Insomnia is a frustrating side effect of many chronic illnesses, as a seasoned insomniac I have tried a number of different methods to get to sleep. Below is a review of all the methods I have tried, please be aware that everyone is different and these are individual results.
- Valerian (herbal remedy): I had good results with this the first few times I tried it, then it stopped working altogether, I’ve found for me it’s effective if used occasionally.
- A warm bath before bed: This is relaxing and certainly enjoyable, it’s improved my success on occasion but isn’t reliable.
- Warm milk: Tastes good. I have slept better if I got up in the middle of the night, had this and gone back to sleep, but there’s nothing to say I wouldn’t have slept then anyway.
- Chamomile tea: Soothing, but ineffective for me, just makes it more likely I’ll need a bathroom visit through the night.
- Lavender oil on my temples: I have had some success with this occasionally; in the least it’s relaxing and smells good.
- Pain medication: Failsafe when it’s been pain that’s kept me awake.
- Getting back up before I get too frustrated: Simple solution, I’ve had great success simply by getting back up if I’m not asleep within an hour. Usually I stay up an hour with a warm cup of tea and a good book, or some mindless internet activity. Most of the time if I do this I sleep when I go back to bed. (Note: a non-caffeinated tea is the most sensible, but ill confess to having regular black tea; also, computer activities are stimulating, reading a book or watching television is a better solution)
- Meditation: Very effective if I can manage to meditate, sometimes my mind is too busy for this to work. Meditation can aggravate the problem sometimes, leading to more frustration and less sleep.
- Sleep hypnosis recording: I have a sleep hypnosis recording on an mp3 player; I tried 2 different recordings, one works great, the other not at all. This has been my most effective solution; I have fallen asleep using this even when in pain. The problem with this is I got sick of the recording and stopped using it after a while; it could become expensive and tedious to find a new recording every so often. I no longer use it for this reason.
- A resting yoga pose before bed: This works reasonably well, but it does require thinking about preparing for bed before going to bed, usually I just want to go to bed.
- Temazepam (sedative): This works great sometimes, and then not at all others. Taking this medication has occasionally left me angry because there are times nothing happens at all and I am left lying awake staring at the walls. It works best if I take it maybe once a month when my insomnia is at its absolute worst, but even then it can fail me.
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