Insomnia Support Group
Insomnia is a symptom, rather than a disease, and is characterized by inadequate quantity or quality of sleep. People with insomnia complain of difficulty falling or staying asleep, which results in significant impairment of daytime functioning. Insomnia is categorized as transient (shorter than one week), short-term (one to three weeks) or chronic (longer than three...
Is it possible for my chronic insomnia to get worse? I'm not sure, but I can't sleep & then the sleep I'm getting is not enough. I want to sleep to rest my mind. I need an escape from my racing thoughts, but I can't sleep. Ambien isn't doing its job anymore. Why am I only getting like 4 hours of sleep with Ambien? I've tried everything under the sun (almost). I'm finding myself taking Tylenol PM because a headache kicks in & then I'm definitely on shut down mode. Where is the help around here? Am I asking too much just to get a good night's of sleep. I woke up this morning with severe chest pains. Like I'm afraid I'm going to take too much stuff & that's going to be the end of my chapter.
Life is pretty tough to get through with little sleep. I remember being there. Have you ever had a psychiatric evaluation? The reason I ask is because early morning awakening is a hallmark sign of depression.
I had 2 distinctive (but overlapping) issues that combined to create a vicious cycle of chronic insomnia:
1) I had undiagnosed/untreated depression that led to early morning awakening + unrefreshing sleep. I have since been diagnosed and have been receiving treatment (meds) + I've made lifestyle changes
2) My anxiety over not sleeping led to a conditioned arousal response. In other words, my anxiety over not sleeping made it impossible to sleep without sleeping pills. I went through CBT-i therapy in which I stopped taking all sleeping pills and followed sleep restriction/stimulus control procedures. It was really hard in the beginning but this "broke" me free of the belief that I could not sleep without pills. My sleep improved gradually over time.
I understand there are many ways to calm down a mind. One that seemed to work for me was Yoga. Another could be reading or listening to relaxing music. There is also guided mediation & progressive muscle relaxation. Since you have "tried everything under the sun", perhaps you have already explored these. A great resource I found on the web about "taming the lizard brain" is @ www.myshrink.com. You might find information there helpful. I know it was for me.
Now that I'm sleeping well (have been for quite some time now), I feel grateful for the help I rec'd and the lessons I learned. I empathize with you and many others here.
Take care.
You might benefit by taking a close look at some of your ideas about sleep. They might be (I suspect are) part of the problem.
For instance, this jumps out at me: "I can't sleep". In reality, you can sleep. Perhaps you mean you are not getting the kind of sleep you want when you want it, but the fact remains that at some point you can and will sleep.
The key to making this better is managing the inevitable process of sleep. Rest assured, your mind-body's requirement for sleep is stronger than your insomnia!
Seay has some very good ideas (and glad to hear you're sleeping well Seay. Your input on this board is very valuable). CBT-i enables you to recognize and replace some of those distorted and negative sleep thoughts.
If you get into this, I think you'll discover, as many of us have, that negative thinking specifically about sleep can be the raw fuel that both perpetuates and prolongs insomnia.
After a year and a half of no insomnia it is back again. i do not know if my body got used to the anti depressants and are no longer effective or if recent work changes have something to do with it.
What been helping me is sleeping with white noise. There is an android/apple app that is called relax melodies ( i think) there is a white noise option that is a static sound and it really helps me sleep
It also ensures that I won't hear my neighbor's music, dog, or talking at odd hours of the night and be awakened by them.
I hope things get easier for you. I would like to know more about the brainwaves thing you mentioned. If you try it let us know what it is and how it works.
Hang in there!
:)