jake17 wrote:
anyway I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions other then sleeping pills to get past this ansomnia problem.
thanks
Carrie
While I don't suffer from insomnia, I can give you helpful hints and share my experience. The best thing to really combat this (and I don't agree with sleeping pills either...but that's not to say it doesn't help other people) is to make a routine and stick to it.
No electronic items what so ever an hour before bed. Hard, but really...overall, it's healthy and helpful. No computer, tv, phone, music, nothing. You need to train your mind/body that it's now time to go to bed...and so for the hour before bed, create a relaxing routine and you stick to it. It won't happen after a week, it won't happen after two weeks, not even after three weeks...but after four-five weeks and onwards it should help.
Maybe take a bath, warm glass of milk, read a book right before bed and relax. Also make your room a comfortable environment. You shouldn't be using electronic items like a laptop in bed or watching tv in bed because your mind will no longer associate your bed as a place to fall asleep, so its better to make your room just for relaxing, privacy and sleep. Another thing is if you can't let your mind relax is make a to-do list of everything you have to do tomorrow so that, that "uneasiness" of "I have so much to do tomorrow" is to put to rest now that you have a game-plan. Noise helps too, like I sleep with fan constantly since I don't like not having any sound and I also need my room pitch black.
My trouble with sleeping didn't come with insomnia but having an odd sleep cycle for the past two years of college while I've been working on my bachelors. I was taking 6 full time classes and working 30 hours a week and it screwed my times up. Because I would get up everyday at 5.30, morning run, rush to class, rush to work, work, rush back to another class, do all my volunteer and club activities...for two years my life, my schedule was 5:30 in the morning out the door and I wouldn't come home till 11.30 at night, after which I would still have homework, shower, food, and other things that I would need to take care of before staring the day all over again. I was only going on five hours of sleep a day...and while that was enough for me, doing this for two years messed with my sleeping cycle so that when the uni semester changed and my class scheduled changed and my work scheduled therefore changed, I needed to quickly change my patterns of sleep to accommodate that. And I know this sounds funny, but I didn't have time to toss and turn in bed, I needed to be out as soon as I hit the pillow and I need that to happen despite a change in my schedule and creating a routine that you have before bed is really the best best thing. Its basically training your body that you have to go to bed now.
Now its easier since I work full time and am only taking part time graduate classes, I'm not as on the go as I use be, but that's what worked for me. I know everyone's not the same, but that's my experience. I hope it helps you. Not sure about nightmares since I rarely in my life have gotten nightmares, but isn't there an old wives-tale that says eating cheese before bed gives you nightmares? So no cheese? lol, I have no idea if that's even true.
I can never fall asleep and if by chance I do it only lasts for a few hours, plus every single time I do sleep for these magical two hours I have very vivid horrific nightmares. I wake up terrified, all shaky with my heart racing 
realllly not fun! 
You shouldn't have trouble waking up with the melatonin unless you take too many. Sometimes it does take awhile to start working so if you try it tonight and that doesn't help just don't give up. I hope you get a good's night sleep soon.