Night Owl Cafe...

[The Schofield Kid]

Banana tea or bananas before bed. Must be something about nanas, I'll have to try.

I finally went to bed at 3am and switched off the 3:40am alarm. Just woke up now after 3 and a half hours sleep.

Still feel like crap but no worse than yesterday.

[Rawhide7]

Yeah there's something in bananas that helps with sleep. I usually eat one like 30 mins to an hr before bedtime. And I also do my relaxation techniques. I mean I still occasionally have trouble sleeping but not near as much since I started this routine. Yeah 3.5 hrs of sleep not fun. Espicially while your at work. The other night I only got 4.5 hrs of sleep and I was miserable that day at work. I have myself to blame though. I did work late that night but I drank a Mountain Dew around 11pm that night. I usually don't do that espicially that late at night but I did. And I paid for it all next day. I was tired and in a horrible mood. Are u still at work now?  You have to be tired and in a bad mood. Hopefully you get more sleep and feel better next day. 

[The Schofield Kid]

Nope, still in bed.

[KC]

It's Spring Forward time, everyone. (Well, not the Aussies. Oh, and not Aline, either, I suppose!)

I slept right through it, and now I'm awake and it's practically time to get up. Thank goodness it's Sunday.

If it's happened for you, you may need to adjust your profile on the Board. Go into "Look and layout," and under "Time Offset," click the link at "(auto detect)." That should do it.

[Gant]

Reading in bed works for me... And as it's nearly 1 in the morning that's exactly what I'm doing..

[KC]

Yeah, reading usually puts me straight to sleep too ... and depending on the subject matter, I don't always have to be in bed!

[AKA23]

Since I started my job about a year ago, I have not been sleeping well at all. Within the past month or so, it's gotten worse. I sleep around 11pm, but I regularly wake up between 2-4am. I cannot get back to sleep. I have no idea why this is happening, but it makes it very difficult for me to not be exhausted throughout the day. I do my job and do it well, but I'm constantly tired.

I've tried melatonin and tart cherry juice, but neither have worked. I've also tried sleeping pills, but they make it so difficult for me to wake up in the morning and so groggy throughout the day, that they aren't really a long-term solution. As a result, I stopped taking them. I don't really know what to do, and I'm getting quite concerned that I keep randomly waking up after only a few hours of sleep. Has anyone else had this issue and successfully treated it? What did you do?

[Matt]

Are you on the extended released sleeping pills? If so, try the regular kind that pack a punch, knock you out, but wear off in about 3 hours.

I'm sleeping really well, but I had surgery about a week ago, and every single night since, my dreams have been awful. I remember them for a little while, then they're gone. I still remember last night's dream --I killed a puppy -- accidentally, but I covered up the death of this puppy, and it was caught on camera, and somehow or another, it went viral, or something. So, I was the puppy killer, ruined forever for life.

Every night... these kind of dreams, which are really just dreams of extreme anxiety, and yet... I feel completely fine and not anxious when I'm awake. 

[KC]

Are you still on pain meds? That might have something to do with it.

My mother told me she was given codeine once, and had such terrible nightmares that she always refused to take it after that.

[Matt]

Yeah, I was thinking it was the pain meds, because I am on them still, and a very strong dosage.

The dreams I've been having are so unlike my normal bad dreams. They're more realistic, very personal, and absolutely awful.

Well, it's time for another one. I'm heading there now.

[KC]

Speaking of bad dreams, I am finally catching up with The Manchurian Candidate (original version). You don't think you might have been brainwashed by the Commies lately, do you?

But seriously ... sleep well, and no nightmares tonight!

[Matt]

I'm sure tonight's feature presentation will have special appearances from cast members that I prefer to never see again . Let's just hope I don't kill any more puppies.

[AKA23]

I'm sorry that you are having bad dreams, and that you have recently had surgery! I hope your recovery is going well.

Matt, thanks for your suggestion! I have a question. If I am not having difficulty falling asleep but am having difficulty staying asleep, wouldn't the extended release be the best form of medication to be taking? The regular release medication that wears off after a few hours might help for falling asleep, but wouldn't it wake me up when it wears off? This is the problem I am already having. Am I misunderstanding something here? What makes you think the regular form will be better to treat this issue?

[Matt]

I've been prescribed those extended release sleeping pills, and they don't have enough power to put me to sleep, so I'm just woozy all the time. The regular zolpidem/ambien, works well for me, but my main problem isn't staying asleep, but falling asleep. Still, sometimes I will wake up in the middle of the night, so I just take another, or a half of another. I never have that drunk/woozy feeling throughout the day. If you get the 10mg, you can try just taking 5 mg, which may be enough to knock you out, and then 5mg if you wake up in the middle of the night. I would at least try that and see if it isn't a better solution that what you've been taking.

[Matt]

AKA, have you tried Chamomile tea? Not sure it would help you get a full night's sleep, though. It might just help with being relaxed enough to fall asleep in the evening. What happens when you wake up in the middle of the night? Are you wide awake, and unable to get back to sleep?

[Gant]

And here I am at 4.30 in the morning wide awake after dreaming I was taking part in the battle scenes from Braveheart... Very realistic too..

I'm going back to the banana tea before bed, it seemed to work..

My dreams are so much more  prolific and realistic when I don't drink alcohol .. I remember being on codeine but my dreams then seemed more surreal...

[Aline]

And here I am at 4.30 in the morning wide awake after dreaming I was taking part in the battle scenes from Braveheart...

To all of you that mentioned bananas, I have heard is the other way around... they take the sleep away! It's a very solid fruit! But well, each organism reacts in a way.

[Gant]

I make banana tea Aline.. It seems to work for me... sometimes anyway..

I'm going back in after Gibson tonight..