I can't sleep at all!
 

And it's driving me crazy. I've been this way for a couple of years, but it is so bad lately. I'm premenstrual right now, could this be aggravating it even more? Usually I either can't fall asleep till the wee hours of the morning, or I do fall asleep but awake in the middle of the night and then can't fall back asleep till morning. Now it is both at the same time. I just can't do the medication and SSRI she recommends because they mess with my head. I'd rather be sleepless and sane. Well I got that off my chest. I'm going to try lying down again.

I'm sorry to hear that...hope you can find answer to that.

I actually started sleeping better within days of starting SP. Now that I haven't been doing it very well the last few days, I 've noticed that I'm back to not sleeping well again...sleeping lightly and waking often.

Hello, I am not on Schwartzbein Principle. I am on Atkins but maybe I could shed some light on the problem of sleeplessnes.When you begin Schwatrzbein are your carb levels extremely low? If so, ketosis could be the cause. According to the book, Protein Power, if you are producing a heavy amounts of ketones this can keep you awake. Again, I know nothing about your diet but if it is possible to raise carb limit, that will probably help you to get some ZZZZZsss.

The SP isn't a low carb diet like Atkins or PP designed primarily for weight loss with better health as a secondary goal. (I'm intimately familiar with both of them, having been off & on both of them for the last 10 years.) The SP is a healing program, with weight loss being the very last step toward healing of the metabolism. The lowest carb level a person would ever eat on SP is 60g per day, a person with insulin resistance and burned-out adrenals. And that's only the countable carbs like fruits, grains, legumes & starchy veggies...if you ate the recommended amount of non-starchy (any veggie containing 5g or less carbs per 1/2 cup) veggies SP recommends, you'd add another ~40g per day. I can't even imagine an instance where 100g carbs per day would induce ketosis. The very first thing I noticed upon beginning SP was better sleep at night, almost instantly.

Okay, so ketosis wouldn't be the reason that Jende cannot sleep. Ketosis, as we all know, occurs when the carb count is about 20 grams per day. But ketosis can cause sleepless nights and that is why I made my comment. Jende, that is why I asked if your carb levels were low. The answer is out there. Sorry I was not of any help.

Black57

I have had this problem for many years. Stress and worrying was the case. Because the causes could/can't be taken away I could/can only work on it from the stress-relieving side.

Have you any idea what the cause can be? Are there possible stress factors in your life (work, relations, children, health, money)?

Ketosis is not my problem, but thanks for the suggestion, it does remind me to look at my carb levels (Dr. S says too few will cause insomnia).

My stress is that I can't deal with anything slightly stressful or out of the ordinary. I'm also constantly rushing. I have adrenal fatigue which gives me alot of energy highs and lows. I have a tendency to become hyper, especially before bed. High cortisol levels can keep people up and so can low levels. I'm getting salivary testing for cortisol, DHEA, progesterone, estradiol, and testosterone done, so hopefully something can come from this.

I have actually gotten some better night's sleep since posting, but it's still not great and not good enough to begin healing my adrenals. I am upping my bedtime dose of 5 htp and my ND gave me a tincture with valerian for the times that I just can't get back to sleep. Hope something helps soon. I think sleep would be the key to me getting better.

jende,
I agree that sleep will help you heal. One supp that helps me is
called "calms forte" by Hyland. It's a homeopathic nerve/sleeping
aid. I think I read about it in the Diet Cure by Julia Ross. I have to take 3 to fall asleep, but I usually get a good couple of hours from taking it. I think it's passionflower and some calcium type combo. Also taking cal/mag helps or even just magnesium. I have no trouble falling asleep, but often wake up between 1am and 3am. I used to just get up and go on the computer, but that made me so tired the next day. Another thing that helps me is to take my liver herbs at bedtime. I read somewhere that the liver is working from around 1am to 3pm, and if it is hindered, it can wake you up. That sounds weird, but if I take
my milk thistle plus, or NOW liver detoxifier and regenerator herbs before bed, I sleep better. But I would try calms forte, from any health food store, or cal/mag supps before bed or after dinner. Hope something works, ps valerian is good too, I see you have that....

Hi Paulam. I do actually use the calmes forte, but I seem beyond that. I think it helps when my problem is mild though. I tried the valerian stuff last night and can't decide if it was helpful or not.

I'm trying to decide if I have to buckle down and start getting up at the same time every morning. My best sleep comes in the morning between 6 and 8. No matter how badlyI slept during the night, I will feel good if I sleep in like that. The problem is that my body will not allow me to fall asleep without at least 16 hours of awake time. I've always been like this. Even if I only got 4 hours of sleep, if I woke up at 8, there's no chance of sleeping before midnight. It would be preferable to actually be able to fall asleep at 10 pm and be up in the am like a normal person. This may require a couple of sleepless weeks though, I think my circadian rhythm is very screwed up.

Yeah, the calms forte is helpful, but I found that it doesn't work
for the whole night, just maybe a few hours if I am tired. One thing that I noticed, is that if I don't drink coffee, but only tea in the morning, I will probably sleep better that night. Also, if I drink any wine with dinner, I'll probably wake up in the night. The last thing is if I get some real exercise in the day, the kind
that makes you feel a bit tired, I can usually sleep better that night. I don't exercise regularly though, so maybe it would help.
My husband snores sometimes, and that can wake me wide awake.....light sleeper generally. Last thought, lighted clock radios nearby, or anywhere a small light can effect you body clock negatively. Maybe covering your eyes somehow? I bet
you have tried alot of this already, but I am just thinking of what helps me. And still the extra calcium/magnesium supp....

Midnight is only and hour later than DS recommends for going to bed at the latest. Maybe with all your efforts you could train yourself to go to bed 5 minutes earlier each night until you're at 11pm? And I personally see no reason why a person "has" to get up at a certain time, unless your schedule demands it. That would be 9 hours, which is the level I feel best at. I would not get up before 8 if I didn't have to when school starts back!

Calmes Forte works for me provided I am already tired. I hate coffee, never drink it. I've considered taking up green tea if it would have health benefits for me, I forgot to ask my ND about that. I think the L theanine in it is supposed to help people deal with stress. I don't usually drink alcohol but I have noticed that it interferes with sleep. Actually my nutitional habits are impecable. I just can't seem to shut off my hyperactive brain. I also get itchy when I try to relax.

As far as exercise goes, I weight train 3X a week. All I do for cardio is brisk walking on my off days, but I am active, so I don't think that is it.

My husband doesn't snore, but his breathing can drive me insane at times. We now use a fan for white noise and have a baby monitor to hear kids if they wake up. The fan is starting to make an annoying rattling noise though.

Maybe I will try turning the clock away from me, then I can't watch it either. We have large windows in our room and all our neighbors across the street keep their outdoor lights on all night long. I suppose a pellet gun could solve this problem ;) . Another answer might be wearing night shades, but I wouldn't know where to look for those.

I love to sleep in, the problem is that it keeps setting the time I can get to sleep at night later and later. My body just does not want to even approach 8 hours of sleep. The sun is up by 5:30 and my husband soon after that which often wakes me up and it takes awhile to get back to sleep. This is why I would like to be able to fall asleep around 10, I figure it gives me a better shot at more hours of sleep.

Jende,
Have you had a thyroid check? I am wondering if you are hyper?
Probably not, but when my levels were off there for awhile, while
the meds were being adjusted, I was having lots of probs with
a sort of nervousness. I could not relax. I was a bit anxious also.
I had a nodule on one side of the thyroid and once it was all straightened out, a lot of that diminished. I tend to think that
insomnia can be hormonal, but it's figuring out which ones are
out of whack. Maybe read the chapter in Schwarzbein about
how life is serotonin depleting. That's a chapter I have worn out in the first book. Also have you ever heard of Potatoes
not Prozac by Kathleen DesMaisons? She recommends a potato,
like leftover, or microwaved and eaten before bed. I think a banana might work, but am not sure. If you eat a carb it helps
to release serotonin at night time (supposed to be the normal time to release it.) I sometimes try this, and I think it works. I
am not always consistent though, with what I try. Schwarzbein
calls what you are describing "noise" when your brain keeps going. Got to run.

jende if this a chronic problem for you how about getting a sleep study? I had one almost a year ago. They asked me how many times I woke up during the night and I said 6. It was actually 159 times. It was quite informative. I have a problem with rem sleep and it is effected by hormones. The cure worked great for me until I moved to a high altitude, now its the worst its ever been.

I've actually been thinking of checking out a sleep center. I was wondering if they would just end of drugging me up like my doc does, of if they try to figure out the problem and solve it. Low cortisol wakes people up for some reason and I think that is my problem. I live at a fairly high altitude, I wonder why that has an effect on you. Just curious, what did they do to help you?