Flu symptoms and terrifying sleep problems
Posted , 3 users are following.
Just after Christmas I contracted the awful 'Aussie Flu' virus - it hurt to swallow, sharp head pains, blocked nose and aches and pains oh...and conjunctivitis!
Anyway for 3 nights I barely slept for coughing, spraying my throat and taking Night Nurse. As the symptoms began to ease a little, I thought my sleep would return to near normal. Oh no...
In fact it's got worse to the point where I've done two straight nights in a row without a wink. I lie there worn out, but then my arms and legs twitch as i'm about to nod off thus keeping me awake all night!
I've never experienced something so frustrating and torturous in my life! I now have HUGE anxiety about going to bed and I'm a 40 year old man!
Went to the GP and he prescribed 7 x Zopiclone 7.5 mg which should help but what happens after that?! I feel like an anxious wreck.
Please God tell me how to turn this around !
0 likes, 3 replies
lily65668 David7719
Posted
Hi David,
First of all: calm down! Why on earth should you assume that because you've had a few sleepless nights, you're going to be like this for life? But it might well go that way if you allow yourself to get into such a panic about it.
Secondly: don't take the zopiclone seven nights in a row. That will destroy your natural sleep pattern even more effectively than the flu. Take it for one or two nights to give yourself a bit of a break, then tough it out for the next few nights. No one ever died from lack of sleep, in spite of some of the weird stuff you can read on forums. (I'm a former neuro nur se btw.)
Just let nature take its course and you'll eventually get back to your normal sleep pattern. It's going to take a while though, now that you've worked yourself up into this state.
A while back someone calling himself bemmeh posted the best sleep advice I've ever heard on these forums. I wish I'd heard it decades ago when I was going through sleep anxiety. I got his permission to quote it as often as I wanted to, so here goes:
Partial quote from bemmeh:
...The moment I stopped struggling against insomnia it simply started going away, though not suddenly. It took quite a while. But the improvement was real from the start. Insomnia is not a thing in itself. The ability to sleep is so strong among us, humans or animals in general, that it is almost impossible to seriously alter it. Insomnia in us humans appears when we TRY (and therefore struggle) to sleep. You just need to stop doing all the things you are doing FOR sleeping and let your body and mind do whatever they want - if you sleep it's OK but if you don't, that's OK too (everybody has bad sleep for all kinds of reasons once in a while). When sleep time comes just go to bed, close your eyes, and rest. Don't TRY to sleep, as you are used to do. Just rest! If sleep comes that's OK, if it doesn't that's OK too, you haven't been very successful in getting the amount and quality of sleep you have desired anyway - that's why you call yourself an insomniac. So why keep on trying/desiring? Just let it go. Accept your reality and move on to the things in life you can control over. Sleep is not something we can control. You just need to trust your body and mind for it and stop trying to do anything whatsoever for it. Good luck!
End quote.
David7719 lily65668
Posted
Sorry - I should have explained that i've actually been through 4 months of this before around 3 years ago and it was truly awful.
It's not just an insomnia case, it's linked to anxiety, catastrophizing and an underlying anxiety condition - quite often I can't see beyond a normal problem until I'm fully out of it. That in itself is linked to lack of self confidence and self-esteem.
I appreciate your advice and it's sound - however it can be very difficult to relax and switch off from it when you're on your knees, have a responsible job and family but I guess it's the only solution as well as talking to a professional.
I quite like the cat analogy...
'If you pay little or no attention to your cat, you'll be surprised how much affection it shows you in return'
alanatcroydon David7719
Posted
Jolly glad I had the 'flu vaccine last October; just hope that is enough to help me avoid what you have. Sorry if that sounds a bit flippant, but I feel it is too soon after Christmas to know how this will clear up. Zopiclone is a standard prescribed sleeping pill (you cannot buy OTC in UK).