Am I the only undrugged person? (health issues, hormones, arms, diet)

[Grlzrl]

Originally Posted by VTsnowbird

I have tried different pills for occasional insomnia, the best I have found is melatonin, which is a natural substance. And it helps me stay asleep also, if I wake up at 4AM I can go back to sleep until 6 or so.

I can't take it. It gives me crazy dreams and I don't get into a restful sleep. I have tried small doses and big doses.

Originally Posted by mascoma

Melatonin worked for me but I was sleepy all day the day after I took it. I used to take tryptopan and that helped.

Originally Posted by Roselvr

You need your sleep. No one can keep going without it, especially having an ADHD kid and a difficult one.

If you can get to sleep but not stay asleep, try the OTC midnite, $7 at Walmart. Pop one on your tongue, close your eyes, you'll be back to sleep. If not, try a 2nd.

You can also try Unisom gels or Tylenol PM to see if it helps and if it doesn't, see your doctor. My daughter and I take generic Lunesta, some generics work while others don't but I've been on it a long time. Right now I use Walgreens which is the better then what my local CVS has.

When you get your first chemo, they give you a huge dose of Benydryl because some people have an allergic reaction. I was drowsy but wide awake. Most people sleep. I can't take antihistamines which is the active ingredient in many sleep aids.

Originally Posted by kitty61

You are not stupid but you are a candidate. Prevention is key. Help is needed.

I have a warning for you. Before you succumb to some artificial means to releive your stress and/or addiction you need some self-soothing methods to support you. We aren't born with the tools to cope with overwhelment. Healthy coping mechanisms have to be taught and if you got none of that growing up I think you could learn some now.

I got healthy coping education from 8 months of rehab along with 12 step programs. I know you are not going there yet but you can't leave it to chance. Sooner or later you could become a user. Nip in bud and look everywhere for self-help audio or text, face to face professional, group. Do you have a community health center? Good for services and referrals.


It takes work though and the rewards are unmeasureable. Please take my word for it.


I wish you the very best life has to offer.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by SFBayBoomer

Discussing your problems, stress, etc. with a professional is a good first step. They may or may not decide you need an anti-depressant, but it's up to you whether you use it.

About a year after my mother died (years ago) I experienced delayed grief. It helped me tremendously to talk not only with a grief counselor, but a psychologist. Group meditation was also popular then, and it was also helpful. I learned to meditate, and wish I would do it more often, like now that we are isolated.

But if you are looking for something quick that you can do now, I would suggest searching YouTube (hopefully via your television, so that you aren't staring into a small phone or tablet) for meditation. You don't want to have to scroll or do anything that will disturb the meditation. Darken the room, sit on your bed or a mat, and don't have any distractions.

We have TiVo with YouTube. I found a very good channel, associated with the Monterey Bay Aquarium. At first, my husband and I just watched the sweet little penguins roam around the empty aquarium. That helped, and then another video appeared, and we decided to do guided meditation. We both agreed we felt wonderful and calm afterwards. We did it right before we went to sleep.

I highly recommend guided meditation. I'll try to find the link for you.

Here is a link to several:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...CJNylwgyrB72V6

Here's the first one we did, with the famous jellies of the Aquarium:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J2l...CJNylwgyrB72V6

I hope you feel as relaxed as we did after meditating.

Thanks. I have wanted to try this. I have tried it some but always get away from it.


I guess what many people don't realize is that hormone blockers wreak havoc on sleep. I can stop taking them for a while because I can't take the lack of sleep and I start sleeping again. Then I go back on them because I get scared of being off them and start laying awake for hours again. Lots of post cancer tests to see if it came back (CTS and ultrasounds) are very stressful, too. You can try to eliminate stress but some stress can't be eliminated. As many say, it has to be managed.

[jaminhealth]

OP: MY sleep combo which contains 1/2mg melatonin and my other stuff and also a tablet of Calms Forte' gives me many dreams all night but I'm getting deep long sleep so I can deal with the dreams...actually many are enjoyable. Lots of my life comes up in my dreams...

[Parnassia]

Just "dealing with" intense, crazy dreams and subsequent poor sleep is going to be an issue for someone with so much on their daily plate. Melatonin can really create problems for those who have work, family, etc. A former co-worker had trouble with intense dream cycles and daytime drowsiness too and ended up losing as much as he gained. FWIW, I tried it some years ago when having some anxiety-related sleep issues and found the wild dreaming a problem...and I really enjoy dreams! If they'd only happened on weekends when I had time to appreciate them...

[Karen59]

If I am very stressed, I fast. I don't eat when I get up in the morning.

The stress lasts that day until about 8PM that day.

(It's almost magical, the drop in stress at 8PM after a day of fasting, and the feeling of euphoria that replaces it.)

All the day, I feel both anxiety (this is assuming there is something to feel anxious about) and hunger. But, in the evening both fade very quickly.

I sleep soundly (no food) with pleasant dreams and wake in the morning with a feeling of euphoria that lasts, even if I have a tiny meal.

[Klassyhk]

Originally Posted by Grlzrl

Sometimes my stress level is really so over the top. I have a REALLY ADHD kid and another kind of difficult kid and I had cancer and the meds keep me from sleeping well EVER. I could go on and on. Some methods of reducing stress no longer work and I won't go into it.

But everyone has solutions and most of them I have tried (regarding sleep) but when I talk to people and think about people, I feel like I am the only one who doesn't drink or use some drug to reduce stress.

I know people who take stuff to sleep, or drink every day, or use Xanax or get high all the time. The list goes on.

I just wonder. Am I the only one who doesn't have SOME way to self medicate? Am I just stupid?

Same here. I'm always sober and face life as it comes. I must confess though that I've had a blessed life even with the ups and downs. I lean heavily on my faith (the Bible, prayer, and fellowship with other Believers) to deal with things that are out of my control, to handle daily stress in life, and annoying/aggravating people.

I also do the practical things like staying hydrated, eating well, exercising, and being careful about the words that I speak. Our words, as well as our actions, do create our lives in a lot of ways. Over 5 decades on this earth and no drugs, alcohol, or long-term prescriptions to get me through it other than when I'm prescribed 7-day antibiotics after having dental surgery.

[Mike from back east]

What works for me is a shot of NyQuil, knocks me out in 20 minutes, clears my sinus, and I sleep often 8 hours. I may feel a bit groggy waking up but it goes away within minutes of starting to move around. I have sleep apnea and sleep is a problem area for me. I have a couple glasses of wine sometimes which helps me get to sleep but I wake up after 5 hours and that's all she wrote as far as more sleep.

I was battling some sort of flu like crud from 11 Jan to the end of Feb and I went through two bottles of NyQuil. It is not habit forming.

[Serious Conversation]

I'm 34.

I've never had a serious health problem of any kind. I've not had any significant doctor's visit since I was maybe in my mid-20s. I had a septoplasty in my 20s. A wrist surgery to correct some lingering football and wrestling injuries. I have broken my left wrist twice, right wrist once, and dislocated my right thumb once between high school football/wrestling. Otherwise, doctor free since then. I haven't had a dental issue since 2012.

I drink fairly heavily (95% beer, some wine), but am very active (generally average 8000-9000 steps a day over a month, lift weights, hike, kayak, etc.). I'm also overweight - about 5'8, 240 now, but was a serious weightlifter for ten years and am muscular, so 200 for me would be a good walkaround weight. I peaked around 260 - and while 240 feels better, 200 or so would be a good "fit and trim" weight for me. I got down to 170 in college while working at Walmart, going to class, etc., eating little, and felt awful. I felt much better at the 190-200 I was then. I'm mildly hypertensive, but that would go away with a better diet and restricting my drinking.

I eat somewhere between great and awful. Today's breakfast was steel cut oats and raspberries. That's a normal breakfast most of the week. Sometimes I'll fry pork sausage, but I usually eat a bit of vegetarian or turkey sausage during the week with breakfast. Lunch was a small package of lunch meat with local blueberries, salad greens, and green onions. Dinner was some fried chicken tender with family with green beans.

Dinner one day this week was eighteen chicken wings with nothing else.

As I get older, it's harder to come back from a massive bender, or maybe I just drink more than I did in my early-mid 20s. I had three pints at the pub one night this week with a fried catfish, grilled asparagus, and baked/chopped red potato dinner. Apparently I drank fourteen bottles of Bud Light after that at home. I spent most of the next day in the bed on my laptop snoozing and monitoring emails periodically.

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by Grlzrl

I can't take it. It gives me crazy dreams and I don't get into a restful sleep. I have tried small doses and big doses.





When you get your first chemo, they give you a huge dose of Benydryl because some people have an allergic reaction. I was drowsy but wide awake. Most people sleep. I can't take antihistamines which is the active ingredient in many sleep aids.



Thanks.



Thanks. I have wanted to try this. I have tried it some but always get away from it.


I guess what many people don't realize is that hormone blockers wreak havoc on sleep. I can stop taking them for a while because I can't take the lack of sleep and I start sleeping again. Then I go back on them because I get scared of being off them and start laying awake for hours again. Lots of post cancer tests to see if it came back (CTS and ultrasounds) are very stressful, too. You can try to eliminate stress but some stress can't be eliminated. As many say, it has to be managed.

Can you exercise? That helps with stress.

I lost my husband a almost a year ago, and it’s stressful. After a whole life of head hit the pillow and I’m out is OVER. So about an hour before I go to bed, I play some solitaire, cards on the table, not on the phone or laptop. I light a lavender candle it smells beautifully while I play and breathe deeply and let it out, breathe in deeply and let it out. And I drink a cup of Sleepytime vanilla tea. No sugar, doesn’t really need it with the vanilla, and somehow it doesn’t taste like sticks like regular Sleepytime tea. Frankly, I don’t think it’s the tea at all, I think it’s the warm in my tummy. So it could be warm milk, or just warm water with a little lemon in it.

Then off to bed after I make sure I blow out the candle and it’s really out and I put away the card so the cats don’t take them all over the house, and I relax with a good book and the tv. I still don’t fall asleep right away, but I am relaxed. Which helps.

[Matt Marcinkiewicz]

Most (all?) of the people I've ever met who've never drank or used drugs are people I'd never, ever want to be. Perusing this thread for responses of the 'straight-edge' ilk, the same holds here. There are always obvious worldview handicaps or empathy limitations with these people. The people who can endure this world without chemical help are themselves deficient in ways obvious to those of us who do use substances to cope with our superior perspicacity. If I had to summarize the difference succinctly, it may be that the 'non-users' lack the ability to be convinced that their POV is not all-encompassing. Because once you know you're fallible, once you truly know that, good luck dealing with that self-awareness. Once I truly realized that every human being out there is a distinct case study of one, a person I could spend a lifetime attempting to know but never succeeding at doing so...yeah, I have some well-considered but still lacking idea about my limitations. The people who sleep well at night while sober do not truly know their limitations. And they never will.

[Schuttzie]

Originally Posted by jaminhealth

If you look in the Alt Med group (That Elusive Sleep) post you will find a long bunch of comments and the post which I've changed over the years a tad, but basically the same. I take 1/2mg melatonin and I know many take large doses and I'm thankful I don't, as it can grog one out.

Thank you, Jamin, I appreciate the information