Unable to Sleep — I'm Waking Up Every Hour or Two — Tried Melatonin, Natural Remedies, Teas

[Bernardo431]

Since the beginning of January I can't sleep, and I've been trying everything I can think off. I've been taking melatonin, all natural staff that I can found, teas, etc... but it seems useless to me, I wake up every hour or two.

Also, this was because my tinnitus and hyperacusis increased in the first week of the month and it was difficult during the first week, I couldn't sleep at all.

Now I'm habituating and I'm masking the sound and it does help most of the time but I still wake up every hour.

I'm afraid to go to the doctor because I've seen many people have their tinnitus get worse after medication to sleep, and I'm afraid the doctor will do that.

So, anyone knows anything that could improve my sleep? Or should I go to the doctor?

 

[Bernardo431]

Also, I think my tinnitus increased because I used to only hear in silence, now when I'm hearing something like thetelevision it gets louder like some kind of interference.

 

[Alue]

I struggle with sleep sometimes too, but now it's mostly stress that keeps me awake and not the tinnitus.

If you do mask, I would suggest using it at a low volume to distract your brain.
Try getting some exercise during the day.
No caffeine after lunch.
Chamomile tea.

If all else fails you can go to the doctor and try some medication, but I understand your hesitation to do that. I take gabapentin before bed and that seems to help me. On really bad days where I'm extremely stressed out or I'm chaining sleep schedule I'll take Ambien, but you don't want to take that on a regular basis.

 

[Geekysugar]

I was like that for my first month. It has been 2 and a half now. The anxiety from hearing the ringing would wake me up over and over again.

It has been improving, though. I use a water stream video to mask the T and a pillow speaker so I'm able to sleep on my side. I dont want to take sleep meds so I use chamomile tea and passionflower drops before I sleep. That really helps with the anxiety. Also, when I wake up in the middle of the night I try to do guided meditation videos to relax me. I'm able to sleep for about 5 hours until I wake up and try again.

Give it some time, the body just needs to adjust and realize that tinnitus is not dangerous. I hope things get better soon!

 

[Bernardo431]

I was like that for my first month. It has been 2 and a half now. The anxiety from hearing the ringing would wake me up over and over again.

It has been improving, though. I use a water stream video to mask the T and a pillow speaker so I'm able to sleep on my side. I dont want to take sleep meds so I use chamomile tea and passionflower drops before I sleep. That really helps with the anxiety. Also, when I wake up in the middle of the night I try to do guided meditation videos to relax me. I'm able to sleep for about 5 hours until I wake up and try again.

Give it some time, the body just needs to adjust and realize that tinnitus is not dangerous. I hope things get better soon!

I'm not new to Tinnitus, I have tinnitus for alm,ost 3 years and what is happening right now happen when it first appeared and somehow I was able to sleep again. Now, it's happening again during the first weeks, I couldn't sleep for a second or even minutes but now it's getting better I just wake up a lot during my sleep. I guess I will wait to see if it gets better, and try my best to sleep. This has been happening for almost a month, so if it continues for more weeks I guess I will try to go to the doctor.

 

[MBH]

I do this routine every night: I use a fan and a sound machine with ocean sounds, take a shower, an eye mask and two Tylenol PMs and I sleep well. Mind you I have head tinnitus. It might work for you.

 

[Strife_84]

If you can't sleep, be awake. Don't force yourself to sleep. The sleep will eventually come.

No TV, phones etc before sleep. Turn off or dim lights 1-2 hour before going to bed. No caffeine after 6 in the evening.

 

[ridgew]

When i couldn't sleep for 3 days straight and nothing mundane was working for me, i got clonazepam prescription. Took 1mg before bed for a month. I got 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep from the first time i took it.

Melatonin and herbals were doing nothing for me as well - 1 or 2 hours of sleep filled with nightmares per night at max.

After a month i slowly tapered off and there were no side effects afterwards.

P. S. With clonazepam there is a possible benefit as well that it can lower your tinnitus on its own so this can help you with the sleep by itself. But this didn't happen to me, there was no effect on tinnitus.

 

[Lilah]

After over 3 months, I'm still unable to sleep well. Usually, with Trazodone, I fall asleep quickly and get around 5.5 hours of sleep. This past week, it has taken me a few hours to fall asleep and get only around 3 hours most of the time. I really do not want to increase the dosage. I'm past the panic stage (most of the time) but the tinnitus still gets loud at night, thus keeping me alert and awake. It is not maskable. The past few days has been 2.5 hours, 3 hours, 5.5. hours, and 3 hours per night.

Any suggestions on how to sleep with a loud high pitch fluctuating sound without taking extra meds? I'm using various maskers/sounds at night.

I have tried wine and CBD oil in addition but I got fast heartbeats/palpitations.

 

[Digital Doc]

Here is my regimen. I had issues with T and sleep for a while as well.

I used melatonin, start at 1mg, and go up slowly. The max dose is 10 mg per night.

Omega3 daily helped as well.

Green tea at bedtime.

Earplugs also helped to avoid waking up, and I believe helped promote habituation for me.

After months of this, I sleep quite well.