Yes, I did, though not to that extent.

This might be better understood by looking at the brief time between sleep cycles. Generally, each cycle lasts about 90 minutes. Each includes progressively deeper stages of NREM sleep, followed by a REM or dream phase. Generally there are roughly 5 or so of these cycles each night.

After each cycle, we are close to an awakened state. Many of us briefly awaken between cycles, and forget about it by morning. This is normal.

For insomniacs, however, the time between cycles can be a time when negative sleep thoughts, anxiety, tension, stressful thoughts, and so forth, can hit especially hard. When that happens, bam, we go from a restful relaxed state conducive to falling back asleep to a state of worried wakefulness. Very common in insomniacs.

There are ways around this when it happens. There are ways you can consciously take back control and let yourself relax. Deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation are key methods to learn and use to help counter this.

i do everything i can do to get back to sleep.
i'm just so tired.
one of the reason i have to wake is to give my daughter her mid night bottle and nappy change and it's always the same time.
maybe my body is so used to getting up at that time.

Yes....I went through it and I'm still in the process of recovery. I saw CBT-I certified behavioral sleep medicine specialist. He put me on sleep instruction and gave me direction on stimulus control & sleep hygiene. He corrected/shaped some erroneous unhealthy views I had about sleep which definitely helped me!

I'm on day 29 of the sleep restriction and I'm sleeping about 5 hrs/night with one brief awakening. I was taking Ambien 10mg and 1mg of Clonazepam for a while - was getting about 5.5 - 6 hrs of medicated sleep and felt horrible next day. He told me to stop taking all sedative medications and follow the sleep restriction plan. Perhaps you could look into this.

Let me know if I can help in any way!!

If you cannot get to sleep within 15-20 mins it is best to get out of bed and do a restful activity in low light (like reading or listening to music); relaxation techniques, etc. Go back to bed only when you feel sleepy. Get out of bed at same time each morning and go to bed at the same time each night. Try to limit your time in bed to the amount of time you think you are sleeping (probably no less than 5 hours though). If you stay consistent with this, your sleep drive will increase and you will find yourself sleep better in time. It took me about 8 days to get up to 4.5 hrs of sleep and now at day 29 I'm up to 5.4.

Hang in there! Let me know if you need anything!

hey seay, what time do you take the melatonin?

yes. Almost every night.

My doc instructed me to take melatonin 30-45mins before bed-time. He instructed me to get Finest (brand name) 10mg time-released. It sells @ Walgreens for $9. I don't know that the type of melatonin makes that big a diff.

Hi Seay, I am trying to get off ambien and I know my sleep habits are a mess. Can you give me ALL of the details of the sleep program that you were prescribed so I may try it?

Letshelpeachother,

I've been posting on a few forums about what I've been doing and how it's been helping. I'm starting to run out of steam. I'll share some details.

Basically it's CBT-I...you can look it up on the internet. The is the preferred treatment for anyone suffering from insomnia that is not related to mental illness or some other medical disorder (or medicines that cause insomnia).

Doc told me this is completely a behavioral issue. He told me to stop taking all medications and only take melatonin. I really believed that I couldn't sleep without medication. He put me on sleep restriction (again...look up on the internet). He instructed me on stimulus control, sleep hygiene and healthy views toward sleep.

The sleep restriction is probably the biggest help along with stimulus control. He put me on a 12:30am - 5:30am bed time. This is a STRICT schedule. No matter how much sleep I get I don't go to bed early NOR do I stay in bed later than this. Also no napping.

I know you wanted all the details of the program I'm on. Like I mentioned earlier.....running out of steam here. This program is well documented on the internet.

The doc diagnosed me with psychophysiological insomnia (a primary learned/conditioned insomnia). You can look this up on the net too. Many behavioral sleep medicine specialists agree that those suffering from this insomnia (and no other disorder present) need to stop taking all sleep meds. Sleep meds serve to perpetuate the insomnia as we come to rely on them for sleep. Our minds get conditioned to believing we need medication and this needs to get broken.

This was very hard at first for me. No sleep first night...2 hours for the next 2 nights....then 3. By night #8 I got 4.5 hrs. Each person is different. Some people respond quicker. My doc told me that most people experience a breakthrough by day 10-14. The key is to hold to the initial prescribed time in bed range for 30 days (even if you experience gains). This serves to solidify/retrain the mind/body. If you increase your time-in-bed too soon/too much you can experience a set back. This actually happened to me a couple of times.

Best of luck to you, I held onto prayer, scriptures, journaling and being open with friends/family to get where I'm at right now.

@seay when you start this therapy are you aware of the problems and negative thoughts that don't let you sleep? i mean for a person who is still going through tough times and they know that's the reason why they can't sleep then that therapy would be useless or harder righr? until they try to fix that issue and then start the therapy

I had terrible insomnia. I started taking magnesium powder and am so much better! Deep breathing and a book also help! If you have anything to remember write it down before bed. Hope these help.