Aysha

I am sorry for all the threads today guys. I am just so bored today. And trying to fill my time in ways other than obsessing about this freakin hot mess I have made of myself in a matter of weeks.

I am so tired right now. I feel like I could go to sleep. But when I lay down. Its zoom zoom zoom. My mind goes on overdrive.
I have been staying up until like 5 or 6 am because I cant slow my thoughts and quiet my mind.
And even then I only sleep maybe a few hours an hour at a time.
I should already know what to do. But this is what keeps me stressing out all the time. I got the music playing. I took a nice long hot bath earlier. I did soem things productive today. I am relaxing with low light and reading here to try and realax. I am relaxed until I hit that bed.
I am almost driving myself crazy. And now I am all hyper and wide awake but so tired at the same time. Does that make sense?
I am goin to see my Dr tomorrow. I gotta get some rest and try and stop these mind races.

What do you guys do to slow the mind?
I will go wondering all over the past and the future a million iles an hour when I try and go to sleep. Its getting aggravating.

Impurrfect

(((Trish))) - honestly, on nights my mind did that, I never COULD shut it up...I'd hang out on SR, play solitaire, watch TV until I finally could get to sleep...lot of help I am, huh?

I tried to tell my mind to "shut the f up!!" and that didn't work. Sometimes I try to imagine what I would do if I won the powerball (fat chance...I don't even PLAY the lottery). It's kinda fun, though...figuring out how I would spend my millions WAY better than obsessing on all the other stuff!

Sorry I can't help. When they put me on the anti-d, after the robbery for the PTSD, this was one of the side effects, so they put me on seroquel to counteract it. Add that to my migraine meds, and my mind finally shut up. I'd rather NOT be on the meds, though, seriously. However, I went 3 weeks with inability to concentrate or sleep, and went to my dr., so that's where I'm at.

I'm glad you're going to see your dr.

Hugs and prayers!

Amy

lunarise

Chiy~ I wish I could help as you know I have recently been in the same boat. I will say that Chamomile tea sorta helps me, you could give it a try. The only other thing I can say is that I realized I was keeping myself awake by being so pi@sed that I couldn't sleep! Weird huh? I decided that I would not judge my lack of sleep that I would sleep when I was ready and not until then...and what do you know...its actually helping. Big :ghug3
I hope you get some rest!

witt44

I got some advise one day from my old AA friend ...
Why not try gym or jogging ?
Believe me or not but it does work .
I play table tennis once a week . I feel great . No insomnia at all .

All the best , witt

Wombat05

Same boat for me Chiy.
I try to read, have a cup of good tea.
I won't let myself lay in bed anymore "fighting" to get to sleep. It's just counter productive, and it will last until the wee hours.
15 minutes is my limit, and I get up and do something relaxing until I feel tired enough to try again. It really isn't a lot of fun, as you know.
I've also recently started taking a natural herbal supplement that has some melatonin. Just a couple nights so far, but with training my mind and body that my bed is for sleeping--and taking that I haven't had the mind races. I'll keep you posted, but so far so good? (As I post this at 1:46 AM my time--go figure).

HideorSeek

Hi Chiy!

It's funny you should ask because my racing mind is primarily why I drank. When I stopped drinking, I knew I had to find a healthy "replacement" for alcohol or I would relapse when my mind got the best of me. So far, what has worked for me is meditation and Yoga. Meditation (start by just focusing on the breath) requires more discipline I think. Yoga is very relaxing because the movements are so slow. Often I can meditate easier after doing Yoga for awhile.

Tazman53

Trish I know all about that racing mind, it was like a whole bunch of memories of my past became people in my head and they were all shouting all the time, they were always reminding me of my past misdeeds, what I could have done, what I should have done, etc.

They started to get quieter when I started on my 4th step and after I did my 5th with my sponsor the racing stopped most of the time, once I was working on making amends the racing was gone. You see cleaning up my past & dealing with it, shut them little demons up!

Learning how to live strictly in today and accepting that the only control I have over the future is what I do today and doing what needs to be done has brought about for me most of the time peace at night.

Meditation helps as well.

Exercise helps my body rest, the steps and applying them daily have given me peace of mind which allows me a good night sleep.

stone

I listen to audiobooks in bed and I have some guided meditations on audiobook too.

least

Mozart helps me a lot. His music takes me out of myself and away from my thoughts.

4todayinTN

Hey there...recently sober myself...on and off for years..now ready for the real thing.. I actually sleep better but sometimes with a little help. I sometimes use Melatonin..which our body produces but produces less as we age. I also read positive, sober affirming books, and if that doesn't work I listen to my meditation CDs. One in particular that I would recommend, Is "Reiki Healing-Sei, He, Ki".It uses tonals to quiet the mind and takes you deeper with each segment. I LOVE it! So relaxing..I put it on my iPod for travel as well. So sweet Dreams!!! BTW, anyone else having dreamfests?? I mean, I have been dreaming like a maniac!

Bard

That was a tough one to get over and I think the only good cure is time. I know the bulk of my first 60 days were the worse. My mind obsessing about every little wrong I've ever done, and mostly about the stuff I almost forgot about. It was like it all came rushing back at me like I only did that stuff yesterday. And no matter how hard I try to block it out it just kept going round and round in my mind. I thought I was cracking up for sure!

About the best I could do was to force myself to concentrate on other things. Exercise really helped, or doing some work around the house. Getting out and talking to some family was real helpful in getting my mind off my own mind as well! And of course coming here reading and posting help to let me know I wasn't alone in this.

Fubarcdn

I do breathing exercise.
Breath in for 4 seconds, hikd for 4 seconds, breath out slowly for 8 seconds. To sloe the mind I will do 5-6 sets of 20 breaths and count the breaths. This will lower your blood pressure and by concentrating on your breathing remove the stray and repetitive thoughts from your mind.
If that doesn't work I put on a baseball game. That puts me to sleep everytime.

KenL

Exercise. It does a ton of good for the body, soul and mind. I exercise just about every day and I sleep from 6-8 hours every night. No racing thoughts, practically no stress. I love it. Assuming that you don't already exercise, I urge you to get into the habit of doing it each day if possible. You'll definately reep the benefits as I have. I love this sobriety thing!

Anna

Trish,

I walk, a lot.

It helps me enormously.

James13

Do meditation, get sleep, eat right (and enough) and do things like reading a book, going for a walk listen to music.

CarolD

I loved doing crossword puzzles to relax.

I also played Scrabble alone... against the clock
To win I had to have scored 500
before the kitchen timer buzzed.
I started doing that in 45 minutes ..got it down to 30.

These days I pray for peace...I come share here
I call a friend...eat a treat...take a bubble bath
Listen to Chopin ...Elvis....Beethoven ...Ramsey Lewis Trio.

hope some of my isolutions help you to chill....

jamdls

Camomile (sp?) tea relaxes me as well in addition to a sleep aid (desyrel), when it's really bad I turn on the tv to something like a political commentary show or the radio on NPR-at least listening to something gets me out of my own head and I fall asleep.

Future22

I agree with KenL on the exercise. Even if its just 30 minutes a day not only will help reduce stress in your life but it will increase your motivation, confidence, and energy while providing a healthy lifestyle. You will be able to sleep like a baby. The tough part is just getting to the gym, but once there and into a daily routine it becomes time away from all stresses and worries. Assuming you are not on a workout plan. I also occasionaly take melatonin to help get my patterns back to normal.

Aysha

Wow..After I posted this I went to sleep. Go figure.
I have really intense dreams too. I was doing like competition chainsaw cutting last night. Where that came from I couldnt tell you. lol.

During the day I can sleep good. But at night its a real task.
I have always been a night person.

I like the idea of the meditation audio.
Or I would like maybe just some ocean beach sounds. That would send me right off.

I am goin to see if they have any online that I can play at night.

Thx everyone.

Mark75

Hey...

The exercise thing works for me, but that's not always an option....

I have used meditation/relaxation audio. I love Liquid Mind - they have several CDs - also you can download them from iTunes...

Have you heard of Pandora - It's kind of an internet radio thing... You make a "station" (you can have many....) by entering a musician/group or a song. Then the site will play song after song of music with similar qualities of that which you entered.... Pandora Radio - Listen to Free Internet Radio, Find New Music

Check it out - Make a station with "Liquid Mind".... then, get some GOOD headphones, sit back and.... Slow the mind and Relax!!!!!!


Mark