I hope you got through the night okay. I hate being alone at night and always sleep with a light on. My BF works out of state during the week but I keep one of my dogs upstairs with me and that helps. Sometimes I just sleep downstairs on the couch and watch TV until I fall asleep. Getting out of the bedroom helps me. I don't know if it would work for you or not. Good luck tonight. I hope you have a better night!

I also use relaxation recordings. I can only do this when the dog is with me. Otherwise I feel like I have to be able to hear someone coming. Reading helps too. Basically anything that will occupy my mind.

I was just going to start a post about this same thing.

Nightime is so hard for me, i can be just fine all day, i can sleep during the day fine........But night time comes and the rage sets in and the hypervigilance comes and i can not sleep at all...

And if it gets too bad i have to take my med and i hate taking it, my next day is "shot" i feel like a zombie.
Unfortuately that is what i have to do, either "ride" the night, or take the med.....Some nights are worse than others.

Night time is when your intrusive thoughts and worries blossom.

From the statements so far many have disassociated into worry about past events and future horror. This is the typical PTSD reaction and the left brains reinforcement of something horrible or bad is going to happen.

How many times has it really happened. Some of us it is from childhood nd it is not dangerous anymore. Our trauma is stored at the age it happens. So childhood trauma is strored as say a 6 year old with a six year old abilities. Now as an adult it should not effect me but it does until it is integrated

I would ask what hav you guys tried to use to heal?

for me things seem to change at night and this is striking as well, i somehow feel relieved a little when the sun goes down and thie night starts, i do look forward to a star filled sky and maybe sitting in the hot tub looking up at the stars in silence, i think for me it is more about being alone, depends on time of year also, midwinter and cold then i am more hypervigilant and waking in the middle of the night on this type of night is horrid, there are so many different types of triggers here for me, and the weather is definetly a factor for my ptsd, now i see even more why we have to have things so perfect for us to relax and let down the gaurd.

Funny how our experiences of the past shape our future. Our thoughts and emotions from a time that can not hurt us rule us.

If you look at how often the premonition of something happening actually does, we waste half our lives. I have been there.

It was so hard to risk and expose myself also. It took time and it can change.

Like today, I have been feeling sort of not triggered but uneasy and a little hypervigilant. Before I had to be feeling the strongest most relaxed to explore.
So today I know my wife loves the beach so we went walking amonst the thousands of people. My mind wanted to wander and bring up past triggers and fears. So I focussed on my breath and legs and relaxed into it. I was able to kind of go into my meditative trance like focus and walk. It was really enjoyable.

It is a long way from shaking in my garage in the dark for six months with PTSD and social anxiety. It still is very challenging at times but I am happy and at ease at times.

It takes daily practice and persistence. It is a learned skill. That is all.

I also get very anxious at night. I put off sleeping for as long as possible. I think it is because I can avoid thinking/feeling during the day if I stay busy, but at night, when I lay down to sleep, I can no longer avoid just being alone and having to deal w/ my thoughts/feelings. I live in a 100 yr old house and it can make some pretty crazy noises, especially if it's windy. Once I was 100% convinced that someone was walking in my attic, I was so terrified that I couldn't even get out of bed to run out of the house like I wanted. Now I sleep w/ a white noise machine next to the bed. I also sleep w/ the door closed all the time. I have been having a hard time sleeping lately. I have too much bad stuff going through my head and I wish it would just stop. But I will say that the white noise machine helps, I doubt I'd be able to ever sleep w/o one now.

I have trouble sleeping anyway. I have to walk on a cane because of arthritis, I am so chronically unhappy with almost everything. I feel like ---- . Then since I got rid of that guy I adored and what a PTSD's unending nightmare. tO MAKE IT WORSE, THE GUY MAKES IT HIS BUSINESS because he's GOT IT LIKE THAT to have other people bother me, like his present part time girlfriend who likes to scream at me or send me messages or whatever, along with a few others the GUY recruits to put a wedge between me and people I know ANYWAY HE CAN. So I am up at night wondering sometimes if I should kill myself but I try to ask God Jesus for help, because all this hell is not going to stop the bullies from amusing themselves at my expense. So I am afraid to make any new friends, because they will soon be THEIR friends. So I find a Christian coffee shop that SHE did not come in when I was there, but the cycle is continuing-she has befriended two of my aquaintances in the coffee shop and comes in and pushes herself close to me. Having PTSD and a heart condition, and knowing there will not be much help unless she outwardly bothers me, I panic when she comes in like the queen of sheba and leave the place. The owner said she would "Talk to her." What good would it do? So I lay awake, depressed, by myself and think about all these things people in my town think I am crazy. I am, now. Thanks for listening.

I understand totally!!! I have insomnia from my PTSD. I have not slept the whole night in years and the longest I have been awake continually is 48 hours.
I have tried sleep aids and have night mares because of the deep sleep, so those are out of the question.
When you get in this situation, find something you like to do and do it. That will take your mind elsewhere and you will feel a little better. When I get in your situation, I read. I read anything that will take my mind to other places than the 'demons' want me to go.