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...
Hi,
I just want to say before I start that I am completly new to this and any ideas of a support group but Im slowly realising I need help.
Insomina started about 2 years ago in relation to constant pain. It took about 5 months to diagnose. Initally the thought was a UTI however that proved to be wrong. I was finally diaganosed with prostatitis and have been on medication dealing with that pain ever since.
Sleep became a problem as the pain prevented me from sleeping. I have spent the last few years dealing with this in relation to taking over the counter sleeping drugs along with periods of zopiclone.
The problem I am facing now is that I have bulit up such a mental block on sleeping that even with the pain getting better im not sleeping. To top it off my tolerance is making the drugs that helped me less effective.
I have considered taking my life at times because the pain and sturggle to keep up a normal life has been too much. It seems that I am out of options to treat the pain and Im not sure what can be done about sleep.
I get the feeling people will understand the feeling of struggling with similar issues.
Sorry if this is too long or poorly written, Im currently writing about 3:30am my time, will be up for a while yet.
I just hope someone can help, my future is seeming bleak currently.
Hearing stories like yours is a good reality check for the majority of us with insomnia, unpleasant as that may be, because you have a true medical condition -- pain -- underlying your sleeplessness. For the majority of us, we deal with stress, anxiety, excessive worry and the like which is nothing like being unable to sleep due to pain.
But rest assured there is hope. There always is hope. In your situation, you may do well to seek a referral to a medical doctor who specializes in sleep. That person will examine you and use your unique medical history to make an updated diagnosis. Normally zopiclone is not intended to be used long term, so it wouldn't be surprising to see an adjustment there.
What you are describing also sounds like you have an overlap with some conditioned insomnia, which most of us have. This is understandable, considering the unpleasantness of tossing and turning in frustration for hours at a time, unable to sleep. However, this negative conditioning can to some extent fuel and perpetuate sleeping problems independent of the pain. It's probably underlying at least some of your "mental block".
But good news there also are effective ways to deal with the conditioned part. These ways are generally known as CBT, or cognitive behavioral therapy. If insomnia is conditioned, it can be un-conditioned, and that's what CBT sleep training methods will show you.
These methods include things like not allowing yourself to toss and turn for hours at a time. You get up and out of bed and do something sedentary until you feel sufficiently drowsy. Then go back to bed and try it again. This method is known as stimulus control. Just one of several CBT methods.
CBT methods are completely drug free and help most people who try them. This may be part of a good solution for you.
So rest assured you can make this better. Maybe not perfect, but none of us get that either. But better, which is at least a step in the right direction. Please continue to keep us posted.
Trying to explain to friends of mine that havent had to deal with this problem is difficult. The amount of times friends have said just ignore it and fall asleep are far too many. I feel that people here understand this.
I dont want say that myself struggling with sleep due to pain is any different from anyone else with insomnia due to anxiety or other reason as the result is the same.
I hope something works for me, I dont know how much longer I can live like this,
I hope to keep you updated