| Author |
Message |
Charles Riggs
Guest
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 8:07 am
Post subject: Insomnia |
|
|
I've found no good solution to the problem of insomnia. I've seen
doctor after doctor for help, but to no avail. (Few seem to take this
debilitating condition seriously. I'm not the only one, by a long
shot, to have noticed this.) I've talked with friends and with
pharmacists and have Googled extensively on the subject -- little
help.
As always when I go off the beer for a few days, a week, or for
longer, I haven't been sleeping well these past several nights -- not
until last night, anyway, when I got in 7 hours, but that was after a
dozen pints. I feel there must be another way; the prospect of
drinking every day for the duration does not appeal to me, especially
now that I'm in Dublin and not in some rat hole.
I've tried prescription medicines of both the addicting and,
supposedly, non-addicting kind. I've tried valerian and, most
recently, melatonin which does a good job of knocking me on my ass in
40 minutes but doesn't keep me there. No, I'm up and going four hours
later, as usual, although very tired after five or six hours of being
awake -- that sucks.
If someone has some suggestions on how to deal with the problem, I'd
appreciate hearing them.
--
Charles Riggs |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
JF
Guest
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 4:52 pm
Post subject: Re: Insomnia |
|
|
X-No-Archive: yes
In message <8smtm1lnt0im5lvunkr67kcqesq3pdc8ae@4ax.com>, Charles Riggs
<chriggs@?.net.invalid> writes
| Quote: |
I've found no good solution to the problem of insomnia.
|
I get this and I sympathize; I get keyed up when a book is going well.
Take one Syndol an hour before going to bed and a book with you when you
go.
--
James Follett |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Jim Lawton
Guest
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 7:53 pm
Post subject: Re: Insomnia |
|
|
On Mon, 07 Nov 2005 05:42:10 +0000, Charles Riggs <chriggs@éircom.net> wrote:
| Quote: |
I've found no good solution to the problem of insomnia. I've seen
doctor after doctor for help, but to no avail. (Few seem to take this
debilitating condition seriously. I'm not the only one, by a long
shot, to have noticed this.) I've talked with friends and with
pharmacists and have Googled extensively on the subject -- little
help.
As always when I go off the beer for a few days, a week, or for
longer, I haven't been sleeping well these past several nights -- not
until last night, anyway, when I got in 7 hours, but that was after a
dozen pints. I feel there must be another way; the prospect of
drinking every day for the duration does not appeal to me, especially
now that I'm in Dublin and not in some rat hole.
I've tried prescription medicines of both the addicting and,
supposedly, non-addicting kind. I've tried valerian and, most
recently, melatonin which does a good job of knocking me on my ass in
40 minutes but doesn't keep me there. No, I'm up and going four hours
later, as usual, although very tired after five or six hours of being
awake -- that sucks.
If someone has some suggestions on how to deal with the problem, I'd
appreciate hearing them.
|
I don't have much trouble with this, but I do have a system.. I learned a
repetitive poem - and I found that repeating this in my mind would stop me
mulling over the events of today or tomorrow, and I would sometimes go to sleep
before I had reached verse three.
I think the advantage of my poem is that it is complex, and needs concentration
to get right, so you keep focused. Conversley it isn't exciting.
My poem is actually this, by Hugh Sykes Davies :-
In the stump of the old tree, where the heart has rotted out, there is a hole
the length of a man’s arm, and a dank pool at the bottom of it where the rain
gathers, and the old leaves turn into lacy skeletons. But do not put your hand
down to see, because
in the stumps of old trees, where the hearts have rotted out, there are
holes the length of a man’s arm, and dank pools at the bottom where the rain
gathers and old leaves turn to lace, and the beak of a dead bird gapes like a
trap. But do not put your hand down to see, because
in the stumps of old trees with rotten hearts, where the rain gathers and
the laced leaves and the dead bird like a trap, there are holes the length of a
man’s arm, and in every crevice of the rotten wood grow weasel’s eyes like
molluscs, their lids open and shut with the tide. But do not put your hand down
to see, because
in the stumps of old trees where the rain gathers and the trapped leaves
and the beak and the laced weasel’s eyes, there are holes the length of a man’s
arm, and at the bottom a sodden bible written in the language of rooks. But do
not put your hand down to see, because
in the stumps of old trees where the hearts have rotted out there are
holes the length of a man’s arm where the weasels are trapped and the letters of
the rook language are laced on the sodden leaves, and at the bottom there is a
man’s arm. But do not put your hand down to see, because
in the stumps of old trees where the hearts have rotted out there are deep
holes and dank pools where the rain gathers, and if you ever put your hand down
to see, you can wipe it in the sharp grass till it bleeds, but you’ll never want
to eat with it again.
--
Jim
the polymoth |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Murray Arnow
Guest
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 8:14 pm
Post subject: Re: Insomnia |
|
|
Charles Riggs wrote:
| Quote: |
I've found no good solution to the problem of insomnia. I've seen
doctor after doctor for help, but to no avail. (Few seem to take this
debilitating condition seriously. I'm not the only one, by a long
shot, to have noticed this.) I've talked with friends and with
pharmacists and have Googled extensively on the subject -- little
help.
[...]
If someone has some suggestions on how to deal with the problem, I'd
appreciate hearing them.
|
Sleep disorders can be quite serious, as you've been privileged to learn. I
suggest you go to a clinic which specializes in the problem. I know many
people who have been to sleep clinics and given remedies.
There are a number of reasons for sleep problems, ranging from "restless leg"
to apnea. If you find yourself always nodding off and getting weird dream
episodes, you may be experiencing apnea. This condition is common and
treatable.
Many doctors are uninformed and medicate using the drugs flogged by
pharmaceuticals. Charles, you need a specialist. Do a search under "sleep
disorders" or "apnea" to locate a clinic. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
CDB
Guest
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 8:49 pm
Post subject: Re: Insomnia |
|
|
"Jim Lawton" <usenet1@jimlawton.TAKEOUTinfo> wrote in message
news:9tium1dldq42f618ale7tq371itq55ntrk@4ax.com...
| Quote: | On Mon, 07 Nov 2005 05:42:10 +0000, Charles Riggs
chriggs@éircom.net> wrote:
I've found no good solution to the problem of insomnia. I've seen
doctor after doctor for help, but to no avail. (Few seem to take
this
debilitating condition seriously. I'm not the only one, by a long
shot, to have noticed this.) I've talked with friends and with
pharmacists and have Googled extensively on the subject -- little
help.
|
[...]
| Quote: | If someone has some suggestions on how to deal with the problem, I'd
appreciate hearing them.
I don't have much trouble with this, but I do have a system.. I
learned a
repetitive poem - and I found that repeating this in my mind would
stop me
mulling over the events of today or tomorrow, and I would sometimes
go to sleep
before I had reached verse three.
|
[curative poem]
And, if you get all the way to the end, your dreams will help you lose
weight.
Past forty, many people have to work to sleep:
Take a walk before supper; don't eat a heavy evening meal (but, if you
get hungry before bedtime, eat a bit of cheese for interesting
dreams); don't drink alcohol or sit in front of a computer screen
within two hours of bedtime; go to bed at the same time each night;
half an hour before that time, take 3 mg. of melatonin and a capsule
of l-theanine (the calming element in tea); keep the lights low or
turn them off, once you've taken the melatonin (important); pay
relaxed attention to your breath as you lie in bed; if you get up to
pee, don't turn the light on. Try as many of those as conveniently
possible for a week or two, and see how you are.
Works for me, most of the time, and I've always been a light sleeper.
When it doesn't work, being retired means you always have time for an
afternoon nap. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Harvey Van Sickle
Guest
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 9:17 pm
Post subject: Re: Insomnia |
|
|
On 07 Nov 2005, Murray Arnow wrote
-snip-
| Quote: | Many doctors are uninformed and medicate using the drugs
flogged by pharmaceuticals. Charles, you need a specialist. Do
a search under "sleep disorders" or "apnea" to locate a
clinic.
|
ObAue. UK sites -- and presumably Irish ones -- are likely to be
found by searching on "apnoea".
--
Cheers, Harvey
Canadian (30 years) and British (23 years)
For e-mail, change harvey.news to harvey.van |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Pat Durkin
Guest
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 9:34 pm
Post subject: Re: Insomnia |
|
|
"Charles Riggs" <chriggs@éircom.net> wrote in message
news:8smtm1lnt0im5lvunkr67kcqesq3pdc8ae@4ax.com...
| Quote: |
I've found no good solution to the problem of insomnia. I've seen
doctor after doctor for help, but to no avail. (Few seem to take this
debilitating condition seriously. I'm not the only one, by a long
shot, to have noticed this.) I've talked with friends and with
pharmacists and have Googled extensively on the subject -- little
help.
If someone has some suggestions on how to deal with the problem, I'd
appreciate hearing them.
|
Charles, forgive me if I erred in thinking you might have been raised in
a "rosary" culture. Still, even if the rosary discipline doesn't help,
you might find some Buddhist exercises that work as well for you.
Catholics "light a candle", sometimes, and Buddhists hang flags and spin
wheels. There must be some mental equivalent to letting the wind or the
spin carry away your cares. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Pat Durkin
Guest
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 9:34 pm
Post subject: Re: Insomnia |
|
|
"Charles Riggs" <chriggs@éircom.net> wrote in message
news:8smtm1lnt0im5lvunkr67kcqesq3pdc8ae@4ax.com...
| Quote: |
I've found no good solution to the problem of insomnia. I've seen
doctor after doctor for help, but to no avail. (Few seem to take this
debilitating condition seriously. I'm not the only one, by a long
shot, to have noticed this.) I've talked with friends and with
pharmacists and have Googled extensively on the subject -- little
help.
As always when I go off the beer for a few days, a week, or for
longer, I haven't been sleeping well these past several nights -- not
until last night, anyway, when I got in 7 hours, but that was after a
dozen pints. I feel there must be another way; the prospect of
drinking every day for the duration does not appeal to me, especially
now that I'm in Dublin and not in some rat hole.
I've tried prescription medicines of both the addicting and,
supposedly, non-addicting kind. I've tried valerian and, most
recently, melatonin which does a good job of knocking me on my ass in
40 minutes but doesn't keep me there. No, I'm up and going four hours
later, as usual, although very tired after five or six hours of being
awake -- that sucks.
If someone has some suggestions on how to deal with the problem, I'd
appreciate hearing them.
|
Charles, I am not a believer, and it is a long time since I needed this
remedy, but I found saying a rosary a great discipline in focusing my
mind on things other than worries, resentments and anticipations and
their accompanying adrenaline rushes. I found that once I started a
rosary in bed, I was never able to finish it, and in not too many nights
I had given up the "creed" and the "glory be" stuff and identification
of the decades. I soon found I could also eliminate the "Our Father"
and go straight into the "Hail Mary" part. I had to concentrate to
finish the ten prayers, and sometimes drifted off while trying to recall
if I had said the "Holy Mary" part.
I suppose I have used this technique twice in the past twenty years
(maybe).
Happy dreamless sleep! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
JF
Guest
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 9:38 pm
Post subject: Re: Insomnia |
|
|
X-No-Archive: yes
In message <PXIbf.2315$XR4.7052@newscontent-01.sprint.ca>, CDB
<unbellecd@sprint.ca> writes of curing insomnia:
| Quote: | Take a walk before supper; don't eat a heavy evening meal (but, if you
get hungry before bedtime, eat a bit of cheese for interesting
dreams); don't drink alcohol or sit in front of a computer screen
within two hours of bedtime; go to bed at the same time each night;
half an hour before that time, take 3 mg. of melatonin and a capsule
of l-theanine (the calming element in tea); keep the lights low or
turn them off, once you've taken the melatonin (important); pay
relaxed attention to your breath as you lie in bed; if you get up to
pee, don't turn the light on. Try as many of those as conveniently
possible for a week or two, and see how you are.
|
Jesus. Why do you have to make everything so bloody complicated? Poor
Charles will be lying awake worrying in case he's missed something out.
All the poor chap has to do is take a Syndol and bugger off to bed.
After a week a sleep pattern will be restored.
--
James Follett |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Weatherlawyer
Guest
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 9:40 pm
Post subject: Re: Insomnia |
|
|
Murray Arnow wrote:
| Quote: | Charles Riggs wrote:
I've found no good solution to the problem of insomnia. I've seen
doctor after doctor for help, but to no avail. (Few seem to take this
debilitating condition seriously. I'm not the only one, by a long
shot, to have noticed this.) I've talked with friends and with
pharmacists and have Googled extensively on the subject -- little
help.
[...]
If someone has some suggestions on how to deal with the problem, I'd
appreciate hearing them.
Sleep disorders can be quite serious, as you've been privileged to learn. I
suggest you go to a clinic which specializes in the problem. I know many
people who have been to sleep clinics and given remedies.
There are a number of reasons for sleep problems, ranging from "restless leg"
to apnea. If you find yourself always nodding off and getting weird dream
episodes, you may be experiencing apnea. This condition is common and
treatable.
Many doctors are uninformed and medicate using the drugs flogged by
pharmaceuticals. Charles, you need a specialist. Do a search under "sleep
disorders" or "apnea" to locate a clinic.
If you have leg cramps a change of diet is called for. Knock off the |
onions and garlic perhaps. Also eating might make you tired but rob you
of sleep. Drinking the beer seems to replace the food craving does it?
The vivid dreams of sleep apnea sound like the body overheating due to
poor circulation. How hot do you get at night?
The best thing to help you to sleep is exercise. Gentle walks instead
of food or booze and a strict regime. Go to bed at ten or some such and
get up for a full day as soon as sleep becomes evasive.
There is a new diet craze atm concerning hypoglycaemia, you might take
a look at that. I have no idea about it so this is not a sales pitch.
Let us know haow you get on. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
CDB
Guest
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 10:06 pm
Post subject: Re: Insomnia |
|
|
"JF" <jf@NOSPAMmarage.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:fU4IEBBYb2bDFwt9@marage.demon.co.uk...
| Quote: | X-No-Archive: yes
In message <PXIbf.2315$XR4.7052@newscontent-01.sprint.ca>, CDB
unbellecd@sprint.ca> writes of curing insomnia:
[list of ways to court sleep]
[*]Try as many of those as conveniently
possible[*] for a week or two, and see how you are.
Jesus. Why do you have to make everything so bloody complicated?
Poor Charles will be lying awake [*]worrying in case he's missed
something out[*]. All the poor chap has to do is take a Syndol and
bugger off to bed. After a week a sleep pattern will be restored.
|
Why did Mel have to make everything so bloody? It's what worked for
me. If popping a Syndol does it for you and for him, then bless the
both of yez (but I don't even play Jesus on television). |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
JF
Guest
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 10:10 pm
Post subject: Re: Insomnia |
|
|
X-No-Archive: yes
In message <ZBJbf.14041$Zv5.8925@newssvr25.news.prodigy.net>, Pat Durkin
<durk183@sbcglobal.com> writes of insomnia:
| Quote: | Charles, I am not a believer, and it is a long time since I needed this
remedy, but I found saying a rosary a great discipline in focusing my
mind on things other than worries, resentments and anticipations and
their accompanying adrenaline rushes. I found that once I started a
rosary in bed, I was never able to finish it, and in not too many nights
I had given up the "creed" and the "glory be" stuff and identification
of the decades. I soon found I could also eliminate the "Our Father"
and go straight into the "Hail Mary" part. I had to concentrate to
finish the ten prayers, and sometimes drifted off while trying to recall
if I had said the "Holy Mary" part.
|
Christ. Charles just wants to kip, not ponder the meaning of life, the
universe and everything with worry beads!
--
James Follett |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
John_Kane@tricolour.queen
Guest
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 11:13 pm
Post subject: Re: Insomnia |
|
|
Charles Riggs wrote:
| Quote: | I've found no good solution to the problem of insomnia. I've seen
doctor after doctor for help, but to no avail. (Few seem to take this
debilitating condition seriously. I'm not the only one, by a long
shot, to have noticed this.) I've talked with friends and with
pharmacists and have Googled extensively on the subject -- little
help.
As always when I go off the beer for a few days, a week, or for
longer, I haven't been sleeping well these past several nights -- not
until last night, anyway, when I got in 7 hours, but that was after a
dozen pints. I feel there must be another way; the prospect of
drinking every day for the duration does not appeal to me, especially
now that I'm in Dublin and not in some rat hole.
I've tried prescription medicines of both the addicting and,
supposedly, non-addicting kind. I've tried valerian and, most
recently, melatonin which does a good job of knocking me on my ass in
40 minutes but doesn't keep me there. No, I'm up and going four hours
later, as usual, although very tired after five or six hours of being
awake -- that sucks.
If someone has some suggestions on how to deal with the problem, I'd
appreciate hearing them.
--
Charles Riggs
|
Does Trinity or one of the hosptials have a sleep clinc? People there
might be able to help.
I'd also suggest some exercise, perhaps cycling that allows a fairly
long period of exericse combined with fresh air and a bit of nice
scenery. A 20-40 km ride can be a great relaxer and can help you
sleep.
John Kane, Kingston ON Canada |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Josh Norther
Guest
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 11:43 pm
Post subject: Re: Insomnia |
|
|
Pat Durkin wrote:
[...]
| Quote: | Happy dreamless sleep!
|
"Dreamless sleep" is not "happy", surely? I have always been
under the impression that dreaming was important, essential
even, to a good night's sleep.
--
Josh Norther
For e-mail, insert 2357 after phonics. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Sara Lorimer
Guest
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 12:13 am
Post subject: Re: Insomnia |
|
|
Charles Riggs <chriggs@Èircom.net> wrote:
| Quote: | If someone has some suggestions on how to deal with the problem, I'd
appreciate hearing them.
|
You've probably heard this before, but it's what works for my
three-year-old son and my husband: they don't get into bed until it's
time to turn out the light and go to sleep.
--
SML,
who needs to read in bed |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| |
FAQ
Memberlist
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in