I have a lot of trouble with sleep and have to keep a routine to even have a chance for a good night's sleep. I quit all caffeine 6 hours beforehand and then try to wind down the last couple hours. Food stops about 4 hours beforehand and liquids about three hours.

I go through all the preps like brushing teeth and setting the alarm starting about half an hour before and taking the medication that makes sleep possible. This is especially the tizanidine (6 mg) but also seroquel. I have to stop the other medications by four and a half hours earlier or they'll interfere. I also take everything that makes me groggy or doesn't bother me at night but that's just norvasc now.

This seems to work much of the time but some nights I'll use aspirin if I'm fidgety, valium if anxious, tylenol 3 if pained. If the pain is persistrent then it's tramadol ER and if it's sudden flare then tramadol APAP. Some of these can't be mixed though.

I've tried everything and these seem to almost always work. Sometimes I'm just still wound up and then I don't take anything and just wait it out. I try very hard to get up at the same time every day even if I got to sleep late.