Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Make it stop.  Preferably without drinking.

Welcome to the insomic's club, have a complimentary painkiller for the inevitable headaches and backaches you'll have in the morning.

Tried meditating to clear your head? It's cozy with the cozy meditation music and makes you feel like you at least got "some" rest...

A glass of warm milk with a touch of cognac will do the trick :laugh:

A hot cup of Chai tea and two Unisome always works for me. Have you tried something like that yet?

I got some valerian pills today thanks to a few recommendations.  I'll let you know if they work.

I'm going on 4 months now of 3-4 hours of sleep during the week, so if it fixes me I bet it will fix anybody.

I don't even know how I will handle having all that energy and brain function back if it does work, er, I mean when it works.  Must stay positive...

A lot more people have trouble sleeping than I thought.

I'll try some red tea before bed tonight... I have to get up at 6:30.  It's not that I'm not sleeping at all, it's that it takes me hours to get to sleep.  Then I have weird dreams.  I never dream.

If the tea doesn't work I'll try the warm milk thing.

Is this because I haven't smoked dope in over a week?  Or because I quit smoking?

Edit:  I can't believe I wrote "don't work" in there.  I have an English degree.

Tobacco can cause insomnia, nightmares, and night-swetting, as a withdrawal symptom.
Some ppl have reported trouble falling asleep as a withdrawal symptom from cannabis.

If you'r having trouble falling asleep, is your mind racing during that time?
Cause "mind racing" is something you can control with enough practice.

Yeah, that's definitely happening.  I mostly just want my brain to shut up for five minutes.  What I usually end up doing is staying up and active until I reach the point of exhaustion.  During which time I could be doing something productive, but I never do.

I've had insomnia since I was a small child. I'm suffering from it right now, actually.

My first two weeks of T had me sleeping pretty soundly and consistently, but not anymore. Sleeping pills don't work either.

Quote from: Jester on February 24, 2010, 05:26:50 AM
Yeah, that's definitely happening.  I mostly just want my brain to shut up for five minutes.  What I usually end up doing is staying up and active until I reach the point of exhaustion.  During which time I could be doing something productive, but I never do.

Okay, here's the thing.

Basic meditation teaches you to focus your thoughts. To discard all the "mind racing" things and put all your thoughts on one thing.
The thing I pull my mind back towards is my breath. That's my key.
Whenever my mind starts to wander, I pull all of my focus towards feeling the rush of air through my nose, the temperature shift as I inhale and exhale, the rhythm of my chest as I breathe, the feeling of the muscles of my chest and back relaxing and stretching out in reaction to the expansion of my chest, the sound of the air passing through my nose and throat area, the change in rhythm of my heartbeat between inhale and exhale, etc.
It's a lot of little things that are "my breath" and these things are what I keep pulling my mind towards... and they keep all the "did I forget to?" and the "what if?" and the "I really hate" and all that.. out of my head.

Now, I do this until I reach a meditative state, during the day, and then use that meditative state to do more "stuff".. but if I have a hard time falling asleep, I just use that to keep my head quiet.
Doesn't always work for me, but when it helps, it helps a lot.

I'll give it a shot.

I second Miniar's "lie down and relax" if you can't sleep, it's better than nothing.

I've slept.

Woot! Now get up! :P (kidding)

I.... it's morning already?