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RTR86
RTR86

Hey, just looking for some support, 30 year old female-dealing with anxiety and sleep disorders my entire life-it comes in waves and is dependent on one another-these last few days have been so hard-I count the hours I sleep and I'm sure I will die and never sleep again, for the first time in a long time I can't breathe so I get so scared-I don't want to take medicatin' coz i'm too scared-I rely on natural options and healthy pattern I try and keep-it's hard let me tell you, especially coz I work in a very stressful job.

My lungs are in pain from trying to breath-I feel like I will forget to breath-its been a 4-day cycle.

2 nights ago I got to bed at 4 AM, woke up at 6 AM then again at 10 AM (I know it doesn't sound so bad) and then today I went to bed at 930 AM-woke up at 1130AM and then again at 130PM and decided to get out of bed-got into a panic coz my body is in so much pain.

Is this normal? do you guys ever count your hours of sleep to try and comfort yourself that you must be ok if you got 4 hours of sleep with waking up in between? I'm exhausted-can't stop crying. thank you for listening to me.

 

0 likes, 9 replies

9 Replies

  • anetta94863
    anetta94863 RTR86

    Posted

    I believe it is allergy related if it comes and goes. Have you tried antihistamines?

     

    • anetta94863
      anetta94863

      Posted

      i think that my bouts of insomnia are allergy related   high pollen times seems to correlate with insomnia

       

  • NECKBONE
    NECKBONE RTR86

    Posted

    Wow, it sounds like you are really going through something.  I am sorry to hear about your struggles.  Trust that you are in familiar company among the many people on this forum.  Like you, my insomnia stems from anxiety, and it developed when I had a job that just plain overwhelmed me.  I am glad that you haven't resorted to sleeping pills; I tried them all and they only made the problem worse.  The main things that have helped me are exercise, getting a handle on the anxiety, and sticking to a normal sleep schedule.  I am by no means a champion sleeper, but regularly get 6 hours of good sleep per night nowadays and that's such a blessing considering where I was just a couple of years ago.  

    You are going to sleep pretty late it seems; is that out of necessity (you just stay up that late because of the anxiety), or do you work an odd schedule?  

    • RTR86
      RTR86 NECKBONE

      Posted

      Thank you, it's really great to get some support-I find myself feeling so lonely in this sometimes.

      It's true when managing to get on a sleep schedule I'm much better-it's not a necessity most of the time-just me forgetting for a second that it's not good for me...tonight I want to sleep at 1 AM woke up at 3 AM, 5 AM, 7 AM, 9AM-I sometimes need to remind me that that still counts as sleep, right?

      How do you handle your anxiety now?what tools that are not medication work best for you?

       

    • NECKBONE
      NECKBONE RTR86

      Posted

      Loneliness is probably the most difficult thing about insomnia, at least for me.  You will see so many threads here where people talk about how alone you feel when you are up in the wee hours of the morning when everyone else is asleep, and you feel like you should be too which makes it even more frustrating.  

      As for the anxiety, I saw a psychologist for awhile that helped me quite a bit.  It's easy to start thinking you are going to have a heart attack from your anxiety sometimes but this is not the case.  On top of that, you are not able to sleep well and that has likely started to have some impact on your health which makes you think you are going to die, creating more anxiety.  It's a tough cycle to get out of but seeing anxiety for what it is can be very helpful. For me, so much of the problem was being afraid of the anxiety itself.  If you are just willing to feel it and explore that feeling instead of trying to get away from it and force those thoughts out of your head, it leaves very quickly.  You see that it is your heart beating faster than normal, maybe a little shortness of breath, some dizziness.  Just exploring those physical sensations and understanding that the world won't end made all the difference for me. I'm also not completely against meds for anxiety.  I have a blood feud against sleeping pills, but I don't think all anxiety and depression meds are terrible.  I've read that SSRI's help some people but they didn't do much for me after taking them for a couple of months so I just relied on the therapy.  I won't lie and say that I don't have some anxiety remaining but I know the thought process to help me deal with it.

       

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