BF2S Forums insomnia

S3v3N wrote:

Parker wrote:

i forgot...the violin has given me something to focus on at the end of the day...dont know if that will help anyone, but you never know.

Does Rockband count?

i dont know..i have never played...the point is that its something that FORCES me to think about something else.

hell i can barely keep up with the stuff from my lessons. it keeps my mind off of other things...

DesertFox- wrote:

You people need to start a fight club.

However, my advice would be to find a local sleep laboratory involved with the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. This website ought to help you locate one. I would think those people will give you more helpful information than the BF2s people who just tell you to do some drugs.

Nah, I'd suggest they go to a group for men with testicular cancer.

Parker wrote:

S3v3N wrote:

Parker wrote:

i forgot...the violin has given me something to focus on at the end of the day...dont know if that will help anyone, but you never know.

Does Rockband count?

i dont know..i have never played...the point is that its something that FORCES me to think about something else.

hell i can barely keep up with the stuff from my lessons. it keeps my mind off of other things...

I paint WH40K minis now.  Do 1 to 2 hours right before bedtime, but unfortunately it gets pricey as you get better and faster at it.  Makes me concentrate on something miniscule and now I was (before the 2nd kid that was just born) sleeping about 6 hours a night straight.  Before that it was about 3 or 4 hours total/night.  I tried reading, but Chomsky seems to have the effect of keeping me awake even more...I did get a lot of other classics read though that I skipped in high school.

Not sure what the solution is, I spent my first year out of the army drunk 1/2 of my day and doing deathwish stunts the other 1/2 (slumming as a homeless among the Bucharest gypsy population, ambulance driving in Gaza, running errands for russian mob in Haifa).  After this settled down, I stopped drinking, got a real job, and then the sleepless/stress thing kicked in and been that way for 4 years.

Last edited by GorillaTicTacs (2008-10-14 02:37:13)

I get it from stress. If I have a big case/job on at work or im in court to get my money I sleep 2-3 hours a night.

Too much going around in your head by the sounds of it. Im thinking about work, your thinking about traumatic shit you seen/done. So even if you do get to sleep, as soon as you wake........ping........thoughts come back into your head and that's you awake, brain going 100mph.

I'll tell you what helped me.
No eating after 6pm. Only water, no fizzy shit after 6pm. No sugar. No Coffee, No tea. Before bed. Warm water with slice of lemon in it. If you can, climb on the missus at bedtime.

the lack of sleep got so bad that the synaptic nerve in one side of my face froze up ala Sly Stallone style. Gave me serious tooth, eye and ear pain. The doctor suggested meditation. I dismissed it as mumbo jumbo, but I was so desperate I gave it a go. Trust me it works. You need to control your thoughts to give your brain time to rest up and allow you to sleep and that takes discipline and a little bit of practice. But when you get it down it will help you allot. There are plenty of books on it. Get one.

its the waking up thats the problem for me. I can sleep 12 hours easy, get about 6 on weekdays but make up for it on weekends.

What's funny here to me is that SERE started this thread with:

SEREMAKER wrote:

I'm not going to take any meds prescibed or over the counter for this

and most of the solutions here are either Tylenol PM or alcohol.

I've been dealing with insomnia since I was a kid and have read quite a bit about it. Here are some non-medication style tips that may (or may not) help:

1. If your mind is going crazy and keeping you up, find a distraction. Some people sleep better with music/white noise/tv. Be careful as this may drive your wife out of the room.

2. Stay away from alcohol for a couple of hours before bed. Yes, it's a depressant and can help you get to sleep, but it fucks up your sleep cycles and will make you wake up earlier. It also keeps you from really hitting that necessary REM stage of sleep.

3. Have a light snack before bed. Nothing with sugar or lots of carbs. A little piece of meat or cheese is good. A glass of milk sounds lame, but it really works, the calcium is soothing.

4. Try light therapy in the mornings. Wait until the time you want to wake up and turn on a bright light (non-fluorescent) or go outside if the sun's up. This helps your body regulate its production of melatonin and helps reboot your natural sleep cycles.

5. Wartime veterans have seen some truly horrifying shit. It may not be "cool" to have PTSD, but I can't imagine anyone living through that and not being changed. If it's available to you, maybe you should talk to someone about it. If Tony Soprano can do it, anyone can.

6. Go Indian. Meditation and yoga are supposed to work really well for insomnia. I have a feeling that's not your thing, but there's a technique that helps me that doesn't require any weird poses. When you go to bed, you start at the top of your head and move to your toes, relaxing every muscle in your body one at a time. I'm usually so tense that by the time I've gotten to my arms, my face is all tensed up again. You'll have to go through the whole thing several times. Not only does it help you relax, it also gives you something to concentrate on.

7. Retrain your brain. This is the kind of trick a shrink would try on you, but it supposedly works for some people. Think of the things that are keeping you up, like your time in the service, then think of the good you did and the people who respect you for it. Try to make a connection between them. Think of the forums if it helps. There are hundreds of us here who know you and hold you in high regard for your service. There are millions of others around the U.S. who share those feelings, even if they don't express them. We're like a collective brother who doesn't know how to say he loves you. When you think of the suck, try to transition that to think of everyone who didn't have to be because you were man enough to protect us.

Here's hoping you get some shut-eye!

I only get it when I'm in a new environment and feel uncomfortable. Goes away after a day or two though. I guess I don't have any monkeys on my back.

God Save the Queen wrote:

do some PT sucka

thats 2 hours in the gym in the morning ....... foo

The VA shrink diagnosed me with PTSD and gave me these strong ass sleeping pills. They wanted me to take 2 every night, but I didn't take them. My GF took one at 9pm I tried to wake her up at 7am and she was so whacked out still she called in sick to work. She wasn't normal until around 2pm. I flushed those things down the toilet.

I still don't sleep normal, I go to sleep around 1-2am up at 7am, and am waking up to every little noise you can think of.

I can't shut down my brain at night sometimes.  Usually it is not that bad, and I only lose a few hours of sleep.  Unfortunately, I usually start with 5-6hrs max.

I have certainly found a few things that DON'T work. 
Tom Clancy books (start at 11...next thing I know I'm at page 246 and it's 3:30!)
The internet ("Is it 4AM already?!)

TV works IF I am not interested in it.  If I am remotely interested it only keeps me up.
Maybe that would work for you...infomercials or some such.
Relaxing music will work for a few weeks max, but it's a start.  I just popped in Beethoven's Moonlight sonata and set the stereo to single-track repeat.  Unfortunately, that only worked for about 3 weeks.

Last edited by RAIMIUS (2008-10-14 22:46:49)

I don't have a sleeping problem, but whenever I travel/go away on vacation my sleeping pattern changes completely.

Wait!  Hold up!

SERE is asking what to do with his insomnia?

Well.. FFS.. MORE posts in the "rate the girl above you" thread, obviously.


[What? you wanted a serious answer?  well.. it's up above in a wall of text somewhere]

Now that I quite drinking lost 15lbs and can see the start of my 6-pack again.

My six-pack is very important to me.
I like to be sure its well protected with a good thick layer of fat.