Hey everyone, first of all, I hope that many of you can find some relief for your suffering. My issue that I'll discuss is relatively minor, however, my anxiety is starting to affect my sleep cycle. In the past month, I went through a rough case of chronic Rhinitis. I tried so many different meds (sudafed, corticosteroid nasal spray, advil, benadryl, strong anti-histamines for night-time). It got so bad that I couldn't sleep properly at night, only about 2-3 hours at the most, sometimes not at all if I took my steroidal nasal spray (It keeps me up all night). Eventually I had to get Zopiclone prescribed to me, 3.25mg per night. This happened for 16 days in total. I was worried that my body would start developing a dependency for it. My whole situation was causing me so much stress that the loss of sleep compelled me to miss out on some work days. Thankfully, a person I was texting told me that she had chronic Rhinitis for 11 months. The one thing that helped her get rid of it was to stop taking all the meds, and start using a neti med rinse for the sinuses. It worked like a charm for me, but there was a bit of guilt for me not having realized that I could've just done that from the start. At least it didn't go on for longer than October. 

Although, I was still on the Zopiclone during that time. I knew I had to get rid of it...so I did one Sunday night (I had the following Monday and Tuesday off). There's a nasty side-effect to the drug, "rebound insomnia effect", which can last up to two days. I couldn't sleep at all on Sunday night. That day was miserable for me. I didn't know if I'd ever sleep again. Ridiculous I know, but when you are on 36+ hours awake time, you won't be able to think of positive things for very long. 

So now it's almost been a week off the drug, however, I've been having on and off days where I'll sleep 5+ hours one night, and then the other not at all. I've been prescribed Apo Quetiapine for my anxious thoughts before sleep, which have been keeping up at night. Thankfully I'm on a low dose, and the doctor assured me it's not addictive (very low chance), and it did work last night. 

Yet, that brings me to my point: will I be able to get back to a sleep routine without taking drugs? I don't want to end up sleeping every two days (if this is more of an insomnia issue, please let me know and I'll head over to that group), but every day. I know it might seem very mundane in comparison to what has happened to most of you, but I've been very afraid and anxious that my sleep disruptions brought on by anxiety are going to affect my life in very negative ways. Advice?