Insomnia

[riptides]

Well, unfortunately, I have a radio in my head for a screensaver. If my brain goes idle, I almost immediately hear a song playing. It can be anything from the Rolling Stones to ABBA (blech!). No rhyme or reason as to what my brain picks, it's like a jukebox on shuffle play. And it's never the entire song, it's only one verse or refrain. Over and over. If I stop the song, I hear the tinnitus.

So, my choices for the evening are:
Think thoughts.
Successfully stop the thoughts, then....
Listen to the Bee Gees Stayin' Alive Stayin' Alive
AH AH AH AH Stayin' Alive....
Successfully stop the songs and.....
Listen to the ring if tinnitus.



It's a living hell.

You ARE the dancing queen, staying alive.

LMAO

I have serious tinnitus. And the really funny thing is, I pick up on ultra low sounds really, really well.

It's maddening.

 

[TheMan419]

As a heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest survivor I can tell you my cardiologist is VERY interested in my sleep patters. Poor sleep can lead to heart problems. That is not what caused mine, but he is worried about a repeat.

Do you snore? If so that could be a sign of sleep apnea. The cure for that is a CPAP.
Are you stressed? That can cause sleep trouble. Meditation at bed time can help with that.
Depressed? That can cause sleep problems.... lack of sleep can also cause depression.

There are myriad of problems that can cause sleep issues. Talk to your doctor about it. For me we ended up with 50 MG of Trazodone each night. It is a very old antidrepressant. I am not taking enough of it to get any antidepressive effects but enough to make me sleep pretty well.

 

[Oaktree]

Well, unfortunately, I have a radio in my head for a screensaver. If my brain goes idle, I almost immediately hear a song playing. It can be anything from the Rolling Stones to ABBA (blech!). No rhyme or reason as to what my brain picks, it's like a jukebox on shuffle play. And it's never the entire song, it's only one verse or refrain. Over and over.

I'll have that sometimes as part of a dream, often kind of a weird dream. As with you, it's only part of the song that repeats. When I wake up, often as not the song stays with me.

 

[MossRoad]

I have the songs in my head all day long, and anytime I wake up. Like I said, it's like a screensaver; when my brain goes idle, the music starts.

Right now it's Phil Collins' In The Air Tonight.



For anyone else with this condition, I have one thing to say to you....

Tiny Tim - Tiptoe Through the Tulips...


Now get that out of your head!

 

[Diggin It]

^^^ I'll see your tiptoeing and raise you a brand new pair of roller skates.

 

[pmsmechanic]

Well Moss If I had your issues I'd be flooding my mind with the most relaxing music I could stand. And you can change the music in your mind. I do it all the time. Many songs I listened to when I was younger weren't really edifying. Sometimes they are going through my mind and I don't really appreciate it so I deliberately change the play list.

I rarely listen to music of any sort anymore. It's just way more satisfying to chew on my thoughts while driving.

 

[MossRoad]

As a heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest survivor I can tell you my cardiologist is VERY interested in my sleep patters. Poor sleep can lead to heart problems. That is not what caused mine, but he is worried about a repeat.

Do you snore? If so that could be a sign of sleep apnea. The cure for that is a CPAP.
Are you stressed? That can cause sleep trouble. Meditation at bed time can help with that.
Depressed? That can cause sleep problems.... lack of sleep can also cause depression.

There are myriad of problems that can cause sleep issues. Talk to your doctor about it. For me we ended up with 50 MG of Trazodone each night. It is a very old antidrepressant. I am not taking enough of it to get any antidepressive effects but enough to make me sleep pretty well.

I snore. Proven to not be apnea, thank goodness.
Stressed? Not for the past 4.5 years.
Depressed? Not for the past 4.5 years.

Trazodone? Me too. Had to stop it. It gave me very vivid dreams. As in, they seemed real. Nothing violent or weird, just super-realistic. For example, I'd be taking a walk in the woods, talking to my wife. I'd open my eyes and wonder what I was doing in bed. Sometimes it would take 5-10 minutes for me to convince myself the dream wasn't real. And then I'd still wonder about it for another 20 minutes. Switched meds and all good.

 

[MossRoad]

Well Moss If I had your issues I'd be flooding my mind with the most relaxing music I could stand. And you can change the music in your mind. I do it all the time. Many songs I listened to when I was younger weren't really edifying. Sometimes they are going through my mind and I don't really appreciate it so I deliberately change the play list.

I rarely listen to music of any sort anymore. It's just way more satisfying to chew on my thoughts while driving.

Yep. I change the channel in my head as well. Usually pick a Stones tune.

In the car, I can turn up the music to where I can't hear myself think. Love it!

 

[Jstpssng]

Well, unfortunately, I have a radio in my head for a screensaver. If my brain goes idle, I almost immediately hear a song playing. It can be anything from the Rolling Stones to ABBA (blech!). No rhyme or reason as to what my brain picks, it's like a jukebox on shuffle play. And it's never the entire song, it's only one verse or refrain. Over and over. If I stop the song, I hear the tinnitus.

So, my choices for the evening are:
Think thoughts.
Successfully stop the thoughts, then....
Listen to the Bee Gees Stayin' Alive Stayin' Alive
AH AH AH AH Stayin' Alive....
Successfully stop the songs and.....
Listen to the ring if tinnitus.



It's a living hell.

That was Jack Reacher in his very first episode. He eventually changed to playing games with numbers.

Don't drink a lot of soda anymore, but Mt. Dew (and Moxie, which these days is unobtainium) are about it. Mostly water or tea.

I was never a big Moxie fan, but my father and brother were. After they both passed I decided that somebody had to pick up the torch so I bought a bottle. I took one sip and immediately spit it out... WTF? They changed the recipe and among other things are using high fructose corn syrup; instead of tasting like bad medicine, now it's just sickly sweet syrupy crap.

A little off topic but sort of related. Anybody who has read the Jack Reacher books knows that Reacher always knew what time it was. I used to be that way at night. I’d wake up and know what time it was, not to the nearest minute but close. Since I retired I’ve lost that ability.

I was like that for years, in the woods as well as when sleeping. After too many years of always having a clock of some type nearby; GPS, Data collector, phone... I've lost the ability.

 

[npalen]

Reading some of these posts, makes me grateful. I sleep extremely well. Most of my adult life I had a job where I worked 6-7 days a week. I would go to bed around 11 or midnight, get up at 6. I was asleep the whole 6 hours. I seldom turned over in the night. Now since I retired. I rarely get to bed before midnight, sometimes later. I sometimes drink coffee at midnight, I drink a lot of coffee. I go to bed when I get sleepy & usually, I am asleep in 5-10 minutes. I sleep 8 or more hours now and rarely turnover. Even sleeping that much, now if I sit down after lunch and watch TV, I will fall asleep & drop my coffee cup.

Do you drop your cup on the way to your mouth or on its way back to the table? Do you have a table?

 

[BravoXray]

Reading all these posts makes me wonder just what percentage of people DON'T have problems with their sleep routines.

That said, from many years of operating heavy equipment with poor or no mufflers at all, more years of air tool and impact wrench operation, and more years of driving truck, I have had tinnitus in both ears for the last 35 years or so. Then in 2001, I awoke one morning a little dizzy, a loud whine/rushing sound and very little hearing in my left ear. The dizziness went away in a couple of days, and I got in to see my doctor about the same time. He didn't see any external problem, so he sent me for an MRI the next day. Nothing showed amiss in the MRI, and the audiologist said it was probably a case of spontaneous hearing loss. It sometimes happens and they don't know why it happens. A hearing test showed that what hearing I have left in my left ear shows a nearly normal frequency response, but greatly diminished, I'm functionally deaf in that ear.
So for the last 20 odd years, I have the annoying noise in my left ear, and tinnitus in the right. It's one of those things you get used to after a while, but it is annoying. Tinnitus aside, the hearing in my right ear is still pretty good, but when in a room with a lot of noise, it's really difficult to hear a person you are having a conversation with as the noise tends to drown out their voice.
I do go to sleep with either the radio or TV on with a sleep timer set, to help mask the noise in my head.

 

[sree251]

Eat well - plenty of red meat accompanied by plenty of vegetables and a decent amount of table wine to match it.

How much wine with your meal?

 

[Cougsfan]

I got my tinnitus from playing racquetball. A guy hit a hard forehand shot that hit me directly on my left ear. I saw stars and heard ringing. The stars went away but the ringing never did. And that was 20 years ago.

 

[Cougsfan]

Well, unfortunately, I have a radio in my head for a screensaver. If my brain goes idle, I almost immediately hear a song playing. It can be anything from the Rolling Stones to ABBA (blech!). No rhyme or reason as to what my brain picks, it's like a jukebox on shuffle play. And it's never the entire song, it's only one verse or refrain. Over and over. If I stop the song, I hear the tinnitus.

So, my choices for the evening are:
Think thoughts.
Successfully stop the thoughts, then....
Listen to the Bee Gees Stayin' Alive Stayin' Alive
AH AH AH AH Stayin' Alive....
Successfully stop the songs and.....
Listen to the ring if tinnitus.



It's a living hell.

The ring tone on my phone is the BeeGees "Stayin Alive". Whenever I hear that song I start looking for my phone.

But a song in your head probably isn't as irritating as tinnitus, unless it is Barry Manilow.

 

[Nutcracker]

Do you drop your cup on the way to your mouth or on its way back to the table? Do you have a table?

Between sips.

 

[Doofy]

Total side sleeper so no way to comfortably wear ear buds or headphones to listen to a few tunes at bedtime. Pillow speakers are total junk and the wife doesn't want to hear my tunes anyway. Started listening to my playlist on the iphone under the pillow. Sounds decent and I can tune out the tinnitus. I am usually asleep in minutes.

 

[Jstpssng]

I've had rining in my ears for as long as I can remember, going back to when I was a kid. Loud noises are really obnoxious... especially those GD Harleys with straight pipes.

 

[Dftodd]

I've had rining in my ears for as long as I can remember, going back to when I was a kid. Loud noises are really obnoxious... especially those GD Harleys with straight pipes.

What i can't stand is the hum from a florescent light.

I'm hard of hearing, tinnitus in both ears. But I can hear the faint buzz of a florescent light left on across the house.

It will drive me bonkers. Once LED lights became more prevelant and cheaper, I swapped out all the florescent lights in the house for LED fixtures instead.

 

[Oaktree]

I rarely listen to music of any sort anymore. It's just way more satisfying to chew on my thoughts while driving.

Driving is for the most part the only time I have music playing. When I'm at home, or in my workshop I prefer quiet. I know some here have radio headphones they use while on their tractor, to me that would be very distracting.

Total side sleeper so no way to comfortably wear ear buds or headphones to listen to a few tunes at bedtime. Pillow speakers are total junk and the wife doesn't want to hear my tunes anyway. Started listening to my playlist on the iphone under the pillow. Sounds decent and I can tune out the tinnitus. I am usually asleep in minutes.

Can't sleep with the radio playing. Never could, and I've always been a very sound sleeper.

Our pup tends to wake me up when he gets on the bed and 'makes room for himself' which is usually part of my pillow. Good cuddler and don't fart either.

I don't have a dog, but if I did there's no way it would be allowed on the bed. Between the fact that they tend to be "squirmy", they stink. I don't know if I'm just overly sensitive to dog BO, but I can barely stand to be in the same room with one, the smell's so bad.
I'd rather cuddle with the wife.

 

[MossRoad]

Between the fact that they tend to be "squirmy", they stink.....