Heartland

Have had a series of utterly s**t attempts at sleep recently due to ridiculous stresses at work. We're talking 2 hours per night on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Time not sleeping has been spent trying NOT to let job stuff come boomeranging back into my head, and there has been no escape.

I've taken a sleeping pill 50 mins ago -the first for quite some time- and now have very heavy legs and a heavy head. Coordination is suffering as I'm now walking into things. Typing this message has been littered with mistakes. Even though I'm on my own it's quite entertaining, obviously.
I did it because I REALLY need a good night's sleep. Previously, I'd used the wonders of chemistry for an enhanced evening out. Now I'm old I'm having an enhanced evening in.

Of course, what I REALLY need is to rid be of the ridiculous idiots at work who are causing me all the stress in the first place.

I hope you're enjoying some kind of a good evening just now.

Cheers
G

I know something which never fails, and it doesn't involve medication

DerekR wrote:I know something which never fails, and it doesn't involve medication

Fully agree Derek. Never fails for me. I have tried Zopiclone in the past though and felt like John Hurt in Alien when I've woke up.

& nice avatar by the way.

i TOLD him to employ me...

oh, babe. i'm all tearful now. stay safe..

Speaking to someone about it Clive might be a better route than Pills, I've been there

Gripper wrote: Of course, what I REALLY need is to rid be of the ridiculous idiots at work who are causing me all the stress in the first place.

Totally ...
Other than resigning, the only real solution to this involves some Rizlas ...
- Good Luck anyway!

Sorry Grips, afraid I'm on your side. A good dose of booze to numb the s**t skullwards for moi.

Whatever sorts you out and doesn't leave you deaded is fine in my books.

I know your pain, Gripper - sleeping pills give me the worst medicine head the following day.

You might want to consider melatonin - long-haul pilots have been using it for years, and it's readily available (well it is in the US and the UK) without prescription - you can pick it up in vitamin supplement shops. I find it works like a charm - between 1-2mg before bed and I sleep like a narcoleptic kitten and wake up ready to smack 7 shades of nonsense out of the idiots I have to work with. What's good about it is that your body manufactures melatonin naturally, it's what makes you sleep, so all you're doing is adding a bit to what you've already got. It's way cheaper than anything you can get from the chemists, and it's not habit-forming (at least, I don't think so).

Leaving work at the office would help too - not always possible but definitely worth seeing if you can designate some "Me" time in the evening, something to keep your mind active but not thinking about work. Play a game (cards, scrabble, chess, backgammon), read a book or magazine, do the ironing, something that you need to concentrate on. Watching TV doesn't work for me, it's too passive. A change in diet might help also - if you're focused on chopping, prepping, cooking a meal then that often helps you switch off, far more so than throwing a boil-in-the-bag curry into the microwave (I mean, I don't know what your diet is like now, but I used to find that I was eating a lot of cr*p on top of the stress, sleeping 4 hours a night and crashing hard on the weekends. Planning a week's worth of meals also helps take your mind off what's going on at the office).

Hope some of this helps - I know you weren't asking for help but you know, I'm just a genuinely helpful (and evil, of course) b@stard

he's got the cooking covered.
trouble is, in our line of work, it never stays in the office. it's always with you.

I take 17 pills a day just to feel like shit, taking my work home caused this. I still worry about work but do my best to divide it from my homelife, it's tough. I feel your pain Clive, hang in there dude.

Been there too, so I know the pain. All good advice so far (even the booze, if that's what works for you), but sometimes the best solution is to just take yourself away from it entirely. Book a long break, do whatever floats your personal boat, and get the sh-t out of your head.

emilystrange wrote:trouble is, in our line of work, it never stays in the office. it's always with you.

Might I suggest finding a career other than "mafia hitman"?

Only one way to leave, though...

Insomniacs of the world unite! I've found it hard getting to sleep ever since I was a kid. My mum used to try and sing me lullabies and help me to do "relaxation exercises"... imagine you're lying in a lovely green field by a stream etc etc.

The thing is it was the very importance I was placing on being able to relax that was making it so bloody impossible. The more I got desperate to fall asleep the more hours I would lie there awake - very rarely less than 2... just tossing and turning, so aware of the fact that I wasn't sleeping yet. As I got older and such petty concerns were usurped by far more disturbing and irrational ones, I stopped caring whether I dropped off or not and lo and behold, I did. Once I let go of this idea that I must get a good sleep, I'd go out like a light!

I think insomnia is more often a psychological than a physiological condition, often getting more and more intense because of the sufferer's very attempts to get rid of it (have a milky drink and a hot bath, take a herbal remedy, get into bed and immediately put pressure on yourself to conk out . It won't work). So the best advice I could give would be to take whatever comes - check yourself from get anxious about it. Your body will do the rest.

During a very bad period I had at the end of last year, when I was - let's just say very unwell - and I didn't sleep at all for days, I was prescribed Temazepam (or was it Diazepam? I can't remember but whatever, not good)... never go for these for more than a night or two, no matter what, because they are majorly addictive. And in my experience made very little difference.

I'd advise you to tackle it at the source and sleep will follow. Maybe talk to your doctor if you feel the need. Hope some of this helps

Would you lot keep it down, some of us are trying to sleep!

I too have suffered from anxiety-related insomnia for what seems like 1000 years ever since I was a little girl... some nights it is morning before sleep comes, which frankly is a pain in the arse.

More recently due to hideous work stresses, I also developed disturbing OCD type behaviour....
...in the end to sleep I would (and sometimes still do) run through the alphabet making wonderful lists... OMG... which Mr splinteredthing finds very amusing.
anyway, it worked for me, sleep started to become more achievable.

If at all possible, avoid the pills I say.

Hom_Corleone wrote:

DerekR wrote:I know something which never fails, and it doesn't involve medication

Fully agree Derek. Never fails for me. I have tried Zopiclone in the past though and felt like John Hurt in Alien when I've woke up.

& nice avatar by the way.

Agreed, one always finds oneself passing the time of day there when in town.

mh wrote:Only one way to leave, though...

My god it´s Sneaky the Snake in your Avatar. What are trying to do to me Mh , reawakening all those childhood nightmares or something??
Bring back Judge!!

You want Judge?

mh wrote:You want Judge?

Its Judge!!!



Thanks , I feel better now. No need for me now to take any of those nasty sleepers.

imposter!!

all hail the one true judge:

7 hours sleep-that is more than I've had in ages.......why is she doing Kung Fu?

You can also get melatonin prescribed too, we have quite a few people who get it from us. Also, just to re-iterate what people have already said here do be aware of being prescribed temazepam, zopiclone, diazepam, nitrazepam etc etc, doctors are notorious for over prescribing them. They are only meant to prescribe them for a maximum of 14 days only, but of course this doesn't happen.

Quiff Boy wrote:imposter!!

all hail the one true judge:

Quiff Boy wrote:imposter!!

all hail the one true judge: