Sleepless in Florida

Hi, I've had T for almost 3 years now. I really thought it would just go away but it's insidious nature is unkind. I just got hearing aids, fancy, Widex-Zen and am not sure if I'm using them right. The masking is good for the daytime or peak times but what about going to bed???Then what? Do people sleep with their hearing aids on? I don't want to start taking sleeping pills but for now, that's all I can do when it becomes night after night zombieland. I don't really understand the fractal tones helping better than the white noise to train the brain with the Zen feature. I love my Audiologist but she's learning along with me...Hopefully the process will smooth out after awhile. I find that relaxation exercises are the best thing....

 

Yes, stay away from sleeping pills. I was on just small ( 5mg ) doses of zolpidem ( ambien) and the side effects are too great - sluggish, bad memory, then I started getting a red face and neck. I don't really notice it during the day unless I stop to think about it. At night it is pretty bad. I have to be really tired got get to sleep. I have recently switched to an chamomile based organic sleep tea and find it helps me get tired earlier, but then I wake up about 2 1/2 to 3 hours later and am up for about an hour before getting to sleep gain. Wishing you all the best. Keep trying new things, that is all we can do.

 

I understand the struggle. I was like that too when my T was new, not knowing what to do at bed time. But forum members advised sound enrichment at night as an option. I tried it and it worked to help me sleep. To do that you can buy a sound machine or sleep pillow. I used a variety of them just to change up, like a sound machine, a CD player, and a laptop playing nature sounds with computer speakers. Sometimes, I just used the ear buds of an ipod when my wife didn't want to wear ear plugs sleeping by the side. Of course I set the volume low for that. Masking doesn't have to over power T, but just to provide other sounds to distract the mind or the auditory system.

Also for sleeping you don't have to use prescribed sleeping pills. Try Melatonin or other natural stuffs such as Catnip, Valerian, Hops, Passion Flower, Lemon Balm, Chamomile, Lavender, Kava, etc. You can google search each of them to know their use and see if you can take them as a supplement. Check out this site on using natural herbs for helping to sleep or to calm the nerves.

http://www.christopherhobbs.com/library/articles-on-herbs-and-health/herbs-and-natural-remedies-for-insomnia/