With my on and off insomnia, I have tried many ways to get myself to sleep. The first obvious choice is sleeping pills. I have too many of them on my counter. It works great when I have one of those off nights. What I hate about it is how groggy it makes me and how dependent I can become of it. For a while, I was taking the maximum level of Ambien 10mg for the tiny 95 lbs me. The effect is that I was tired all day, and my breathing became really shallow. It was so bad that my skin started turning gray from lack of oxygen. I could barely walk without shortness of breadth.
After 5 months on sleeping pills, and one months on maximum dose, I told myself that I have had it. The medication isn't curing my insomnia, it's just masking it, even the doctor told me it'll be like that. While my family doctor has no idea how to cure it other than maybe sent me to the psychiatrist or psychologist, I turned to Eastern medicine. I remember seeing an acupuncturist long time ago for my obgyn problems. I don't want to delve too much into that but herbal medicine worked naturally when traditional medicine had failed me.
My acupuncturist gave me 3 types of treatment: acupuncture (needle from head to toe), massage therapy (getting rid of those knots on my neck and back) and herbal medicine. The whole treatment was expensive! I have to say that after that my sleep problem was much much better. She was even a little counselor and told me to relax as a mom, and said that I may think it's tough as a mom but others have it much worse, and life is too short to spend stressing about stuff. How true is that! I just tend to forget it every once a while.
After a month of acupuncture treatment, I was able to lower my sleeping pills dosage from 3mg. I even slept on my own very nicely for a month without any help, but as most of us with insomnia knows, the problem never totally goes away. Obviously I'm still working on mine or I won't be blogging here.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
History
So to start, let me give a little history of my sleep issue. I've always been one who take an average to half an hour to an hour to fall asleep. I need 9 hours of sleep a day to function. EVERYTHING changes when I had my first son. Before I had a kid, I assumed I'll have a sleeper, but nope, he was the worst sleeper in the world, seriously. He would wake up every 1.5 hour to nurse and nurse and nurse. Day and night, it continued.
Half year down the road, I was extremely tired all the time. I was never energized again. It was either from lack of sleep or lack of regular sleep I don't know. Even when my son turned 2, he would still wake up a few times a night. But by then, my sleep pattern is already so jacked up.
Finally after I tried to stay up late to catch up some personal time, at 1 o clock, I went to bed and I couldn't sleep. I took some benadryl, drink a little wine and was out. A few nights later, I still had the same problem. This time I drank more and more wine. I was dangerously mixing wine with drugs, but it was the only thing that could put me to sleep at the time. For someone who can barely drink half a glass of wine at a party, I finished half a bottle and was still unable to fall asleep.
That night, my husband caught me walking to the bathroom collapsing on him. That's when we both found out how serious my problem was. At the same time I was having insomnia, I was getting more and more angsy, shorter temper, and even a harder time to fall asleep. I was feeling very desperate.
Half year down the road, I was extremely tired all the time. I was never energized again. It was either from lack of sleep or lack of regular sleep I don't know. Even when my son turned 2, he would still wake up a few times a night. But by then, my sleep pattern is already so jacked up.
Finally after I tried to stay up late to catch up some personal time, at 1 o clock, I went to bed and I couldn't sleep. I took some benadryl, drink a little wine and was out. A few nights later, I still had the same problem. This time I drank more and more wine. I was dangerously mixing wine with drugs, but it was the only thing that could put me to sleep at the time. For someone who can barely drink half a glass of wine at a party, I finished half a bottle and was still unable to fall asleep.
That night, my husband caught me walking to the bathroom collapsing on him. That's when we both found out how serious my problem was. At the same time I was having insomnia, I was getting more and more angsy, shorter temper, and even a harder time to fall asleep. I was feeling very desperate.
Hello!
Hello and welcome to my new blog! To me this world is divided into two groups of people. Those of us who sleep perfectly fine every night; takes 5 minutes to fall asleep. And then there are those of us who on a good day stare at the ceiling for 15-30 minutes, count sheep for even longer. And finally an hour or two later, we're also fast asleep. I was in the second group of people. Sleep never came easy, but unfortunately it has gotten much worse in recent years.
Ever since I became a mom and took my mommy job too seriously, I have been having insomnia. I know anxiety, depression, caffeine, nutrition and many others all play a role in contributing to my issue. I am only 31 years old, and I have been on sleep pills for a year. I have taken dosage higher than what the doctor recommends but I just couldn't sleep.
And now after many tries and some success and some failures. I have a better idea of my body and will start blogging on how I try to beat insomnia and get bad to living a normal life. I hope for those of you who may or may not have the same problem to share your views here too. Thanks for reading about me!
Ever since I became a mom and took my mommy job too seriously, I have been having insomnia. I know anxiety, depression, caffeine, nutrition and many others all play a role in contributing to my issue. I am only 31 years old, and I have been on sleep pills for a year. I have taken dosage higher than what the doctor recommends but I just couldn't sleep.
And now after many tries and some success and some failures. I have a better idea of my body and will start blogging on how I try to beat insomnia and get bad to living a normal life. I hope for those of you who may or may not have the same problem to share your views here too. Thanks for reading about me!
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