Sleep anxiety ruining my life. convinced i'll never sleep again.

Oh my goodness. So there are others in the same boat as me?? It started with one bad night (classic story) 3 weeks ago. My night of no sleep turned in to an obsession how I will never sleep again. Since then my life has spiraled. Whoda thunk it could deteriorate so quickly? I am now rotating through an array of pills, have tried LITERALLY every natural remedy there is, tried meditation, tried accupuncture, went to a sleep study, had all blood tests available and am meeting a therapist on Wednesday.

So like others, I am just needing to know there is hope. Do people overcome this?? 

Hi Stephen;

I read your post via research on how best to identify a specific sleep disorder - namely a fear of "NOT" being able to get to sleep. Hence, your ailment was noteworthy.  I've been treated for an anxiety related disorder but the heart of the sleep issue lies in an inability to feel that I will experience a normal sleep cycle. Let me explain: It isn't an 'insomnia' thing. It isn't a fear OF sleeping rather it is a fear of NOT being able to sleep and that fear is NOT an identifiable phobia. 

The path to resolution of this health issue took quite some time. It has been an assembly (with many variations tried) of medications, in various (not necessarily strong) dosages and some common sense 'timing' to get me into a sleep 'landing pattern'. Specialists in this particular disorder admit to the difficulty in both diagnosis and treatment. They speak of the wind-down to sleep as occuring in two or three stages. But a qualified 'sleep study' offered a deeper, more revealing pattern of multiple levels of brain activity just before the onset of what we call 'falling asleep'. Indeed it is in these late readings (and the ones just after 'sleep' occurs) that if peered into and stretched in a timeline, reveal breathing, heart-rate and brain-wave patterns that are inconsistent with those individuals for whom falling asleep (and/or staying asleep) are an easy accomplishment. 

Left to experiment with no negative stimuli, no medicines, no perceived anxiety, and no alarm-clock to worry about, sleep simply did not occcur to my brain. It's like it had no 'off-switch'. We've tried every variation. Currently, I'm sleeping an average of 6 hours a night. By 'night' I infer when it's dark out. I start the ritual at about 9:00pm -10:00pm. I don't start any computer projects, movies, rearranging the garage type of things. No 'ocean' sounds. No special aroma-therapy. No 'deep breathing'. I've tried it all and none of it works. Avoidance also doesn't work. One can not 'wish' away the problem. I haven't even touched on the secondary or tertiary degradation of the heart, lungs, liver, brain, muscle tissues and skin, to name only a few. 

Some have sough to 'reset' the circadian clock. But it isn't a 'clock' issue. It is circumspect to a circadian break. It 'skirts' the circadian cycle which is one reason it is hard to diagnose and treat. But, it isn't "impossible" to overcome. One must be willing to face the 'fear' like we would any other 'logical' fear - by grabbing it 'head first' and dealing with it. Just as one may need dietary supplements, or chemo-therapy for cancers, or an inhaler for asthma . . .   one may 'build' a regimen (in my case) of medications that basically over-rule the malady. This has required a qualified physician with a background in treating this affliction-and it is an 'affliction'- to guide and assist, identify and prescribe (perhaps through some trial and error as in my own case) medications that afford safe and affordable remediation. 

Lastly, it wasn't always what the Dr. knew to be effective. It was in going in a completely different direction than what we thought would work! We 'all' learned from my case. These are known as 'crossover' medications. Things you wouldn't think would help with a 'sleep' problem (no stimulants of any kind by the way) actually get you there. There is light at the end of this tunnel. 

Wishing you well . . . .  

 

My husband has your symptom to a tee.

He can have one bad night where his anxiety is really bad and he also convinces himself it going to be permanent.

He sleeps in a separate bedroom so as to not interfere with my sleep pattern but I've heard him in tears over it.

Anxiety robs a person of there stable mind and replaces it with fear and Dred.

He hates having to urinate up to 20 time in a wakeful night when the severity is at its worst.

I'm hoping the mental heath team will be able to direct him to treatment and he can feel happy again.

Thanks for you original post it help him knowing he was not alone.all the best.

Hello ! I just wanted to share that I have been sleeping! Lunesta, didn't work. Trazadone, didn't work. So I took them together (on advice of my doctor) and I slept like a baby.

I was hesitant, because the last thing I want to do is be addicted to sleeping pills. To me, that seemed like I was going to shift one issue into another. I took the mixture for about 3 weeks and would forget randomly. Slowly but surely I have stopped taking the pills AND slept!!! It WAS 10000% just in my head. 

If I have to wake up really early the next or maybe one night a week I don't have the best sleep. But instead of fixating on it, I know I have my sleeping pills. If I sleep terrible tonight, I know tomorrow I can take pills if need be and sleep great. More often than not, I won't need to take any pills the next night either!

I just wanted to share because I was at the point that I didn't think I would llive. I honestly thought my insomnia would be the death of me. And here I am sleeping through the night!! So there is a light at the end of the tunnel! You will sleep again!!!!

I will be able to have a baby with this condition? HELP

I have been suffering from fear of not sleeping since I was 15 y/o. Now I have 31 and I am confronting a conflict. My husban want to have a baby, but I am afraid of getting crazy during the proces due to my lack of sleep. I have tried everithing to heal my insomnia from meditation-yoga to strong medications. Now the only meds that help me is ativan. I don't want to take any medication while pregnant- could affect the fetus. I feel hopeless, Does any woman with my condition ever have a baby? I appreciate all your help (sorry for my spelling, english is not my firts language)

I feel for you Stephen. It's been four months for me of five hours of sleep and now it's getting worse since I got have Ativan.  I was on Ativan for two weeks (0.5 mg). It helped me stabilize, but I had to get off of it.  The last five days have been rough. The last two nights I have been getting 1 - 3 hours of sleep.  My anxiety is up. I also notice more physical sypmtoms, such as heart pounding in chest and neck, head pounding, which makes it more difficult to relax and sleep. I'm trying really hard not to get back on the Ativan. I never though anxiety could be the culprit. I have been to several doctors and everything checks out fine. They say it's all stress and anxiety.  I hope you are doing better. It's great to hear everyone's stories and know I'm not alone.  

 . . . . fear of:  'not being able to sleep' is a DIFFERENT issue than: 'I can't get to sleep'.  The DX might be - 'Hypnophobia'. That's way different than 'Imsomnia' a condition for which some physicians prescribe some type of 'sleep aid' or 'anti-anxiety' medication. If that helps than you're good-to-go. 

If that does not help, and you continue to gestate the 'other' aforementioned condition than it might be wise to seek a more in-depth consultation with a health-care provider. 

Refrain (obviously) from over-using alcohol, ditch the smokes if you use them, get the 'feng-shu' going (cool, dark, dry) and if you're a nightowl than by all means use your tv, a book, tablet, . . . . .   but keep sound level very low, don't look directly at the tv or computer screen (the light makes the brain work harder) and if you're like me, make sure you are where you're going to sleep because once the medications kick in, you're simply going to drop! 

But my physician and I have worked for 'years' tailoring my meds that eliminated any 'Hypnophobia' and allowed me to sleep. 

It's a DX first and foremost. Shoveling benzodiazepanes at the problem is a standard, and sadly a rather careless intial treatment option. I know! Everyones an expert.

25 years of dealing with this issue. I've got it down. 

Stephen the information provided below By 2James Brown is spot on. Great job James Brown. We're in the same boat my friend in my case I went and got help from a sleep psychologist Who specializes in sleep disorders and anxiety. I have slept great for months and I use Lunesta. What's weird is when I read your post I freaked out and I'm now in a panic situation. That's not your fault I'm just saying that we're simply doing this to ourselves and we might need some help once in a while. if you need a great sleep psychologist let me know. Have faith that God will take care of you and have faith in your body's ability to sleep. Faith is the key to getting back on track my friend.

juss take each new day as a gift..i have not slept in yrs..no reason for me to make that up...get good theripst..i wish i have a silverbullet answer..mabey if i knew more

I feel you Stephen. I've had insomnia for 3 years, being caused by working third shift, worrying sick about being able to sleep, and fear of rare disease. I thought going back to day shifts would throw my sleeping back to normal. I was wrong. It hasn't been the same since.

This past week my insomnia has hit its worst point in over 2 years. I have gotten maybe 3 hours average a night. My anxiety is sleep dead. I hate the idea and concept of sleep. I have nightmares when I sleep but I know I must sleep to survive. However I do know that I can function on 3-5 hours a night. Two nights ago I slept maybe 3 hours after a long night of fear and worry. The night before I slept 5 hours. My body was physically exhausted but my mind had other

Glad to see that im not the only one,i have experienced this for the first time and scared like crazy,dont know what to do and where to turn to...i imagine myself suffering yor years to come,if doctor only give sleeping pills that people say very dangerous,please let me know if these fear can ever go away ,im not in place where any good books is accessible

Hi Stephen Iam where you were at a year ago, can you tell me how everything is now