect on me) and a heating pad - when my anxiety was so bad sometimes the feeling of having somthing warm over my tummy or back would help me get to bed. and also I had a teddy bear.. yes at 30.. people laugh at me but having things that bring you comfort when you go to bed really help. And lastly goose down pillows.. boght them at costco.. and they go EVERYWHERE with me.

It was a slow process to get where I am now.. Months and months would go by and slowly I was improving.. Each month, I slept a little more and a little longer. Now 1.5 years later, I can finally say I have this thing beat. I sleep like a champ, I take naps, I fall asleep on the couch,, I annoy my husband now because I am always falling asleep when we start watching TV .. But 2 years ago I would not sleep for 4 days straight! people.. If I can get better, so can you!!!!. I hope my story helps you guys and gives you guys some tips, or at least gives you a little ease of mind that anything is possible.

Also, I wanted to let you guys know that in my case it is suspected that a disease ( bacterial or parasitic) caused my body to have almost a nervous breakdown which started my horrible journey with insomnia. If you are feeling wiered for no reason out of the blue and have suspected that you picked up some disease somewhere,, have it checked out.. Sometimes diseases become very neurological and can totally creat insomnia.. Just wanted to let you guys know that..

Good luck to everyone. I will say a special prayer to all of you that you will all find your way.. Just remember to Keep on going. Dont stop your life for this problem, that is the worst thing you can do. Get busy and do things,, for me, that was the number one helpful thing to beat this.

SHea

If it helps OP...

I've found there are two types of insomnia for me... restlessness which is due to a lack of physical exertion on my part... moving around or burning off some energy helps when it's that type for me.

There is also mental alterness which stagnates. It's not coffee that keeps me awake, but rather the lack of mental exertion that keeps me awake, so work helps in that instance.

You are hearing voices though, so I would be worried about exerting yourself mentally too hard. That's jmo... I am not a doctor.

When I was in school... I found that if I drank any coffee after lunch hour, it would keep me awake longer into the night. Just backing off on the caffeine was enough to be tired at the end of the day. Now caffeine has less effect on me, supposedly... so...