OT--Insomnia?

[jeff kushner]

OK....I was "gone" for a few days and only began posting this morning, maybe yesterday but I really don't remember and haven't mentioned this yet but the insomnia began the day after Thanksgiving.

ZERO sleep from Friday of last week until last Sunday, then 2 hrs at most ea night since Sun night, waking at 10PM most nights, for the night. Stayed home Mon, Tues, Weds, half day Thurs & today. I have been working for the past 47 years and have never missed 3 days in a row because of illness, ever......so this is pretty bad when I don't come in.

Absolutely mind-numbing. I spent last Friday with my sweetheart but on Sunday, she had to drive me and my truck back to my house, 50 miles away because I was in no condition to drive. In fact, I was getting delirious, commenting to her that she was "conspiring with my Dr" and hearing echos (Yeah, real scary stuff). She stayed with me on Monday then I Ubered her home (cost around 90 bucks!) because she is a school teacher and she needed to go to work! I'm having a lot of difficulty following conversations, especially if they are very long, my patience is very tested by any discussion longer then 20 seconds and I'm having underlings review my work because I don't trust myself right now. I'm our firms Chief Estimator and I had a 5 mil pjt go in yesterday...boy was that fun! Thank God, I've got great talent and we work as a team so we didn't have any busts. I'm being VERY careful when driving because my commute is 46 miles and God I don't want to hurt anyone so I'm driving slow and staying as calm and in no rush...there sure isn't any worry that I'll fall asleep!!

The fact that I belong to a Wellness group where I have my Dr's cell is the only thing that has kept me out of the hospital this week. We've tried a dozen different drugs but I really hate all those types of sedatives....hated them as a teen and still do. I did manage to collapse/sleep from 4pm to 9pm last night...then I was up for the night and began getting ready for work at 3...leaving at 5 because it takes me so long to do anything because I've got zero energy......

I've had bouts of this before but never even remotely close to this extent!

I've tried melatonin and a dozen drugs.....anyone else here deal with this and got any insights?

jeff

 

[JExpedition07]

Sorry to here that Jeff that’s awful. Hope you feel better. I left work yesterday morning because i started getting so dizzy i couldn’t walk well. Barely got out and in my truck. I really should not have driven home with how dizzy i was because i had some issues tracking the truck straight. Everything feels so off and it’s slightly spinning. I tried going in today and my nose started oozing blood like a river and it keeps coming back with head movement, and I’m so dizzy so now I’m out two days because of whatever I have. Haven’t left the couch much, i feel pretty pathetic and have no idea what im dealing with I’ve never been sick with these symptoms. Also have a very hot fever. Now as of today i have a nasty dry cough on top of it all. Rest up man low energy is no good, what your dealing with is much more severe than what I’m dealing with and im even out of commission. As far as insight i have nothing to offer you.

 

[Shabadoo]

Every once in a while I have bouts of sleepless nights. Not to the extent you described though. I tend to spend a lot of time on my computer and phone before bed. If you do the same, Windows 10 has a built in "night light" to filter blue light. It makes a noticeable difference on my level of "sleepiness" when I use it before bed. I believe Android 8.0 has a built in feature as well but you can also get the "Twilight" app from the app store which does the same.

Additionally, if I can't fall asleep I'll listen to music (typically instrumental) or thunderstorm/nature sounds. There is one particular song, Weightless by Marconi Union, which is touted as one of the most relaxing songs. Here is an article discussing it if interested: https://curiosity.com/topics/neuroscientists-found-the-most-relaxing-song-curiosity/. It knocks me out usually. TL;DR - it drops your heart rate and allows your brain to shut off.

Other than that there are the typical suggestions: keep your bedroom cool (low 70's high 60's), shut out or cover any lights. If you tend to have an erratic schedule, try and make it as consistent as possible i.e. get in bed, get out of bed, and eat at the same times (https://curiosity.com/topics/your-schedule-might-be-killing-you-heres-what-to-do-about-it-curiosity/).

I hope some of this helps. Few things are more frustrating than not being able to sleep so good luck!

 

[Flexpedition]

There are relatively few prescriptions that deliver their intended results/benefits in a matter of a few days and Thanksgiving was just like a week ago. Many require weeks of dosage and frequency adjustments before the ideal or sometimes even measurable solution is discovered. We all want instant gratification but in reality its often difficult to impossible to obtain pharmaceutic-ally.

I have no idea what you are taking, but often RX#1 should be 100% completely out of your system before RX#2 is even prescribed. Just because its been 3 days and 12 ****** later doesn't mean RX#1 no longer exists and isn't masking/preventing RX#2 from working, which all too often leads to an immediate RX#3, 4, 5... Some pharmaceutical compounds dissipate to untraceable levels within minutes whereas others can easily be found months later in blood work. This is all covered in the first semester of most medical schools but I am always amazed at how quickly its forgotten.

Its concerning to me that you mention this began about a week ago and you've already tried a dozen drugs.

On this website people think nothing of bashing the 6 different Ford dealerships who all said the members trouble was in the transmission. (Often its only 1-2 dealerships, but overly dramatic snowflakes lie) When the small independent garage finds the trouble was actually the driveshaft we just conclude that Ford dealerships are stupid part swapping buffoons. Why not hold your doctor to the same standard? He/she clearly hasn't identified your issue and his/her treatment plan isn't working. Yet still got paid.

Maybe instead of your run-of-the-mill Ford garage "MD" consider an independent specialist garage "DO".

 

[Adieu]

You're not on any medications for ADHD or nasal decongestants are you???

 

[USMCBuckWild]

I spent the past 9 years averaging 1-2.5 hours of asleep a night. About every other month I would CRASH for 1 day/night and get 12-16 hours of sleep then right back to almost no sleep. Tried absolutely everything and nothing seemed to help. Ambien was a disaster (yes the Ambien walrus is real, we had beers on the beach and talked about the meaning of life), a couple other meds didn’t do much of anything. I did several sleep studies which established: I don’t sleep (average less than .8% rem sleep) Holy shit, thanks Doc!

Long story short I started Melatonin (5 or 6 mg), chamomile/relaxation epsom salt baths and pain management. Turns out I was toughing through pain which was amplifying all my other issues (especially the stress). There is a device that is used to help your brain relax. It uses binaural sounds and a special set of glasses utilizing leds to put your brain into a more relaxed state and allow you to sleep. I know, it sounds like some mumbo-jumbo ********, but it was prescribed to me by the Intrepid Spirit Traumatic Brain Injury Center (TBI clinic on Camp LeJeune, NC).

Binaural beats is a free app on IOS and Android. Download it and try it. Please feel free to research it, but give it a try.

I feel for you brother. If there is anything we can do, just ask.

 

[jeff kushner]

I appreciate all the responses and suggestions. I usually don't get on the computer before going to bed. My work involves a lot of spread sheets, email proposals, writing technical proposals so by the time I'm home, I'm pretty done except for occasionally blowing the hell out of the chosen "bad guys" on the go-to C.O.D. computer game...all played at the "you will not survive" levels....but I tried earlier tonight(its 3:05AM and I haven't been to sleep yet) and I lasted ten seconds....usually I ace the levels. I got the same results earlier in the week.

Without going into deep discussion on the meds, we initially tried the cyclobenzaprine to deaden muscle spasms that might be keeping me upin combination with one of the Catapres generics but those drugs give me that medicine head syndrome so bad that I cannot responsibly make decisions that involve millions of dollars of other peoples money that could ruin our firm, just can't do it.

I spoke with my son earlier, he also fought bouts of insomnia and went through a ton of specialists in law school, lots of various drugs & sleep studies before getting it resolved. He and I share the reaction to these meds and he said that all of the meds designed to help you sleep give the same disconnected feeling for days afterward for him....same thing I found.

Sucks but hopefully it will somehow subside over the weekend.....if not, I go in at 5am and I"m leaving early, before most so traffic is light...to minimize my danger to them....that's my biggest fear...that I may hurt someone with a 3 ton truck.

Here's something that happened today coming home. I have two general ways to go, stay on the highways all the way to w/i 3-4 miles of my home or cut through a neighborhood on secondary roads about 15 miles away but when traffic is heavy, it times the same.

Today, w/o thinking, I got off the highway!!! Less than a mile onto the side road I realized my mistake. When you are functioning at best at MAYBE 80%, you really notice the added loads generated by side roads, intersections, kids....my God, I very nearly turned around but I found myself behind a minivan going 30mph and I was able to follow them almost all the way home.....so instead of complaining because they were driving so slow, I was thankful for the lifeline God threw me!

jeff

 

[Clemson82]

Next time you go to the doctor and have blood work, have them check your Thyroid levels. This little gland in your neck impacts almost every aspect of your body. Millions of Americans have under or over active Thyroids, and the medicine used to treat it is the 4th most commonly prescribed drug in America.

"Located above the Adam's apple, your thyroid produces thyroid hormone (TH), which regulates, among other things, your body's temperature, metabolism, and heartbeat. Things can start to go wrong when your thyroid is under- or over-active. If it's sluggish, it produces too little TH; amped-up and it produces too much." www.health.com

 

[ExpeditionAndy]

@jeff kushner man I am sorry to hear that. My son gets insomnia. I had trouble sleeping a couple of months ago when I was taking a high dose of Prednisone for a skin condition, and it would take me an hour and a half of laying in bed before I would get to sleep and then I was only getting about 4 hours of sleep. I can't really relate to what you are going through. I'll keep you in my prayers in hopes that this passes quickly.

 

[Adieu]

@jeff kushner man I am sorry to hear that. My son gets insomnia. I had trouble sleeping a couple of months ago when I was taking a high dose of Prednisone for a skin condition, and it would take me an hour and a half of laying in bed before I would get to sleep and then I was only getting about 4 hours of sleep. I can't really relate to what you are going through. I'll keep you in my prayers in hopes that this passes quickly.

Prednisone???

Be verrrry very careful with that shit. Made me extremely cold all the time and saw me gain 2 pounds per day, every day.

And yeah I think there was some sleep mess too.

Maybe its all fine and dandy for life and death situations or whatnot, but doctors loooove to prescribe that shit for any and every ol random reason....which just aint right. Waaaaay too many awful side effects, waaaay too common incidence.