I've always had episodes of insomnia, but this one is killing me. I get home from school and I am utterly exhausted, I can barely keep my eyes open. By the time I finish my homework and studying it is usually around 10 pm. I lie down and nothing happens, nothing. I just lie there for hours trying to fall asleep. For the last three weeks I have not been able to fall asleep before 3 am, and I have to get up by 7 am at the latest.
One night I couldn't sleep at all. I laid in bed all night, 6 am rolled around before I even started to feel sleepy. I decided to skip my morning class (economics) and the next day the teacher had a fit about it. The thing is, I live 35 miles from the college and after staying awake all night I just couldn't bring myself to drive 70 miles roundtrip on no sleep.
Usually I take a couple of benedryl and it at least helps some, but the last couple of weeks it hasn't helped at all. I'm in biology now and it is hard to keep my concentration up for two hours lecture followed by two hours of lab when I haven't slept more than four hours in the last three weeks. I hope I don't blow my GPA. :dzed:
I think sleep deprivation goes along with nursing school. Last semester was the worst for me. If I knew that early morning clinicals were coming, I would lay in bed and worry about over sleeping to the point that I would be awake all night! It was horrible dragging through the 14 hr days of clinicals/lectures. Some days I felt as if I was going to just fall over. Finally, I went to my doctor and he prescribed a low dose of valium to take before bedtime. I hated to go that route, but a person has to sleep. I also make myself stay on a schedule at night. So, if I dont have school/work the next day I still go to bed around 10 and I make myself continue to get up early. I know its hard to fall asleep when you are thinking about your next careplan, studying and trying to survive the woes of clinicals. But it can be done...
Just my experiance. I have struggled with anxiety induced insomnia for years....
For the most part, exercise and good eating habits helps, no caffiene after noon, no alchohol. If I need a little bit of a boost, Valerian has worked wonders for me. Much better than Benedryl (no hangover from valerian) and Melatonin never did much.
I hate to admit it, but after years of this off and on, my NP convinced me that I wouldn't be a failure to have some Ambien in my drawer for when things get really overwhelming. I use it very infrequently to break a bad cycle. My insomnia really feeds into itself because the less sleep I get, themore anxious I am during the day, the less sleep I get at night..and so on. The Ambien does really help to break the cycle. If I take it for a couple nights, then I can switch back to the Valerian and once I getmyself back ontrack with my healthy lifestyle...I am good!
Why are people so opposed to taking meds for insomnia (or any other psych-related d/o)? It can be a chronic condition, just like anything else. Would you hesitate to talk to your doc about meds for your DM, or HTN? Now, like anything else, it's best to try lifestyle modifications first. Thing is, most of us with horiffic, chronic insomnia have already changed what we can. I, for example, can't give up coffee - there is absolutely no other way for me to function during a 12 hour day with 2 hours of sleep. What I did years ago though was cut out coffee after 4. Maybe quitting entirely would eventually help break the cycle, but nursing school isn't the time to try.
I need to go back to my NP, since what she prescribed me last year is having less and less of an effect. I actually use a combination of things. I have a cup or two of "sleepytime tea" every night before bed - it has valerian and chamomile, and it seems to be helpful. I have prescribed clonazepam that I take PRN - usually every night before clinical, since I need all the help I can get when I have to get up at 0530. In a pinch, there's always Benadryl. I try to avoid mixing it with the clonazepam, but there are nights when nothing else works and I've been in bed for 4 hours already. None of this is perfect, and I'm not sure that any med will just fix it for me. I've tried to make as many healthy modifications as possible, and the insomnia kind of comes in waves. Talk to your doc/NP! Some folks just need a 2 week course to get back on a regular schedule, and they can give you lifestyle suggestions as well. Good luck, I know how you feel!
Effects of Caffeine can linger 8-12 hours after ingestion, even though the benefits of caffeine peak at 1 hr and seem to disappear at around 4 hours. Also, I suggested eliminating alcohol altogether when you have to be alert the next day, because consumed 6 hours prior to sleep can interrupt your sleep cycle. Of course I suppose you could have a drink at lunch, but then you might feel sleepy the rest of the day.
I am so happy to hear that I am not alone in this! All of my friends in nursing school fall asleep the minute they hit the pillow. Its so frustrating because they don't understand why I'm always tired. I have resorted to Ambien. I started out on Lunesta from a friend who's a doctor but I hated it. Then I asked my regular doctor for Ambien and she was really hesitant to give it to me. I'm trying to stretch this bottle out. I usually only take it the night before clinicals because otherwise I'll only get an hour or two of sleep which isn't safe. I even quit work my second semester because I was so nonfunctional due to being so tired. People need to sleep and not be afraid to do whatever they need to do to get them through. I keep thinking the stress will all be over when I graduate in December but I'm sure I'll have an all new stress being a new grad nurse!!
I have insomnia occasionally and it is usually brought on by stress or something that my mind won't give up thinking about. I ditto all the suggestions, especially that of going to a Dr. I also will sometimes take a bath to relax. I was also told not to exercise just before sleep,
I know you have to be so frustrated. I hope you will be able to get some restful sleep soon. Best regards,
I too had a bad sleeping problem. After not sleeping more than 3 hours a night i deemed myself unsafe to be working with patients. I went to my doc and he prescribed me trazadone and I will tell ya that I don't know how I lived without it. I take 150 mg and am asleep within a half an hour. So you might try it. I'm not groggy the next day and I feel wonderful on top of it (it is an antidepressant) Just a thought! good luck!!:zzzzz
Antid-epressants make me very nervous. I was in the military once upon a time and basically had a nervous breakdown. At the time I didn't know what was going on, I just felt crazy. In retrospect it was very clearly sleep deprivation. I was a jet engine mechanic and in a normal squadron you have about 20 people per one plane, in my squadron, because it was a training squadron (for training pilots), we had about 20 planes per person. Our CO put us on 10 hour shifts. That is not four 10 hour shifts either, it is six 10 hour shifts and we very frequently would be forced to work double shifts. On top of that we had duty every three weeks. It was very common for me to work a 12 hour gate guard shift, get off from that at 8 am and then have to be in the workshop 15 minutes later, with my supervisor yelling at me for being an hour late even though he knew I was on gate guard duty, and then have to pull another ten hour shift. My roommate was on the opposite shift, which just made things even worse. She was also really inconsiderate and always had her boyfriend in the room making noise (those kind of noises). Anyway, after months of that I started to unravel and went to see a psychologist who put me on Zoloft. The Zoloft was what tipped me over the edge. When I was on Zoloft I felt like I had absolutely no impulse control and like I was coming out of my skin.
It wasn't just me either. There were six suicides in our squadron in as many months. People were saying that out base had the highest suicide rate in the country. There was also a guy who cracked, chopped his wife up into pieces, stuffed her in a suitcase and dumped her off a bridge.
That experience has made me really reluctant to take anti-depressants. I don't feel like I'm depressed.
trazadone is often given in low doses to help with insomnia. I know a lot of people who take it for sleep issues who are not depressed. most people can sleep on just 25 mg. (a dose for someone depressed is 300 mg or more) I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience with zoloft. I hope you find something that works for you, going without sleep isn't a fun ordeal. Good luck!
Actually, before I started nursing school in January, I would have insomnia pretty badly and I had taken Ambien. When I started nursing school, I found myself falling asleep at a more normal time. I'm hoping that when I go back in August, I can get back into a better sleep mode as I am back to the insomnia.
I have tried the trazadone at a low dose as well and I did not love it but simply because it did not work well for me for very long only about 1 month then I had to change to something else. I did not have a problem with side effects or anything like that it just quit working as well. My problem is that once I do fall alseep my body is sooooo worn out I want to sleep for hours and hours, like 12 hours to be exact, you can almost set a clock by it. If I dont fall asleep til 4 or 5 I drag myself up at around 11 but I dont really wake up til around 4 in the afternoon I am walking around like a zombie all day!!!!
piel_canela26
68 Posts
i suggest you squeez some work out time.... it might work, i did for me going to the gym makes you tired and it releaves stress.