Sleep is a BEAR in eearly recovery.
I remember I only caught 20-30 minute naps for weeks...
don't panic!
I was one of those 'last stage' drunks
and really should have been in a hospital
so don't freak out ...
I've also wroked 'Grqaveyard Shift for almost fifteen years. Over that time i've learned a few things about getting to sleep when every cell in your body is vibing to be up and going....
I am the only person I know who... the sound of lawn mowers, chainsaws, and motorcycles ... actually makes them sleepy.
Some tips from the Book of Barb:
1. if it's not against yer principles- think about giving Melatonin a try.
when you use it just for a few days to get your schedule back on course - I can find nothing wrong of 'program breaking ' about using something as perscribed to be able to hold a job and work.
2. Bigelow makes a tea called 'Sweet Dreams" that is ten times a good as 'Sleepy Time' from that other company. That other company is YuppieTrash.
3. Lay off caffeiene. Like make yourself a time barrier - like stop drinking it at 10:00am or something . .. that really does help a LOT.
4. Prayer and meditation before sleep: I think this helped so much because it helped ease my mind and when I know I'm 'connected' with the Infinite - I can relax completely.
5. If yall are men - I've never met a man who didn't fall asleep immediately after sex.
6. I know very FEW men who don't get amazingly sleepy immediately after a fairly big meal. Just having a 'dagwood' sandwich for two nights isn't gonna wreck your waistline, and as long as it doesn't become a long term solution, you're getting all the fuel your bodies need to keep healing...
7. Chocolate - really does help. Something about the endorphins... i'm a full blown choclate chowin DIVA so I dont care what anyone says negative about it. i love it . I want it . i'm eatin it. LOL
8. Books on tape - often make me sleepy. In the first days - I played AA speaker tapes 24/7. They were never off, unless I was at a meeting. TO THIS DAY - the beginning of a speaker tape will make me briefly sleepy LOL!
9. I sleep better when I'm a little cold. Like lowering the room temp will help me sleep deeper during the day.
10. Meditation - DEEP meditation ... often produces sleep.
11. counting backwards from a hundred will do it ... but you have to be able to keep returning your mind to visualizing the num,ber, then keeping on it.
12. I sleep with the radion on - it's on pretty low, in fact I can't usually clearly understand what they're saying, but it completely drowns out the noises in the hall from my inconsiderate (and increasingly annoying) neighbor who seems to be unable to comprehend that I need to sleep during the day. Not on a 'shout radio' station - I listen to NPR. The commercials arent startling, the music is good, and there's LOTS of talk. Having teh tv on doesn't work because the networks turn up the volume so much on commercials they will startle you awake. TRUST ME ON THIS.
Well, I hope that helps.
The last thing I did - I still do to this day -
and that's ... read. Read read read. I've learned to fall asleep reading, and you should see my 'bedtime' glasses - they look like they've been through the garbage disposal from going on four years of being bent all to heck and back while I'm sleeping, and getting torn off and thrown while still asleep.
I hope you find SOMETHING in all this that helps!!!