Warrior

I'm still trying to remember the last time I got three good nights sleep in a row.  I think it was Sept 8, 9, 10, 2001.  That's not a joke.  Once 9/11 happened everything changed.  Fatigue is not a good situation.  The VA tried meds but those didn't work.  I just did so many operations at night that it's still hard for my brain to readjust.  Stay away from the alcohol though.  It definitely doesn't help.

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Warrior

Have you tried keeping the lights on at night. keep it bright. remeber that it is daytime there at night here. The pills take a while to work. I take 200mg seroquel. I was given 400 mg for rough nights. The only other thing I was told to try was waking and looking over at my wife and talking to her. It is a grounding technique.If it works for you let me know. I have yet to work all of the bugs out.

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Warrior

Whatever you do, do not self medicate. Don't take extra medications, or those not intended for the purpose, or not prescribed. Different combinations of drugs, prescribed and not, can end up being lethal. I know a mother who lost a son after 9/11. He was a Med Tech who worked the site in the immediate days after. He had sleep problems, the same as many of you must have. He used meds from work, tranquilizers, IVs, etc. He was ok until one night when he took a sinus decongestent along with the unporescribed mixture, and died in his sleep. The sinus medication made the mixture of drugs lethal. Please be careful, we can't afford to lose any of you! Each and every on of you is too important to us as a nation and as individuals. Try meditation, try religion. Sooth the soul! Many times I've found that the soul is hurting, because of the things we've seen and done, and it's hard to heal a soul. There's no medication that can do it alone. Begin slowly by trying to imagine a plain white screen in your mind, it's very difficult, but you keep trying to lock out the other thoughts. Imagine a padlock for those thoughts, imagine yourself actually putting a padlock on your screening room. The mind is a very powerful tool. With enough practice you may be able to do it. Then imagine something that you normally find calming. For me it's an island breeze on a sandy beach, with beautiful aquamarine colored waters, waves lapping up on the beach, the sounds of the waves give a calming effect. Breath deep, in through the nose, out through the mouth. This technique will not only help you to fall asleep, but will calm your thoughts, and allow you in time to dream about other things. Try it, I hope it helps.

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Warrior

Locomotion,

   You hit the nail on the head.  A wound is a wound.  The soul has to be rehabed and healed just like anything else.  The words contact and medic still strike me to my core when I hear them unexpectedly.  As for the medication, the VA gave me ambien on steroids but did do a great job of explaining about mixing meds.  I think we all have heard horror stories about that.  It's difficult for me to sleep because we operated primarily at night (in the door kicking mode).  Daytime was more for working with the Iraqis, nightime it was game on.  I was also wounded at night.  There are certain noises (vehicles accelerating, etc) that I associated with that night that still trigger me at times.  It's tough but I am slowly working my way out of it.

Courage doesn't end on the battlefield.

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Warrior

I had to learn about the meds by taking them.  They can give you some relief but they got in the way of healing (for me).

We are human beings.  Our thought processes can become injured, not just by war, but by the lousy mental treatment we recieved after the war, and not sleeping is a big part of the circular syndrome that reinforces itself.

Besides meds, you can learn to "enjoy insomnia" instead of focusing on it being bad.  I read until I get sleepy again, play on the internet, write poetry, do tai chi.  But most importantly, I don't make it part of "my problem".

I finally learned that I had to "give up and heal" instead of dealing with (or being focused on) my injury.  This is the very hardest part, (especially when you are a 100% service connected).  Being surrounded by "Disability Victims" was a big help because I had to choose to join them or to move on.

Forgive yourself for being human, love yourself for being the screwed up mess that you are, dance naked in the living room until you feel really stupid, and go back to bed.

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