Who got very bad insomnia?

Mancunian2

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1) Melatonin is quite complicated. The more you take doesn't mean the sleepier you get. 1mg actually might work better than 10mg. 10mg is insane leh, that is taking more than 3 tablets at one shot. Timing when you take is also inportant.

2) Antihistamine the strongest is promethazine liao. Stronger than Atarax.

3) Stay away from benzodiazepenes unless you know what you are doing. Easy to get addicted, easy to overdose, cannot just anyhow quit taking also.

4) Lastly, get a sleep study. New report just came out, it is predicted that about 1/3 of chinese suffer from sleep apnea. If you are those light sleeper always need to get up to pee, this could be your actual problem causing insomnia.

what about difficulty falling asleep?
but once asleep, no problem maintaining quality and required duration of sleep

that's me :(
 

One Piece

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If cause by stress can try to learn meditation or go to meditation classes.
 

WussRedXLi

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I tried melatonin, doesn't work at all.. read online most people say not that useful

Diazepam works well for me... but need doctor to prescribe

how long you guys normally take to fall asleep per night?

Melatonin is useful for me and my mum, and my mum has quite severe insomnia that's brought on by hyperthyriodism (the symptoms brought on by hyperthyriodism also affects her) so that is not a "hao siao" case but a confirmed medical case.

-But it's not a 仙丹, so you still would have to avoid coffee after 12 noon (coffee decays to half after about 6 hours).
-No tea after mid afternoon.
-Healthy lifestyle with regular bio-clock rhythm. Do not think too much (impossible for those who have even mild depression or have work pressures due to career).
-No emails or whatsapp after 7PM as you'd wanna try to sleep by 11PM, causes the brain freq to screw up and also the "blue light" to screw up.
-Or you have a super heavy dinner or have dinner after 8PM, so your stomach is still churning away by 11pm. Do know eat lots of fruits after 8PM and/or drink water 9PM. Do note that a heavy dinner with lots of carbo even at 8PM tends to soak up water and you might find that you need to release past midnight albeit slowly.
-I know it's difficult, but try to get at least 20 mins of sunlight "into your eyes" during the day....be it during lunchtime or teatime etc.
- Using an Aircon, air purifiers, earplugs to reduce environmental disturbances for good night/sustained sleeping.

And there are many more but you get the idea....

If any 1 or more of the above is present, you are working against it. How to work? It's like TCM, it won't really work to max effect if you do not try to help yourself first.


Another thing is the application. You may find that (1) fast release melatonin works for you coz it knocks you out fast (2) you may find that sustained release types works better coz at least it'd last till 4-5AM which is already pretty ok (3) You may find that you have to take a combi of 5mg sustained release and 5mg fast release.....so that it knocks you out and have a sustained effect.
(4) Proper dosage. Dosage 10mg is the max you can take. 3mg probably might not work for moderate insomnia cases.

Sleeping pills of all sorts of coz work, but they are also (1) poison to a certain extent (2) they mostly do not induce REM sleep, so you don't exactly rest well (3) obviously you cannot take the pills for more than 2 weeks max unless you super man, but you can take melatonin for more than 2 months so that you can get your bio-clock rhythm back in check etc.


I think the docs already mentioned it before : You just cannot rely on sleeping pills.

Gotta help yourself in the long run, and that's lifestyle + melatonin. My mum never got it with sleeping pills. My mum did cure to a large extent with melatonin and discipline..basically coz you can literally take melatonin for such a longer period of time. (I think some diseases can warrant you to take for 2-3 years, i think Alzeimer or something)
 

WussRedXLi

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1) Melatonin is quite complicated. The more you take doesn't mean the sleepier you get. 1mg actually might work better than 10mg. 10mg is insane leh, that is taking more than 3 tablets at one shot. Timing when you take is also inportant.

2) Antihistamine the strongest is promethazine liao. Stronger than Atarax.

3) Stay away from benzodiazepenes unless you know what you are doing. Easy to get addicted, easy to overdose, cannot just anyhow quit taking also.

4) Lastly, get a sleep study. New report just came out, it is predicted that about 1/3 of chinese suffer from sleep apnea. If you are those light sleeper always need to get up to pee, this could be your actual problem causing insomnia.

Good point - that's a good add-on to my previous point.

Melatonin is indeed quite complicated. Though me and my mum have never experienced 1mg to be better than 10mg. After taking, just read newspaper or any relaxing stuff.....after that 20-30 mins kick comes, you gotta sleep. If still doing house chores and con't for 60 mins, kick over....the game is over too.


Max dosing for some other diseases is 20mg. Unless it causes side effects then LPPL liao melatonin is not suitable.

But it is way safer, coz it basically is not medication.


And yes, forgot to mention that if kena apnea then literally all these melatonin or medication is not going to work well and is literally useless in the long term. Might even be dangerous.
 
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matrix05

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anybody is, at night, sleep 2 hr will wake up (with slight headache), stay awake for 1hr , than can back to sleep another 2 hr pattern. The night is long, what do you do when you cant sleep but with the intend to get back to sleep 1 -2 hrs later?
 

WussRedXLi

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im considering early retirement too lol.. next time rent out sg home and live in jb.. at least i'll get to live

You are very correct to say that. If your work-life case is seriously screwing you up, medication is only going to have a limited effect and not gonna help in the long term. Not melatonin/sleeping pills.

The unfortunate fact is that Singapore (and some other countries/society, Chinese) that mostly view money + success is more important than health/life.

Of coz if money is easy come then i am not asking one not to cheong for that few years. But if one really can't make it at work, don't have to worry....fated liao. Just let it go......smell the roses.

I am not advocating YOLO, income and savings are very important and you gotta take care of that first. But i believe that a lot of wants, expectations are self-inflicted due to peer pressure here. If one has a condition, it warrants looking into coz it could be chronic, then maybe it's time to "let it go"


Of coz, your family must be supportive as well. :s12:
 

WussRedXLi

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Put it this way...

Most folks have a certain ability to earn. Singapore is not that dire a situation once you get past the HDB problem. :s13:

Go for max home loan, but after chasing Kate Spade then chase LV. After chasing LV chase Chanel. After chasing Chanel maybe got aim Hermes Birkin.
Or chase to buy a Jap car and then later chase to upgrade to conti semi-performance car. After that chase lifestyle car. If got need for it or work needs it then of course get one, but in some cases is really of not much use. Eg Recently i got a somewhat close acquaintaince who just got retrenched due to downturn, and is kan cheong already coz pay is not much (low 5K).....house and office got MRT, work no use for it, Sunday is drive to ECP so that he can use his folding bike and beo charboh + healthy lifestyle.

Not much savings, i definitely don't think more than 200k in his late 30s coz he mentioned he cannot survive for more than 6 months. Complained during meetup/TCSS after last day say cannot sleep much at night already....coz cannot find a job. wtf?

Also he is single. But his taste is quite "up there". *shrugs*

Can never retire even at 55 unless he hits at least 20k pm for a decent duration, and that is assuming if he does not go aim a BMW M3 + condo or something coz now still living with parents.
 
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chickymeal

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guys for those with insonmia, can try organic tart cherry juice. my wife usually can't sleep for the whole night when she drinks tea or coffee in late afternoon, so frustrated until she trashed out everything on the bedside table during midnight..I gave her a tablespoon of tart cherry diluted with water and a bit of sugar and eventually after 1 hr she fell asleep.

It won't work immediately or knock u out but seemed to have a soothing effect to help with the sleeping.
 

serangoon1

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guys for those with insonmia, can try organic tart cherry juice. my wife usually can't sleep for the whole night when she drinks tea or coffee in late afternoon, so frustrated until she trashed out everything on the bedside table during midnight..I gave her a tablespoon of tart cherry diluted with water and a bit of sugar and eventually after 1 hr she fell asleep.

It won't work immediately or knock u out but seemed to have a soothing effect to help with the sleeping.

May I know what brand?
 

hsiaowen

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Go for a light walk in your neighbourhood before bedtime, listen to soothing music. Think happy thoughts! Then sleep no problem
 

AppleTree17

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If unable to fall asleep easily within 30 minutes, try to abstain from coffee and tea from mid afternoon. I have tried melatonin, it only helps me to fall asleep faster but won't keep me asleep for more than 3-4 hours. I find drinking a cup of chamomile tea in the evening helps though. Having some lavender essential oil scent in the room also helps. :)
 

divasion

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ME.. i can only fall alsleep after 1 hr plus.. and my straight sleeping without waking up is 5hour max. even if i sleep after midnight, its 5hr still. 3am sleep,8am wake up. 10pm sleep, 3am wake up.been like that since 2012.
 

twinbaby

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Hi there,

I usually have sleep issue when I feel stressed for that day.
Usually will be on Wednesday or Thursday during working days.
More than often, I can't fell asleep after about 1 or 2 hours, even if I did, I tend to wake up early in the wee hours like 4am or 5am feeling tired and not wanting to get up. And during the day, I will feel very tired and slight headache and go home feeling exhausted.

So far I have tried:
1) Paraceutemol : I know it is not for that purpose, but body sudden feel a bit heaty and sweat a bit before I fell a sleep.

2) Gaba Night Drink - I brought this at the Cheers for $4.30. It tastes like red-bull, I just took about half of it and in no time I will already be in the dreamland, I woke up in the morning feeling really fresh.

Is there any supplement that I can take to help me with my sleep or any adjustment in my lifestyle that can help me?
 

stanleyzrs85

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Have you tried any basic meditation techniques or breathing techniques?

It helpe me a lot specially recently. I have been having some hard time sleeping and falling asleep in general. So i try to meditate 10/15 mins in the dark before i go to bed. It is a blessing for me.
 

sakakazu

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Not sure if it's insomnia but I have difficulty getting to sleep at night. On lucky nights I'd fall asleep after 1++ hours in bed, and on bad nights I'd end up staying up all night. Occasionally I'd get to sleep very easily but keep waking up intermittently (and getting back to sleep just as easily).

And in the morning it's the complete opposite; I'd fall asleep uncontrollably even when I'm trying not to.

Seen a specialist at a certain hospital's ENT department twice but sleep disorders are not easy to diagnose; he was saying the exact same thing both times (same specialist, second time was a followup) and only prescribed me some pills. Don't remember what the pills were since it was some time back, but the first time I took it, it worked so well that the next day I had difficulty moving my body physically and I ended up taking leave that day. It lost its effectiveness very quickly but he did mention it's supposed to be some (pretty new) light medication among sleeping pills.

This sleep disorder(?) seems to come and go every 2~3 months and the specialist said it's possibly stress and brain hyperactivity-related. Haven't bothered to do anything to it for years but happened to come across this thread so I thought I would share my experience with it. I've also tried some of the more 'natural' remedies like a light exercise, milk, adjusting lights and temperature in room, etc, but to no avail.

Sad thing about sleep disorders is that it's not easily understood by others (at least in Singapore) and colleagues/employers tend to view you as lazy, etc. At least in the U.S it's considered an actual disability and employers may be required to understand and accommodate for you (well... on the surface).
 

ahchan

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Is Atarax(25mg) consider a strong medication/dosage ? Was given some recently for sleeping issue. Thx.
 

AppleTree17

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Is Atarax(25mg) consider a strong medication/dosage ? Was given some recently for sleeping issue. Thx.

Hi,

It's always good to try at a lower dose. You can try breaking the pill into half and try for few nights. otherwise 25mg is the normal dose for insomnia.

Hope it helps you as this is an antihistamine. IMHO, it is better than taking other psychiatric drugs which have many side effects and can be habit forming.
 

kurtgoh

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Is Atarax(25mg) consider a strong medication/dosage ? Was given some recently for sleeping issue. Thx.

an update..

atarax no longer sell in malaysia too..
totally stopped..

I'm badly affected as well, looking for alternative and substitute.
 
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