fistful, I'm really sorry you're going through this at such a young age (you are young, aren't you?).
Everybody from my mother to my shrink to my surgeon has recommended all sorts of remedies and tricks. (I particularly liked the comment from the surgeon who did microscopic surgery on my inner ear last Decmeber; he said that lack of sleep was an "old man's problem;" I then asked him why he was doing microscopic surgery on me when he hadn't slept all night).
Anywho, my shrink got it right when he said that the trick to falling asleep is to "get stupid."
Get all serious thoughts out of your head.
Think about something mindless. Count from 1000 backwards. Doesn't work for me, though. I've counted from 10,000 backwards and still been awake.
The doc's have said that I should get up and do something. So, I've tried posting on this forum late at night, as well as on THR and TFL. The quality of the posts are Exhibit A to dispute the doctors' recommendations.
Fistful, I've been going through the lack of sleep syndrome for probably five years. I go for sometimes a month with little or no sleep.
Best advice I can give you? Stay in bed, try to sleep, and take whatever sleep you get as a "gimmee."
Even lying in bed while being awake is giving you rest.
Go to a shrink, and learn self-hypnosis. (Seriously, it can work).
What is my best solution? When my wife makes a basic meal like beef roast and mashed potatoes. The "carb dump" puts me asleep almost immediately.
Believe me, I know what you're going through. At 2 am my mind is going in 150 different directions. It's near impossible to shut it off.
Next bit of advice: go to bed every night at the same time. Doesn't matter if you fall asleep or not. You need to get your body and mind on a sleep timeclock. Any disruption of that timeclock will disrupt your sleep patterns.
Good luck with it, my friend.
