Well I havent slept for 3 days. I may have rested partly but as far as REM sleep is concerned I have not had any so partial sleep is not even the circumstance I’m in.
I have no history of Insomnia although I have a ringing in my ear that has become more unbearable over time due to volume increase. My regular methods for neutralizing my ringing while I sleep have failed. I’m sitting here exhausted in a zombie-like state becoming more neurotic by the minute. I know this isn’t the sort of thing I should be asking on here and I know I am delving into my own personal issues here its just that no matter how maddening or saddening or depressed I can get about my situation I can always persevere somehow and shrug it off. The physiological effects I’m feeling right now though I can’t. I’ve tried to sleep several times this morning taking a warm shower to relax me and decent dosage of antihistamines hopefully giving me some result but nothing.
What I’m asking here is that if anyone know any remedies for sleeping problems/ insomnia that don’t involve sleeping pills as even if those do work I know you can only use them for a certain period continuously and I know how awful they make you feel with the “buyers remorse” grogginess. I’m gonna talk to my pharmacist but I can’t seem to get a doctors appointment on short notice and my mom is leaving on Sunday for 3 weeks and I would never ask her to stay just cause of me. I really am concerned because I’ve never had this much lack of sleep and nothing is working. Until then I’m gonna get myself hopped up on red bull which I rarely ever drink and see how far I can go with the few options I do have left. If I don’t post anything in the next couple days I hope its because Im sleeping because if its not..
Be careful with redbull it could end up making you crash.
Now then I have dealt with insomnia/lack of sleep for a couple years now and the formula I use to get to sleep is some time release 5HTP, time release Melatonin, and L-Theanine. I take all of those about an hour before bed and I can sleep decently well. I still tend to wake up once a night but its a lot better then it use to be. The combination also makes me really sleepy and easy for me to fall asleep. Additionally if I feel stressed or have a lot of anxiety I’ll take a pill that contains Lemon Balm, Passion Flower, and Scullcap. Lastly, I buy all of these products through Swanson. They also have several specific sleep formulas you might want to check out. Also, I really recommend you read through this forum The Mega Sleep Thread … Melatonin, Ambien, GABA - ImmInst.org Forums as it has a ton of suggestions and ideas for sleeping issues.
Taking melatonin as GT1 suggested helps promote sleep. There are lots of remedies but it would depend on why you cant sleep. It seems to me your saying the ringing in your ears is what is causing you to remain awake is that correct ? You can also use certain herbs like Black Cohosh or Hawthorn to help.
Ringing can be caused by lots of things so you should get it checked out by the doctor asap. In the mean time do you have any magnets laying around ? LOL Lay down and try placing them on your pressure points
You can also try the emotional freedom tapping technique. Its like getting acupuncture without the needles and its actually very effective once learned. Sit in a comfortable position, take some deep cleansing belly breaths. A belly breath is a breath that pops your belly out . Now with your pointer finger and your middle finger gently but firmly tap on the meridian points. I added a chart here to help but we have tons of them in the body all for different things. Just start with these. Repeat the process will taking deep breaths and trying to calm your mind.
You can also try craniosacral massaging. Use the same fingers and massage the meridian points to help unclog and release the energy from them.
Do you have access to a white noise machine ? If you have a Itunes account you can download one. They also have one that has everyday noises on it thats great. I think its called brain sync. You can try the different frequencies of noise to help to away with the ringing so you can fall asleep. Its also good for training the brain and subconscious.
Valerian Root tea helps. Just be careful its what they make Valium out of but its perfectly legal LOL
Aromatherapy can help. Do you have anything lavender or Clary sage around ? Chamomile ? These help reduce emotional tension.
Try visualization. Lay down and close your eyes. Think about your big toe and visualize it relaxing and getting heavy. Then slowly move up the body visualizing the other toes, The foot, The ankle, The shin, the knees etc etc… I usually fall asleep around the knees LOL
Thanks for the advice tisha. Well I’ve seen 2 ENT’s and the first one disregarded that particular fact and only treated my nasal congestion I had with a nasal spray. It turned out later on that only aggravated my nasal passage and that I need a turbinate reduction procedure which I eventually had done so I could breathe again. The second who is supposed to be a leading ENT in the field told me the same regular junk. No caffeine, No stress, lay off fat and sugary foods and always be surrounded by sound.
I’m actually reaching my 2 year anniversary of having the ringing so yeah i do use the white/pink noise in a cd player off my alarm clock on my bed side. Problem is its gotten louder about 6 times over my course. Its my fault Ill have to admit as going to a carnival, going to china, and going to a few broadway shows have unfortunately did me in. I have sound sensitivity problems as well and because of those things I’ve aggravated the ringing incessantly. I wanted to live my life and didn’t wanna let what I have stop me but even wearing ear plugs to those situations wasn’t enough to stop the noise pollution I was and still do feel from time to time. I realize from now on I cant go see movies in theatre or see broadway shows in Manhattan anymore. Its just too harmful to me even though it is saddening.
Could I use injury tape and attached magnets somewhere on my body LOL because I turn a decent bit when I sleep. My ringing really is like a mini forest now because only a shower and a certain level of volume with a certain tempo/style of music is enough to block it out.
I can’t say it was a complete success but I actually got some sleep last night. I bought a shower MP3 and I actually wore a headphone on my right ear. I took some TR melatonin and I took 100 mgs of Vistaril which I could take over and over quite comfortably without side effect although its not really that affective for any of the properties its suggested for.
What do you think of having surround sound in a bedroom? It’ll cost me quite a bit and I dont know how to set it up or put it up on the corners of my ceiling but I’m trying to see what it really is about the ringing now that makes it so much worse than before. Is the sound so loud that my body cannot habituate it to go to sleep? Or is it a fact of not hearing it so much that will let me go to sleep. When I first tried to sleep last night I wore headphones on both ears but having the MP3 turned up it was too loud for me to actually sleep so i wore it on my right ear having it turned up a little more. I think I got about 1.5-3 hours of “actual” sleep and not this resting crap.
I’ll really have to try the tea the tea and the aromatherapy. Sorry for the abundance of questions but do you think theres any molecule of pheromones that would aid in sleep? I know nothing will simply just put me to sleep but I really want to hit this bad boy from all angles lol.
You can try mega doses of IS and let it crash you, but I doubt that would be a good solution.
OA, I’ve had that problem with the ringing for years now. And if its not tinitis, then a part of it could also be psychological. I do know that as soon as you hear it you begin focusing on it and it makes it that much harder to sleep. I’ve been there I know how it is, I was getting 2-3 hours of sleep a night and it was impacting my everyday life pretty bad.
What I did was progressive. I just worked on clearing and clearing my mind while I was going to sleep. White noise does help and specifically, I found the most comfortable position I can possibly be in, and I imagined myself floating, and the thoughts and noises, and everything else were waves in the ocean. What kept me up was me trying to fight those waves, instead I just let it flow through me. It’s hard to explain but as time went on, the noise just started to disappear. We all have it, I know because I live in NYC and noise is everywhere, and that’s essentially how I’ve dealt with it.
Clearing your mind and letting it be a part of what helps you sleep is the key. Imagine it as natural white noise. I still hear it time and time again and I just relax my body more and it goes away eventually
Well pheromonally speaking. Try TAK. Its been reported to be good for insomnia and helping you fall into a deeper sleep. I think its was Carrie who mentioned that and a few others noticed the same.
However since pheromones stimulate your neurotransmitters, after you try out TAF for this purpose try not to have any pheromones on when you try to sleep. This means you probably will have to take a shower before bed.
I dont think pheromones can do much about the ringing in your ears.
I did a little reading on you (sorry I didnt ask first) I am getting that the ringing is caused by muscle tension more then it is your sinuses although when your sinus issues flare up its worse.
Go with the cranial massage technique and work on the pressure points from your collar bones up.
I think you are sensitive to all outside stimuli not just sound. Smells, tastes even light. You need to watch those things and keep them in balance because when you throw yourself off balance its harder to get back into it then it is to maintain it. Keep a journal so you can look back and see what kind of stimuli you have had when your having bad flare ups. You will find a pattern.
Since I am picking up on muscle tension the Valerian root tea will be a big help. It induces sleep and relaxes the muscles.
Start slow with it because just like with drugs roots and herbs have side effects for a small number of people. Nothing serious with Valerian but sometimes people have the opposite from normal effect. It wires them up.
If you have taken codeine before like in cough meds and it didnt wire you up then you will be fine with Valerian root. If you look online you should be able to find good companies that sell it in tea bag form if your dont have a herbal store near by.
Of course dont use it while driving or operating machinery or if your pregnant or breast feeding LOL
So, your ENT is basically just dismissing the ringing all together? Sounds like you need to find a new doc to me. I would also take a look at a naturopathic doctor I totally thought they were a joke originally, but they have done a better job at treating any problems I’ve had then any normal doctor has. You just got to make sure to find a good one. Also like tish was saying lavender and chamomile can help with sleep I use this spray a lot Sleep - Lavender Chamomile Concentrated Room Spray - Aromatherapy - Bath & Body Works
Lastly, you might want to take a look into acupuncture it can help with so many different problems its truly amazing.
Tinnitus isn’t really a recognized problem within the health community from what I’ve read and what I’ve experienced in terms of doctors. What is the thing with naturopathic? Are they like a an osteopathic doctor? Yeah I’ll have to look into naturo and acupunture. My health insurance cost my mum a decent bit so I might as well see what I can get done for the premium.
Any idea where to buy valerian root tea? My ringing has various possible instigators but most likely I’ll never really know why I got it. It doesn’t matter because I’ll never get rid of it and I wish I could streamline lidocaine in my ear because they say a injection of it will have it gone for about half an hour lol.
Its okay I know theres stuff I shouldn’t share on here but I do anyway because I consider quite of few of you guys as close as family can be within the limitations of a forum. I dont have a facebook or any social networking membership and Im not famous or infamous socially or criminally so I’m basically a ghost on the internet. Why do people look at me weird when I say I dont have a facebook I just learned about 3-6 months ago that I really am a hypersensitive person. I experience life more richly than any other type of person although I certainly say that in more of a negative sense. My perception of sensation/ pain/ hearing/ and light are considerably heightened. I know I’m not normal because theres things I find more enjoyable sensation wise than sex (hard to imagine I know). I’m sensitive to sodium and salt in my food now as well and my body has quite a intolerance to fast food and anything processed as anything that is off I will know because it will simply become diarrhea.
I never though to keep a general on my sensitivities before but that is a ingenious idea.
Can I breast feed? I have man boobs which I curse everyday. I dont think my machinery down there makes eggs though so I think I’m safe for the moment
Naturopathy (also known as naturopathic medicine or natural medicine) is an alternative medical system that focuses on natural remedies and the body’s vital ability to heal and maintain itself. Naturopathic philosophy favors a holistic approach and minimal use of surgery and drugs. Naturopathy comprises many different treatment modalities of varying degrees of acceptance by the medical community; diet and lifestyle advice may be substantially similar to that offered by non-naturopaths, and acupuncture may help reduce pain in some cases, whereas homeopathy is often characterized as pseudoscience or quackery.
Got to love wikipedia the only problem with naturopathy is that its not normally covered by insurance and the first visit is normally pretty expensive. However, my first visit lasted an entire hour and she was extremely thorough with me. (no not like that lol)
True I have a functional medicine practitioner and a Naturopath and it can get very expensive. I’m not certified but I am a tranditional homeopath. Its been part of my family for generations. Its been practiced for centuries and its where more then 50% of today’s traditional medicines derive from. They just feel a need to label it, tax it, control it and charge you up the ass for it and then they have the nerve to call us quacks.
Sounds good but remember your sensitivity to sensory stimuli. Be choosy about what you play on your system. Use it for white noise or soothing sounds.
I have one on my Itouch that has like 50 different sounds. I like the waves, the rain and the cat purring best. Pink noise also helps me a great deal. It was like $4.99 to download the program. If you can hook your computer up to the sound system then you can play it right from there even if you dont have a Ipod. It has a timer and everything so it turns itself off if you want. Its worth a shot.
Sorry tish I just copy/pasted from wikipedia I don’t think any of it is quackery. I brought up homeopathy as a substitute for his ENT since they can actually treat tinnitus. Which I still cant believe isn’t recognized as an actual problem by the medical system
I am getting that the ringing is caused by muscle tension more then it is your sinuses although when your sinus issues flare up its worse.
I just learned about 3-6 months ago that I really am a hypersensitive person. I experience life more richly than any other type of person although I certainly say that in more of a negative sense. My perception of sensation/ pain/ hearing/ and light are considerably heightened. I know I’m not normal because theres things I find more enjoyable sensation wise than sex (hard to imagine I know). I’m sensitive to sodium and salt in my food now as well and my body has quite a intolerance to fast food and anything processed as anything that is off I will know because it will simply become diarrhea.
