Im Sick From Not Sleeping - Can You Help

For the past two weeks I have not been able to sleep for more than fifty-four minutes at a time. This is due to a maintenance problem in my apartment that causes a loud noise every fifty-four minutes from about 7:00 pm to 7:00 am. I have called maintenance five times. Each time they tell me it's fixed, and each time I'm up all night because it really hasn't been fixed. Because this is a university residence no employees are still working at the time the noises happen. Moving isn't an option because a) I can't afford to move and b) I need to be in this location for practicum-related purposes.

So keeping in mind that I have to spend every night in a room where I can only sleep for fifty-four minutes at a time, what can I be doing to keep from going insane? I'm getting really bad headaches, I'm exhausted all day, I have no appetite and I get really bad motion sickness when I'm driving. Obviously I'm really irritable and grumpy too.

Can anyone help me?

Try sleeping with a fan on. The sound will drown out the noise if it's not too loud. You might also want to try (alone or in addition to the fan) one of those sound machines where you can listen to nature sounds such as rain, thunderstorm or rainforest. I used the fan when I had tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and have been using it for several years now. It's very soothing. Then I got a HoMedics sound machine for Christmas a couple years ago and sometimes I turn that on too. I like the gentle rainfall sound. Best wishes.