Brenda, I had a bad stretch of insomnia for about 2 years, but I don't think it was menopause-related. It was debilitating, and affected everything else. I didn't want to resort to meds except as a last resort. The one thing I discovered could ALWAYS put me to sleep was praying the rosary. No kidding! I've never been able to make it all the way through the rosary if I say it in bed. The other thing I did that didn't put me to sleep, but helped me to see the insomnia differently, was I started praying for everyone I could think of (I didn't get out of bed, I prayed while still lying awake in bed). I'd pray for each family member, friend, people I'd read about in the paper or heard about on the news. I got to the point where I was praying about 2-3 hours a night. The amazing thing is that after awhile I began to really look forward to that time. Instead of tossing and turning and fretting about not being able to sleep, I began to cherish those hours as a chance to be a "voice in God's ear" for a lot of people who don't have a voice or don't know how to use their voice. It ended up becoming a very intimate, spiritually-refreshing time, and eventually I'd fall asleep and wake up feeling as refreshed as a person with CFS can feel.

It might not work for everyone, and might not alleviate the frustration. But I figure that it turns a negative stress into a positive blessing.

I don't have too much insomnia anymore, and I kind of miss that extra prayer time! But whenever I wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep, I start going through my list of people to pray for and next thing I know, I've fallen asleep! So it works like a charm for me now. I know you love to pray for people, so even if it doesn't ease your frustration at not getting enough sleep, it would at least turn those toss-n-turn hours into prayer time...there's lots of us here who need (or have loved ones who need) those extra prayers!

[ November 16, 2005, 01:16 PM: Message edited by: Eagle Heart ]