insomnia type problems

My roommate never gets a full night sleep. She often wakes up in the wee hours before it is light and says that she needs to smoke weed to get back to sleep. She is a prolific weed smoker and never seems to be outside of its influence. She was on ambien for over a year but I think she is off now. She also has very strange reactions to alcohol. After only a few drinks she blacks out and begins to act completely irrationally. She will walk out in traffic, go home with strangers, and acts as though her normal personality and self control are completely gone. An example of this would be rough housing with her female friends, at times resembling dogs humping for dominance. What's wrong with her? My mother who is a PA said she may be bipolar. It is difficult for me to find information specific to these symptoms online.

Well... We generally get first hand complaints.It is hard enough to describe our own symptoms. This is certainly a challenge.

You are concerned for your roommate, and that is commendable. Waking in the middle of the night is fairly common. Not being able to get back to sleep is a problem in this society. There are 19th century diaries which show people commonly woke in the middle of the night, performed some chores and went back to sleep. Often, the fire needed tending, but they often wrote letters, did some cleaning, or wrote in their diaries.

There are those who claim medicinal benefits for marijuana, but I can't speak to that. It is a carcinogen, so it is usually prescribed (in California) for those with terminal illness where cancer is not an issue. It is not a good solution for a chronic problem. (sorry for the unintentional pun) Rather than weed, perhaps a diary or a sketch pad would be a nice past time until sleep returns.

Alcohol effects people differently. Some are just very sensitive to it. A very few seem unaffected by it. What you describe does not sound like a physical affliction, just a metabolism that is slightly to the side of average.

Risky behavior seems to be the worst of the problem. That is a tough one. A person who does not see a problem can't be helped. You can express your concern, but don't try to fix her life. I have people in my life I would like to help, and I have tried to force an issue with disastrous results. I would still help them in a heartbeat, but not until they want the help. I am a strong and resourceful man, but I can't carry another person through life. It can be a terrible burden for a caring person to watch someone foul up so badly when simple changes would make their life so much better. I do what I can when they allow me to help, but anything more is worse than a waste of time.

I don't think I've been of much assistance, but as I said at the start, we generally get first hand complaints. Second person issues are a lot harder to handle.

GaryM