Long term insomnia, is there anything that can be done?

jenniewb

I've had issues with my sleep for longer then I care to think. I know I had issues as a child and just never really fell into something which was sleeoping properly each night.

Instead I struggle a lot to sleep mainlly through anxiety and then the next day wake up feeling so groggy it puts a hangover into a category all by itself!

I have seen a doctor about 7 years ago about this who at the request of a dietition I was seeing (long term eating disorder, nothing to do with sleep) I was referred to a sleep neurologust who after a few taps on my knee, eye-pen-following and what I had been experiencing, suggested it was a problem everyone had (being in a 24 hour world) and to practice good bed hygiene (have done so for years) and to take melatonine which I am stoo afraid to take.

In the mean time I had a massive slip with my own depression and anxiety recently and my doctor had given me some prescribed anti anxiety pills which are amazing and a life saver. Pitty that they are only allowed to be given out for short burts and I am pretty much at the end of this one.


I am now worried that when I come off my pills I wont have anything else to help me sleep and so wont sleep, this is how I have had things go in previous times when trying to stop taking these oills and the anxiety I'm getting when I try to sleep without those pills is the beginning of a slippery slope where I can't see a way ahead and can't cope anymore.

So I go back to my GP, but not sure what to ask or say or even if they can help me. I fan se my sleeping habits getting worse and going back to nights of just not sleeping and getting up for the morning feeling things have escalated through my hear at night and left me feeling unable to cope with the day and pretty desperate.

I'm not sure what else to try and what elese I'd need to ask my doctor for. Has anyone any advice?

(And before anyone suggests, no its not the menopause, not hormone related, I am not pregnant and I have had this progressivly getting worse for many many years.

Elle7

Melatonin really is worth considering - it will hopefully help your body to learn to produce it yourself, to give you normal sleep. I wouldn't discount it.

Have you found anything particularly helps? I'm an insomniac, but I find heat helps...If I've having a bad night I'll get a hot water bottle and spray lavender pillow spray...I've also got sleeping tablets, however, but I take my melatonin more - the sleeping tablets cause drowsiness and 'false' sleep, where as the melatonin doesn't.

Have you ever been to a sleep clinic?

j.e.j.

Unfortunately anxiety, and worry about not being able to sleep adds to the tense state your mind and body is in, making it even more unlikely that you'll be able to relax enough for sleep. It's a vicious circle.

I found this book helpful when I was having problems with sleeping (I am also an anxiety sufferer)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Overcoming-Insomnia-Sleep-Problems-Behavioral/dp/1845290704/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320321739&sr=8-1

I can't promise it'll take away the insomnia, but I found it does give you insight and the tools to tackle the problem, so worth a try perhaps.

Arthurian

Maybe you can put this on a loop to play when you get into bed?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_G-KciH8XM&feature=related

Someone once told me that the body gets almost as much refreshment from lying quietly in the dark with eyes closed, as "proper" sleep, and since then I don't get anxious about not being able to sleep. There's a world of difference between desperately trying to get to sleep and lying there in the warm with eyes closed thinking "This is doing me good."

joyfull

I'm also a sufferer of chronic insomnia and have a tendency to feel anxiety and inability to cope.

I know well the fear and dread of sleepless nights and then the relentless worry of how to get through the day.

You WILL sleep, and you WILL cope. Try to somehow 'make friends' with the night, and lying awake. Distract yourself. I often have the radio on quietly and it just keeps the thoughts from imagining the worst.

Can you allow yourself to take even a 20 minute nap in the day? It can make such a difference.

Your post speaks of someone who almost fears fear itself, fear of not coping, overwhelm etc. I've been there too. Some simple relaxation exercises for the body have really helped me just to feel more safe in my body. There is plenty on the net and youtube to explore.

By the way, things always feel a lot worse at 3am! Do hope you've got some sleep since then.

jenniewb

Arthurian wrote: »

Maybe you can put this on a loop to play when you get into bed?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_G-KciH8XM&feature=related

Someone once told me that the body gets almost as much refreshment from lying quietly in the dark with eyes closed, as "proper" sleep, and since then I don't get anxious about not being able to sleep. There's a world of difference between desperately trying to get to sleep and lying there in the warm with eyes closed thinking "This is doing me good."

Thanks- yes I do this trick already- I lie sometimes upsdie down (lympathic drainage a yoga teacher once taught me- it really does help with achey legs!) but although its far better then not going to bed at all, it does pail in comparison to really sleeping I have pretty much nearly run out of my "short term only" sleeping medication given to me by a doctor, it was told to me time over that it was addictive and not to be on it for too long. I think I just got used to sleeping every night and didn't want to give it up! I had been able to sleep from about midnight when I first started taking it, now its lucky if I'm asleep before 5am but this is still a marked improvement on not sleeping the entire night and seeing the next morning with all the same aches and pains as the day before (medical reasons for that) and then feeling the same anxiety which I and through the night. I think I forget that sleep seems to edit that a little, when I don't sleep its all still there the next day.

Don't have a way to get anything from youtube to play to me when I am asleep as computer lives in a separate room from my bed- infact no electronics side from my alarm clocks (3 and counting!) are in the same room as me: TV broke down and have no TV anymore which I don't think helps with the anxiety.

Was worried about the melatonine as I was told it is banned in the UK for safety reasons- would worry this would even inflate my anxiety if I did start to take it.

I had heard about the sleep clinics but was referred to a sleep neurologist back in 2005. I was told that it was all lifestyle based (I don't think he believed me when I said I have not gone out to a bar pub or club for years despite that being the truth.) I was told that I just needed to go to bed at 9pm and it would all fall into place. No sleep clinic was offered and the problem didn't go away after attempting his suggestion- infact it just gets worse if I go to bed earlier as it gives my mind a really long time to build up its anxiety levels and then I end up unlikey to sleep at all even with pills.

Is it worth going back to my doctor? Don't want to waste their time -or mine if nothing can be done and with my GP it does seem that unless you go saying "please do this for me" and give set up instructions, they just say "don't know" and nothing gets done, waste of everyones time.

Alisha2008

Have you considered some alternative medicine, like homeopathy?

cattkitt

I suffered it for well over a decade. During the good periods of non-sleep, I used it to catch up with stuff I wanted to do, chat(on cheap rate) with relatives in farflung countries, and even to offer a friendly ear to a casual acquaintance who had recently suffered an accident and was newly wheelchair bound (she was in terrible pain and awake at night). Just stuff to do while I was awake.

Five years on, my life fell apart, and the relatives have scarpered. Paradoxically, my new friend, physically incapacitated and poor as a church mouse, has helped me emotionally, and to fight some legal and medical battles. Boy, has that casual "kindness" that I barely thought twice about paid off in spades.

joyfull

cattkitt wrote: »

I suffered it for well over a decade. During the good periods of non-sleep, I used it to catch up with stuff I wanted to do, chat(on cheap rate) with relatives in farflung countries, and even to offer a friendly ear to a casual acquaintance who had recently suffered an accident and was newly wheelchair bound (she was in terrible pain and awake at night). Just stuff to do while I was awake.

Five years on, my life fell apart, and the relatives have scarpered. Paradoxically, my new friend, physically incapacitated and poor as a church mouse, has helped me emotionally, and to fight some legal and medical battles. Boy, has that casual "kindness" that I barely thought twice about paid off in spades.

What a great sharing. We truly never know what is going to happen, or why things happen. There's a much much bigger picture that's good to remember when things get tough.

Artytarty

I cannot believe what a huge difference getting blackout curtains has made to my sleepless issues.
As an aside they also cut down the early traffic noise. I can sleep right through now (usually) instead of waking at 3,& 4 &6 etc.
I also changed top a feather duvet which is so light and cosy I htink it has helped too. Also always have a warm bath with smellies before bedtime!
Glory! I sound like aright precious Diva! I'm not -honestly:)

Humphrey10

jenniewb wrote: »

Was worried about the melatonine as I was told it is banned in the UK for safety reasons- would worry this would even inflate my anxiety if I did start to take it.

If it was banned, then how could your doctor prescribe it? It's not available over the counter any more, but nor are the sleeping tablets you are on at the moment I assume.

Artytarty wrote: »

I cannot believe what a huge difference getting blackout curtains has made to my sleepless issues.

I need a dark room to sleep so have blackout curtains, and a comfortable mattress, pillow, and duvet. I was renting a room for a while, I had to buy my own mattress because I couldn't sleep at all on the uncomfortable one that was there, I also had to get some blackout curtains because the ones there were so thin.
Make sure everything about your bed and bedroom is perfect, it really does make a difference.