Insomnia! I've tried everything. I have the feeling that some weird/unusual remedy will work for me. Any ideas?

my dad taught me this trick yrs ago and its worked for me since then
when you want to go to sleep:
imagine a lit candle, but you have to imagine the flame to be perfectly still, it cant flicker or anything and it has to remain still for a little while and you will eventually fall asleep, its a bit difficult to do but after about 3 mins, for me, whether or not its flickering i ll end up falling asleep. it may or may not work for you but i hope it does.
also see a similar question which i answered
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/60813

i know its illegal but marijuana helped me thro mine. i tried pills and herbal stuff but i found that worked the best for me.

I no of something that would definately work for you but I dont think its a good idea to say, as such, but buy yourself a packet of large rizla papers and you will need a cigarette too, the rest I will leave to your imagination.

Ever seen fight club?

Boring TV shows, Technical literature, sleeping pills and if you have to take some valium and I'm sure you will experience somniatic bliss.

Sleeping pills or something that has the side effect of putting you to sleep. This should not be done more than once or twice and not in a close proximity.

My brother when he had problems getting to sleep tried using Kalms, some sort of infusion that you could buy in most supermarkets in the UK. Don't know about the US.

People often say a few drops of lavender scent on your pillow helps but I have never tried it.

Mr.Frank Peters. The second sentance in my question reads as follows: I have the feeling that some weird/unusual remedy will work for me.
I'll try to simplify it for you. This sentance means that hopefully someone will know of a remedy that I haven't yet tried.
If in the future someone says to you,"I've been everywhere looking for you," don't assume that they have actually been everywhere. You would way off the mark.

If you've tried everything, what can one suggest??

As was suggested before by the ABer that spoke of the visual candle, meditation is a wonerful tool. Not only does it clear your head, but it makes you calm and may make you more able to rest. I thought I was an insomniac, but then I just excepted the fact that I am actually nocternal lol and life is much easier now as a day sleeper funny enough...

im not going to encourage the use of illegal drugs, but a small bit of marijuana cures insomnia

I've spent most my life suffering from insomnia and have been on and off both prescription and over the counter drugs to help. Mainly I get a ton of side effects from medications and after a while they simply stop working (even in high doeses). Anyway, I finally tried Hypnosis and it's worked pretty well for me.

I spent years avoiding hypnosis because I could not afford it and my insurance did not cover it at the time. I ended up over the last year seeing several hypnotists and hypnotherapists and 90% of them were horrible but I didn't give up hope. I finally found one that worked for me. I think my bad luck was a combonation of my not cliqing with the hypnotist and the fact most of them were simply horroble at what they do.

Hypnosis is an unlicinced field so any old Joe or Betty can hang out a business shingle. Some did have cirtificates but these cirtificates are from such places like hypnotist associations and not real schools.

I suggest that you find a Psychologist or Psychotherapist with a real PhD! That has studied and trained in hypnosis. These people seem to have a better understanding of how the human brain words, they also seem to have the dicipline and control it takes to do a good job. The one hypnotist that actually helped me was the only one that had a PhD in psychology :)

I'm sort of shooting myself in the foot because I am starting a FREE website with hypnosis downloads, and even though I study psychology & sociology I don't have a degree yet. But anyway, to be on the safe side I highly suggest that you don't simply see any Tom, Dick, or Harriet from your phonebook. A lot of them have fancy websites but are not that good. See a real doctor.

Long story short... tooooo late. Hypnosis can also help you change other behaviors you are doing that make your insomnia worse. Though you will want to focus on a script that you listen to at bedtime (or think about at bed time) that gets your mind to wind down. A good therapist will not only hypnotise you to sleep, BUT will also hypnotise you to change other behaviors in thinking as well.

I also highly suggest CBT Cognative Behavioral Therapy... Saddly a lot of Therapists resort to old fashioned "introspection" in which you pay them to listen to you for an hour with no real therapy. Our Mental Health Care system is still behind the times, and a lot of therapists are not doing their patients a good service... however there is a % of doctors out there that are really good at what they do... so my point is SHOP AROUND! if you can. Anyway introspection is good but it's only a tiny part of therapy.

All that said, sometimes a chemical imbalance can be the cause, in which case you may need presciption medications for. But make sure you get 2nd and 3rd opinions from various doctors about your condition because not all doctors agree and I find that too many doctors come to "snap" decisions in their diagnosis of peoples problems like insomnia... most of them asume you are automatically depressed and then throw pills at you, when depression may or may not be the problem.

Again, shop around, get 2nd and 3rd opinions, and do some research of your own, read read and more reading!

PS, try buying a CD with Binaural Beats/Tones in it with soothing music, specifically Baroque music (sorry for my bad spelling). Anyway, the Binaural beats help relax you.

Fennel tea is very beneficial for insomnia sufferers believe me drink 2 cups and let me know the result:)

Sex always works for me. Seriously ..whether by my own hand or not..it will relax me enough to put me to sleep. And if you still can't sleep--well, at least you had fun trying:) Good Luck because insomnia can be terrible.

Drink a beer before bed...

I would get brainwave entrainment software (i.e. Natura Sound Therapy) or light-sound machine and set the frequency to Theta/Delta. The mere listening helps to entrain the brainwaves to the same range of frequencies as those generated during sleep. Even if you don't fall asleep, the brain gets into a restful state and you should feel refreshed aferwards. Good luck.

No coffee after 7 pm. go to dollar general and buy the generic of tylenol pm. go home. at 930 pm, take two tablets, with a glass of milk. the combination of milk and anithistimine of tylenol pm, will send you to lala land for about 5 hours. no drowsy feeling, upon awakening. it really works.

try eating a fairly nice sized meal. fruits and veges first then meats. your stomach takes longer to digest stuff like meat so if you eat the sides first you wont feel sick. you should feel full. also tea is good

Taking pills to sleep don’t work and often cause crazy side effects. Insomnia is a very serious problem, itself causing various health problems, weight gain, loss of joy in life, and even worse, but as the Mayo Clinic was quoted, “sleeping pills are a temporary solution for insomnia…taken too often, some sleeping pills may cause rebound insomnia.”
I used to be a serious insomniac, but after a lot of research, I finally found a totally natural remedy and cure, and after using this natural cure found myself enjoying my first full night’s sleep in months… just after three days! It felt incredible.
I hope this will help you. For more information about the natural cure I found that cured my insomnia for good, click on the link below. Peaceful sleep to you.
Miraculous Natural Cure For Insomnia: http://tinyurl.com/lj7pr2

Watch Dr. Phil show. It never fails to put me to sleep.

Surprised no one has mentioned an herbal sleep aid. I had the best results from the sleep aid at www.best-sleepaid.com

They give you a 14-day free trial too, just so you can try it out and see if it works for you.

Hope that helps

I've heard that insomnia is an intense fear. Anything in particular that you're afraid of?

Have you tried diphenhydramine? This is the generic ingredient in Benadryl. It helps me fall asleep. However, I started taking 25mg 30 minutes before bedtime. After two years I need 50mg to feel drowsy.

Lavender oil, if you can burn some (must be the real stuff) in an oil burner or if you can find it a hop pillow.

Well, for tonight you might try drinking warm water...
Here are a few things that help:
Get real, physical exercise every day, it not only makes you tired, it helps combat stress, which can keep you awake even though it exhausts you.
Get fresh air and sunshine every day.
Eat light meals in the evening. Go easy on the meat, the caffeine, the spices, and the sugar.
Try not to eat after 6pm.
Make sure your room is completely dark.
Don't think about trying to sleep, just relax your muscles, breathe a little deeper and slower, and let your mind kinda fuzz over. Thinking will keep you awake even if you can't keep your eyes open.

I find that if I lay still, and then concentrate on breathing in slowly, holding and then breating out slowly works quite well for me.
You have to try to restrict your thoughts to being "breath in" "hold" "breath out" and then I count 1,2,3 slowly for each in-hold-out.
Good luck.

drink warm milk

Good foods to eat before going to bed is a hot glass of camomile and a bok choy salad, works eve time, but if it doesnt buy some noise dampeners, and find an arangement of blankets that works for you.

benadryl the allergy medicine 25-50mg. its safer than sleep aids, aren't addictive and side effect is sleepiness. something a doctor recommended to me a couple of months ago when i had an allergic reaction while i was experiencing some insomnia. ask a doctor first though. after about 3 weeks i got better from a max of 8 hrs/week to at least 35 hrs/wk. also try tea, ovaltine and warm bath.

Ok, Mr Toddy Morris, seems like all of us missed the plot to your question?????? BUT, since you DID say, you have tried EVERTHING, what else can we suggest???? If, as you say you have tried everything, there must be No other answer! Sweet awaking dreams!

valerian root.
melissa herb.
masterbation.
counting sheep.
good luck!

http://www.raisinrack.com/common/adam/DisplayMonograph.asp?storeID=13T859V47NGF9N44EB2PFAB7J308BJT1&name=ConsLookups_Uses_insomnia

try some of these herbs

This is a homeopathic remedy that I find helpful.

You may have to copy paste the links.

Article

www.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=163179


Original site

www.bachflower.com

Studies show that watching TV, playing Video games, reading or even listening to the radio before bed can keep you up.

and

Try walking around barefoot for a couple hours before bed, then right before going to bed put some socks on. The added warmth tricks your body into the "getting ready to sleep" mode.

I really like Mikol's answer, it's simple, but it can be highly effective. By focusing on the lit candle your mind doesn't wonder into a spiral of thoughts.

Brainwave entrainment can help too. Here's a link where you can download an audio for free.


http://howtobeatinsomnia.com/blogs/2008/02/27/brainwave-entrainment-and-meditation/

Use earplugs to hear your own breathing. Try a small fan for soothing sound. Lavender works they say. CALMS FORTE by Hylands - - Available at all pharmacies, Wal-mart. Best price at Swanson Vitamins. Valerian Root is herbal. (Stay
away from a prescription unless the doctor says to use it) I stretch all major muscle groups. Now sleep solid except to visit the bathroom.

I have chronic insomnia, but I tried Silk soymilk (no joke!) without any medication one night and I was out like a light. Don't know why but it worked like a charm. I'm now a soymilk junkie for the sleep aid effect and the health benefits. Worth a try.

If it is working for you, how can it be weired ;-)

Medicine is an evidence based science, the right medicine is the one that works. To find out some of the available solutions look at sleeping aids to see if you find anything valuable. Good luck

I sit on the roof all night, maybe for two weeks... then manage a night's sleep


if i really need sleep but can't then self-hypnosis... make your own relaxation hypnosis audio tape... 15 minutes is the equivalent of 4 hours sleep :p

A crystal healing technique - place a small piece of amethyst under your pillow at night and then forget about it; don't worry the crystal knows what to do ;0)

Try it - what do you have to lose!?

jin... works for me!

i just gave up even attempting to sleep, i find after about 9 days i get tired enough to get about 4 hours sleep.

i have always slept well with a night cap. an alcoholic beverage not a silly hat

I use nature sounds to fall asleep, but I also imagine myself in the setting. Try to visualize a relaxing setting. Also, never go to bad angry or upset. Try to calm yourself with meditation. On an uncomfortably hot evening I usually have a frozen bottle of water next to my body somewhere. Strange but true. Try this site for nature sounds http://virtualdreamer.com