Sleeping...

Sleeping is simple, right? I mean you eat your dinner and do your nightly routine. You get into bed and close your eyes and fall asleep. Right?

Nope. For some reason, I don't sleep. I'm averaging 3-4 hours a sleep a night. I need about 8. Therein lies the problem.

I've tried EVERYTHING I can think of, everything I've been told, everything I've researched. Nothing seems to make a difference. I used to think that my sleep routine got interuptted and it would get back on track and I'd be ok. For a while. That used to happen about 1 week every month. But it's gradually worsened.

One of two things happens. Sometimes I'm tried (well really, I'm always tired as you might imagine) and I fall asleep between 9pm - 10pm. But I wake up shortly after midnight and I'm awake until about 6am. Then I fall asleep until my alarm goes off at 7am and pray for the ability to roll over and sleep some more. Other times, I just plain cannot fall asleep. I'm awake until about 4:30am - 5am. By that time I'm exhausted and fall asleep until my alarm goes off at 7 and again I pray for the ability to roll over and go back to sleep.

I've...cut out caffine, set up a routine & followed it, not watched TV in the bedroom, read books to relax, taken warm baths, I write down my thoughts to get "rid" of them, gotten up and done other things (like blog!), sipped sleepytime tea, taken melatonin....ARGGGG!

I've tried everyting I can think of. It's gotten to the point that I need to see the doctor about it. I don't want to add another medication to my daily life, but I can't go on the 3 hours of sleep a day. I need my brain to shut off to sleep 7-8 hours.