F#&*$ed up sleep

josh$$

josh$$

FTA
Joined
Sep 12, 2007
Location
Morganton NC
Since 2006 after coming home from Iraq where my sleep schedule was none existence. But even now i still have trouble getting to sleep, staying asleep, and or sleeping at all. Maybe someday i will be able to sleep like normal people. LOL not im a combat veteran.
So i was just wondering from any other military personal/prior service have the same problems
 
try some melatonin.... over the counter vitamin that has a sleep aid. non addicting....
 
I feel ya pain man ever since i got back from Afghanistan where our schedule was grab a few hours of sleep whenever you could. I lay in bed for hours sometime trying to fall asleep. Talked to the VA of course they are useless
 
the only "combat" i've seen is onboard a ship but I just came back from being foward deployed in the middle east and i've been having the same problem but not everyday
 
In Sundays Charlotte Observer, always has the Parade Magazine, in it. Was a good piece, by Dr.Oz, in it, on getting Sleep. Most of the info, has been out for years, but most folks, & I, fail to follow a healthy pattern. Was a couple of facts, I haven't seen before. Sure it's online, & wont take long to read. Good luck!
 
Zaleplon 20mg = 6 hours of deep sleep.

Xanax for 8 hours of good dream sleep.

As far as being addictive, If you are truly a person that has trouble sleeping, that won't matter to you.

I've had terrible sleep for years, not anymore!
 
Thank you for your service everyone. You deserve some rest. I am no veteran but I have had insomnia for years. Have you tried any sound/sleep machines? We have used one for years and may be addicted to it! It can play crickets,Wind, waves on the beach, fast stream flowing, rain, etc. It seems to help I and my wife sleep, esp. when one of us falls asleep before the other, and snores loudly:shaking:. I take a shot (or 2) of good 80-90 proof bourbon sometimes and it helps me relax when I can't sleep and my mind is racing but my body is exhausted, keyed up like I'm on my 3rd or 4th wind. Good luck w this and sleep well.
 
mommucked said:
Thank you for your service everyone. You deserve some rest. I am no veteran but I have had insomnia for years. Have you tried any sound/sleep machines? We have used one for years and may be addicted to it! It can play crickets,Wind, waves on the beach, fast stream flowing, rain, etc. It seems to help I and my wife sleep, esp. when one of us falls asleep before the other, and snores loudly:shaking:. I take a shot (or 2) of good 80-90 proof bourbon sometimes and it helps me relax when I can't sleep and my mind is racing but my body is exhausted, keyed up like I'm on my 3rd or 4th wind. Good luck w this and sleep well.
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Tried a bunch of over the counter sleep aids and other sleep aids by the docs but nothing works usually just makes me more out of it but not able to actually able to sleep. I only get a break when i was deployed for my second deployment and when im out wheeling. Never figured that out why i sleep better when im on a wheeling weekend i would just stay out in the woods wheeling but the family might start missing me. But as far as the bourbon i can not do 1 I take other meds that alcohol is not recommended and 2 i've never taken a drink in my life. but thanks to all for the advise
 
yodakid said:
Since 2006 after coming home from Iraq where my sleep schedule was none existence. But even now i still have trouble getting to sleep, staying asleep, and or sleeping at all. Maybe someday i will be able to sleep like normal people. LOL not im a combat veteran.
So i was just wondering from any other military personal/prior service have the same problems
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Yodakid, I have the same problem! I can't ever get to sleep. I did 2 combat tours to Iraq. The first was in 2003 for the initial push from Kuwait to Baghdad. Then in 05 I went back and hit fallujah. My docs have been trying to get me to take sleep meds for years and I won't do it. I have a wife and 2 kiddos at home and don't wanna be knocked out. Here it is almost 1230am and I'm still wide awake. Every once in a while I fall asleep on the couch at maybe 10 or 11 but then I'm back up around 1 or 2. My big issue I am having now is waking up for work. Almost every night I don't get to sleep until 2 or 3 and then have to be right back up at 630 for work. My body has adjusted to it I guess. Getting maybe 5 hours a sleep a night. So for your question, yes i have the same problem and I can't stand it. My wife hates it because I can never go to bed and stay in bed with her. Even if I was to go lay down with her I am right back up. Best thing I can tell youmto do, if you are not already doing it. Go to the va hospital. I go there but also work there.

Also there are nights, usually 3-5 nights a week. That I wake up 3 or 4 times a night and just walk thru the house.. Mymwife told me that i get up, cut all the lights on, look out the windows and then go back to bed.

Enough about that, hope you can figure out how to get some sleep!
 
tried the sound machine and all it did was make me uneasy and have to go pee lol
caffeine intake is low to none
and to JeepN1371 you and me sound just alike and i go to the va at the least once a week and do most of the same stuff as you but when im actually asleep in the bed my wife says i do alot of the same stuff and more often i sleep(lay) on the couch so i dont screw with her sleep.
 
I usually end up coming to bed hours after the wife. She doesn't like that at all. Hell I don't like it either, it's just the way it works.


Sent from my microwave using a teleportation device.
 
The key to fixing sleep problems is getting up. I know that sounds bad but its true. Pick a time to get up. For me its 6am. If on occasion if you want to sleep in an hour thats ok but never more than an hour. The next step is to eliminate naps. Then never go to bed before a time that would have you in bed for more than 8 hours and no less than 5. Do this for two weeks. At first you will think its not working but after two weeks you will notice the difference. After a few months your problem will be mostly gone.
 
I've worked night shift for the last 15 yrs. and flip to "normal" hours on my days off. My sleep is about as screwed-up as you can get.

I've tried natural and melatonin and other over the counter sleep aids with some success but always felt drugged hours after I woke up. :beer: and Burbon work but the hangovers hurt more than they used to

Cutting out naps and trying to keep as structured a schedule as possible will get your body in a natural pattern. I have found that the sleep masks help me get a more sound sleep and for longer periods, even at night. I can't explain why, but it works!

Thanks for your service, I hope you find a solution soon.
 
i get 4.5 hrs of sleep a night, any more than that and i feel like crap. i usually go to bed around 11:00 and asleep by midnight, at 4:30 i usually sit up and look at the clock and figure i might as well go to work since i'm awake.
i have sleep apnea, after going to many doctors, one recommended doing a sleep study. the study showed that although i appeared to be sleeping, my brain was waking my body up every 45 seconds. they said that during an 8hr period my brain went into rem sleep for 8 min.
after the sleep study, they put me on a breathing machine and it worked great for about 6months then i started having issues again and they said the machine needed to be re-calibrated and to do that i had to do another sleep study.(i am self employed and self pay so that wasn't happening) now i just deal with 4.5 hrs of sleep.
 
transman731 said:
i get 4.5 hrs of sleep a night, any more than that and i feel like crap. i usually go to bed around 11:00 and asleep by midnight, at 4:30 i usually sit up and look at the clock and figure i might as well go to work since i'm awake.
i have sleep apnea, after going to many doctors, one recommended doing a sleep study. the study showed that although i appeared to be sleeping, my brain was waking my body up every 45 seconds. they said that during an 8hr period my brain went into rem sleep for 8 min.
after the sleep study, they put me on a breathing machine and it worked great for about 6months then i started having issues again and they said the machine needed to be re-calibrated and to do that i had to do another sleep study.(i am self employed and self pay so that wasn't happening) now i just deal with 4.5 hrs of sleep.
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I also have a cpap. New newer machines adjust automatically. When I first got it, I thought it was stupid and seemed like it didn't work. If I fell asleep without it, my lady would wake me to put it on. She told me that I slept very peacefully with it, without it I gasped and snorted myself awake.

again on the cpap pressure, it starts low (mine at 7) for a while, when you pass out, pressure goes up to 12 most times. I've woke up sometimes and it's been as high as 17.

I use the Resmed S9, and fought the urge not to get a full face mask. Once I got the goofy looking mask, I'll never go without it. I take mine everywhere.
 
This may sound like a dumb question but how much physial activity do you get now that you are back home?

I was having a ton of trouble sleeping, actually was diagnosed with a weird sllep disorder when I was like 16 I used to sleep 2 hours a night..ever. Never sleepy, never naps, my body just "needed" 2 hours. About 30 that shit turned off. Now I need like 6-8 but had trouble getting it. Doctor wanted to put me to on a CPAP and I resisted. My thoughts were that this couldnt have been the solution for centuries, surely someone else had experienced this.

Did a bunch of research, took a bunch of snake oil. Then I medicatd myself with alcohol for 3 years. Finally last Spetember I met someone with the same symptoms. He is a childhood friend and a MD now. He gave me a long winded explanation about body chemistry etc. Essentially he said with my crrent desk jockey life style I was not burning the eneregy my body was producing. He recommended a vigorous 30 minuto walk/jog an hour before bed time. I was skeptical as hell thinking if I do that and get me heart pumping I will never sleep. Well I tried it and combind it with the old turn off the TV and all noise and cut cafeine off a few hours before bed.

And for the last few months I have slept better than ever. Now when it rains and i cant go for my run, I sleep like shat. Contemplating buying a treadmill.

Just thinking if your physial activity was much greater "over there" if yours could be similar.

Good luck. Everyone deserves a peaceful rest.
 
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