Ann (sorry I have an Anne in the family so I always tend to put that ‘e’ on the end!) I have been struggling to read on the RP forum because I mostly have to use a smartphone and it doesn’t work so well. I did a search on insomnia and although I did not get far due to the phone, I did get a few pages, and on one there was something confusing about the thyroid releasing ‘colloid’ when no longer suppressed, and this causing insomnia. I don’t know, and don’t know what one would do if this is so. But seeing as today I have access for a while to a laptop, so much easier, I thought I’d ask you about insomnia. While more fruit, sugar, salt, aspirin, and gelatin are doing a lot for energy and aching, my sleep, already abysmally bad, is going the other way :( . Fast :(. So bad that I’m functioning worse during the day, so badly that I’m struggling to think. I have tried everything I can think of/have been told. A big/small/early/late/no meat dinner. caffeine/exercise/naps have all been tried in all combinations, no clear results. Gelatin/sugar/salt/aspirin/niacin before bed/in the night sometimes do/don’t work. I’m not eating purist RP style so I don’t even know what to step back on if I’ve taken it too far. I tried half a pregnenolone – 15mg -two days then stopped in case that was it. Too early no doubt but I’m getting desperate. I tried less/more progesterone cream. I’ve tried various teas and sachets of stuff – currently magnesium theanine and glycine – no help. Looking it up, I just reread stuff I’ve read before, plus frankly unhelpful stuff saying alarm clocks are the devil and one should do ‘free running sleep’ and so on. I usually find exercise helpful but it’s not making any difference to anything at the moment – a 1.5 hour walk yesterday; riding a horse for 30 minutes, quite demanding – on Friday; 4 days of exercise all in last week but usually it’s 5. If anything, nights are worse after exercise but that doesn’t mean better if none, as I’ve tracked sleep many times looking for patterns and the pattern is – there is no pattern. what seems to influence sleep one night does the opposite the next. Going to sleep is not the problem. Even multiple wakeups are not the end of the world if, in between times, I get satisfying sleep as opposed to feeling like I’m just dozing. I’ve tried relaxation but as I said, going to sleep is not the problem. so meditation/no backlit screens, tv, phone, laptop at all/for hours before bedtime also no go.
If, as I used to, I was simply overdoing RP’s stuff I could easily back off. Also, if I could think straight perhaps I could see what the problem was. Literally the only thing I haven’t done is prescription drugs and I have no interest in going that way from all I’ve read.
Excuse the chaotic nature of this post which simply reflects the state of my brain. I don’t know. Expensive over-hyped ‘sleep clinics’ next??
