At the end of May I was laid off from my job and since then I have had a really difficult time adjusting to this change.
My weight loss has pretty much stalled and I think a major part of this may be my ongoing battle with insomnia. I can't seem to go sleep at a normal time. last week I didn't go to bed at all before 4am one night I was up until 6 am. Without the pressure of having to get up for work it is like my mind sees no reason to shut down.
I will lay in bed for hours just thinking about joblessness and money it is not particularly productive. I have tried taking over the counter sleep aides and I am not a fan of them and I find them to be inconsistent in results. I have also tried home remedies and herbal remedies.
I am really kind of at my wits end her because I know that I am not going to be able to focus on anything if I don't start establishing a normal sleep pattern. I need to really put time and effort into finding a new job but I am so tired all the time that I have little energy for the work involved in that.
I try very hard not to nap during the day but sometimes it happens. I've started having problems with dry eyes and headaches as a result of the lack of sleep and I just don't know what to do about it any more.
Sorry. I feel your pain. I am on this site right now at almost 1:30 am because I have those same issues. Insomnia is the one health issue for which I have just never been able to find any relief. I do not want to take sleeping pills(dangerous, habit forming, etc.) and the natural supplements, diet, exercise, etc type of things that I have tried have not been very helpful. I have tried sleeping with a mask, herbal sleepy teas, bright light exposure first thing when I awaken. Tinkering with going to bed 15-30 minutes earlier each day and getting up earlier doesn't seem to help. In desperation, I have even tried staying up for more than 24 hours and trying to sleep the next day at 10pm. None of these things have ever really helped. If I get on a better schedule it lasts a couple of days at best and then it is right back to the 4am thing. Stress, depression and thyroid is issues tend to make insomnia worse...with your current job situation the stress and depression are a pretty likely thing. Wishing you better luck than I have had with this issue.
You are understandably super stressed and the only thing I can offer is what a psychologist said to me when I was on the brink.
Do, don't think.
That means that when your head is busy you do something mindless ... the ironing, take a walk (which is of course no good when it is 4am), paint a wall. Do this until you are so tired that you cannot help but sleep. Don't expect it to be the times you consider standard, that is all, it may in the afternoon, or morning, or night. Work on your job-getting when you wake.
I read an interesting article not too long ago about why street lights came about in London in the 1800s. The sleep ethic that exists today ie you should sleep between 6-8 hours a night continuously, was not the norm (is not the norm). In fact it is far more natural to sleep in two tranches in a night, for 3-4 hours each. In the 1800s it was natural for people to sleep the four hours, then wake and dress and go out and about on the town. For this they needed the lighting. After a couple of hours of socialising, shopping and walking about, they returned home to sleep for another 3-4 hours.
People now feel stressed if they do not get the expected 8 hours straight and this contributes to that tired feeling. On top of your very real concerns and distress, this really is consuming all your energy.
When I needed to I used to paint walls and ceilings and I would exhaust myself to the extent I would virtually fall off the ladder and the I would literally sleep where I lay. I did take Ginseng and Royal Jelly. It helped. After a while I did get to sleep in the evening, wake at 2am or 3am and then paint a wall, fall asleep for a couple more hours and then start all over again. I functioned, but not really well, and it improved.
You sleep patterns are mucked up but eventually, once the crises and traumas are past you can gradually adjust.
The idea of doing something mindless until tired is interesting. I have tried reading but I get to into the book and just end up reading all night. I remember in university I had bad insomnia as well and I used to clean the house while my room mates were asleep. They were always amazed that they would go to sleep at night having left messes everywhere and wake up t the floors having been washed, dishes done and everything tidy. I may have to take up this habit again and see where it gets me.
I've had insomnia since I was a little girl. It takes different forms at different times, but struggles with sleep are a constant in my life.
My doc prescribes me xanax for sleep and I take it when I need it. Better living through chemistry Many people speak very highly of melatonin. That's not a 'real' drug, so it doesn't have any of the risks that regular sleep aids carry. It might be worth a try. And for what it's worth, I don't think there's anything wrong with using OTC sleeping pills in the short term. You might find that using them helps you to get onto a regular schedule and then you can stop taking them after a week or two. I don't know that they are SO habit forming for most people.
One thing I have learned over my long life of sleeplessness is to NOT go to bed and then lie there worrying for hours and hours. I don't go to bed unless I'm really ready for sleep, and if I get there and can't sleep I either take a xanax or get up and do something else. Personally, tv and internet and books work for me. Ditto if I wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep. (That article Sinoia mentioned was actually a great comfort to me when I first read it!) The important thing is to avoid that horrible, horrible lying in bed worrying for hours situation. Hate that.
The other thing you might want to try is FORCING yourself to get up at the same time every day, even if you've only gotten a couple of hours sleep. You might find that eventually your body tries to find its way into a rhythm and that it's easier to get to sleep after a while. If you stay up until 4 or 5 or 6 and then sleep until the late morning or afternoon, your body is definitely not going to be ready for sleep at midnight.
I've had insomnia for as long as I can remember and for a long time I took a certain brand of sleep aids I don't remember but they really started messing with me (i could feel my heart beating out of my chest it was so fast/hard), and. it working well at all. So I switched to Alteril. I know you've tried OTC and don't like it and maybe you've tried alteril, but I too have tried many many many things and unfortunealty pills are all that work for me. I will stay up for 48+ hours if I do not take a pill, and then collapse from pure exhaustion.
Alteril is made with natural things such as melatonin which is why I am comfortable taking it, and it doesn't make me feel funny, or messed up the next day. I started off taking 2 years ago which is the severin size but the past year or so I only take 1 and it's just enough to stop my thinking and let me sleep, AD LONG AS I'm laying down when it hits. It's easy to fight if you aren't in bed when it starts working.
Veela, I share your pain. My nights of deep, uninterrupted, satisfying sleep are few and far between! Melatonin is really inexpensive and the only side effect I've ever heard of is residual drowsiness the next day. Try a small dose and see how it works for you - I had a friend start with a bigger dose (5mg) and she slept FOURTEEN hours. And was groggy until much later that day. If you haven't tried it, there are 500mcg tablets, or 1mg you can start with. I take a 5mg. Keeping your bedroom as dark as possible also helps - if you have a glowing clock, turn it toward the wall. Blackout drapes (we used a sleeping bag for a while) are helpful too. I make an effort to avoid the electronic devices (TV, computer, iPad) in the hour before bedtime.
Hopefully, something will help. It sucks not to get good rest!
Some things that help me -
tart cherry juice a couple times a week
warm milk with vanilla extract
working outside during the day
getting sunshine
aleve for aches and pains
listening to cspan
Funny, I just started a thread a few weeks ago about insomnia! I've had a hard time getting to sleep since I was a teenager, ugh, and it sucks big time! Since starting the thread a few weeks ago I started exercising more and guess what? Yep, actually getting to bed before midnight and going right to sleep without anything. Also, had/have a lot of stress and I think part of it was due to the stress. Getting things together and decided not to bother with things I have no control over so...whatever happens, happens but I am sleeping again, yay!
Insomnia
I feel your pain. I am on this site right now at almost 1:30 am because I have those same issues. Insomnia is the one health issue for which I have just never been able to find any relief. I do not want to take sleeping pills(dangerous, habit forming, etc.) and the natural supplements, diet, exercise, etc type of things that I have tried have not been very helpful. I have tried sleeping with a mask, herbal sleepy teas, bright light exposure first thing when I awaken. Tinkering with going to bed 15-30 minutes earlier each day and getting up earlier doesn't seem to help. In desperation, I have even tried staying up for more than 24 hours and trying to sleep the next day at 10pm. None of these things have ever really helped. If I get on a better schedule it lasts a couple of days at best and then it is right back to the 4am thing. Stress, depression and thyroid is issues tend to make insomnia worse...with your current job situation the stress and depression are a pretty likely thing. Wishing you better luck than I have had with this issue.
Many people speak very highly of melatonin. That's not a 'real' drug, so it doesn't have any of the risks that regular sleep aids carry. It might be worth a try. And for what it's worth, I don't think there's anything wrong with using OTC sleeping pills in the short term. You might find that using them helps you to get onto a regular schedule and then you can stop taking them after a week or two. I don't know that they are SO habit forming for most people. 
And was groggy until much later that day. If you haven't tried it, there are 500mcg tablets, or 1mg you can start with. I take a 5mg. Keeping your bedroom as dark as possible also helps - if you have a glowing clock, turn it toward the wall. Blackout drapes (we used a sleeping bag for a while) are helpful too. I make an effort to avoid the electronic devices (TV, computer, iPad) in the hour before bedtime.
