I can't sleep.

And NOT ONE of the plethura of sleeping medications i've tried has helped. I'm up to 300mg of Trazadone and I'm still not sleeping. That usually knocks people right out. Maybe I'm medication resistant? Or invincible? I've tried ambien, sonata, lunesta, rozerum, restoril, seroquel, and trazadone. Nothing works. No matter how long I'm up I just can't sleep. Help!!! I'm soooo tired. Maybe i'll sleep tomorrow.

Red,
I have suffered your dilemma. It is very frustrating, but I can offer some suggestions. First, I would like to hear about your specific symptoms and other health issues which might be related. We will start with some obvious questions.
1. Are you having pain? If so, where and what type of pain? Even mild arthritis can be enough to cause a problem.
2. How long has this been happening? Did you first have an episode a year or two ago and it has been getting gradually worse or did the insomnia appear suddenly?
3. When you do sleep, do you snore?
4. With the drugs you mentioned, I suspect you have had a sleep study. What were the results? Did they diagnose sleep apnea? There are several treatments for apnea, not just a CPAP.
5. Do you keep the same sleep hours every night or does your schedule vary a lot? For example, do you stay up late on the weekends?
6. I have to ask about stress, but stress is usually not the problem. Still, it might be an issue, so I ask.
7. Do you have racing thoughts at night?
8. Finally, the essay portion of the quiz. What do you think might be the problem? "I don't know," is the most common response. That's OK. We can work with that answer.

most concerned
GaryM

I'm not in pain. I was hypomanic and couldn't sleep. My hypomania has subsided and i'm sleeping more, but it could return at any moment. It's been happening for about 5 years since my youth in high school.

I do snore sometimes, I have never had a sleep study done, so I don't know if i have apnea. I keep all kinds of hours, it really varies on how i'm feeling.

I'm not really stressed THAT much, but there is a little. And racing thoughts are a problem for me when i try to sleep. Its like everything i forgot to think about that day I HAVE to think about in bed.

I honestly just think the hypomania was to blame.

OK, you have a good place to start. Racing thoughts is a very common problem. The first thing to try is meditation. It is better than any medication, but it takes practice to learn to do it properly. Be patient and give it a try.

The hypomanic diagnosis is not in my field of knowledge. I looked it up, of course. Your analysis makes perfect sense. The closest experience of mine is a family member with bipolar who is more up than down. She was able to get fairly good relief from a drug called carbamazepine. She was given various ineffective prescriptions for 5 years before they arrived at that one. If you have not tried it, maybe you could ask your doctor about it.

The snoring may or may not be a problem. Only a sleep study can tell for sure. Apnea will cause a patient to wake frequently without remembering waking. Untreated apnea can make getting to sleep harder as your body learns that sleep is unpleasant.

The varying sleep schedule is working against you. That alone can be a source of insomnia. See if you can adjust your schedule such that bed time is close to the same time every night and waking is about the same time every morning. Maybe it can't be exactly the same time everyday, but see if you can get it to be more consistent. We are built for a regular schedule. Going against our nature will hurt.

I hope this is some help
GaryM

Goodness! It's so good to know there are so many others that suffer from insomnia like me. I hate it so much! It takes forever to fall asleep and then it seems like I wake right back up. I never feel rested and I'm always irritable. When it gets too bad, sometimes I've even hallucinated. It scared the jeepers out of me! I bever want that to happen again. Well I'm here for support and I will support others in anyway that I can. Thank goodness I start my new meds this week so I will let you all know how that goes soon enough. I'll see everyone around.

i'm having tons of probelms falling asleep. my days and nights are now reversed because of it. i've tried everything, i'm on 100-300mg of trazodone, 20 mg sapherris, 3mg melatonin, .2 mg clonidine, and 1.5 mg of clonipin. i sleep in total darkness, with white noise, cool enviorment...i've tried everthing, yet nothing seems to get me back to sleeping from 10pm-9am rather than 5am-4pm. can anyone help??? need ideas please???

tired,
OK, it sounds like you can sleep, but not at a convenient time. (Badly understated, sorry) You are not the only one to suffer from this. In order to get your body's clock in sync with the rest of the world, you need to move it gently in the desired direction. The pills might help, but only if used with the correct timing. You can't move your sleep time by 8 hours in one day. It can't be done. Try moving it 15 minutes per day until you have problems moving it further. After that, you may be able to move it only 5 minutes or you may have to keep that schedule for a while before making another attempt at moving the schedule.

During the day, it is important to get some sun on your skin. It allows your body to produce vitamin D and this is a vital clue to your system to synchronize your body clock to the sun. Flourescent lights are not a substitute. Don't use sunscreen until this problem is resolved, but don't spend so much time in the sun that you get a burn.

All sorts of considerations come into this including what is practical for you. What is your work schedule or other commitments? Above all, try to be gentle with yourself. Jerking the schedule around all at once has not worked for you and it does not work for anyone.

best wishes
GaryM