It’s getting bad. I’m not an insomniac where I go days without a wink of sleep but I have experienced this on occasion. My insomnia doesn’t allow me to sleep for over an hour at a time and then I’m awake until I drift off again. This happens several times every night. I just want continuous, uninterrupted, natural sleep. I have tried everything I can think of: Listening to podcasts. Reading books. Listening to ten hour rainfall videos. Exercising during the day. Taking medication at the same time and correct dose every night. I have a hunch that this is what is causing it… medications. I think this but then I have been a night owl since I was a young child but I guess this was by design. I take nitrazepam (Morgadone) which is a strong benzodiazepine but this only puts me to sleep (most of the time) it doesn’t keep me there. I am allocated twenty pills a fortnight and I always go through them and hang out for my next prescription to be filled. I take a whopping dose of Seroquel and I take Chlorpromazine. This combination is not doing it for me either.
It sometimes gets to the point where I give up trying to sleep. The sun may be coming up and I think stuff it! I’ll just get on with the day which of course leaves me constantly tied. I have even cut back on coffee which was something I used to rely on. The same goes for energy drinks. I used to drink these like they were going out of fashion. Now I have stopped drinking all caffeine and this hasn’t done anything to improve my situation either.
Some of the meds I have taken include: Imovane, Stilnox, Chloralhydrate - All the pams - Nitrazepam, Temazepam, Diazepam, Xanax, Zolpidem. …You name it and I’ve tried it. I sometimes have the same sleep pattern (or lack of) on the occasion when I don’t take medication at all. I’m starting to think this is just how I’m wired. Maybe my body and mind only need a couple hours sleep to function. Elon Musk does it and look at what he’s able to accomplish. I know it’s not the best of ideas but I sometimes take brief naps during the day. Twenty minutes siestas here and there. I sometimes have to as my brain is calling out to me to get some damned shuteye.
I’m in the lucky position of not being employed so I don’t have to worry about getting to a job on time each morning or making it through the day. I still have daily commitments. I don’t think people understand when they see my bedroom light on at bizarre times during the night and why I’m so tied during the day. It’s not an illness that is recognised, just like mental health in general! If I had a broken bone I would receive more sympathy.
Off topic a little… I have a story to tell on the sleeping med Zolpidem. This is not sold in Australia anymore and for good reason. It causes sleepwalking and in a lot of cases sleep driving. People also used to take it recreationally too by taking large doses and forcing themself to stay awake. I never tried this but I did find myself driving my car. It scared the crap out of me! I found myself driving on a busy road not knowing how I got there or what the objective of the trip was? I turned around, went home and never took this medication again. Apparently this is very common. A mate I was living with also took a dose and one night he woke up only to realise he was cooking dishwashing liquid on the frying pan. It sounds funny but it really isn’t. Thank God this has been banned. Without doing any research I think it is known in the USA as Ambien and commonly prescribed for sleep disorders, not for sleep driving!