Trouble sleeping

Hey Im not sure i'm doing this right

So..
Hey I'm Em. Im 16. I'm having serious trouble sleeping
When I was at college a few months ago I noticed how I'd get around 4/5 hours sleep a night. Slowly this started dropping down and it got really bad where i'd getting 5 hours sleeping a week. Now I get around 1/2 hours sleep a night but It's leaving me with really bad mood swings and im snapping at everyone. The trouble is I do go to bed early but I just can't seem to sleep at all its impossible. Do you have any tips on how I can get some sleep?

Hi Em, whenever I've had a streak of very little sleep like you're having now, it's either because I'm having a manic episode, or because I have extreme worry going on, like last year when I had serious money problems due to losing my job. Are you seeing a psychiatrist? They can help you figure out what's going on. Sleep is so fundamental to getting well and being well, and meds can help a lot with that, whether it's mood stabilizers and an antipsychotic to come down out of a mania, or an antianxiety taken at night to help you get to sleep and stay asleep.

Other than meds, something I do to help me fall asleep is counting backward from 100 to 0. I start really fast, as fast as my thoughts are going, then start again, a little more slowly, then repeat slower and slower, with longer and longer pauses between the counts. This helps slow my mind down from racing, and pretty soon I start losing count and I fall asleep. That's usually the hardest part about falling asleep for me, is quieting down my mind.

I hope others can share things that help, too. It's easy for messages down in this part of the forum to be overlooked. Please don't feel like people are ignoring your question. I've noticed that the discussions in the upper part of the forum tend to be the ones that people look at the most.

Hi M,

I have extreme difficulty with consistent sleep. What helps me the most is having a routine m - flossing, brushing my teeth, meditation, etc. I also take my Seroquel, melatonin & drink Sleepytime tea.

Despite my best efforts i still have trouble as my chart below clearly demonstrates.

Sleep is affected by a variety of factors, as you seem to know.

They also affect each other in my experience. Especially external stress and pressure levels, which can be interactions with other people.

Hi Em!
sleep is mega important. I swing from zero sleep to too much. My goal is to try to do the same thing every night. So I take a bunch of sleepy herbs & tea and melatonin an hour or so before bedtime & put on headphones with meditation music on shuffle and let myself fall asleep to that. Your body needs sleep for vital functions. is kinda like .. don't try to run your car without oil. I usually find I am getting more awake as it gets later and I dont even want to TRY to sleep, but lately since I have been making myself do a regular thing, I am sleeping more every night.

My chart will likely look like kumbaya's eventually. I still haven't figured out how to get consistent sleep. I abhor routine but I'm trying that now. I'm thinking of changing one med (Celexa) from morning to bedtime instead. I'll let you know if I do and how it works out.

There is a lot of great advice here!

i have problems with eating, sleeping, and just getting up in the morning because when I sleep, to use a metaphor, i "fall into death" for maybe 5 hours then try to wake up. the main problem i have, i guess, is that my taking care of myself, like actually eating more than 1 meal per day, or sleeping more than 5 hours a night, depends entirely upon my moods, which haven't been regulated very well by my 150 mg. doses of tegretol every night. can a user on this site please give me suggestions/advice about how to take better care of myself every day, regardless of how i feel? thanks