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...
Hello everyone. I am a visitor from the Sjogren's Syndrome Support Group (autoimmune condition). I have been having terrible sleep problems for the past 6 years. I can fall asleep easily enough but then wake up from very stressful dreams that leave me drenced in sweat. I have discussed this with my primary care physician, psychiatrist, and now a sleep specialist. I do have problems with depression and anxiety and have undergone counseling several times. I have been prescribed antidepressants, tranquilizers, all the usual medications for insominia, and most recently Prazosin. They all either don't help the problem or I have to stop the medication due to intolerable side effects. This issue has disrupted my life so much that I have been considering killing myself for about a year now. I am even fearful of going to sleep some times. I don't know what to do and my doctors seem to have given up on me. I can deal with some depression and anxiety but this sleep issue leaves me exhausted and completely ruins my day. Has anyone else had this kind of issue? If so, please let me know how you have managed it. Thank you.
I haven't had this issue but I did just want to tell you that I feel sad for what you are going through.
Has the sleep specialist been able to give you any insight as to what may be hindering sleep?
I have sleep apena as well, so the sleep I get is horrible. The doctors can give up all they want. Just dont give up on you! Keep trucking, its a rough road. For me its a demon I fight every night. Keep your head up, no for real, I plunged my face in my beans once. The fillabirtos people know me as bean face now..LOL.
Depression, anxiety, stress all can be underlying culprits that significantly affect your ability to get a good night's sleep. These conditions can also contribute to the night sweats you are experiencing.
Insomnia can also arise from a variety bad sleep habits. For instance, not keeping a proper sleep schedule. These are usually fairly straightforward to deal with if you are willing.
I would encourage you to discuss cognitive behavioral therapy specifically applied to insomnia with your healthcare provider. CBT is often the method of choice to address insomnia, and it is a drug-free solution.
There are a number of common sense ideas and easy to implement sleep improvement methods contained in CBT. It has helped many people overcome insomnia.
Good luck, please keep us posted with how you're doing.
STS - I do practice what the psychiatrist called "Sleep Hygene". I make sure I don't take naps, not too much caffiene, etc. Hasn't helped. The doctors are all blaming it on depression and anxiety. I am on 2 antidepressants which help in the daytime but have done nothing for the dreams. The dreams are not scary but just very stressful, like trying to find my way out of a building. Very mundane but stressful.
TylerDurdun - thanks for telling me your story. I hope things get better for you.
Other essential parts of a CBT-based approach include cognitive restructuring, sleep restriction therapy, stimulus control, stress management, and control of anxiety.
Regarding bad dreams, many psychologists suggest that can be associated with traumatic events, or excessive stress and generalized heightened anxiety experienced during waking hours.
One of the key contributions CBT can make is to help you identify and address the negative sleep thoughts that feed insomnia. Doing so helps you more accurately understand sleep and perceive in a more reasonable way. The process is known as cognitive restructuring, and it is very effective for most people.
Your psychiatrist probably knows about cognitive restructuring techniques. Are you using them, and are they effective? From what you are describing, this might be an especially good way for you to address the root causes that may be contributing to your insomnia.
I am new here but have seen several specialists and they have come up with nothing - they gave up on me but I'm NOT giving up on myself and YOU SHOUND NOT EITHER!
I can get to sleep w/my sleeping pill (Restoril) finally at 12am only to wake up at 2 or 3am and I can't go back to sleep and feel like SHIT ALL DAY! I am on Disability Insurance so I am extremely bored w/waking up at 3am! There is only so much I can do at that time and it totally sucks! I feel like "giving up" like you but I have to keep trying.
Did I mention I get Migraines EVERY DAY maybe because of this, but the doctors don't know? So, I'm in Chronic Pain most of the day and that makes "it all" worse!
I can't take naps during the day either and feel like "I have no life"!
I'm trying to learn how to Meditate to see if that helps any and after that I want to try Accupuncture.
I hope something I said was helpful but I just wanted to tell you not to give up, I know some of what you are feeling and I think therapy once a week is a good idea. I have PST and a lot of my sleep problems (I think) have to do with me thinking too much about bad past events.