Deperate for help
Posted , 4 users are following.
I feel like I lost my ability to sleep normally (my normal) seemingly overnight. This happened 2 months ago. I can barely function....so tired...sleepy,....sad....unmotivated. I'm afraid for my kids. I can barely work...my productivity is down...Im like a shell of myself. I have been to 3 General Drs, 1 sleep specialist, and a counselor/Physcologist. Blood work doesn't show anything really bad except for lower vitamin D and high cholesterol, and very slight elevation of inflammation markers.
How can someone have an anxiety attack one night, then lose the ability to sleep? Despite being so tired my brain/body will not go into deep sleep. When I do fall asleep it is very broken and light and just dreams. I wake up feeling even more exhausted.
I feel like im dying. I don't know where else to turn. more specialized Doctors are months out for appointments.
This does not feel like typical insomnia. I feel like I suffered some type of brain damage or something broke. I don't feel anxious when im lying in bed....I actually feel very calm and relaxed but sleep refuses to happen.
Im at a loss of what happened to me.
0 likes, 10 replies
Rintz333 rey87890
Posted
rey87890 Rintz333
Posted
Rintz333 rey87890
Posted
rey87890 Rintz333
Posted
Same here. I actually had a panic attack with shortness of breath at a sporting event....that is when the nightmare started. But I've had so many attacks before....why would this one trigger all this?
david79405 rey87890
Posted
Hi.. I know exactly what your going through. Many sleepless night will get you sooooo tire that your mind and body don't fall asleep, and when u do, your consciousness make u aware ur falling asleep and just wake you up. This happen every min u about to doze off causing a sinking feeling to the heart that feel like dieing. It feel so awful, render you completely useless during the day and causing so much health issue, like weird heartach, headache, barely able to walk at a fast pace, and when u do, you feel like vomiting. Its so hard to keep a relationship with this insomnia. Sleeping pill only work for awhile with serious side effect. Right now I'm waiting to see a shrink but appointment time can take 1 year waiting time. I don't get depress or stress or anxiety but lack of sleep give me all 3. I can't even work., sorry I don't have a solution for you.. just want u 2 no ur not alone on this.
david79405
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P.s.. My sleep specialist don't go beyond sleep apnea so that didn't help me at all.. does phycoligist help you in any way?
rey87890 david79405
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Exactly seems like sleep doc mainly focus on sleep apnea and sleep hygiene. I kept trying to explain how bad I felt and my symptoms. The physhologist basically pointed out that my constant dreaming is just light sleep and that my brain might be stuck in fight or flight mode. Not sure if that's possible or how to fix it. I keep praying to God to help me and will pray for you too
tamas99133 rey87890
Posted
Was in the same situation as you! Being a hypochondriac, I thought of the worst (some super rare neurodegenerative disease gnawing on my brain... yikes!) I even started a thread "Relaxed but can't fall sleep..." because I was so convinced I must have a "broken sleep mechanism". It takes time to realize that YOU ARE ANXIOUS about it, even when seemingly calm - anxiety resides in your subconscious! Your sleep WILL get better, just remind yourself that it will take time for it to improve and that's fine.
I am strongly against pills, but to me a very little Xanax (0.125 - 0.250 mg) helped in building confidence in sleeping knowing that if I manage to calm myself down a bit and not think about anything sleep would come (Xanax is an anti anxiety pill and not a sleeping pill!).
rey87890 tamas99133
Posted
Reading your post gives me so much encouragement. But I'm also confused and full of questions still. If anxiety is subconscious then how can I get better from it? I've always been a hypochondriac but then I would eventually look at it rationally then realize I was gonna be ok. But this time since the sleep deprivation feels so terrible (extreme fatigue, gloomy world, sad, so tired,) it's been hard to rationalize it away. The scariest part for me is being so exhausted and sleepy in the early morning around 6am and my body simply refusing to Cronk out. This boggles my mind.
tamas99133 rey87890
Posted
My situation is and was very similar! I have always been a hypochondriac but I would rationalize my thoughts just as you said it, and forget about it. However, sleep + health anxiety is a bad mixture, so again be prepared it may last weeks or months to fully recover (I'm still recovering!). I could tell you so much about how it started for me: a week of stressful events + inconsistent sleeping times + health anxiety (what if my insomnia is progressively worsening? etc.) = problems.
I would be stressed about my sleep in general, I would typically take 2+ hours to fall asleep and when I sleep wake up every 1.5-2 hours (end of every sleep cycle?) for a few days - my brain got used to this bad habit. So I started taking, again only very little (0.25 mg), Xanax to help me relax and I started sleeping better. Then I cut off the Xanax, and tried sleeping without it and gradually I would manage to sleep for longer period of times teaching my brain good habits. I have become overly confident and went out to get drunk with my friends after this 'successful' night. For me alcohol would always be a red flag with sleep and my brain would automatically become anxious as it remembers that I never sleep well when I have alcohol in my blood. I couldn't even take my Xanax, so I would stay awake until 6 - 7am sleep nothing or very little and the problems came back with full force! And I could reiterate the whole story, but it is not important (thank God I started forgetting about it!).
The point is, my mistake was that I have not yet reinforced the good habits in my brain, and haven't unlearned the bad ones. In the time span of 25 days I only had 5 horrible nights! These were enough to start the vicious cycle, have me google about sleep the whole day and check myself every single minute. I left uni for three weeks to run away from my problems and be with the family. I don't regret this, I have successfully unlearned some of the bad habits, but as I came back two days ago the demons started haunting me again, because my brain used to associate my uni bedroom with bad memories. Thankfully, I've been sleeping great the past few days and I believe it will get better with time (touch wood). To be honest, I'm having more health anxiety issues rather than insomnia problems lately. I also take Trazodone, which is not as strong as Xanax but does the job. I'm still against pills but I knew coming back to uni would trigger bad thoughts so I decided to take the pills for some time until I unlearn bad habits, and reinforce the good ones.
Sorry about the long and chaotic rambling. How can you get rid of anxiety? Gradually! Stay optimistic, and remind yourself that even when you feel hopeless and sad and miserable, we hypochondriacs have all been there! And we are basically never right about our own diagnosis (well, hopefully! :D ).