I have suffered on and off for years and it does effect ones daily life
in as much as feeling depressed and lethargic. I volunteered for a trial of valerian for 3 months and that helped tremendously. Nowadays I acept the periods of insomnia and try and do a breathing meditation to get me to sleep which works 8 out of 10 times, plus a parecetamal always does the trick.

Oh yes, a chronic insomniac of 7 years - and I hate it!

My insomnia started in 1997 and got increasingly worse through the years. I started off as a well-balanced person with ambitions and interested in life.. Fast forward to today and I am like a zombie going through the clockword motions of the day and feeling irresistable urges to sleep during the daytime.

My insomnia has trangressed into what I believe is narcoleptic symptoms, in which I fall asleep regularly on public transport and miss my stops, fall asleep in meetings, whilst reading, during lectures whilst I was at uni, and most embarrassingly whilst i'm talking or driving I suffer from micro-sleeps!

In the past I tried almost everything: herbal pills, cds, over-the-counter, medicated drugs, lavender oil, massage, acupuncture, walm milk.. Nothing seemed to work. I eventually got into reluctant acceptance of my condition.

I think the worst symptoms are the ones that relate directly to my personal life, the inomnia has cause me: lethargy, emotionless, depression, loss of libido, lack of interest, anti-social tendencies. People that sleep well never seem to understand what I am going through. I constantly have black shadows under my eyes.

I suffer a very private pain, that on the whole I manage to keep under wraps from the public world. I struggle to get up, and I struggle to keep awake but I force myself to do so for my public face and for my job.

Let me know if you want my email address and I can talk more..

I have been a terrible sleeper for as long as I can remeber. When I was little I can remember who and how many times my family members walked past my door or went to the bathroom. Then it was called being a "light sleeper".
It became every evident when my brother died and I had to identify his body. That has stuck in my mind and I just don't like to sleep at night. And I need to sleep at night because I have a young child I have to care for during the day. I will occasionally take a sleeping pill when i'm about to loose my mind with being a wake for so long.

Well I dont actually know for a fact that I have insomnia but from reading everyones posts its most likely on the cards!!

I have previously written a post about my lack of sleep but got no replies!!

I may be yawning etc and evening feel tired but I cant seem to be able to get myself to go to bed...Its almost like i'm a afraid of it!! I'll fight it till the sun comes up (once daylight i'm out like a light).

I too have little to no sex drive, huge bags under my eyes etc and have tried everything as well to help it!!

It is 5am as I am writing this!!!

Hi there
not sure if my posting is what you'r after but.............here you go , i very occasionaly sleep before 3.am uk time , i don't know why this is , it just is.
I do go to bed and try to sleep but it's just a complete waste of time so i'm putting my ''wakey wakey'' time to use by applying my first post , hope it helps your studies.
Regards
Gill

hi.ive had insomnia now for about a year and a half,altho i guess it can be linked back to being a child when i used to avoid sleeping..story is that i used to be beaten up every day as a child for being ginger, so i used to refuse to sleep in the hope the next days worth of beatings wouldnt come as quickly. I guess im what you call a self inflicted insomniac, because now if i have a slight worry or a major 1, i cant sleep. No matter what time i get in2 bed i wnt sleep til i physically cant stay awake any longer.
I have tried everyfing from doctor prescribed drugs,to relaxtion techiniques,herbal medicines, warm milk,relaxing scents....nothing worked..unfortunatly recently i have slipped into a bout of ten/eleven weeks of nt sleeping and ive begun to resort to stuff such as alcohol and self harming to try and relieve my stress. The way my insomnia effects me seems 2 make me depressed and suicidal, i tried 2 cut my wrists at around 5am cos i was sick of being awake but my dad stopped me,walked in at the right time.lucky huh?at school ive becme a zombie,prefering 2 spend hours alone than with so called friends(who dont seem 2 understand),my work has taken a hit as i dont do homework anymore,i cant work as m always sleepy,falling asleep in lessons and in the common room,losing my temper and eventuali crying for the first time in ten years the other day.its begun to get harder and less easy to talk to people as they are seeming to be sick of me complaining bt no-one seems 2 really understand..im starting to get councilling to help me get over my fear of sleep.anyway sorri for rambling on but i need to do something during these long hours...

hi.ive had insomnia now for about a year and a half,altho i guess it can be linked back to being a child when i used to avoid sleeping..story is that i used to be beaten up every day as a child for being ginger, so i used to refuse to sleep in the hope the next days worth of beatings wouldnt come as quickly. I guess im what you call a self inflicted insomniac, because now if i have a slight worry or a major 1, i cant sleep. No matter what time i get in2 bed i wnt sleep til i physically cant stay awake any longer.
I have tried everyfing from doctor prescribed drugs,to relaxtion techiniques,herbal medicines, warm milk,relaxing scents....nothing worked..unfortunatly recently i have slipped into a bout of ten/eleven weeks of nt sleeping and ive begun to resort to stuff such as alcohol and self harming to try and relieve my stress. The way my insomnia effects me seems 2 make me depressed and suicidal, i tried 2 cut my wrists at around 5am cos i was sick of being awake but my dad stopped me,walked in at the right time.lucky huh?at school ive becme a zombie,prefering 2 spend hours alone than with so called friends(who dont seem 2 understand),my work has taken a hit as i dont do homework anymore,i cant work as m always sleepy,falling asleep in lessons and in the common room,losing my temper and eventuali crying for the first time in ten years the other day.its begun to get harder and less easy to talk to people as they are seeming to be sick of me complaining bt no-one seems 2 really understand..im starting to get councilling to help me get over my fear of sleep.anyway sorri for rambling on but i need to do something during these long hours...

I've had insomnia for about 4 or 5 years that i can remember, its gotten terrible lately though, i usually don't go to sleep before 3-6am (sometimes over 36 hours without sleep or fatigue) and its even later then that when i take sleeping medications. I cant even go to school anymore because i don't go to sleep till after it starts sometimes. I've tried Risperidone, Hydroxyzine, Chloral Hydrate, Lorazepam, and Diphenhydramine, and some mixtures of 2 medications i listed, none have any "sleep" effects except for keeping me up for longer.
Hope I helped =]
~Dylan

Hi,
When i was about 15 i had insomnia for about 6 months, apparanty it was depression. My doctor put me on anti-depressants and sleeping pills. But i drank about 5 sleeping pills in my sleep and almost had to get my stomach pumped. That put me off sleeping pills. The anti-depressants made me feel like a zombie so i stopped taking that aswell.I am 20 now and about a month ago the insomnia came back. i havn't slept for about a week, i only fall asleep about an hour before i have to get up for work... I have tried holistic therapies such as aromatherapy and crystal healing but they don't seem to work, and i am to scared to take sleeping pills.

Ive been an insomniac since I was about 16. Ive tried everything from sleeping pills to warm milk to get to sleep and nothing works and if it does, it only lasts for about 30 minutes. If I can actually make myself fall asleep, its usually around 5 or 6 30 am (Calgary Alberta time) at the earliest and can be as late at noon. When I do sleep, its for roughly 3 to 5 hours and then shortly after I feel like Ive had 6 energy drinks and Im completely wired for sound.