Sleep Deprived

Yeah, medication isn't a great plan and you can't take it in the long term. New evidence suggests it can cause cognitive decline in older patients, so that can't be good. Then there is the issue of Z drugs and benzos being addictive and rebound insomnia. In other words, you end up worse off than before you started.

I can't agree more! I've had several go-rounds with benzos that were nearly the death of me. And I have been on Z drugs for 5 years, but they no longer work for me, so I am back where I started. Thank you for posting this!

No probs. They did me more harm than good. I am off to see a neurologist soon about a sleep disorder and am really hoping he doesn't try to give me clonazepam. Bezos are extremely addictive. That's why they now prescribe them and Z drugs for 4 weeks max at a time in the UK. Once you get a good nights sleep from meds, it's so hard to go back to doing it the natural way. I think it's ruined it for me for lif. :-(

You are not alone!! I have been searching for answers to my overwhelming fatigue for years. I have just noticed recently, the more tired I am, the more I want to eat, not hungry, but just want to eat. I always thought I was an emotional eater, but now I realize it's only when I'm fighting sleep, the harder I have to fight to stay awake, the more I want to eat. I finally got a sleep study and have found that I have a form of apnea, but only during the REM stage. They clocked me at falling asleep in 1 minute and 50 seconds. I was shocked. I knew I could fall asleep anytime, anywhere but under 2 minutes, that was a little surprising. Now I'm fighting with insurance to get a CPAP to see if that helps. You may want to look into a sleep study. I always knew my sleep was getting disrupted, but I just never knew how much. Here's some things I do though that help me sleep somewhat better sometimes. I wear earplugs although sometimes they make my ears hurt and I pull them out in the middle of the night, keep my room as dark and cool as possible and try to keep the same bedtime and rise time as much as possible and try to clear my mind before bed (also difficult sometimes). I still suck at sleeping, but every night I give it my best shot, I try not to stress about it and hope to wake up one of these days not begging for more time to sleep. Good luck, I hope you find an answer.

You are not alone!! I have been searching for answers to my overwhelming fatigue for years. I have just noticed recently, the more tired I am, the more I want to eat, not hungry, but just want to eat. I always thought I was an emotional eater, but now I realize it's only when I'm fighting sleep, the harder I have to fight to stay awake, the more I want to eat. I finally got a sleep study and have found that I have a form of apnea, but only during the REM stage. They clocked me at falling asleep in 1 minute and 50 seconds. I was shocked. I knew I could fall asleep anytime, anywhere but under 2 minutes, that was a little surprising. Now I'm fighting with insurance to get a CPAP to see if that helps. You may want to look into a sleep study. I always knew my sleep was getting disrupted, but I just never knew how much. Here's some things I do though that help me sleep somewhat better sometimes. I wear earplugs although sometimes they make my ears hurt and I pull them out in the middle of the night, keep my room as dark and cool as possible and try to keep the same bedtime and rise time as much as possible and try to clear my mind before bed (also difficult sometimes). I still suck at sleeping, but every night I give it my best shot, I try not to stress about it and hope to wake up one of these days not begging for more time to sleep. Good luck, I hope you find an answer.

My dad just got a CPAP. He feels like a new man. Hope you get it!

I used to struggle with insomnia but I'm on a medication for another issue that has the lovely side effect of helping me fall asleep.

In my previous research I've seen smartphone apps that are specifically developed for easing you into sleep. You might look into one of those. I know that some of them involve some kind of light therapy. Melatonin can help to regulate your circadian rythmn so you might use that in conjection with a routine of going to bed at the same time every night. Avoid electronic stimulation in the few hours before you go to bed. That means the computer or TV, most specifically. That's hard for most of us, but it's worth trying for a few weeks and see if it helps.