My sleep journey and previous post from 2 years ago.....
Posted , 5 users are following.
Hey guys, got up this morning and saw i got an email from this website and remembered i posted here 2 + years ago
Heres my update since then,
I still am not able to sleep to where i am rejuvenated, but i found ways around it.
decided to write to give someone hope that your life is not over, dont give up, STOP thinking NEGATIVE!, your will change the way your MIND is if you keep thinking NEGATIVE stuff about your situation!
Good news is didnt die lol i read a few recent post of people saying they are going to die from not sleeping for 2 week lol( which was something i said 2 years ago) i havent sleep in 2 years and i did not die. It is ANXIETY + TRAUMA of not sleeping or whatever event led you to not sleeping that makes it worse. STOP GOOGLING AND TRY TO RELAX. Dont let your MIND control you. Your MIND plays a MAJOR part in all of this. Read books about the POWER OF THE MIND and how things effect it. I talk like this because it took me a while to realize things. In my situation i spend alot of money at the doctors all they did was throw pills at me which i know was BS because the pharmaceutical companies just love making money off people's misery( not saying you should get help from doctors).I know it seems hard but try to focus on something else and with TIME your ANXIETY and MIND will slowly calm down and hopefully you can get back to who you were.
Yes am am still not naturally sleeping but that because am a full time student and that comes with being busy and continuously learning. I am fully confident that when i graduate i will be able to relax and evenly sleep.
I refused to take benzos because it's benzos ( all man made drug mess you up more, your body gets used to it)( and they had 0 effect on me, only made me jumpy) ( this is just my opinion) instead i found out that ZMA( zinc magnesium b6) worked for me. It is not be best solution but my options was either stay home depressed, suicidal about not sleeping and being fatigued all day or Go back to university and finish up school! i choose school. I think going back to school helped me take my MIND of how i couldnt sleep in a way but not 100%.
I must say it has not been an easy journey when i first got to university in 2017( 6 months after initially not being able to sleep) , due to lack to sleep and foggy head( not being able to think properly) i failed some classes but i still preserved through it. I am not saying there were no hard days where i was exhausted and felt hopeless because i couldnt sleep but i didnt let it break me down instead it molded me and made me stronger because if i am able to accomplish all this while i am in the state of mind imagine the type of person i will be when i get myself back together.
The only thing that i noticed from my lack of sleep was my muscle mass reduced, i dont get the foggy brain feeling like i used to. I am able to walk and function. But hey everyone is different what worked for me may not work for you. i will say when you dont sleep and have that foggy brain feeling it is hard for you to read/ take some advise and apply it to your situation because when you try something/someone suggestion and it doesnt work it only makes you more agitated and when you try another thing and it still doesn't work, you then start applying it not working to what you may have GOOGLED sayin "oh those things didnt work i must have this disease" NO you dont!! Hope i helped someone is some way i will update again when i get i chance. Just know you are not alone.
2 likes, 6 replies
lily65668 sam40807
Posted
Thanks for that feedback Sam! I wish more people would do what you've done. As far as I can remember, you're only the second person to come back with positive feedback and advice - the other one being a young woman called Helena.
Too many young people post on these sleep boards saying they reckon they're dying of all kinds of exotic neurological diseases, then stop posting after a few months, when the insomnia has run its course. Unfortunately, this only fuels the fears of other nervous individuals, who come to the conclusion they must have died.
As a lifelong poor sleeper, I can confirm everything you've said. It is indeed anxiety that keeps us awake - especially anxiety about not sleeping - and it's only when we get to grips with this that we start sleeping again.
As you also say, no one dies of lack of sleep, nor does it have any serious effects on our health. I was always a poor sleeper, even as a child, but a year or so of working an appalling experimental shift system as a nurse in my mid-20s scuppered my sleep pattern for the next 40 years. Things only returned to normal when I retired from paid employment, proving that it's anxiety that stops us sleeping. Nearly 10 years down the line from retirement, I now sleep like a baby, with only an occasional recurrence of sleep anxiety on "nervous nights" like the eve of a journey or a presentation in my voluntary job. And I'm just as fit and healthy at age 74 as my contemporaries who've hardly ever had a sleepless night in their lives.
I can see from your post that you've accepted that you'll probably never again sleep quite the way you used to, but also that you've realised that acceptance is the key to coping with sleep problems. I'm sure you'll have a long, successful life!
sam40807 lily65668
Posted
Hey thanks for the reply. Yes its indeed been tough but i havent given up. It really does have to do with anxiety 100% i was able to get my thinking back to some form of who i was( very important). One thing i got from reading posts was a book called effortless sleep by sasha stephens. I have been reading it all day even though i have finals. I just have to say wow the similarities of her stories are just like mines ( it reinforced things i already know but needed to hear again in my current state of mind). I am hoping to get details on how to overcome this SELF-INFLICTED issue, not being aware of how my thoughts and actions prolonged this issue is a problem.The key is to understand and overcome where your aniexty has put you. One thing the book talks about is being able to perform the next day when you take sleeping pills, Whatever the remedy is i am a little scared/anoxiuos about stoping my zma intake seeing as i am in college and need to physically & mentally perform in my senior year. I will be coming back to the forum to discusss my update, i have winter break so i will be trying to make some changes.
derek76 lily65668
Posted
Sleep problems seem to have been the main health problem in the British press recently. All the medical opinion gives it as a factor in many health problems and leading to a shortened life.
It really makes me wonder how I've managed to get to 84 😃 It has though worsened greatly in the past three years.
lily65668 sam40807
Posted
Hi Sam,
Looking forward to hearing from you again in the new year.
I was struck by what you said about your anxiety being self-inflicted. Recognition of this is the most important step you can take towards managing any neurosis. (I'm not talking about psychoses like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, though a degree of self-examination and acceptance can help these conditions a little.) I had the same experience around the age of 30. Although I suffered sleep anxiety, my main problem was intermittent depression. It was only when I had a kind of epiphany and realised it was self-inflicted that I started to recover.
Have a happy Christmas/Hanukkah/whatever and try to relax during the break. You're obviously on the right track to managing your anxiety.
any09042 sam40807
Posted
dear SAM I hope more members of the this forum read your post, there is always a reason behind insomnia so we have to check what is really happening with our body system, same as you i have anxiety and ocd and a bad childhood trauma led me to fear i have the worst scenarios of sleep issues, thank you for sharing your story also i would like to thank lili65668 she has helped me personally and a lot of others here.
lo65763 sam40807
Posted
hi sam! i was wondering, when you say that your sleep improved but not all the way, can you please share a little more about that... i know it may cary bcs youre in school , but more or less how many hours do you sleep now? can you share a little more about the progression over those two years..like, when did it start improving after it developed?
thank you! your story give me hope...i e been struggli g w horrible insomnia often sleeping zero, and no more than 2 hrs per night since 5 months. part of that im sure is im only in light sleep and feel like ive been up the entire night, and will sometimes vaguely remember a dream although ive been watching the clock. thansk for your help!