aireyden,

When you wake up and start ruminating, get up and go write down your thoughts. Get the list written down so your brain can let go of it. use lists to take the burden off your brain.

I will get a though during the night and just get up. Go write it on my white board. Then I go back to bed. Sometimes I need to zone out on some Celtic Women.

Music with lyrics can occupy your thought processes so your body and brain can relax again. I can settle down listening to foreign language vocalists like Sarah Brightman or Il Divo.

I think reading would be OK as long as it does not create a need to wonder "what comes next." I can't read fiction. It causes too much frustration trying to follow the plot and different characters. I will read research publications and such.

I have used repetitive tasks to settle down. Anything that does not require creative or higher level thought processes.

I have been doing these pre-sleep routines for decades. Otherwise, my mind wants to go 100 mph.

I take gabapentin (Neurontin) to help my body and brain settle down. I forgot to take it last night until 3:00 am when I realized why I was still trying to get settled. Gabapentin is a very easy drug to take. It has an 8 hour half life so it is mostly gone from your blood stream by the morning.

I used to take 600 mgs but had to increase to 900 mgs and hour or so before bed. It is very good at helping my body relax. Otherwise, I tend to have restless legs and other body jerks. I also tend to get postural rigidity. My muscles will tense up, especially my upper back and my hands.

For years, I would sleep holding my wife's hand or with my hand on her thigh. I can't do that anymore because I will squeeze the life out of her hand or thigh. But, the gabapentin helps.

My best to you.

well i took xanax (.5) last night and slept like a baby. 10pm until 6:30am. I thought I would feel like my old self...but still have the same symptoms...just not as bad. Headache gone at least!!

I think I'm starting to turn the corner and get a little better...tolerating more now

I just want to sleep!! I do have a book to read, but hate to get out of bed...and don't want to disrupt my husband's sleep with a booklight on.

Music (ipod) seems to bother me...but I might try again. I love bruce springsteen..so maybe that will help.

I was having a lot of trouble staying asleep and wanted to mention a few things that have helped me to sleep more and longer in the past few weeks in case they might also work for you.

My acupuncturist recommended a supplement called 5-HTP, the normal dose is 200mg a night to help with trouble sleeping, but people with head injuries are apparently more sensitive to drugs and supplements and I am normally taboot, so he recommended I start off taking 100mg a night.

He also recommended a cervical pillow and actually, that did help me a great deal! But I suffer with bulging disks from the severe whiplash from the accident that also gave me the head injury, but it might still be worth a shot. There are a lot of them out there, but the Tony Little jumbo (not traveler size) cervical pillow found on the HSN website is the one he recommended.

I see others have recommended more things that I would have too, such as walking during the day, meditation and a snack - I prefer a small cup of yogurt.

I also like to stretch during the day. Before the auto accident degraded my health I used to do yoga and I'm building that practice up slowly but surely when I'm able to, maybe you would like that too? It helps to relax and strengthen at the same time, so it's like killing two birds with one stone. I recommend Iyengar yoga over other kinds, some can be like aerobics and that's not relaxing IMO.

funny you said yoga...my neighbor took me to a class today. I am not a fan...as I prefer spin class ..its a bit boring for me...I like the action but apparently my brain doesn't.

any particular brand of 5-htp??

I just wanted to chime in about the 5HTP. I've been taking it for a while but always in the am. I read something that made me decide to try to taking it in pm instead to see if it would help me stay asleep. Anyhow, it has been helping, I'm not waking up nearly as much as I was, feeling at bit better in the am, so I do think it is making a difference. Happy, Happy! I buy most of my supplements from an online and catalogue order company called Swanson's vitamins. The prices are better and the quality is good. Hope this is helpful.

how many mgs are you taking??

I don't have a regular exercise routine...but I think starting tomorrow I will. I do have a treadmill and a spin bike...and the weather in nj is starting to break (mgiht hit 50 during the day...i hate cold weather).

why did you say walk before noon??

we have a jacuzzi in our bathroom...but the thing takes so long to fill up that I hate taking baths...sometimes the noise from the jets bother me too..as relaxing as it sounds...sometimes it isn't. But I think I might just get in there tonight.

and I agree...seems like the nights I do watch a little tv before bed...I'm up more during the night. (actually just being overstimulated in general keeps me up)

i'm resorting to meds to help me sleep. Didn't want to go that route, but I have no choice.

I have to chime in about taking Xanax or other meds (Benzo's) for sleep. I started taking Xanax last year and it worked wonders, at first, but after a while I got tolerance withdrawal, which is where you start having withdrawal symptoms without actually changing the dosage or anything else. Because of this, I had to stop taking it because I would of had to keep up dosing in order to feel the same affects. I'm now off of Xanax and going through some pretty nasty withdrawals.

I became a part of a support group because of the things I was going through. I don't mean to mention this type of stuff to scare anybody, but I just want people to realize some of the things they forget to mention.

The group is known as Benzo support. Feel free to google them, and check out the FAQ page because it talks about some of the symptoms you can have.

I take 100 mgs 5HTP with 3 mg time release melatonin a little while before bed.

is there a difference between 5htp and htp? can i take it with a benzo?? I'm really having difficulty sleeping