Published on 12, July, 2020
I seem to be struggling to sleep at all at the moment I’m not falling asleep until gone 2am even though I got to bed about 10. Then I’m waking up at 5am for work or 6am if I’m not at work. Im exhausted all the time but I’m not napping either and I don’t know what to do. I can’t seem to shut my brain off or get comfortable. I have a drs appointment soon mid august for my mental health so I’m going to ask if there’s anything she can suggest but I just don’t know what to do. It’s been happening for 3 weeks now I always have a headache too.
andi said:I can’t seem to shut my brain off or get comfortable
This is your key. ^^
Shutting the brain off is an Autistic issue.
Getting comfortable can be a biology need. What sort of exercise are you able to take daily? Do you stretch before bed? Do you stay hydrated (add the necessary amount of salt + sugar). Have you tried a Magnesium spray and/or magnesium salt bath.
Night time: everything stops and suddenly everything we've ever left unresolved plus everything that needs doing plus everything I'd forgotten that day/week/year just all floods into my head all at once. If I'm working on something, I'm in a hyper-drive, the 'generator' powering my brain is on a slow intense climb turning over faster and faster. So, I've had to take rather drastic measures over the years. If I have to finish a project and my brain starts picking up momentum, I take a Xanax. I don't use them often but this is one good reason to. It literally shuts down the hyper-focued monotropic problem solving.
Resolution can take time. Sometimes I just need to write everything out. I've had to let go of relationships that were harmful for this reason. I make lists. I continually try to learn to organise them. I've had to make sure to continually study enjoyable things which far outweigh problems I cannot control. This gives my head something to contemplate and problem solve weekly - putting to task a thing which needs a task. But I have found sudoku helps. Puzzles. And a rock salt lamp, incredibly low-light and a diffusor (rock), which breaks up an LED enough so it's bearable cutting out all blue.
I walk a lot and I’ve gotten into capri suns at the moment but eating and drinking isn’t something i remember to do a lot unless I’m told I haven’t but I can’t take baths I pass out for some reason. When I first got diagnosed my specialist wanted to put me on melatonin but never got round to it. I’m looking into getting a support worker so hopefully my dr can help me sort one out. I do have a lot going on in life right now and my home is no longer suitable to my needs and neither is my job but they are both working progresses. But I don’t think about these things at night because I know they set off my anxiety and I’m already struggling with that as it is but it’s never stopped my sleep like this only when I was servrly depressed.