Insomnia for more than a year, need advice, please help!
Posted , 2 users are following.
Hello everyone,
I have developed chronic insomnia since February 2016. It was the night before an exam, out of the blue, I could not get any sleep. I tossed and turned, had some panic attacks during the night and went to the exam. Now I was diagnosed with GAD, depression, panic attacks, health anxiety in 2009 and have considered myself a sufferer ever since the age of 14. Going back to my insomnia episode, I thought it was a one time thing. Turns out it was not.
I have had trouble falling asleep on nights, I wake up during the night (2 or 3 times per night), I have had intense episodes of anxiety, the need to go to the bathroom, the need to vomit (on a few occasions I even vomited).
For a period of time I thought I had Sporadic Fatal Insomnia or Familial Fatal Insomnia.
Now I have insomnia episodes every other night.
I am a part time worker, looking for a full time job, but how can I eliminate this insomnia from my life?
Do you people have any advice? I need to mention that I DO NOT drink coffee (maybe drank five coffees in my life), I quit smoking two months ago and I rarely drink alcohol (may one or two beers every fortnight with friends). I also do CBT, but I have not made any real progress with it (my therapist takes me in circles and wants to talk about my feeling and all that stuff, I just want to get rid of the insomnia because I can deal with the rest).
Any response will be appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read my post.
Cheers,
Andy
0 likes, 3 replies
NECKBONE andybb
Posted
Hey Andy, sorry to hear about your troubles. Give the CBT some time to work, and keep an open mind throughout the process. "The rest" that you can deal with is likely the cause of your anxiety and that's what your therapist is trying to get at. Saying that you only want to get rid of the insomnia without addressing "the rest" is like a person with cancer saying they only want to fix the symptoms that are making them feel bad without worrying about the abnormal cell growth that is causing those symptoms. CBT is about challenging the thoughts and emotions that lead to anxiety, which in-turn will help you with your sleep.
I also wouldn't completely rule out an SSRI or antidepressant if your doctor advises so. People have mixed results with these but I took several and finally landed on Lexapro and it's another thing that has really moved the needle for me. I would avoid sleeping pills at all costs. I won't beat a dead horse here because I've written reams about sleeping pills in a dozen other posts, but my feelings on the issue is that they are complete garbage.
Try to get a little exercise. It really does help. Just getting your heart rate up for 20 minutes every day is all you need.
Meditation has also been huge for me. I've learned the anxious mind is an overactive, reactive one where we are always thinking about the past or anticipating the future. Meditation makes you focus on the present moment, at least for a little while. The meditation sessions really calm your mind down but even more importantly, it teaches you to see thoughts for what they really are, temporary objects that pop into your mind and vanish just as quickly as they arose if we don't latch onto them and let them carry us away. Thoughts make us anxious. If we don't view thoughts as the absolute truth anymore, they can't make us that anxious. Less anxiety = more and better sleep.
Hope that helps.
andybb NECKBONE
Posted
Hello NECKBONE,
Your advice is most welcomed. I admit that exercise was optional for me and I have been eating sweets (sugar junkie) instead of having a balanced diet. What types of exercises do you recommend? I'm not a big fan of jogging, though it is highly indicated for people with anxiety.
Regarding meditation, I started using an app called Headspace. It does wonders for me although I am a slow learner.
I also don't recommend pills as one leads to another and then ... BAM, you become an addict (just like with cigarettes).
I will try to post updates from time to time on this post until there is no need to post them anymore. I feel like people should know about my progress.
Kind regards,
Andy
andybb
Posted
As I said, I will post updates here. I have had minor setbacks since my last post. On average I have slept between 6 and 8 hours per night, except some nights when i slept between 4 and 5 hours cumulated. Those nights were plagued with minor to medium anxiety episodes, difficulty falling asleep, twisting and turning in bed while my partner/girlfriend slept sound. I tried moving from one room to the other to fall asleep, with little effect.
If it is not meant to be, I will not fall asleep.
I still fear that I will lose the ability to sleep (an immature thought going through the mind of a 32 year-old man) and I also have health anxiety. I still have a lot of things to accomplish in life and I noticed that in my case, my insomnia comes from anxiety (long term GAD sufferer) and depression (recently diagnose). I gave up smoking and I try to live a healthy life style. I also try to do some exercise.
Word of advice: Try to re-wire your thought pattern. Try to lean toward optimism, realism, acceptance, diversion of thought every time you are overwhelmed with anxiety. It has worked for me. Try not to carry the wight of the world on your shoulders. It won't help out much. Try to change your life as much as possible, fill it with people who are pro-active, less prone to vices, people who want to accomplish things (from making the bed in the morning to curing rare diseases).
Back tot the insomnia: Whatever happens, I always tell myself that it is episodic, it will not kill me, it will go away, whenever it comes around is because I allow it to and I empower it. We have the power to move past these dark episodes in our lives. We just have to hang on for the ride.