Insomnia,sleeping pills and being lucid

Dose anyone here suffer from Insomnia?

I suffer from insomnia from time to time. I’m going through a phase at the moment. It’s been going on for a couple of weeks and is beginning to be real intense. I get prescribed sleeping pills. I don’t like to take them very often. I have however needed to lately. I also see a herbalist so i have a naturopathic remedy as well which i prefer but it has not been affective at the moment.

Here is where it relates to lucidity. My insomnia started a few weeks ago and at that stage the sleeping pills were helping. I was still having regular lucid dreams. The good thing was it made them more stable and it prolonged the length. A lot of the time i wake myself up from getting too excited. While taking sleeping pills i was sedated so it was a lot harder for me to wake up. So this was a positive thing. I was able to try a lot of different techniques I had been waiting to do. The negative thing is waking up and being too foggy to remember the details of the lucid dream. Usually i have great recall. Also feeling sedated is not cool, but we all need sleep so i do what i have to to get by. At the moment though the sleeping pills have stopped working i im getting no sleep so no lucid dreams. :cry:

Anyway just thought I’d share my experiences with sleeping pills and lucidity. By no way am i promoting their use though. I wouldn’t use them if I didn’t have to. It just comes down to…. if i don’t sleep i can’t function.

Peace Sensi.

melatonin helps you sleep, and improves dream recall apperantly (or vividness). Perhaps you should try it! :)

Cheers dude, i dont know much about melatonin so i'll look into it. I've seen it mentioned in many posts so i'll have a dig around. :)

melatonin only helps you sleep if the chemical is low in your brain for some reason (which might be your case but i doubt it, or the docs would have probably prescribed it instead of other sleeping pills). so far, every sleeping pill on the market negatively affects your REM.

What do you mean about it negatively affecting my REM?. I still have lucid dreams and normal dreams when i actually do get some sleep on sleeping pills. Do you mean i just get knocked out so i dont have the REM state? Maybe i still get lucid dreams etc because sleeping pills dont really work that well for me anyway. If i do sleep im lucky to get maybe 5 hours. I'd be stoked if i got five hours at the mo, last few days has almost been zero. I dont know.... Could you please go into a little more detail about what you mean. :)

So i take it most doc's would prescribe melatonin first before sleepin pills. No doc has ever even mentioned it to me should i bring it up with them or if they thought it would work would they have told me already? I guess im just asking is it main stream medicine?

Peace Sensi

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Originally posted by sensi
What do you mean about it negatively affecting my REM?. I still have lucid dreams and normal dreams when i actually do get some sleep on sleeping pills. Do you mean i just get knocked out so i dont have the REM state? Maybe i still get lucid dreams etc because sleeping pills dont really work that well for me anyway. If i do sleep im lucky to get maybe 5 hours. I'd be stoked if i got five hours at the mo, last few days has almost been zero. I dont know.... Could you please go into a little more detail about what you mean. :)

So i take it most doc's would prescribe melatonin first before sleepin pills. No doc has ever even mentioned it to me should i bring it up with them or if they thought it would work would they have told me already? I guess im just asking is it main stream medicine?

Peace Sensi

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it's not a prescription so that might be one reason it's not been prescribed. also it only helps people sleep if they're lacking the chemical in their brain. we all use it because it gives us longer more vivid dreams, not necessarily for it's intended purpose.

"For short-term insomnia, doctors may prescribe sleeping pills. Most sleeping pills stop working after several weeks of nightly use, however, and long-term use can actually interfere with good sleep. Mild insomnia often can be prevented or cured by practicing good sleep habits."

sleeping pills tend to suppress REM. i just got a lecture on it last tuesday. there are many sleeping pills that claim that this isn't true but the long term affects of all these show decreased REM periods.

melatonin might not help you get to sleep, or it might. but it's cheap and can be found at any drug store, so it wouldn't hurt to give it a try (after asking your doctor).

Cheers for the info Dude. Much appreciated. :)

Peace Sensi.

Got a few hours sleep last night which is so freaking wonderful, sure beats having none. No lucidity tho. :cry:

Jeff from ld4all recomended another thing to try so im going to look into it, its called 5hpt. Its got to do with serotonin levels as mine might not be as they should. If you dont have enough you dont sleep. Hard to tell tho cos im definintley not depressed and that usually happens if you dont have enough serotonin. Heres hoping tho.

Peace Sensi

if your low on serotonin then you're most likely low on melatonin too. the body changes serotonin into melatonin and releases melatonin once it senses an absence of light. melatonin the bodies natural sleeping chemical.

adidas your avatar rocks. it's like, not porn, but not not porn, but all in greyscale. yay.

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Originally posted by Kaniaz
adidas your avatar rocks. it's like, not porn, but not not porn, but all in greyscale. yay.

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stfu you like nun doll porn. ^^;

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Originally posted by CT+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(CT)</div>

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<!--QuoteBegin-Kaniaz

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adidas your avatar rocks. it's like, not porn, but not not porn, but all in greyscale. yay.

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stfu you like nun doll porn. ^^;[/b]

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Yeah, the cotton inside the dolls dosen't turn me on. Is something wrong with me? :P

What dose porn have to do with insomnia?

Oh i get it boys stay up late looking at porn, touching them selves. They get all excited and cant sleep. Oh wait, when a guy has an orgasm he falls straight asleep, dam men. When a girl has an orgasm she gets all 'oh cuddle me talk to me' ITs Evil. ;)

On a serious note i actually got a whole 8 hours last night. That rules. Tried a different sleeping pill. I hope it dose all sort its self out tho cos i dont want to take pills to sleep esp if they affect my lucidity.

Peace Sensi

Hi Sensi, i looked it up at lab tests from med database.
If your imsomnia is from to low levels of serotonin then 5-htp
should work fine for that.
your medication could maybe also have played a role in your insomnia.
When did your insomnia start, before, at or after your medication?

But you could try 5-htp, if its serotonin related it should work!
5-htp is the precursor of serotonin.

jeff

Hey jeff,

Thanks for the info.

I started taking Prozac when i was 17 then stopped at bout 23. I haven't taken any since. Im now 29.

I've always had trouble with sleep. I have a very active mind, cant seem to ever switch it off.

If i do sleep when im having insomnia the slightest thing like moving can wake me. As soon as i wake my mind is full speed ahead. This is hard. I've had a few more rough days and i feel pretty fragile. :cry: New sleeping pills now not really working either. Im going to see doctor again in a couple of days. I will talk to her about 5-hpt when i see her.

Do you have a link i could go to to down load some info on it so i could get her to read it? Just in case New Zealand dose not have it?

I really appreaciate your help. *crosses fingers for a big sleep*

Oh in the two hours i got to day i actually became lucid as soon as i though 'fuck this is a dream im going to.......'I woke straight up. Bummer. :)

Peace Sensi. X

well if your mind is that active there is also another thing that could play a role.
gamma amino butyric acid [GABA] that plays a role i calming and regulating our neural signal firing patern in the brain.
Also ppl that have to low levels of it have fear and hyper etc.

No idea of u still can buy gaba..think these days its only on a docs medication list.
else u could test it, I bought it when it was still legal, u sleep good on it.
so its either that or to low serotonin levels.

mm yeah i look some up, however the med database about 5-htp lol is quite ehm science language.

Jeff

Yeah dont think its the GABA thing. I do get anxious at times but only to normal degrees, as for the hyper thing Im pretty solid. My moods dont change that much im mostly constant with the good vibes. Unless i cant sleep then i get fragile and sad, just like anyone would if they haddent had a good sleep in a couple of weeks. :)

I think the 5-hpt thing im definitley going to look into. Is there a long name for it or if i say 5-hpt to her she will know what im talking about?

Having an active mind is bitter sweet for me i like that i think and contemplate life etc but at 4am when your body is so exhausted it can be annoying. :)

Cheers dude.

Well u must call it 5-htp (not 5hpt) its real name is 5-hydroxytryptophan, the precursor of serotonin.
If u tell it to a docter like that they at least will know it and else they need to shape up
there knowledge :)
I take it on vacations when iam at a new stay, else i wont sleep the first night often.
With this i just relax on anormal way and iam of to dream land :)

hook me up with some of that stuff, k? And no coke clouds plz. :chuckle:

rofl hahaha you can buy it from the net or at a smartshop CT!
In amsterdam you can buy 5-htp everywhere!
would be fun if i went in such a shop and i would meet our coke cloud friend doing
his tricks lol :D

hi to all. (my english is poor, sorry) i have a question: how much the maximum amount of melatonin (in mg) which absolutely safe (one time, not regularly use)

i want to a WILD experiment... :wink:

Very sad :( to know your problem sensi.It seems from your story that you are perhaps consuming too much sleeping pill out of necessity.Regarding dreams, I suggest you to perform some meditation prior to sleeping . You can also carry out few rounds of deep breathing to lower your mood of excitement.